286 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



causes it to be neglected or disregarded as such, its rarity 

 here allows us fully to appreciate its beauty. North of the 

 43 of latitude it will not probably stand the winter without 

 protection ; but south of that, it will attain a good size. 

 The finest planted specimen which we have seen, and one 

 which is probably equal in grandeur to almost any in their 

 native swamps, is growing in the Bartram Botanic Garden, 

 near Philadelphia. That garden was founded by the fathei 

 of American botanists, John Bartram, who explored the 

 southern and western territories, then vast wilds, at the 

 peril of his life, to furnish the savans and gardens of 

 Europe, with the productions of the new world, and who 

 commenced the living collection, now unequalled, of 

 American trees, in his own garden. In the lower part of 

 it stands the great Cypress, a tree of noble dimensions, 

 measuring at this time 130 feet in height and 25 in circum- 

 ference. The tree was held by Bartram's son, William, 

 while his father assisted in planting it, ninety-nine years 

 ago. The elder Bartram at the time expressed to his son, 

 the hope that the latter might live to see it a large tree. 

 Long before he died (not many years since), it had become 

 the prodigy of the garden, and great numbers from the 

 neighboring city annually visit it, to admire its vast size, 

 and recline beneath its ample shade. 



The foliage of the Cypress is peculiar ; for while it has 

 a resemblance to the Hemlock, Yew, and other evergreen 

 trees, its cheerful, bright green tint, and loose airy tufts of 

 foliage, give it a character of great lightness and elegance. 

 In young trees, the form of the head is pyramidal or 

 pointed ; but when they become old, Michaux remarks, the 

 head becomes widely spread, and even depressed, thus 

 assuming a remarkably picturesque aspect. This is also 



