DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 207 



neo-lected 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 formed by the father of American botanists, 

 John Bartram, who explored the southern and western terri- 

 tories, then vast wilds, at the peril of his life, to furnish the sa- 

 vans and gardens of Europe, with the productions of the new 

 world, and who commenced the living collection, now un- 

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

 part of it stands the ^rea^ 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 since. 

 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 neighbouring 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 simi- 

 lar appearance 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 remarka- 

 bly picturesque aspect. This is also heightened by the deep 

 furrows or channels in the trunk, and the singular excres- 



