DISEASES OF TAXODIUM AND LIBOCEDRUS. 



diatum. The mycelium had clamp connections and swell- 

 ings like those of Agaricus melleus. 



In accounts given of Taxodium logs found buried at va- 

 rious points * no mention is made of any defect. While in 

 southern Louisiana last winter a number of sections of 

 buried Taxodium logs were obtained, f These were found 

 several miles back from the Mississippi river at an average 

 depth of 10 ft. below Gulf level. Compared with other 

 cypress logs found, these are not very old, but they are 

 sufficiently far removed from the present time to deserve 

 notice. In two of these logs unmistakable signs of pecki- 

 ness were found. There was very little mycelium, but a 

 sufficient number of hyphae with clamp connections were 

 seen to justify the conclusion that they were the same as 

 those growing to-day. The holes were few in number, but 

 were not to be mistaken. It is probable that if other and 

 older logs were examined more instances would be found. 

 It would seem therefore that the disease is one which has 

 extended back for some thousand years at least, and 

 probably further. 



* Lyell, Sir Chas. Travels in N. A. in the years 1841-2. 1 : 114. He 

 says of cypress logs buried in the Dismal Swamp: "When thrown 

 down they are covered by water, and never decompose except the sap.'* 



Lyell, Sir Chas. A second visit to the U. S. 249. (1850). (Cypress 

 buried at the mouth of the Altamaha river.) 



Carpenter, Wm. Account of the bituminization of wood in the 

 human era, etc. (Am. Journ. of Sc. & Arts 36 : 118. 1839). (Buried 

 cypress forest at Port Hudson, La.) 



Bartram, W. Travels through North & South Carolina, Georgia, E. 

 & W. Florida 66. London. 1792. 



f The logs were found at the following points : 



No. 1 . Standing stump 9 ft. below surface, 7850ft. back from river on 

 Jourdan ave. No. 2. Horizontal log, butt 30 inches; center 10 ft. below 

 surface, 8325 ft. from river on Jourdan ave. Nos. 3 & 4. Standing stumps 

 same locality as No. 1. No. 3 had 260 rings in the heart wood. The 

 surface where the samples were taken reads about 21 Cairo datum, mean 

 Gulf level, 21.26 C. D., i. e. they were therefore about 10 ft. below Gulf 

 level. See also Chart No. 76 of the Mississippi River Commission, for 

 location of Jourdan ave. 



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