314 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



strong, holds a uail well, requires a great force to produce a cross fracture, 

 and is very durable. It is largely used in the frames of edifices, for joists and 

 for sheathing, being the cheapest of all the soft-wood lumber. The lumber is 

 obtained from the stripped trunks, which are sawed into 13-feet lengths, 

 which during the following winter are drawn to the frozen streams and left 

 till the spring thaw, when they are floated down to the saw-mills, where they 

 are sawed into boards, scantling, and ceiling laths, and thence sent to 

 market. 



The bark is highly charged with tannin, and is used in immense quantities 

 for manufacturing leather. It is obtained by felling the tree in the early 

 summer when the sap is in its greatest activity ; girdles are cut around the , 

 trunk and large branches by means of an axe, and with a wedge-shaped bar 

 the bark is stripped ; it is then piled to dry. Its value is estimated by the 

 cord. 



CHAMiECYPARIS, Spach. (Cypress.) Flowers monoecious, <>n dif- 

 ferent branches of the same tree, in terminal catkins. Staminate 

 flowers in ovoid aments, 4 anthers under the scales. Pistillate flowers 

 in a globular cone ; ovules bottle-shaped ; scales thick and woody, 

 peltately dilated, bossed in the middle ; cones globose ; seeds few. with 

 narrow wings attached to the base ; cotyledons 2, or 3. Trees with 

 closely appressed evergreen leaves. 



1. C. thyoides, L. (Cupressus thyoides, L.) (White Cedar.) Trunk 40 to 

 80 feet in height, and 1 to 3 feet in diameter. Branches somewhat spreading, 

 and pendent at the extremities. Bark brown, ragged, soft, exfoliating in 

 strips. Leaves imbricated in four rows, short, scale-like, with a small tubercle 

 on the back of each. Cones in groups ; very small, globular scales, shield- 

 shaped, blunt-pointed ; seeds small, subglobular. 



There are many species, but the thyoides is the most important in eastern 

 North America. 



2. C. sempervirens, L. (Cupressus sempervirens, L.), is a native of the coun- 

 tries of the Levant. It is there the gloomy sentinel of the graveyard. It is 

 pyramidal, and hence the emblem of death. 



3. C. pendula (Cupressus pendula), of China, has pendulous branches ; in 

 habit like the weeping willow. 



Geography. — The geographical zone of the chamsecyparis is from 30° to 42° 

 north latitude. In ^Vmerica it extends across the continent, and it occupies 

 about the same zone in the ( )ld World. It is found sparingly in the middle 

 Atlantic States, especially in New Jersey, and Avest to the Great Lakes, but it 

 reaches perfection in the swamps of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. 



The cedar swamps of New Jersey, made famous by the botanical excursions 

 of Pursh, Nuttall, Michaux, Bartram, and Gray, have since their day been 

 the Mecca to which every young botanist longs to make a pilgrimage. In 

 these swamps a very important industry is carried on, consisting of mining 

 sunken logs of the cypress, and working them into shingles and barrel 

 staves. 



Etymology and History. — Chamcecyparis is derived from the Greek x«M«^' 

 on the ground, and Kvirdpitra-os, cypress, from kvw, produce or contain, and 

 Trdpitros, equal, alluding to the regularity of the branches. According to some 



