ROTES OS I HI B \i i- ( \ PR] 36 9 



wider place iii the forests, anil limited itself to the swamp 



■ -. irhere it has no struggle to maintain with other trees. It may be 



remarked that the limiting of 1 1 » * - Taxodium to s narrow station, it' Mich 



■ limitation has occurred, would find it- parallel in the conditions of many 



tur other coniferous trees. The white pine (Puuu mitia) in Kentucky 



i- circumscribed within very narrow boundaries, and only maintain- itself 



disadvantage against the vigorous deciduous w Is. The Bame may 



- ud of the hemlock, which is limited to stations thai are reallj unsought 



by our other trees. The western part of the (Jnited state- affords an i 



more remarkable example of the narrow limitation of a tree that once was 



lely distributed. The Sequois gigantes is a noble representative 



long lineage of trees that once ranged throughout the Northern Bern- 



isphere, and now i- limited to i very Bmall area on the Pacific coast It 



■tain that in Kentucky the conifers are fighting at a disadvan- 



inst the deciduous trees, which are gaining upon their ground; 



it seems nol unlikely thai the conifer.-, as a whole, are losing ground 



and giving place to the more varied and more plastic deciduous for 



Loss of adaptation to varied conditions is a common phenomenon in all 

 oisms of which we have an extended geological history. 

 \ - 'nilar narrowing down of the field occupied by the form i- 

 also in the somewhat kindred conifer, the Bequoia, and in a less degree 

 in many of the old associates of the Taxodium iii Europe ami Asia. Vet 

 limitation to a narrow geographical range is not quite parallel to the 

 iliar exclusion of the Taxodium from the upland forests of the conti- 

 nent I am unable to point to any soun f weakness that i- the I 



■'ion. The cypress i- a very rapid grower even on the 

 upland-. It ■ rtops and make- head against the timber on 1 1 1 « - 



the swamp whenever a chance specimen may secure a foothold. 

 Tic plentiful and easily grown, the young trees appearing vig- 



- from the beginning of their growth. 

 There is yel another problem connected with the conditions of the Tax- 

 odium that i- worthy of note. The trees are often found growing from 



the center of permanent | 1- of water, where it i- hud to suppose that 



they could have originated save from - It I have not been able to find 

 that they ever spring from the roots of other tro - \ • ireful search of 



many specinu ■: shown the tra f root-budding, and many other 



rvi'ra have failed to find ai this kind. It i- very hard t^ 



