le Fusi-offlee of New York, N.V.. as Second-Class Matter J 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Eighth Year. 

 Vol. XV. No. 365. 



NEW YORK, Jaktltary 31, 1890. 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 S3. 50 Per Year, in Advance. 



THE KNEES OF THE BALD CYPRESS: A NEW THEORY 



OF THEIR FUNCTION. ' 



From time to time, during and since my first visit to our 

 southern tier of States in 1876, I have examined, sketched, and 

 photographed the roots of the deciduous cypress, the Taxodium 



what an engineer would pronounce a mo.st dangerous foundation, 

 — loose submerged sand, the satvirated morass, or the soft allu- 

 vium of low river-margins. But, notwithstanding this seeming 

 insecurity, I have never found a healthy cypress that had fallen 

 before the fierce luirricanes that sweep tlii-ough the southern 

 forest-lands. It is a pleasure to follow Bartram in his enthusi- 



DENUDED ROOTS OF THE BALD CYPRESS, SHOWING KNEES AND UNDERGROUND STRUCTURE. 



distielmm of Richard. I was attracted to the ti-ee because of the 

 singular beauty of its form and foliage, and by tlie unusual 

 boldness with which it raises its gieat gray, smooth column, 

 sometimes over a hunched feet, perpendicularly, above and upon 



' Copyright, ISSO, by Garden and Fnrest. through whose ccurtesT we are 

 able to reproduce it, with the illustrations. 



astic burst of achniration for this tree as he writes of it in east 

 Florida one hundred and si.xteen years ago: -'Tliis Cypress is in 

 the first order of North American ti'ees. Its majestic statui-e is 

 surprising. On approaching it we are struck with a kind of awe 

 at belioiding the stateliness of its tnink. lifting its cumbrous top 

 toward the skies and casting a wide shade on the ground as a 



