6 BULLETIN" 272, XT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE WOOD. 



Cypress wood is strong and stiff, moderate in weight and hardness, 

 and very moderately subject to shrinkage. It is usually fine-grained, 

 light to dark brown in color, and durable under trying conditions of 

 moisture. The wood is easily worked. 



COLOR. 



Cypress averages darker in color in the Gulf and South Atlantic 

 region, and correspondingly lighter as one passes northward up the 

 Mississippi and Atlantic coast. In any specified locality, however, 

 wide color variations occur, although usually one color predominates. 

 For example, the cypress of the deep St. Johns Kiver swamps, 

 Florida, averages an amber or light orange-brown, and is referred to 

 under the trade name of "yellow" cypress. Nearby, in shallower 

 isolated swamps of different soil and moisture conditions, the wood is 

 decidedly darker, with a more pronounced grain when sawed. Along 

 the lower Apalachicola River and in similar deep alluvial river plains, 

 the prevailing orange-brown of the heartwood is occasionally varied 

 to the deepest brown or chocolate color, often streaked on a lighter 

 background. This wood is very handsome in its color markings and 

 mottling. Much of the lumber from the lower Mississippi delta and 

 other southern regions shows prominently the harder and darker 

 reddish colored bands of the heavier summerwood in each annual 

 ring, and has come to be known commercially as "red" cypress. The 

 annual rings of cypress and a marked irregularity of growth give to 

 the wood a richly grained effect, for which it is widely sought for 

 interior finish. 



The wood from both of the northern regions is spoken of in the 

 market as "white cypress." In logging, this term means that the 

 wood floats high. Along the Atlantic coast "black" cypress refers to 

 heavy wood which sinks, or floats very low if at all. In the Gulf 

 regions "black" cypress refers more especially to distinctions in color 

 rather than buoyancy, since in respect to weight dark wood is often 

 not noticeably heavier than the lighter shades. The cause for 

 variations in color can not now be completely pointed out. 



WEIGHT. 



The wood varies in weight usually from 22 to 37 pounds, averaging 

 about 28 pounds per cubic foot, when thoroughly air-dried. The 

 equivalent specific gravity is 0.35 to 0.60, averaging about 0.45. 

 Cypress wood ranges about midway between the white and the hard 

 yellow pines. It is a little lighter than eastern red cedar, but con- 

 siderably heavier than redwood, western red cedar, eastern spruce, 

 and eastern white cedar. Green or unseasoned cypress varies in 



