30 



BULLETIN 212, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table 5. — Germination of cypress seed 1 in greenhouse test, Arlington Experiment Station, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



Date of 

 examina- 

 tion 

 (1914). 



200 dry seeds sown 

 on Apr. 3, 1914. 



20 soaked seeds 

 sown on May 9. 2 



50 moist seeds 

 sown on May 16. 3 



Apr. 25. 

 Apr. 30. 

 May 6.. 

 May 11. 

 May 16. 

 May 21. 

 May 23. 

 May 25. 

 May 30. 



Number. 



13 



46 



90 



100 



104 



107 



109 



111 



111 



Per cent. 

 6.5 

 23 

 45 

 50 

 52 



53.5 

 54.5 

 55.5. 

 55.5 



Number. 



Per cent. 



Number. 



Per cent. 



































8 



13 

 13 

 13 



40 

 65 

 65 

 65 







43 

 43 

 43 



87.5 

 87.5 

 87.5 



1 Seeds collected in October and November, 1913, in North and South Carolina, and stored in warm, 

 dry room. 



2 Seeds from lot as above, soaked in stagnant water 6 weeks prior to sowing. 



3 Seeds from same lot as above, kept in moisture-saturated air for 7 weeks prior to sowing. 



Over the extreme northern part of the tree's range very little of 

 the seed matures. 1 Germination takes place at various times dur- 

 ing the following spring. If it is early the seedling is exposed in 

 the swamp to the extreme vicissitudes of periods of high water. If 

 the seed is kept continuously submerged, it will not germinate. 



The seed-bed requirements are a very abundant supply of mois- 

 ture maintained for a period of from one to three months. Under 

 these conditions the hard seed coats swell and soften, allowing the 

 tender seedling to emerge. The young seedling is thus almost semi- 

 hydrophitic in its early stages and develops well in completely sat- 

 urated soil, though it does even better where there is some drainage. 

 A bed of sphagnum moss seems to afford the best kind of seed bed, 

 doubtless because of its capacity for retaining moisture in large quan- 

 tities. Soft, wet muck is also favorable to successful germination. 



SPROUT REPRODUCTION. 



Cypress sprouts freely from the stump under ordinary conditions 

 during the first 50 to 100 years. Sprouting from stumps 100 to 200 

 years, old is not unusual. A coppice sprout 6 feet high was seen in 

 Louisiana growing from the top of a stump over 300 years old cut 

 about 14 years ago at the height of 8 feet. All of the sapwood had 

 decayed except beneath the sprout, where living connection with 

 the root had been maintained. Large, thrifty coppice occasionally 

 sprouts from stumps up to 180 years old. In every such case observed 

 the parent tree was of slow growth and therefore relatively small 

 (PL VI). Economic reproduction by sprouts is rather closely 

 restricted by the age and size of the parent stump. Stumps of 

 vigorous stock up to the ages of 40 to 60 years, when cut in the fall or 

 winter, may generally be counted on to send up healthy sprouts. 



i Tourney, J. W, 



