THE SOUTHERN" CYPEESS. 31 



Slow-growing trees beyond the ages of from 60 to 90 years will not 

 ordinarily reproduce themselves successfully -by sprouting. The 

 corresponding diameter limitation is seemingly about from 10 

 to 14 inches at 2 feet above the ground. Girdled trees die and 

 will not sprout when cut in logging. Along the Atlantic coast, on 

 relatively dry sites, cypress sprouts successfully from both the top 

 and the base of the stump (PI. VI). Along the Gulf and Mississippi 

 Valley only sprouts from the top of the stump, or wounded cambium, 

 have been observed (PL V), although root collar sprouts may also occur. 



YOUNG GROWTH. 



Young cypress, although quite unevenly distributed, is present 

 in larger amount than is popularly believed. Stands of young growth 

 occur abundantly in openings in deep swamps generally throughout 

 its range, but are notably absent from the better drained areas or 

 ridges and all older upbuilding portions of swamps. 



Along the Atlantic coast cypress appears to be more aggressive 

 both in sprout and seed reproduction than over the Gulf States and 

 Mississippi Valley. In the more northern portion of its range the 

 germination per cent of the seed is lower and young growth is much 

 less abundant than farther south. 1 In the Mississippi Basin where 

 the soil is rich, strong competition by numerous hardwoods and 

 other plants appears to reduce the amount of young cypress. It is 

 worth special note that cypress reproduction is extremely prolific 

 in the countless shallow ponds and bay heads over the Atlantic 

 coastal plain from North Carolina to Florida. In the extensive 

 occupation of former rice fields in South Carolina, surface water 

 instead of wind has been the chief means of distributing the cypress 

 seed. Because of the light, delicate foliage and deciduous leaf habit, 

 cypress seedlings and saplings when present are apt to escape casual 

 observation. Young cypress is characterized by its coming in 

 gradually but growing persistently, often beneath the partial over- 

 head shade of other species, until it reaches its normal position of 

 dominance over all others in the forest stand. 



A very wet swamp along the Santco River near Ferguson, S. C, 

 contained a heavy stand of 2-ycar-old cypress seedlings from 14 to 

 jij inches 2 in height (shown in PI. VIII). The maximum stand 

 counted in this locality contained 219 seedlings in a square rod. 

 This density, 35,000 per acre, was greater than that of any other 

 Bpecii - locally except overcup oak. The average stand on 500 to 



1 Kearney reported CJ pre) in the Dismal Swamp as reproducing itself very slowly, so that an area once 

 er for merchahtabL rdedl the lumberman as permanently exhausted. Seedlings 



wre reported, I'" ; log plentiful Upon Harrow tracts of marshy land around (he i't\y,c. of l,al;e 



Drnmmond. (Beport of a Botanical Survey of the Dimal Swamp Region, U. S. National Museum, 

 lonol Botany, (7.8. Department of Agriculture, by T. n. Kearney.) 

 'Age confirmed 1 by taction wamf n e d under the mil roscope, I orei tSen Ice, November, 1913. 



