30 FIELD AND FOREST. 



alence of some, and paucity of other species. In point of fact the bulk 

 of the timber is comprised in the four following species, named in the 

 order of their abundance : Nyssa muZtiflora, Cupressus thyoides, Pinus 

 taedci) Taxodiiwi distichum. After these would follow as very com- 

 mon trees, the tulip (poplar,) the beech, the swamp maple, the sweet 

 gum and the elm. Of small trees Ilex opaca, I. cassine (the Yaupon) 

 and Magnolia glauca are the most common, of which the first and also 

 the last named often assume the dimensions of true forest trees. 

 Querent aquatiea was common on the drier grounds along the Dis- 

 mal Swamp Canal and presented the most extreme variations of leaf, 

 ranging from bluntly trilobate with a wedge-shaped- base to linear 

 lanceolate and entire, as in Q. Phellos, but with every describable 

 form of sportive irregularity in the lobation, 



Aralia spinosa and Myriea cerifera were abundant, but only rarely 

 appeared as proper trees, Rhus eopalina attained an extraordinary 

 size and might almost be regarded as a tree. Nyssa uniflora was rare 

 and no fertile trees were found. 



The bald cypress, though abundant, is not a prevailing tree, and the 

 Dismal Swamp cannot properly be called a cypress swamp. It is most 

 common round the shores of the lake and there exhibits its character- 

 istic habit of throwing up "knees." The great wealth of the swamp 

 is Cupressus thyoides ', there known only by the name of "juniper." 

 It occurs in what are known as "juniper swamps," which are often of 

 vast extent and in which scarcely any other trees are found. The 

 great durability and other valuable qualities of the wood of this tree 

 are well known, it being the same as the " white cedar " of the north. 

 These juniper swamps sometimes take fire and burn out in dry seasons, 

 the fire often extending for some distance down into the peaty soil 

 and completely destroying large areas of this valuable timber. We 

 passed through one of these large " burnt tracts." The earth below 

 the surface in these juniper swamps is said to be filled with the trunks 

 and roots of the trees of past ages in a perfect state of preservation, 

 and the business of exhuming them has been undertaken with success 

 and will doubtless be carried on after the supply of standing timber 

 shall have been exhausted. At present a great many railroad ties and 

 shingle blocks are being cut and taken out, both through the Jericho 

 and dismal Swamp Canals. 



