Cupressus 1189 



The largest trees which we have seen are one at Bicton, 36 ft. by 4 ft. 4 in. in 

 1906 ; and another at Dinas Mawddy, 30 ft. by 2 ft. in 1906, growing well on slate 

 here and at Tan-y-bwlch. There are good specimens also at Tortworth, Westonbirt, 

 Campden (Gloucestershire), and at Castle Kennedy in Scotland. In Ireland it 

 grows well, a tree at Woodstock, Kilkenny, 38 ft. high, having a number of layered 

 branches, which are now growing erect round the parent. 



This species has been tried at fourteen different forestry stations in Prussia, the 

 plots amounting to 10 acres in extent. Dr. Schwappach^ says that seedlings grow 

 slowly in the first two years, but attain in five years 20 to 40 in. in height, in ten 

 years 5 to 9 ft., and in fifteen years 11 to 15 ft. Young plants are susceptible both 

 to heat and to frost ; and he advises planting out well-rooted transplants at five years 

 old in gaps in woods of broad-leaved trees. This species, like all of the section 

 Chamaecyparis, seems very liable in Germany to attacks of the fungus, Pestalozzia 

 funerea. 



In New England ^ C. obtusa is quite hardy, and in its early years makes a hand- 

 some plant, but it soon develops a tendency to grow thin, and well-furnished specimens 

 more than 20 ft. high are not common. 



Timber 



No coniferous timber is now so highly valued in Japan for the finest buildings, 

 as well as for interior work, as that of the Hinoki ; and Sargent says that the palaces 

 of the Mikado, as well as the temples, are built of it. But the high-priest of the 

 Gemyo-in Temple, where I stayed at Koyasan, said that the wood of Tsuga used to 

 be preferred until it became too scarce. To this very courteous gentleman I am 

 indebted for a large slab 3 ft. across, cut from a burr of this tree, which was quite free 

 from flaws, sound to the centre, and showed a very twisted and varied grain ; in 

 colour resembling satinwood, from which a highly ornamental table top has been 

 made in England, the legs and framing of which are of Japanese yew. 



Hinoki wood is white, straw-colour, or pale pink, very straight-grained, light, 

 strong, and tough, and is distinguished by its remarkably fine-grained and silky 

 lustre, which make it suitable for lacquer. Neat round rice-boxes are made in Kiso 

 from thin pieces of this wood, ^ of an inch thick, bent into a circle, and sewed with 

 cherry bark, which are sold for a few sen. For any fine work requiring a perfect 

 surface it seems to me unsurpassed among coniferous woods, resembling most nearly 

 in texture that of Cupressus nootkatensis. 



The most beautiful ceiling which I saw in Japan, in a new inn at Nakatsugawa, 

 was made from thin boards of this wood, about 1 8 in. square, cut from the butts of 

 old trees, and showing a most varied wavy figure. These cost on the spot about 

 fifteenpence each, and if they could be imported would be highly valued in Europe. 

 The wood is also used for making chip braid ; and an ordinary quality is worth in 

 Tokyo about 80 yen or ;^8 per 100 cubic feet. The bark is also highly valued for 



1 Anbauvers. Fremdl. Hoharten, 28 (1901). 



2 Sargent, Garden and Forest, x. 431 (1897), and Pinetum Wellesley, 13 (1905), where a tree is said to have attained 

 3 \ ft. high in Mr. Hunnewell's pinetum. 



