Cupressus '193 



Distribution 



This tree ^ has much the same distribution as C. obtusa, and is called Sawara in 

 Japan. Where the two are mixed in natural forest it is usually the commoner, as it 

 reproduces more freely from seed, and on account of the lower value of its timber is 

 not so much felled except in places easy of access. Its habit of growth is more 

 pendulous and graceful, and it attains about the same size as its congener. The 

 largest that I measured in the Atera valley was by the roadside, and had its roots 

 partially cut through. It appeared to be about 1 50 years old, and was 1 1 5 ft. by 1 3 ft. ; 

 but Mayr states that he saw, in a chestnut forest, a tree 120 ft. high and 3 ft. in 

 diameter ; and among beech and oak, another 130 ft. high and 3 ft. in diameter, whose 

 first branch was at 80 ft. from the ground. The tallest he measured was 134 ft. high, 

 and the thickest 7 ft. in diameter. On a stump recently cut in the forest of Atera I 

 counted about 200 rings in a diameter of 4 ft., but the heart was rotten and the tree 

 must have been 250 years or more old. 



I saw no trees of the numerous varieties which are grown as pot plants in a 

 dwarfed condition, but these do not seem to be so popular among the Japanese as 

 among foreigners. 



The timber, though fine in grain, is not so much valued, though used for the same 

 purposes as that of C. obtusa. When the trees have died standing, it turns to a 

 greyish colour, and a large slab of this wood which I brought home^shows a very 

 pretty grain. 



Cultivation 



This species was introduced by J. Gould Veitch in 1861, and like C. obtusa 

 has become widely spread in gardens, where it is usually seen as a small shrubby 

 tree. It is perfectly hardy, and ripens seed freely in the warmer parts of England, 

 but shows no signs of attaining timber dimensions in this country. It appears to 

 grow slightly faster than C. obtusa, and like it dislikes lime in the soil. 



The finest specimens that we have seen are : — at Bicton, 41 ft. by 4 ft. 10 in. 

 in 1906 (Plate 305); at Canford Manor, Dorset, 40 ft. by 4 ft. 3 in. in 1906; at 

 Moncriefife, 38 ft. by 3 ft. 10 in. Smaller trees have been seen by us at Chatsworth, 

 Killerton, Tortworth, Dropmore, High Canons (Herts), Golden Grove, Tan-y- 

 bwlch, and Castle Kennedy. 



This species is well adapted for hedges, as it bears pruning well, and by 

 continual cutting acquires a very dense habit. 



In New England Mt is a more rapid-growing and perhaps a hardier tree than 

 C. obtusa, but with its loose narrow crown of more upright branches is less ornamental 

 than that species. It has attained 32 ft. high at Wellesley, Massachusetts.^ 



In Prussia* this cypress has been tried in thirteen experimental plots, covering 



1 It is unknown in the wild state out of Japan, and is not yet recorded for Formosa. We have not been able to find the 

 specimen, collected in Yunnan by Anderson, referred to by Kent, Veitch's Man. Conif. 227, note (1900). 



2 Sargent, in Garden and Forest, a. 431 (1897). ^ Sargent, Pinetum Wellesley, 13 (1905). 

 * Schwappach, Anbauvers. fremd. Hqharten, 30 (1901). 



V 2 C 



