CHAPTER XL. 
THE DECIDUOUS CYPRESS. 
Its Ornamental Character, Southern Home, and Dispersed Growth.— 
Soil Suited to its Growth, and Attainable Height.—Peculiarities of 
its Growth.—Its Associate Tree.—Description and Properties of its 
Wood.—Its Usefulness and Indifference to Climatic Influences.— 
White and Black Cypresses.—Value of the Cypress.—Its Seed.— 
Manner of Sowing and Cultivating. 
Turs ornamental tree properly belongs to the Southern 
States, but is found scattered all over the eastern and 
extreme western sections of our country, also in the 
more fertile parts of the Mississippi valley. It grows in 
swamps or wet, moist soil, and reaches to the height of 
one hundred and thirty feet, and is destitute of branches 
for a great portion of its height, with a slightly flattened 
top. In the bayous of Mississippi and Louisiana we find 
the cypress and the tupelo growing in about four feet 
of water, with trunks so thickly interlaced that it is im- 
possible to swing an axe with any kind of effect among 
them ; the water from these bayous is the color of brandy, 
from the roots of the cypress. The wood is lighter and 
less resinous than that of the pines, is much finer grained 
and more elastic, and when first cut it is white, but on ex- 
posure to the air turns of a light, reddish color; it also 
stands the changes of climate very well, and wet or dry 
weather does not seem to affect it in the slightest degree. 
It is used for posts, shingles, hogsheads, casks, etc.; many 
of these articles lasting a lifetime. The cypresses that 
grow surrounded by water are called white cypresses, and 
those that grow in dryer land are called black cypresses. 
The cypress, if carefully cultivated, would be of inesti- 
