THE BALD CYPRESS. 



163 



THE GREATER TREES OF THE 

 NORTHERN FOREST.— No. 15. 

 THE BALD CYPRESS (Taxodium 

 distichiim). 



This beautiful hardy tree is in our coun- 

 try too often treated as ornamental only, 

 and frequently ill-placed at that, so that 

 in many country places usually it comes 

 to little. Many years ago, before the 

 taste for Californian conifers arose, it 

 was planted more frequently, and so we 

 see in some valley-gardens stately trees 

 of it, mostly by or near water. About 

 the time our own people were busy 

 planting the tree many were planted in 

 the north and west of France, and in the 

 valleys of the Loire and the Seine beau- 

 tiful examples may be seen, some over 

 1 00 feet high. Near Orleans there lived 

 once a nurseryman having some fine 

 trees of this on his ground, who left his 

 property to some good sisters in the town 

 on condition that they should always 

 preserve his Cypress trees. The ground 

 that was once a nursery is now agrazing- 

 plot, adorned with several stately trees 

 standing up over their surroundings as 

 distinctly as the great church of Orleans 

 towers above the houses around, their 

 stems like enormous pillars, beautiful in 

 colour and form. They are not beside 

 water, but on a rich bottom. 



It is not necessary to have 

 a river bank on which to 

 plant, though very often that is the best 

 position, as rivers carry down deep soil. 

 But that may occur without the imme- 

 diate presence of water, and wherever 

 there is this deep, moist, and free soil, 

 we may in our country hope for suc- 

 cess with this tree. Having proof of its 



Culture. 



hardiness, fine form, and great size, we 

 should give up the practice of regard- 

 ing it as an " ornamental " tree only, and 

 massjit in likely places where we shall 

 eventually get its true forest aspect — 

 one of the noblest in the northern world. 

 By so doing it by no means follows that 

 we lose its beauty, and the fresh, distinct 

 efTect of the foliage is good in all con- 

 ditions where the tree thrives. The habit 

 of propagating this tree from cuttings 

 may be one cause of its failure. It should 

 always be raised from seed and planted 

 young, the younger the better provided 

 rabbits are kept out by well-supported 

 netting. The presence of water does not 

 assure us of a good result, as some arti- 

 ficial waters are formed in poor or cold, 

 impervious soils. 



The English name of this tree, " De- 

 ciduous Cypress," is not a good one, 

 and I follow the accepted American 

 name of "Bald Cypress." 



In the Cyprieres or Cy- 



The Wild Tree. i J 



press swamps the aspect 

 of the crowded trunks and the interlac- 

 ing branches is weird in the extreme. An 

 interesting picture of the tree at home 

 is given by Bartram in his " Travels": 

 " It generally grows in the water, or in 

 low flat lands, near the banks of great 

 rivers and lakes, that are covered the 

 greater part of the year with 2 feet or 

 3 feet depth of water ; and that part of 

 the trunk which is subject to be under 

 water, and 4 feet or 5 feet higher up, is 

 generally enlarged by buttresses or pilas- 

 ters which, in full-grown trees, project 

 on every side to such a distance that 

 several men might easily hide themselves 

 in the hollows between. Each pilaster 



L 2 



