THE SOUTHERN CYPRESS, 7 
weight from about 50 pounds per cubic foot to more than 62.35 
pounds, the weight of an equal amount of water. 
In a series of tests the Forest Service + found that cypress wood 
taken from all parts of the individual tree was strikingly uniform m 
weight, structure of rings, and strength. 
As a rule the wood of cypress growing in ponds and other swamps 
with acid soils averages much heavier than that of the typical form 
erowing along fresh, active streams. ‘The wood from six representa- 
tive trees growing in strongly acid pond soils in South Carolina 
averaged 0.50 in specific gravity ? as compared with 0.44 ° specific 
eravity for four typical river cypresses from the fresh water of the 
Savannah River bottom in the same region. The heaviest wood 
(specific gravity 0.55) im 39 representative trees taken from four 
southern States was in a tree growing very slowly in a pine-barren 
pond in South Carolina. In the Dead Lakes of western Florida, 
where an extensive cypress forest has been gradually mundated, 
very slow growth in fresh, clear water produced soft, light-weight 
wood. In swell butts, knees, and large roots, where growth is rapid, 
the wood 1s very much below the average in weight. The lightest of 
this wood is used to a limited extent as a substitute for cork, especially 
for making fish-net floats and the like. One piece showed a specific 
sravity under test of 0.19, or only 10 pounds per cubic foot, which is 
considerably lighter than cork. During several months in the year 
the water in the great overfiow belt along the Mississippi becomes 
increasingly stagnant and charged with humus compounds in solu- 
tion, resulting in moderately unfavorable conditions for growth. 
This region produces much of the characteristic darker colored ‘‘red”’ 
cypress of good average weight and strength. 
STRENGTH. 
In respect to strength cypress holds a position intermediate between 
that of the white and the heavy yellow pines. The close relation 
between weight and strength both in compression and cross-bending, 
as shown by tests on cypress in a green state, is set out in Table 3. 
1 Forest Service Circular 19, “‘ Progress in Timber Physics: Bald Cypress,” by Filibert Roth, p. 22. 
2 Ranging from 0.42 to 0.58. 
- 8% Ranging from 0.39 to 0.48. 
