30 BULLETIN 272, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
TABLE 5.—Germination of cypress seed * in greenhouse test, Arlington Experiment Station, 
U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
Date of 
examina- | 200 dry seeds sown 20 soaked seeds 50 moist seeds 
tion on Apr. 3, 1914. sown on May 9.2 sown on May 16.3 
(4914). 
Number. | Per cent. | Number. | Per cent. | Number. | Per cent. 
Apr. 25. 13 COMES peas Aa Gents (Eee Se palo 5 a aileal aie eee sg oe 
Apr. 30. 46 Dave calles oie kei, 3 | Sones ey need | Mapontons. Se | Bal ae Ae ca 
May 6.. 90 Ah By a ah We SP ONG pe a aa aD ze PAN ce LP NL 
May 11. 100 EO )apaeeod (een GR eS |e ere Os Oe On ek eee Na NIE a x TT 
May 16. 104 Sg ea ae tay | ames |g Re ye Ce nO 
May 21. 107 5325 8 KYA | ap | a ly 
May 23. 109 54.5 13 65 43 87.5 
May 25. 111 6) 13 65 43 87.5 
May 30. 111 HOs5 13 65 43 87.5 
ee collseued in October and November, i913, in North and South Carolina, and stored in warm, 
2 Seeds from lot as above, soaked in stagnant water 6 weeks prior to sowing. 
3Seeds from same lot as above, kept in moisture-saturated air for 7 weeks prior to sowing. 
Over the extreme northern part of the tree’s range very little of 
the seed matures. Germination takes place at various times dur- 
ing the following spring. If it is early the seedling is exposed in 
the swamp to the extreme vicissitudes of periods of high water. If 
the seed is kept continuously submerged, it will not germinate. 
The seed-bed requirements are a very abundant supply of mois- 
ture maintained for a period of from one to three months. Under 
these conditions the hard seed coats swell and soften, allowing the 
tender seedling to emerge. The young seedling is thus almost semi- 
hydrophitic in its early stages and develops well in completely sat- 
urated soil, though it does even better where there is some drainage. 
A bed of sphagnum moss seems to afford the best kind of seed bed, 
doubtless because of its capacity for retainmg moisture in large quan- 
tities. Soft, wet muck is also favorable to successful germination. 
SPROUT REPRODUCTION. 
Cypress sprouts freely from the stump under ordinary conditions 
during the first 50 to 100 years. Sprouting from stumps 100 to 200 
years old is not unusual. A coppice sprout 6 feet high was seen in 
Louisiana growing from the top of a stump over 300 years old cut 
about 14 years ago at the height of-8 feet. All of the sapwood had 
decayed except beneath the sprout, where living connection with 
the root had been maintained. Large, thrifty coppice occasionally 
sprouts from stumps up to 180 yearsold. In every such case observed 
the parent tree was of slow growth and therefore relatively small 
(Pl. VI). Economic reproduction by sprouts is rather closely 
restricted by the age and size of the parent stump. Stumps of 
vigorous stock up to the ages of 40 to 60 years, when cut in the fall or 
winter, may generally be counted on to send up healthy sprouts. 
1Toumey, J. W. 
