THE SOUTHERN CYPRESS. 31 
Slow-growing trees beyond the ages of from 60 to 90 years will not 
ordinarily reproduce themselves successfully by sprouting. The 
corresponding diameter limitation is seemingly about from 10 
to 14 inches at 2 feet above the ground. Girdled trees die and 
will not sprout when cut in logging. Along the Atlantic coast, on 
relatively dry sites, cypress sprouts successfully from both the top 
and the base of the stump (PI. VI). Along the Gulf and Mississippi 
Valley only sprouts from the top of the stump, or wounded cambium, 
have been observed (PI. V), although root collar sproutsmay also occur. 
YOUNG GROWTH. 
Young cypress, although quite unevenly distributed, is present 
in larger amount than is popularly believed. Stands of young growth 
occur abundantly in openings in deep swamps generally throughout 
its range, but are notably absent from the better drained areas or 
ridges and all older upbuilding portions of swamps. 
Along the Atlantic coast cypress appears to be more aggressive 
both in sprout and seed reproduction than over the Gulf States and 
Mississippi Valley. In the more northern portion of its range the’ 
germination per cent of the.seed is lower and young growth is much 
less abundant than farther south.’ In the Mississippi Basin where 
the soil is rich, strong competition by numerous hardwoods and 
other piants appears to reduce the amount of young cypress. It is 
worth special note that cypress reproduction is extremely prolific 
in the countless shallow ponds and bay heads over the Atlantic 
coastal plain from North Carolina to Florida. In the extensive 
occupation of former rice fields in South Carolina, surface water 
instead of wind has been the chief means of distributing the cypress 
seed. Because of the light, delicate foliage and deciduous leaf habit, 
cypress seedlings and saplings when present are apt to escape casual 
observation. Young cypress is characterized by its coming in 
gradually but growing persistently, often beneath the partial over- 
head shade of other species, until it reaches its normal position of 
dominance over all others in the forest stand. 
A very wet swamp along the Santee River near Ferguson, 5S. C., 
contained a heavy stand of 2-year-old cypress seedlings from 14 to 
20 inches? in height (shown in Pl. VIII). The maximum stand 
counted in this locality contained 219 seedlings in a square rod. 
This density, 35,000 per acre, was greater than that of any other 
species locally except overcup oak. The average stand on 500 to 
1 Kearney reported cypress in the Dismal Swamp as reproducing itself very slowly, so that an area once 
cut over for merchantable cypress was regarded by the lumberman as permanently exhausted. Seedlings 
were reported, however, as being plentiful upon narrow tracts of marshy land around the edge of Lake 
Drummond. (Report of a Botanical Survey of the Dismal Swamp Region, U. S. National Museum, 
Vol. V, No. 6, Division of Botany, U.S. Department of Agriculture, by T. H. Kearney.) 
* Age confirmed by section examined under the microscope, Forest Service, November, 1913. 
