HARDY CONIFEROUS PLANTS. 
163 
mosphere, or the operations of culture. This 
evil is especially experienced on soils approach- 
ing the character of clays : on very light sandy 
soils it is of much less importance. Some of 
the latter admit so readily of the passage of 
the water, as to be in a fit state for working 
immediately after a heavy rain. As some 
guide in this respect, it may be assumed, that 
whenever trampling on the surface works the 
soil into a kind of paste or batter, it is impro- 
per to prosecute any operation which involves 
such trampling, unless a board can be used to 
keep the feet from contact with the soil. 
The tools employed in these operations are 
the spade and the digging- fork. Spades are 
of various sizes, but in an ordinary full-sized 
one the blade is about a foot long and eight 
inches wide, and should be of good tempered 
steel. The fork may have three or four 
prongs. The garden line and measuring rod 
are also employed. A convenient size for the 
digging-fork is indicated by the annexed pro- 
portions : — Width of entire prongs (three in 
number), seven inches at top, and six at the 
points ; prongs thirteen inches long, seven- 
eights of an inch square at top, tapering to a 
point ; handle two feet two inches, one and a 
half inch diameter. 
Ciqoressus lusitanica. 
HARDY CONIFEROUS PLANTS. 
THE GENUS CUPRESSUS. 
Cupressus, LinncBUs (the Cypress). — Coni- 
feras § Cupressinaa. The name of the genus 
has been supposed to be derived from Cypar- 
issus, a beautiful youth of the island of Ceos, 
who was changed into a Cypress. Others, 
however, derive it from kuo, to produce, and 
parisos, nearly resembling, in allusion to the 
regularity of the branches ; and others, again, 
from the isle of Cyprus, where one species 
was found in abundance. 
1. Cupressus sempervirens, Linnasus (com- 
mon, or evergreen Cypress). — Leaves small, 
imbricated in four rows, convex, adpressed, 
smooth, shining, persistent. Cones sessile, 
globose, covered with large, angular, corky 
scales. 
There are two varieties of this tree in cul- 
tivation : — 
C. s. stricta, the most common form, with 
upright adpressed branches. 
C. s. horizontals, with the branches spread- 
ing. 
An elegant, tapering tree, very much re- 
sembling the Populus fastigiata in outline, 
and long known in old English gardens. It 
is a native of the isle of Crete, the inhabit- 
ants of which boasted that the tomb of Jupiter 
was there, and that it was shaded by magnifi- 
cent specimens of this tree. It is intimately 
associated with biblical and classic times, and 
has on this account been always looked upon 
with a degree of reverence. The most re- 
markable tree of this species in the world is 
the cypress of Soma, where the first battle 
was fought between Hannibal and Scipio ; 
and, as Landor says in his Conversations, it is 
the object most worthy of being seen in Italy, 
unless it be the statue, at the base of which 
fell Julius Ca?sar. According to the Abbe 
Berlese, who made a tour through the north- 
si 2 
