164 
HARDY CONIFEROUS PLANTS. 
ern part of Italy in the year 1832, this re- 
markalile tree girted twenty feet, and was 
seventy feet hi^h, though it had for many 
years lost its leading shoot. Popular tradition 
says it was planted previous to the birth of 
Christ ; and it is afRrmed that there exists an 
ancient elironiele in Milan which proves tliat 
it existed in the time of Julius Csesar, B. c. 
42. The cypress of Hafiz, said by some to 
have been planted by himself, is also entitled 
to particular notice. It stands in a plot of 
ground near to tlie cemetery of the great poet, 
and not far from Shiraz. The tree is now 
upwards of 500 years old. Those planted by 
Michael Angelo in the garden of tlie convent 
of the Chartreux, formerly occupied as tlie 
baths of Dioclesian, are about fifteen feet in 
circumference. Some of the largest specimens 
in England are at Syon, the seat of the Duke 
of Northumberland, where it is no doubt 200 
years old, tlie species being mentioned as 
growing there, both by Turner and Gerard. 
The cypress tree has formed a fruitful 
theme to poets in all ages of the woild. Being 
evergreen, it was adopted as an emblem of 
immortality ; and judging from its appropri- 
ation in some eastern lands, it appears to have 
been looked upon with the same feelings as 
the yew-tree awakens in this country. Thu- 
cydides relates that the Greeks who died in 
the cause of their country had their remains 
preserved in cypress, so that both in its living 
and dead state it was held very dear by them. 
The gates of St. Peter's Church at Rome, 
' made of this wood, had lasted from the time 
of Constantine, about eleven hundred yeai's, 
as fresh as new, when Pope Eugenius IV. 
ordered gates of brass in their stead. Horace 
states that whatever the ancients thought 
worthy of being handed down to the most 
remote posterity, was preserved in the wood 
of this tree. 
The plant is strictly funereal, and not, as 
Bosc thinks, from association nierelv, hut from 
its sad and sombre colour, which points it out 
as one of the fittest ornaments to places of 
burial. lis gloomy aspect is its chief recom- 
mendation for cemeteries, but it has others 
which ought not to be overlooked : it is one 
of those " eternal " trees which give per- 
manency to localities appropriated by man ; 
for of all others this tree is the least affected 
by the vicissitudes of centuries. Green and 
flourishing it will I'emain ; and if a tithe of 
the traditionary statements made regarding it 
be correct, one would be almost tempted to 
say that trees now in existence are likely to 
remain until the world is over. Its tapering 
figure contrasts well with gravestones, which 
are generally flat; and to the fanciful or 
poetical mind, its pointing to heaven indicates 
the bent of the good man's soul. It is, fur- 
thermore, exceedingly well adapted to the 
grave-yard on account of the narrow space 
which it occupies, for whilst it creates shelter 
and shade, it admits plenty of sunshine even 
close to its stem. 
The cypress is propagated by seeds, which 
are to be had in abundance in England. The 
cones should be left on the trees till the mid- 
dle of February, Avhen they are perfectly 
i-ipe. They may be either dried in the sun, or 
exposed to the influence of fire heat ; but 
where large quantities are required, the writer 
has found it more economical to place the 
cones, along with other coniferse, on a kiln, 
which he has had erected expressly for the 
purpose. After they have been subjected to 
heat for a whole day, not exceeding 110 or 
115" Fahr., a portion of the seed may be had 
by sifting the cones, and the remainder will 
be got by thrashing. The proper time to sow 
the seeds is the middle of April ; and the soil 
selected should be sandy loam, raked very 
smooth and even. A quarter of an inch Avill 
be a sufiicient depth of covering, and mode- 
rate and uniform waterings are indi.*pensable. 
They may be sown in a frame, with a very 
sliglit bottom heat, or in pans placed in a 
frame without bottom heat, or in the open 
ground sheltered by a dead fence from the 
sun. I adopt the last plan, but great care 
must be taken to shelter them securely from 
frost and cold in winter-time, for they are very 
tender when young, and apt to be entirely cut 
off. When two years old, they should be 
placed in nursery lines, and shifted every suh- 
sequeJit year, else the roots will get bard, bare, 
and rambling, so that when they are placed in 
their final station, a great many deaths will be 
the result. To obviate the necessity of shift- 
ing them every year, some nurserymen plant 
them in pots, and from these they require re- 
moval every second season only. The opera- 
tion of shifting should be invariably performed 
in April. Plants in pots, two feet high, are 
Is. 6d. each (1848). 
2. Cupressus thyoides, Linngeus (thuja-like 
Cypress, or white Cedar).— Leaves in four 
rows, imbricated, adpressed ovate. Cone 
globular, small, blue, like those of a juniper. 
The varieties are — 
C. t. foliis variegatis, which has the leaves 
blotched with white. 
C. t. nana, the habit of which is dwarf. 
A beautiful evergreen tree, long familiar to 
the English gardener, but never so sufficiently 
well tested in this country as to give any 
indication of its suitableness to be grown as a 
timber tree. It luxuriates in the great cedar 
swamps throughout the maritime districts of 
Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia, where 
it reaches the height of eighty feet, with a 
trunk three feet to four feet in diameter, being 
