CYPRESS. 
117 
vacant marshes and watery ground. The warmest praise is due to the 
intentions with which this plan is recommended, but I cannot fully adopt 
the sanguine hopes that are entertained of its result : probably it will 
always be more advantageous to occupy these spots with the Ashes, the 
Willows, the Alders, the Poplars and the Maples, which are incomparably 
more rapid in their growth, which sprout afresh when felled, and whose 
wood is as useful in Europe, where the houses are built of stone and covered 
with tiles or slate. I am convinced the Cypress can never be profitably 
cultivated above the 44th degree of latitude ; it requires heat as well as 
humidity, and the moderate temperature of our scanty summers is insuffi- 
cient to ripen the seeds of the Bald Cypresses which were planted about 
Paris more than forty years since, and which bloom every year. To the 
same cause must be attributed the slowness of their growth ; the greater 
part of them are not more than 20 or 25 feet in height. The largest 
stocks in France are on the ancient estates of Duhamel, about 60 miles 
from Paris. Planted more than forty years ago, in a congenial situation, 
they have reached the height of 40 feet, with a diameter of 11 or 12 
inches ; but the seeds are rarely matured. An agriculturist of excellent 
practical views, whose property lies partly in the plains of Bordeaux, 
where he has formed an establishment for the naturalization of exotic trees, 
has attempted the cultivation of the Cypress with the most satisfactory 
success. 
It would be unavailing to recommend the preservation and multiplication 
of the Cypress in the maritime districts of the Carolinas and Georgia, 
though for an extent of more than 900 miles they have neither stone nor 
slate for building ; it becomes daily more profitable for the increasing 
population to convert the marshes into rice-grounds, which afford a sure 
subsistence to the inhabitants and swell the mass of exported produce. 
Instead of wood, the houses will be constructed of bricks, which is already 
beginning to be done, and covered with slate imported from the Northern 
States or from Europe. It is highly probable that in less than two centu- 
ries, the Cypress will disappear from the Southern States. 
PLATE CLI. 
A branch with leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A Cone. Fig. 2, A seed. 
Fig. 3 , A kernel. Fig. 4 , The half of a seed. Fig. 5 , A conical excrescence from 
the roots. 
[A rich, moist soil is required to produce the deciduous Cypress of any 
great size, and it will not thrive in high situations. The species is increas- 
