36 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Ctinnin^liamia Sinensis in Alabama. 
By Mrs. Frances Copley Seavey. 
In response to the inquiry of S. C. Penrose, Super- 
intendent of Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington, Del., 
in the February issue of Park and Cemetery and 
Landscape Gardening 
regarding other speci- 
mens of the species of 
conifer shown in one of 
the cuts from photo- 
graphs of old trees 
standing on his grounds, 
the accompanying illus- 
tration shows one ,of 
cunninghamia sinensis in alaba ma. 
quite a number of Cunninghamia sinensis trees noted 
in and around the pleasant and healthful town of 
Citronelle, Alabama. They seem, with one exception, 
to be of about the same age, although some are 
better grown and in better condition than others. 
The Langdon-Azalea specimen is doubtless older 
and has had better care in its youth than 
the others for it stands on the home grounds of 
the old Langdon Nursery where all of the e.xamples 
of this choice variety found hereabouts apparently orig- 
inated. These grounds are situated some five miles 
south of Citronelle, about twenty-eight miles north of 
Mobile, and directly on the line of the Mobile and 
Ohio Railway which has a flag station called Langdon 
on its right-of-way through the original property. Here 
Mr. Charles C. Langdon for many years maintained a 
nursery, the business being in a flourishing condition 
at the opening of the civil war. 
These tall evergreens are noticeable from their hand- 
some, spire-like form, which is in each case pronounced ; 
from their beauty of coloring, and from the graceful 
droop of the ends of the smaller branches on the lower 
part of the trees, which are otherwise stiff and formal 
in effect. They are decorative in line and in coloring 
and serve about the same purpose in the landscape that 
exclamation points do in punctuation. The several 
specimens observed are in almost every instance placed 
in pairs, one on either side of gateways, inside the 
grounds. Some are at the outer end of the entrance 
avenue which usually forms the approach to southern 
houses, but others are at its inner end where a second 
gate gives access to the gardens or grounds immediately 
adjoining the dwelling. 
From all that can be learned, the trees are from 
twenty-five to thirty-five years old and nearly all show 
dead or dying branches near the top, as seen in the one 
here illustrated. The Langdon tree, however, is certain- 
ly much older. Mrs. Rulifson, the present owner of the 
plantation, believes it to be not less than fifty years 
old. It has attained, I judge, the eighty feet given in 
Bailey’s Cyclopedia as its limit and looks even taller. 
The height of the man at its base is 5 ft. 8 in. 
The dying branches mar the symmetry and beauty 
of the trees materially and would seem to be caused 
by starvation. The Langdon tree is very much older 
and taller than any of the others, yet it has suffered 
no more than the rest which, it is reasonable to su- 
pose, is due to the greater care in its treatment. 
There are many other rare and handsome things 
at Langdon-Azalea, — left-overs from other days when 
it was in its prime. Among them is the shapely 
Libocedrus decurrens, shown herewith. It is a 
splendid specimen, branched to the ground, and a rich 
dark green throughout — not a defective twig to be seen 
on it. It is supposed to be not less than fifty 
years old, and its height can be com- 
pared with that of 
stands directly in line 
beyond the taller tree 
and shows its dense, 
dark outline clearly 
through the layers of 
branches of the more 
open - growing C u n - 
ninghamia. The Li- 
bocedrus is a beauty 
and shows no evidence 
of age but flourishes 
like the Bay-trees, so- 
called (really Magno- 
lia glauca), which 
abound on low ground 
along small streams 
fed by the numberless 
springs of remarkably 
pure soft water which 
are a marked feature 
of this locality. 
Note 
A nurser.yman here propa- 
gates both of these evergreens; 
this latter Is supposed by some 
to be Sequoia sempervlrens. 
but the writer feels assured 
that this Is wrong. 
the Cunninghamia, for it 
LIBOCEDRUS DECURRENS. 
Allied to Thuya and sometimes 
called California Arbor Vita^* 
