When measured for us by direction of Signor Manetti, this tree was found to be 121 ft. high, and 23 ft. in circumference at 1 ft. from the ground. Besides its great age, the cypress of Soma is remarkable for having been wounded by Francis I., who is said to have struck his sword into it, in his despair at losing the battle of Pavia; and for having been respected by Napoleon, who, when laying down the plan for his great road over the Simplon, diverged from the straight line to avoid injuring this tree.

The cypress of Hafiz, near Shiraz, is mentioned by several writers. Tavernier, in 1665, says that it required four men to embrace it. Chardin also mentions it; as does Johnson, who visited it in 1817. This tree is said by some to have been planted by the poet himself; and, by others, to have grown over his grave. In Kampfer's Amanitates Exoticæ, &c., however, there is given a plate of the sepulchre of Hafiz (see fig. 2326.), from a Persian drawing; and, in the description, it is stated that Hafiz, who died in 1340, was buried in a square cemetery shaded by poplars, a rare tree in Persia; and that the wall which surrounded it was built to coincide in direction with the boundary of the cypress grove in the adjoining garden, which had belonged to the poet, and was bequeathed by him for the preservation of his cemetery. In this garden, probably, was the celebrated cypress alluded to by the travellers. The small tombstones shown in fig. 2326. are those of persons who wished to be buried under the guardian influence of the poet.

The cypresses of Chartreux were planted by Michael Angelo; and they were seen by M. Simond, who, in his Travels through Italy in 1817, visited the garden of the convent of the Chartreux, situated on the site of the baths of Dioclesian at Rome. There are three trees, all nearly the same size; and the trunk of the largest, when measured by M. Simond, was about 13 ft. in circumference.

Los Cypressos de la Reyna Sultana are mentioned by Hunter in his edition of Evelyn's Sylva, and by M. Loiseleur Deslongchamps, in his very able article on the cypress in the Annales de la Société d'Horticulture de Paris, vol. xv. These noble trees formed an avenue in the gardens of the palace of the Generalife at Granada; and under their shade the last Moorish king of Granada is said to have surprised his wife with one of the Abencerages, which led to the massacre of thirty-six princes of that race. These trees were still in existence in 1832, when (as according to the legend, they were large trees in 1490) they must have been nearly 400 years old.

The oldest and largest cypress in France is one near St. Remy, in Provence. When measured by MM. Audibert and Varrel, in October, 1832, it was 55 ft. 6 in. high, French (above 60 ft. English); the circumference of the trunk was 14 ft. (15 ft. 2 in.), and of the head 75 ft. (82 ft. 3 in.). This tree

is supposed to be 300 years old; and it is said that, when Philip, Infant of Spain, and son of Philip V., was defeated in Italy, in 1747, the remains of his army took refuge in Provence, and 22 of the Spanish soldiers hid themselves in this tree. (Annales de la Soc. d'Hort. de Paris, vol. xv. p. 41.)

Poetical and mythological Allusions. The cypress was considered by the ancients as an emblem of immortality, and, as such, was dedicated to the dead. It was also held sacred to Proserpine and Pluto. It was esteemed the emblem of immortality, from its being evergreen, and from its power of rising again when bent down by the wind, or manual force. This power is alluded to in the following lines from Statius:

"The mountain cypress thus, that firmly stood
From age to age, the empress of the wood,
By some strong whirlwind's sudden blast declined,
Bends arching down, and nods before the wind:
The deep roots tremble till the blast blows o'er,
And then she rises stately as before."

HARTE'S Statius.

The ancient poets who have mentioned this tree are very numerous : Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, and many other of the poets of antiquity, make frequent allusions to it. Virgil frequently speaks of its use in funeral ceremonies, particularly at that of Misenus :—

"Ingentem struxere pyram: cui frondibus atris
Intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressos
Constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis."
"And first with massy logs the pile they rear,
Spreading the gloomy fronds above with care.
In front, the tapering cypress rears its head,
And bears the shining armour of the dead."

Encid. vi. 215.

The legend of the origin of the cypress is given by Ovid: :- A beautiful stag, the favourite of Apollo, was accustomed to come every day to be fed by the god, or his faithful attendant, Cyparissus. One day, the youth was hurling his spear merely for exercise, when, unfortunately, it struck and killed the stag, which was coming bounding from the forest to Cyparissus, expecting to be caressed as usual. The youth's grief at this accident was so great, that Apollo endeavoured in vain to comfort him he threw himself to the ground in despair,

"Praying, in expiation of his crime,

Thenceforth to mourn to all succeeding time.
And now, of blood exhausted, he appears
Drain'd by a torrent of continual tears.

The fleshy colour in his body fades,

A greenish tincture all his limbs invades.

From his fair head, where curling ringlets hung,

A tapering bush, with spiry branches, sprung.
Which, stiffening by degrees, its stem extends,
Till to the starry skies the spire ascends.
Apollo saw, and sadly sighing, cried,

Be, then, for ever what thy prayer implied.
Bemoan'd by me, in others grief excite,
And still preside at every funeral rite.

OVID, book X.

Claudian, in his poem of the Rape of Proserpine, says that the two torches which Ceres employed to seek her daughter were not pine trees, but two cypresses, which grew on Mount Etna.

Tasso, in his Gerusalemme Liberata, says,

"Sorse a pari col sole, ed egli stesso

Seguir la pompa funeral poi volle;
A Dudon, d' odorifero cipresso,

Composto hanno un sepolcro a piè d' un colle."

The following lines are by De Lille, in Les Jardins :

Canto iii.

Among the English poets, from the time of Spenser to the present day, the allusions to the cypress are very numerous. Lord Byron says, speaking of

the simoon:

"Beneath whose widely wasting breath

The very cypress droops to death:

Dark tree! still sad when others' grief is fled,
The only constant mourner of the dead."

Sir Walter Scott's ballad in Rokeby is well known: —

Properties and Uses. The wood of the cypress, as we have already seen, was much used by the ancients for all purposes which required durability; and Horace says that whatever they thought worthy of being handed down to the most remote posterity was preserved in the wood of that tree, or of the cedar. It was occasionally used for building; and the bridge thrown by Semiramis over the Euphrates is supposed to have been built of it. The Romans used the wood of the wild, or spreading, cypress, which they called citron wood, for beds and tables; and it was highly esteemed for its numerous spots and figures, from which the tables made of it were called mensæ tigrinæ et pantherinæ. It was used in the funeral ceremonies; and, when any one was dead, it was placed at the door, or in the vestibule of the house in which the body lay. Evelyn enumerates many purposes to which the wood of the cypress was applied:

"What the uses of this timber are for chests and other utensils, harps, and divers other musical instruments (it being a sonorous wood, and therefore employed for organ-pipes, as heretofore for supporters of vines, poles, and planks, resisting the worm, moth, and all putrefaction, to eternity), the Venetians sufficiently understod, who did every twentieth year, and oftener (the Romans every thirteenth), make a considerable revenue of it out of Candy (Candia). But there was in Candy a vast wood of these trees, belonging to the republic, by malice or accident, or, perhaps, by solar heat (as were many woods, 74 years after, here in England), set on fire; which, beginning 1400, continued burning 7 years before it could be extinguished; being fed by the unctuous nature of the timber, of which there were to be seen at Venice planks above 4 ft. broad." Evelyn adds that the chips were used to flavour rich wines; that the cones and chips burnt, will destroy and drive away moths, gnats, and flies; and that it yields a gum not much inferior to mastic. The tree is not found of sufficient size, or in sufficient quantities, for the wood to be employed as timber at the present day; but it is said to be still used for building in Candia and Malta; and it is employed as the inner coffin, or shell, for burying the popes, there being also a coffin of lead, and an outer one of pine or fir. Du Hamel says that he had the fence of his melon-ground made with posts of cypress, which, at the time he wrote, had been 25 years in the ground, and were still quite fresh. He recommends trees of 7 in. or 8 in. in diameter for forming palisades for the defence of fortified towns during war, and for other services of a similar kind, where oak of the same dimensions does not last above 7 or 8 years. The young branches of the cypress make, he says, excellent props for vines; and, doubtless, the young shoots in England would make very durable props for supporting plants. In Britain, however, the cypress is only to be regarded as an ornamental tree, and it is one of the most remarkable belonging to that class, the future growth and shape of which may be predicted with tolerable certainty. The planter of an oak, an ash, or an elm, can never tell, till the tree is full grown, whether it will have a widely spreading, or a tall erect, head; but the planter of the spruce or silver fir, or of the Lombardy poplar or evergreen cypress, can predict with certainty that the form will be conical; and he may estimate the size and shape of the cypress, in a given time, with more exactness than he can that of any of the others. Like other trees of narrow conical forms, such as the Lombardy poplar, or even the spruce fir and the larch, the cypress is not calculated to produce a grand effect when planted in masses; but in rows, singly, under certain circum

stances, in a group of trees of other shapes, or to break an outline formed by round-headed low trees or shrubs, the cypress is particularly suitable. It is also, from its narrow form and erect habit of growth, well adapted for small suburban gardens, and for planting near buildings, with which, by the contrast it affords to their horizontal roofs, it harmonises better than most other trees. It does not, however, thrive so well within the smoke of cities as the Lombardy poplar. In a picturesque point of view, it may be used in Britain for all those purposes to which we have shown, when treating of the Lombardy poplar (see p. 1662.), that that tree may be applied; but with this difference, that, as the cypress is of slower growth than the Lombardy poplar, and does not attain half its height, the description of round or irregular-headed trees, with which it is to be associated or contrasted, must be proportionately small; and thus, instead of elms, sycamores, and, perhaps, roundheaded poplars and pines, must be used, thorns, crabs, sorbs, amelanchiers, cotoneasters, yews, hollies, Portugal laurels, ilexes, &c. Thus far as to the picturesque uses of the common cypress; but every one knows that there are certain associations connected with this tree, which are supposed to render it particularly suitable for places of burial. "If the name of the cypress," Bosc observes," calls up gloomy ideas, it is not because its foliage has a sad hue, as is commonly alleged, but because its pyramidal shape, affording a striking contrast to the general forms of trees, and its head, occupying but a very limited space, and requiring no pruning, have occasioned it, from the earliest times, to be chosen as an object of decoration; and, as tombs and cemeteries were more decorated, in the earlier ages, than gardens, the cypress was frequently planted among them; till, at last, it has become, in the language of the poets, a symbol of the last residence of man. This is so true," he says, "that the appearance of the cypress produces no gloomy ideas in the minds of the inhabitants of the north of Europe, who only see it in the gardens of the living, or in conservatories; or on those who see the tree without knowing its name or having read anything respecting it. Hence," he continues, "it is only in the imaginations of those who are prepossessed with the supposed character of this tree, that it is considered an image of sadness: other persons regard it as a very beautiful object, fit for forming avenues and planting in pleasure-grounds. Šingly, and of a large size," Bosc continues, "the cypress has a grand and very imposing appearance. In pots and tubs, it is highly prized both in France and Italy, and is used, along with orange trees, pomegranates, oleanders, &c., for decorating churches, and other public buildings, during great fetes; for forming gardens of pots on balconies and on house tops, and even for ornamenting private apartments on holidays." In the Nouveau Du Hamel, the cypress is considered as recommending itself for being planted among tombs by filial piety, not only from the gloomy aspect of the tree, but on account of its long duration. Depuis quelques années," the author says, on reserve un endroit solitaire dans les parcs et les jardins, pour y placer des urnes et des monumens funéraires. Le cyprès doit y occuper la première place: il doit accompagner de son silence lugubre la retraite paisible des morts. Lorsque tous nos amis nous auront dit un éternel adieu, le cyprès fidèle nous prêtera son ombrage. Les urnes, les cercueils, périront: il se renouvellera, pour annoncer aux races futures qu'une main hospitalière l'a placé auprès de nous: il pourra quelquefois leur rappeler les bienfaiteurs de l'humanité.

"C'est ainsi, Du Hamel, qu'aux jours de l'avenir
Tes neveux fortunés, plein de ton souvenir,
Sans aller te pleurer au pied d'un mausolée,

S'imagineront voir ton ombre consolée

Errer dans les bosquets, sous les arbres chéris
Que tes mains ont plantés, que la terre a nourris."

Epitaphe de Colardeau à Du Hamel de Denainvilliers, le Frère de Du Hamel.

Soil, Situation, Propagation, and Culture. Any common garden soil suits the cypress; but it attains its largest size in such soils as are rather dry and deep, and in situations sheltered rather than exposed. It may be propagated either by cuttings or seeds; the former being put in in autumn, and treated like

CHAP. CXIII.

up come

those of Thuja. (See p. 2460.) The cones, which appear to be ripe in autumn, are not perfectly so, but require to hang on the trees till the following March or April. They may then be gathered, and placed in a warm room, or in a box or basket, and set in a dry stove. In a few days, the scales will open, when the cones may be thrashed and the seeds collected: they may be immediately afterwards sown, and treated like those of the Abiétinæ. In England, it is common to sow the seeds in flat pans or in boxes; because, as they are somewhat tender when they first come up, they admit of being more readily protected by being carried to a pit. Unlike the seeds of the genus Thuja, in three which commonly lie in the ground a year, those of the cypress or four weeks. They grow to the height of 3 in. or 4 in. the first season, and may be transplanted into pots, and kept in a pit through the winter. At the end of the second autumn, they may be planted where they are finally to remain ; but, if it be thought necessary, they may be kept three or four years in pots; shifting them frequently, or allowing them to remain in the pot unshifted, according as the object may be to produce large plants, or to concentrate the roots in a small ball, so as to occupy less space in sending the trees to a distance. When the cypress is planted where it is finally to remain, and the situation and soil are suitable, it may be said to require no farther attention during the whole of its existence. It always grows erect, so that no care is requisite to train up a leading shoot; and, as its branches occupy little space, it seldom or never requires pruning. The only culture which we have ever seen given to it in England is, replacing some of the side shoots when their points may have been blown out, by a violent storm of wind and rain, so as to protrude beyond the regular head: but this happens only in very old trees, and in exposed situations; as, for example at Croome.

Statistics.

At Syon, it is 52 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 3 in., and of the head 8 ft.; at Fulham Palace, 50 years planted, it is 40 ft. high. In Devonshire, at Kenton, 38 years old, it is 60 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 2 ft. In Dorsetshire, at Melbury Park, 44 years planted, it is 44 ft. high. In Surrey, at St. Ann's Hill, it is 35 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1ft. In Northumberland, at Heartburn, 80 years planted, it is 35 ft. high. In Suffolk, at Stretton Rectory, it is 63 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. in diameter. In France, at Avranches, in the garden of M. Brunel, 26 years planted, it is 30 ft. high. In Italy, at Monza, 150 years old, it is 90 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6 in., and of the head 20 ft.

Commercial Statistics. Price of seeds, in London, of both varieties, 6s. per pound; and of plants in pots, 1s. 6d. each.

12. C. THYÖÌDES L. The Thuja-like Cypress, or White Cedar.

Identification. Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 512.; Kalm It., 2. p. 175.; Mill. Dict., No. 5.; Du Roy Harbk., 2. p. 198.; Wangh. Amer., 8. t. 2.; Willd. Arb., 92.; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 6.; Bon Jard., ed. 1837; Laws. Man., p. 391.

Synonymes. C. nana mariana, &c., Pluk. Mant., 61., t. 345. f. 1.; Thuja sphæröidàlis Rich. Mém. sur les Conif., p. 45.; Cyprès faux Thuja, Fr.

Engravings. Wangh. Amer., t. 2. f. 4.; Pluk. Mant., t. 345. f. 4.; N. Du Ham. 3. t. 2.; N. Amer. Syl., 3. t. 152.; Wats. Dend. Brit., t. 156. ; and our fig. 2327.

Spec. Char., &c. Branchlets compressed. Leaves imbricated in 4 rows, ovate tuberculate at the base. (Willd.) An evergreen tree; a native of North America. Introduced in 1736; flowering in April and May.

Variety.

C. t. 2 foliis varie-
gàtis has clus-

2327

ters of the leaves variegated, or blotched, with white. The plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden, after being 6 years planted, is 5 ft. high. It was received from the Dunganstown Nursery in Ireland about 1831.