Such is the account given of the Cypress in its native soils. In the middle states it is planted only as an ornamental tree; and while, in the South, its great abundance causes it to be neglected or disregarded as such, its rarity here allows us fully to appreciate its beauty. North of the 43ï¾° of latitude it will not probably stand the winter without protection; but south of that, it will attain a good size. The finest planted specimen which we have seen, and one which is probably equal in grandeur to almost any in their native swamps, is growing in the Bartram Botanic Garden, near Philadelphia. That garden was founded by the father of American botanists, John Bartram, who explored the southern and western territories, then vast wilds, at the peril of his life, to furnish the savans and gardens of Europe, with the productions of the new world, and who commenced the living collection, now unequalled, of American trees, in his own garden. In the lower part of it stands the great Cypress, a tree of noble dimensions, measuring at this time 130 feet in height and 25 in circumference. The tree was held by Bartram's son, William, while his father assisted in planting it, ninety-nine years ago. The elder Bartram at the time expressed to his son, the hope that the latter might live to see it a large tree. Long before he died (not many years since), it had become the prodigy of the garden, and great numbers from the neighboring city annually visit it, to admire its vast size, and recline beneath its ample shade.
