Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Cypress

CYPRESS, the Common, or Cupressus sempervirens, L. is a native of the islands of Candia and Crete, but may be easily propagated in Britain, from seeds as well as cuttings. The proper season for sowing the former, is the month of March, when the ground should be dug, well broken, raked smooth, and an inch of the earth drawn evenly off the surface into an alley: the seeds should then be scattered moderately thick, and the soil sifted immediately over them, half an inch deep. During the summer, they should be kept clear of weeds, and, in dry weather, gently watered: in winter, they must be occasionally sheltered from the frost, with mats; and, in the course of two years, they will be fit for transplanting, when they should be set in nursery-rows, two feet asunder; and, in three or four years, they may be removed to the shrubbery.

The cypress-tree, though found in most of our old gardens, is at present much neglected: it deserves, however, to be more diligently cultivated, as it not only adds considerable beauty to wildernesses and groves, but also affords a valuable wood, which is aromatic, very compact, and heavy; is neither liable to decay or putrify, nor to the devastations of the worm, so that it is admirably calculated for chests, drawers, musical instruments, and other utensils.

This tree is eminently recommended for purifying the air, and for the benefit of weak lungs: hence, the ancient physicians sent their consumptive patients to the island of Crete, where the cypress is very abundant. Its nut, or fruit, is a very powerful astringent and balsamic, and is, perhaps, inferior to none of the simples employed in diarrhœas and dysenteries.