848 The yoitrnal of Forestry. 



01 all the studies that carry amusement in their train, perhaps none 

 are more engrossing than the gains and losses of our language. In 

 the present note we have drawn upon recent times ; but if we travel 

 to the past, the changes are more marked and forcible in their character. 



The art of " building " was anciently called " timbering," and hence 

 we are told that York cathedral was timbered m stone; again "thatch- 

 ing" was the equivalent of " covering," and we find it stated so late 

 as four hundred years ago that some buildings belonging to Worksop 

 Prioi-y were thatched with stone. 



The Liriodendron. 



A FEW notes from its native wilds upon this valuable tree may be of 

 interest to your readers. The tulip tree, or poplar, as it is generally 

 termed here, is one of our most common as well as most useful trees for 

 ornament, shade, and lumber. Within the last decade, millions of fine 

 specimens of this grand tree have been ruthlessly destroyed and cut into 

 the lumber which constitutes the major part of many a cosy home. Timber 

 is no object, and the destruction still goes on ; portable mills are plentiful, 

 and in a score or two of years this beautiful specimen of nature's handiwork 

 will have disappeared from our forest. 



It seems most congenial to hilly, broken land, where it attains its 

 greatest size. The valleys and hills of the Ohio and. Mississippi seem to 

 be its native home. Wood, in his botanical works, gives an account of a 

 tree 23 feet in circumference four feet from the ground, and 125 feet high, 

 growing in Indiana. Fifteen years ago, when thousands of acres that are 

 to-day in grass and grain were in all their primeval woodland glory, broken 

 only here and there by a small farm, there was a tree a mile or so from 

 my father's house in this county, 10 feet in diameter and 140 or 150 feet 

 high. Alas ! the woodman spared not that tree, and this king of all its 

 race has gone the way of all things earthly ! Trees four and five feet in 

 diameter are abundant. The kind known as white or blue poplar is very 

 tough, and will not split ; the yellow kind makes good rails, shingles, &c., 

 and above ground compares favourably with our best lasting woods, but 

 will soon rot in the ground. 



Another feature, and a very important one too for shade and ornamental 

 trees, is that it is one of the earliest to put forth leaves, which quickly 

 grow to their full size. They are now (April 21st) about one-third grown, 

 and already make quite a shade. The leaves are very graceful, dark green, 

 smooth, truncate at the end with two lateral lobes, on long drooping 

 petioles ; are from 3 to 5 inches in length and breadth, and when held in 

 the sun have the appearance of being bronzed, something like the Southern 

 magnolia. The flowers in dry weather accumulate several drops of honey 

 on the petals and sepals, and are generally sought after by the average 

 small boy, bees, and animals that have a sweet tooth. Young trees 10 or 

 12 feet high are often replanted, after trimming the tops, and few die. 



