THE TULIP TREE. 107 
as well as the most beautiful, of our forest trees. 
The wood is commonly called poplar-wood, and being 
soft and easily worked, is extensively used in the 
manufacture of Cabinet-ware. This tree is very con- 
spicuous in the early summer months on account of 
the abundance of its large showy flowers, each being 
the size, and having much the appearance of the 
tulip. But its appearance is too familiar to need 
much further description. 
A noble specimen of this tree, 
which recently stood upon the 
farm of Friends’ Boarding-school 
at West-town, measured at the 
base about 37 feet in circum- 
ference, and was about 100 feet 
in height. It was hollow in the 
centre, with an opening on one 
side like a tent-door. Respect- 
ing its aye and history, one of 
the Principals in the Seminary writes : — “We have 
no data from which to determine its age, but judg- 
ing from analogy, it must have been in existence 
long before William Penn founded the colony. The 
importance with which this tree was regarded was no 
doubt mainly due to a tradition that it was once oc- 
cupied as a dwelling by a family of Indians. The 
tradition most likely had its origin in the circum- 
stance of numerous relics having been found in the 
immediate vicinity of the tree, indicating the exist- 
ence, at some period, of an Indian encampment It 
had become so much an object of interest to the 
Tulip Tree. 
