ioo Trees with Simple Leaves. [A in 



feet high, often much higher, with a straight, clear trunk, 

 that divides rather abruptly at the summit into coarse and 

 straggling branches. The wood is light and soft, straight- 

 grained, and easily worked, with the heart wood light 

 yellow or brown, and the thin sap wood nearly white. It 

 is very widely and variously used — for construction, for 

 interior finish, for shingles, in boat-building, for the panels 

 of carriages, especially in the making of wooden pumps 

 and wooden ware of different kinds. 



I asked a carpenter : " Hope, is n't it the tulip wood 

 (which you call poplar) that the carriage-makers use for 

 their panels ?" 



" Yes, and the reason is, because it shapes so easily. 

 If you take a panel and wet one side, and hold the other 

 side to a hot stove-pipe, the piece will just hug the pipe. 

 It s the best wood there is for panelling." 



" Of all the trees of North America with deciduous 

 leaves, the tulip tree, next to the buttonwood, attains the 

 amplest dimensions, while the perfect straightness and 

 uniform diameter of its trunk for upwards of forty feet, 

 the more regular disposition of its branches, and the 

 greater richness of its foliage, give it a decided superiority 

 over the buttonwood and entitle it to be considered as 

 one of the most magnificent vegetables of the temperate 

 zone." — Michaux. 



The tulip tree was very highly esteemed by the 

 ancients ; so much so that in some of their festivals they 

 are said to have honored it by pouring over its roots 

 libations of wine. 



