Liriodendron 69 



but that if sown in autumn, part will come up in the next spring and part in the 

 following year. 



Dawson in an excellent paper on the Propagation of Trees from Seed/ 

 says, " The tulip tree invariably takes two years, and as the proportion of good seed 

 is as I to 10, it should be sown very thickly to ensure even an ordinary crop." 



Probably this opinion was based on his experience with seeds grown in New 

 England, \vhere they do not ripen so well as they do in the south, for my own experience, 

 gained by sowing seeds received from Meehan of Philadelphia, is different. In the 

 spring of 1 903 I sowed part of the seeds in a greenhouse, where they began to germinate 

 six weeks later. Of those sown in the open ground, perhaps 10 per cent germinated 

 in June. The following summer was cold and wet, and the seedlings in the open 

 ground made slow progress, being only 2-3 inches high in the autumn, whilst those 

 kept under glass were from 6- 1 5 inches high at the same time. The young wood 

 seems to ripen better than that of most North American trees and, as the spring of 

 1904 was favourable, they were not checked by frost. But the seedlings are diffi- 

 cult to transplant, owing to the fleshy and brittle nature of their roots, and are there- 

 fore best kept in a box or large pot till they are two years old, when the roots should 

 be trimmed and planted out in deep sandy soil, and watered the first year ; after this 

 they should be transplanted frequently until large enough to put in their permanent 

 situation, and if tall and straight grown trees are desired the young trees must be 

 very carefully pruned, as like the Magnolia they do not thrive so well if large 

 branches are cut off. 



The tulip tree rarely ripens its seed in England, and that which I got from a 

 tree at VVestonbirt in Gloucestershire in 1901 did not germinate. But I am informed 

 by Mr. A. C. Forbes, that a self-sown tulip tree is growing in the sand walk at 

 Longleat, and Colonel Thynne confirms this in December 1904, when he tells me 

 the young tree is 8 feet high. This, however, is the only instance I know of in 

 England where natural reproduction has occurred. 



Soil and Situation 



The tree requires a deep, moist, rich soil to bring it to perfection, preferring 

 heavy land to light, and apparently disliking lime in the soil. It probably prefers a 

 moderate amount of shade when young, and would be more likely to grow tall and 

 straight if surrounded by other trees. But isolated trees sometimes grow with a 

 clean straight stem, as at Leonardslee in Sussex (see below) even on dry soil. 



In the Gardeners Chronicle for 1879 there was much correspondence on the 

 merits of this tree for general cultivation in England, from which I extract the 

 following particulars, which will be valuable to intending planters. 



Most of the correspondents agree that it grows best on heavy soil, inclining to 

 clay, or with a clay subsoil. Sir W. Thiselton Dyer says it does not do well on 

 the light, dry soil of Kew Gardens. 



Trans. Mass. Hort. Soc. 1885, p. 152. 



