Z'S LIR10DENDR0N TULIPIFERA. 
the sap-wood. The grain, also, is coarser and harder, and the wood decays 
more speedily ; hence, it is neglected when the other variety can be obtained. 
The yellow poplar possesses every quality requisite to fit it for a great variety 
of uses. At New York and Philadelphia, and in the adjacent country, it was 
formerly employed in the construction of houses, for rafters, and for joists of the 
upper stories, for which purposes it was esteemed, on account of its lightness and 
strength, but as the timber has become scarce, pine and spruce have taken its 
place. In the middle, southern, and western states, where this tree abounds, it 
is more generally used in building, and is considered as the best substitute for 
pine, red cedar, and cypress, and serves for the interior work of houses, and 
sometimes for the exterior covering. The panels of doors and of wainscots, and 
the mouldings of chimney pieces, are made of this wood. In some states, shin- 
gles are made of it, about fifteen inches long, which are preferred to those made 
of pine, because they are more durable, and are not liable to crack from the 
effects of intense frost and sunshine. In most of the large cities and towns 
in the United States, boards sawn from this tree, are generally used for the 
panels of carriages. When perfectly dry, they take the paint well, and admit 
of a brilliant polish. Large quantities of this wood are consumed in the manufac- 
ture of trunks, covered with cloth, or skins ; of tables, and bedsteads, which 
are stained, in imitation of mahogany, and for the seats of chairs. It often 
enters into the composition of bureaus, and cabinet-work generally, particularly 
when it is inlaid with veneers. It is also used for the circular boards and wings 
of winnowing machines, also for the construction of sleigh and wagon bodies, 
where white pine is not abundant, and for the interior of canal and steamboats. 
As it is easily wrought in the lathe, it is often used for bowls, brush, and broom 
heads and handles, and numerous other articles among turners' wares. Among 
agriculturists, trunks of these trees are often formed into eating and drinking 
troughs for their animals, which, when exposed to the weather, last as long as 
those made of chestnut and butternut. In some parts of the country, the 
wood of this tree is employed for the rails of rural fences. It is found useful, 
also, in the construction of bridges, as it unites lightness with strength and 
durability. The Indians who formerly inhabited the middle states, made choice 
of this tree to form their canoes, for which purpose it was well adapted. The 
trunk being of great length and diameter, and the wood being light and strong, 
it was sometimes wrought by them into canoes that would carry twenty or 
more persons. It is still used by the Indians and others in the western country, 
for the same purpose. Michaux remarks that, when one of these trees is felled, 
the chips of the heart-wood that are left upon the ground, particularly those 
which are left half buried in the leaves, suffer, at the end of three or four weeks, 
a remarkable change ; the lower part becomes of a dark-blue, and they exhale a 
fetid, ammoniacal odour ; though the live part of the bark of the trunk, branches, 
and still more of the roots, has an agreeable smell, and a very bitter taste, and, 
even under the same circumstances as the heart- wood, it neither acquires the 
blue colour, nor the disagreeable smell. 
The bark of this tree is considered, by some, as scarcely inferior to the cin- 
chona, being a powerful tonic and antiseptic. The aromatic principle appears to 
reside in a resinous part of the substance of the bark, and, when used, stimulates 
the intestinal canal, and operates as a gentle cathartic. In many instances, the 
stomach cannot support it, unless each dose is accompanied by a few drops of 
laudanum. These properties were well known to the American Indians, who 
employed the bark of the roots of this tree for the cure of intermittents. 
