834 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Though comparatively free from serious insect pests, 

 it is subject to the tulip tree spot gall. These are brown 

 spots covering the leaves in midsummer, causing the 

 leaves to have an unhealthy appearance. 



The tulip is the sole survivor of a group of plants 

 plentiful in past ages. It is, however, closely related to 



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BARK OF THE TUI.IP OR YELLOW POPLAR 



the Magnolias which it resembles in many of its charac- 

 teristics. It has the same fleshy roots that make it hard 

 to transplant. These roots are easily bruised and dry 

 quickly when out of the ground. Therefore, they re- 

 quire special care in handling. They can only be suc- 



cessfully transplanted in spring, and earliness is an im- 

 portant factor. Success is much more likely in sizes 

 under 6 feet. Because of their rapidity of growth, little 

 is gained by attempting larger sizes. If in transplanting 

 the top should die and the root should put out a vigorous 

 shoot, it is usually better to make a new top from that 

 shoot than to plant a new tree. 



In transplanting extra pains should be taken to per- 

 form each operation carefully. In digging the tree all 

 the roots should be secured without bruising. As the 

 roots are large and fleshy, this takes extra care. Then 

 too extra care is needed to keep the roots from drying 

 out. They should be kept continually covered with wet 

 burlap and should be packed in wet moss or chaff when 

 shipped. In taking to the planting place the roots should 

 be kept thoroughly protected. The hole should be made 

 considerably larger than the spread of the roots and 

 2 feet deep. This hole should then be filled with good top 

 soil thoroughly mixed with well rotted manure and 

 ground bone. If the hole has a capacity of 2 or 3 cubic 

 yards the tree will be given an excellent start. If planted 

 on a street the hole should under no circumstances be 

 smaller than this. When the hole is prepared, the tree 

 should be set an inch or two deeper than it stood in the 

 nursery. The roots should be spread out in their natural 

 position and be separated with layers of soil. After 

 being well covered they should be thoroughly tramped 

 and a little loose soil spread over the surface. 



The wood is soft, fine grained, with light yellow heart- 

 wood and white sap-wood. It is light in weight, easily 

 worked, readily bent and does not split easily. It is called 

 poplar and tulip poplar in the East and whitewood in 

 the West, though whitewood is a name also given to 

 basswood. Other names are Lynn, or saddle tree, hick- 

 ory-poplar, saddle-leaf, canoe-wood. 



It is used for furniture, cabinet making, interior fin- 

 ishing, boat building, wooden ware and small articles of 

 household use. Where a wood is wanted that will not 

 impart taste or odor to food it is second choice, bass- 

 wood being first. 



Commercial Uses of Tulip or Yellow Poplar 



OUR lumbermen, as well as many others interested 

 in the tulip tree, have not been content to call 

 our tree by its correct name, but quite generally 

 have bestowed upon it that of yellow poplar. Xo doubt 

 they have given it this name because its individual leaves, 

 like those of the true poplars, flutter in a gentle breeze 

 its leaf stem, being triangular, causes it to vibrate in the 

 wind, as does the flat one of the poplars and because the 

 color of the heartwood, in most cases, is somewhat yel- 

 low, hence the prefix "yellow" was attached, making it 

 yellow poplar, to distinguish it from the wood of the 

 genuine poplars which is white. 



Then, again, because its bark, when the tree is small 

 and thrifty, closely resembles that of a young and vigor- 

 ous hickory and the wood in young trees is harder than 

 in mature ones, it is called hickory poplar by some. 

 Where the heartwood is white, as is the case in some 

 localities arising, probably, from soil or climatic con- 

 ditions it has been called whitewood; and, further, for 

 the reason that the Indians made their long and large 

 canoes from the straight, but slightly tapering stem, 

 which was soft, easily worked, and light, others have 

 given it the name of canoe-wood. A few other names 

 have been given it, but among them all only tulip tre^ 

 is appropriate, and that is eminently so because of the 



