CHARACTERISTICS AND SEEDING OF THE TULIP TREE 



843 



YELLOW POPLAR IN MANTEL MANUFACTURE 



The ability of the wood to take and hold paint well makes it valuable 

 for all white enamel work. These show part of the product of a 

 mantel factory and are made of yellow poplar. 



those enjoying the shade of the adjacent forest; but the 

 condition of those in the partial shade varied in the ratio 

 of their nearness to the forest, the plants in the rows next 

 tc the woods being far the best, but yet not as thrifty as 

 some naturally planted close by, and about the same age, 

 but among bushes and briers. Of course it is possible 

 that the condition of the "forest floor" had something to 

 do with the result. 



It is an old adage that "one swallow does not bring 

 summer," but we can pretty safely conclude that summer 

 is not far off when a lone bird of that species arrives, 

 and it is quite safe to assume that even this. single lesson 

 teaches that, however exacting for light the tree may be 

 when past the age we may well call its infancy, it can 

 have too much light and sunshine in its early life. Just 

 how this is to be overcome when the plants are set out 

 in the ground which is to become the forest is an un- 

 solved problem. Such an extent of ground would be too 

 great to attempt to shade with artificial screens. We 

 must endeavor to get nature to do the work ; but we can- 

 not afiford to grow weeds, briars and the like for that 

 purpose, and, besides, these would serve for only a short 

 time. They would not answer for "nurse trees." There 

 must be a stand of tall, rapidly growing species to do 

 that, for the tulip tree is a rapid grower. Planting a 

 dense stand of that species would not accomplish the end 

 sought, for there would be lacking the shade needed at 

 first. Possibly if some fast-growing species, as European 

 larch, or even red pine, were set out a few years before 

 the tulip trees at all events long enough before to give 

 the needed shade, tl^ese to be planted in alternate rows, 

 or, better, alternately in the rows, so as to shade the little 



tulips at first and later on act as "nurse trees" such a 

 course might be successful. Of course the "nurse trees" 

 would be the ones to be removed in thinning if a pure 

 stand of tulips were desired ; or, in case European 

 larch should be planted for such a purpose, some of these 

 could be retained, as European experience indicates that 

 that tree does better in a mixed than in a pure stand, and 

 we know that the tulip will endure others than its own 

 kind for near neighbors. Such a course would, doubt- 

 less, secure a good stand of one or both species, and both 

 are valuable. 



To be sure, this scheme would be wholly experimental, 

 as will any course, for few attempts have been made in 

 this country to grow the tulip tree for economical pur- 

 poses, and such as have been undertaken are not far 

 enough along to fully determine what can or cannot be 

 done, and European experience cannot help us much for 

 it cannot be learned that much has been done there along 

 that line. In case it should be ascertained that the trouble 

 lies in a poor "forest floor" instead of lack of shade, it 

 would seem that the plan suggested would still be in the 

 line of practical treatment. 



The lack of fertility in the seeds cannot be overcome, 

 but the great abundance of them furnished by nature 

 partially compensates for that, and it will be a strange 



Photo by S. B. Elliott. 



TULIP OR YELLOW POPLAR FROM SEED 



This tree is 16 years old. It was raised from seed and is now 9 inches 

 in diameter, 2 feet above the ground. It bore fertile seeds when 13 

 years old. It is on the property of the author at Reynoldsville, Pa. 



