BLACK GUM. 



BLACK THORN. 



oach and wagon wheels, as well as for hatters' 

 blocks, being so little liable to split ; a quality 

 which also causes it to be chosen by ship- 

 wrights for the cap, or piece which receives 

 the top-mast. 



Tupelo. The black gum is often confounded 

 with another tree of the same genus, the Tupelo 

 or Nyssa uquaticu, also called gum tree, sjur 

 gum, and peperidge. The first of these appel- 

 lations, Micnaux says, is most common, the 

 second is wholly misapplied, as no self-con- 

 densing fluid distils from the tree, and the 

 third which more appropriately belongs to the 

 common barberry-bush, is used only by the 

 descendents of the Dutch settlers in the neigh- 

 bourhood of New York. The tupelo extends 

 much higher north than the black gum, ap- 

 pearing in the lower part of New Hampshire 

 near the sea ; but it is most abundant in the 

 southern parts of New York, New Jersey, and 

 Pennsylvania. It grows only in wet grounds. 

 In Delaware, where the black gum and tupelo 

 are found together, the former name is univer- 

 sally applied to both. In New Jersey it is con- 

 stantly seen on the borders of the swamps with 

 the sweet gum, the swamp white-oak, the 

 chestnut white-oak, and the white elm. It 

 rarely exceeds forty or forty-five feet in height, 

 and its limbs, which spring at five or six feet 

 from the ground, grow in a horizontal direc- 

 tion. The trunk is of a uniform size from its 

 base. While it is less than ten inches in diame- 

 ter the bark is not remarkable, but on full- 

 grown and vigorous-stocks it is thick, deeply- 

 furrowed, and, unlike the bark of any other 

 .tree, divided into hexagons, which are some- 

 times nearly regular. 



The leaves are about half the length of those 

 of the black gum, viz.: three inches long, ob- 

 oval, smooth, alternate, and often united in 

 bunches at the extremity of the young lateral 

 shoots. The flowers are small and scarcely 

 apparent. The fruit, which is abundant, is, 

 iike that of the black gum, of a deep blue co- 

 lour, about the size of a pea, and attached in 

 pairs. It is ripe towards the beginning of No- 

 vember, and remaining after the falling of the 

 leaf, it forms a part of the nourishment of the 

 robins and other birds in their autumnal mi- 

 gration to the south. The stone is flattened on 

 one side, a little convex on the other, and 

 striated lengthwise. Bruised in water the 

 berries yield an unctuous, greenish juice, of a 

 slightly bitter taste, which is not easily mingled 

 with the fluid. 



The tupelo holds a middle place between 

 trees with soft and those with hard wood. 

 When perfectly seasoned, the sap part is of a 

 ight reddish tint, and the heart, of a deep 

 brown. Of trees exceeding fifteen or eighteen 

 inches in diameter more than half the trunk is 

 generally hollow. 



The woody fibres which compose the body 

 of trees in general are closely united, and 

 usually ascend in a perpendicular direction. 

 By a cajyice of nature, they sometimes pursue 

 an undulating course, as in the red and sugar 

 maples, or, as in the last mentioned species, 

 form riplings so fine, that the curves are only 

 one. two, or three lines in diameter; or lastly, 

 they ascend spirally, as in the twisted elm 

 186 



(Orme tortillard} following the same bent foi 

 four or five feet. In these species, however, 

 the deviation is only accidental, and to be 

 sure of obtaining this form it must be perpe- 

 tuated by grafting or by transplanting young 

 stocks from the shade of the parent tree. The 

 genus which we are considering exhibits, on 

 the contrary, a constant peculiarity of organi- 

 zation ; the fibres are united in bundles, and 

 interwoven like a braided cord. Hence the 

 wood is extremely difficult to split unless cut 

 into short billets ; a property which gives it a 

 decided superiority for certain uses. In New 

 York, New Jersey, and particularly at Phila- 

 delphia, the wood of the tupelo is almost ex- 

 clusively employed for the hubs of wheels. In 

 a very few places white oak is used for this 

 purpose, probably because the tupelo is of a 

 bad quality or cannot be readily obtained. 

 Michaux thinks that from its limited size and 

 strength, the tupelo can never be substituted 

 for the twisted elm, where very large naves or 

 hubs are required for wagons destined to sup- 

 port immense burdens. In France, he says, 

 the wheels of their heavy vehicles have naves 

 twenty inches in diameter at the insertion of 

 the spokes, with an axle-tree of three hundred 

 and fifty pounds weight, and are laden for dis- 

 tant transportation with nine thousand pounds. 

 If, to its own organization, the tupelo joined 

 the solidity of the elm, a more rapid vegetation 

 and the faculty of growing on dry and elevated 

 lands, and of expanding to three or four times 

 its present size, it would be the most precious 

 to the mechanical arts of all the forest-trees of 

 Europe and North America. In New Jersey 

 and Pennsylvania, many farmers prefer the 

 tulepo for the side-boards and bottom of carts, 

 as experience has proved its durability. 

 Wooden bowls are made of it, and also the 

 mortars in which Indian corn is beaten with 

 an iron pestle in the process of preparing ho* 

 miny. It burns slowly and throws out a good 

 heat, which makes it a favourite with those 

 who keep wood fires, especially for the back 

 log, a purpose to which it is almost exclusively 

 devoted. (American Sylva.} See TUPELO. 



BLACK LEGS. A provincial name given 

 in some places to a disease frequent among 

 calves and sheep. In Staffordshire it is called 

 the wood evil. It is a bloody gelatinous hu- 

 mour, settling in their legs, and often in the 

 neck between the skin and the flesh, making 

 them carry their necks awry. 



BLACK MUZZLE. See SHEEP, DISEASES or. 



BLACK OATS. A' species of oats much 

 cultivated in some parts of England. The oats 

 of this habit have the corolla very dark, are 

 awned, and the seeds are small. They are 

 rather an inferior class of oats, but are hardy 

 and ripen early, and it is this property which 

 suits them for cultivation in cold and elevated 

 climates. (Prof. Low. Ele. Ag., p. 256.) See 

 OATS. 



BLACK THORN, or SLOE (Primus spi- 



\ nosa). This rigid bushy shrub is well known, 



: growing commonly in hedges and thickets. It 



! is frequently used in making fences, especially 



in exposed situations. But it is not reckoned 



! so good for this purpose as the white thorn, 



because it is apt to run more into the ground, 



