TREES OF AMERICA. 189 



pressure, as in the naves of wheels, and the 

 side-boards and bottoms of carts and heavy 

 wagons. It makes very good fires, too, for it 

 burns slowly, and gives out a great deal of 

 heat. 



"In Georgia, and South Carolina, and Flori- 

 da, there is another kind of tupelo, called the 

 large tupelo, and sometimes the wild olive. It 

 is often seen eighty feet high, but the trunk is 

 very slender, except at the ground, for this kind 

 has the remarkable swelling I told you of as be- 

 longing to the black gum. Close to the ground 

 the'trunk is often found seven or eight feet thick ; 

 then it diminishes rapidly, until at the height 

 of four or five feet it is not more than eigh- 

 teen or twenty inches in diameter, and it 

 continues of this size to the height of twenty- 

 five or thirty feet." 



" Uncle Philip, that must give the trees a 

 very odd appearance. What is the cause of 

 it, do you know, sir ?" 



" No, I do not ; some people have supposed 

 that it was owing to the dampness of the soil ; 

 but if this were the case, the same thing 

 would be found in other kinds of trees ; but 

 it is not, and is peculiar to the tupeloes and 

 the cypress only. The leaves of the large 



