512 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



Ill autumn it assumes the most brilliant of all coloring, though 

 it exhibits but little variety in its tints. In the interior of 

 the tree the leaves are of a bright yellow ; outside, they are 

 scarlet and crimson ; but the general hue, when seen at a 

 distance, is scarlet. They never fade into brown, like those 

 of the ash and the walnut, before they fall to the ground, 

 but invariably drop from the tree before they have lost their 

 tints. The tupelo, the ash, and the maple receive the earliest 

 coloring of all the forest trees, and commonly shed their 

 leaves while the foliage of the oaks is still green, or but very 

 slightly changed. The tupelo is one of the brightest orna- 

 ments of our forest during the early part of October. The 

 fine verdure of its leaves recommends it in summer ; and even 

 in winter its grotesque forms, rising up out of the shallow 

 meres, give a peculiar interest to these solitary places. It is 

 not adapted to cultivated and dressed grounds, but harmonizes 

 well with rude and romantic situations. 



The tupelo is, therefore, the opposite of the ash, the one 

 being precisely regular in its shape, the other eccentric and 

 grotesque ; the one delighting in uplands, the other in swamps. 

 The leaves and small branches of the ash are opposite ; those 

 of the tupelo are alternate ; the former has a coarse, the other 

 a finely divided spray ; and, on the whole, there are perhaps 

 no two trees of the forest so entirely unlike. Where the 

 tupelo has stood alone and sent forth its branches without 

 restraint, it exhibits its most grotesque irregularities, for when 

 crowded in the forest among other trees, it runs up straight 

 and with but few branches. This tree is exceedingly worthy 

 of protection in its native habitats, being highly ornamental 

 to rude scenery at all seasons of the year, and having insuffi- 

 cient value, as timber or as fuel, to make it for our interest to 

 cut it down. Its wood is valuable for bowls and troughs, and 

 for the naves of wheels, on account of its twisted fibres and 

 its toughness, but it is almost worthless for common purposes. 



