The Tulip Tree 149 



the older trees it is thick and brown, with deep 

 furrows. 



The wood of the tree is soft and yellow, and 

 there are many markets for it. Poplar is largely 

 used in making furniture, and the woodwork 

 in railroad cars and automobiles is often made 

 of it. Paper is another of its products. 



The tree has sometimes been called the 

 "canoe wood." This canoe wood and the canoe 

 birch are seldom found together, for poplar grows 

 better in the South, the other in the colder climate 

 farther North. From earliest days, where the 

 tulip grew, dugout canoes were made of it. A 

 boat built of wood is heavier, of course, than 

 one of bark, but it is also stronger, and both the 

 Indians and the earlier settlers in the South used 

 the dugout. In fact, history tells us that several 

 times in the Indian wars, men of the South left 

 their settlements to attack the Indians on the 

 frontier. They went by water, a safer and a 

 quicker way, and the boats in which they went 

 were poplar dugouts. 



