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2 
situated on the estate of the late Ernest Thalman, at Inwood, 
the extreme northerly end of Manhattan. Speeches were made 
by Commissioner Stover, Gen. James Grant Wilson, Dr. Stephen 
Smith, R. P. Bolton and Dr. Britton, who spoke in part as follows: 
“The tulip tree is the most characteristic tree of eastern North 
America. It grows naturally from Rhode Island, southern 
Vermont and Michigan on the north to Florida, Mississippi and 
Arkansas on the south, preferring rich, loose soil and the society 
of other trees. Its greatest size is attained in Tennessee and 
Kentucky, where it sometimes reaches nearly 200 feet in height, 
with a trunk diameter of nine or ten feet. Тһе noble individual 
whose preservation we meet to-day to celebrate is probably the 
largest trunk in diameter known in this part of the country. Its 
circumference of nineteen feet indicates a diameter of a little 
more than six feet. There are, however, not a few specimens in 
upper Manhattan and the Bronx with trunks approximating five 
feet in diameter. The roots of these great trees are very long 
and nümerous, extending in the soil far from the base. 
“The tulip tree leaves are very different from those of any 
other.plant; its large greenish yellow flowers open in May or 
June, and a fancied resemblance to those of tulips has given the 
tree its name; its fruit is a sharp pointed cone in which the 
seeds are to be found. The wood, known in commerce as white- 
wood, is valuable, being used for building, shingles and wooden- 
ware. The trunk of the tulip tree is usually a single column— 
specimens with two columns, caused by the tree's.forking when 
young, as in the splendid plant we are now studying, being excep- 
tional. Its circumference of 19 feet indicates a diameter of 
about 614 feet, or a radius of about 37 inches. The average 
number of annual layers of wood to the inch in the radius of 
the tulip tree up to 105 years old, when the radius is 22 inches, 
is 4.8, as shown by a trunk recently cut at the New York Botanical 
Garden. If the same proportion were carried out to the radius of 
37 inches of the Inwood tree it would be 174 years old. As trees 
become older, however, the layers of wood formed annually are 
thinner, so that we may assume that in this specimen the average 
number of layers to the inch of radius may be about 6, whic 
would indicate an approximate age of 222 years." 
The following words are to be engraved on a tablet placed 
near the tree, which has been protected by a high iron fence: 
“Tulip Tree. Liriodendron tulipifera. Circumference, I9 feet. 
Age, 225 years. Henry Hudson entered this inlet in 1609 and 
