The Tulip Tree. 



beautiful as a flower, is so large, is in form so elegant, 

 comes in such quantities, and invites the eye to so great a 

 height ; the trunk of the tree is so straight, the limbs so 

 evenly balanced upon it, their distribution is so regular, 

 and, in short, the whole tree is so magnificent an object, 

 that it is impossible for any one who has a taste for rural 

 affairs not to desire to see this tree extensively planted in 

 England. 



517. But, great as its merits are as an ornament even to 

 the grandest of mansions and domains, its ornamental qua- 

 lities are nothing compared with those which are presented 

 to us in its divers qualities of utility. This tree delights in 

 a light and moist soil. I have always seen it finest in 

 little flats near to rivers or brooks. In such places it grows 

 a great deal higher than in high or dry lands ; but it does 

 not want rich lands, and there are numerous little valleys 

 and dells, in divers parts even of Bagshot-heaJfch, where 

 the water comes oozing out of the sides of the hills, and 

 makes a sort of little swamp, and marshes, in which this 

 tree, with a little draining of the swamp, and a good 

 trenching of the land, would flourish exceedingly. But, in 

 every Gentleman's estate of any considerable extent, there 

 are more or less of rivulets of various widths ; and, on the 

 sides of these rivulets, there are always frequently occurring, 

 little flat parts, covered in flood times by the water ; and 

 of course, very moist all the summer. In such places, 

 and on the sides of rivulets and ditches in meadows, the 

 Tulip Tree would flourish exceedingly. It does not like 

 ground where the bottom is constantly water ; but where it 

 is occasionally wet. Such a situation, however, is not 

 absolutely necessary, for I have seen very fine Tulip Trees, 

 from seventy to ninety feet high, growing on the side of a 

 hill amongst rocks. In short, there is hardly any ground 



