The Tulip Tree. 



equal to that of any wood; and I am told that a cabin of a 

 small packet^ which goes on the Thames, from Westmin- 

 ster Bridge upwards, made of this wood, sold by me to the 

 proprietor of the packet, is deemed the most beautiful 

 thing of the kind, that ever was seen, by those who have 

 had an opportunity of seeing it. The colour of the wood 

 appears to me, to be about half way between a lemon 

 colour and a white. 1 have used some of it in making 

 shelves for a dairy and dressers for a kitchen ; and, though 

 not at all polished, I have never seen any thing of the kind 

 so handsome. 



520. I should suppose, that this wood might be obtained 

 at as little expense as that of any of the Poplars; it might 

 be a little longer in coming to perfection; that is to say, in 

 arriving at a size sufficient for large plank ; but a plank of 

 it must be worth twenty platiks of Poplar of the same size, 

 if not a hundred planks. It is a tree that grows very fast, 

 and when raised from the seed goes erect, and does not 

 send out limbs to any very great extent until it becomes 

 nearly as lofty as the Plane. Generally speaking, it is not 

 so large and lofty a tree as the Plane; but, flowers in- 

 cluded, it certainly surpasses even that majestic tree in 

 elegance and beauty. We have in England nothing but 

 very imperfect specimens of this tree, though it has been 

 known in England for pretty nearly a hundred years, and 

 though there is scarcely any fine gentleman's seat in the 

 kingdom on some part of which the tree is not to be found. 

 Miller speaks of raising the trees from the seed, and says 

 that he did it by means of artificial heat. But we gather 

 from him, that raising from the seed was never practised to 

 any considerable extent, and that the practice of raising 

 from layers was, even in his day, the general practice. In 

 order to have these layers, there must first be a tree grow- 



