The Tulip Tree. 



522. When the petals of the flower drop, they leave 

 behind them a little sort of cone, coming out of the 

 middle of the stem of the flower. This cone gets at last 

 to be about two inches long, and about three quarters 

 or an inch through. It is composed of scales, which are 

 perfectly dry in the fall of the year, and easily rubbed to 

 pieces by the hand. One of these scales very much re- 

 sembles, in shape, the tongue of an ox, with a small part 

 of the root remaining attached to the tongue. This scale 

 is liiie a piece of thin, dead bark ; but, down nearly close to 

 the root of it, there are two little cavities, in each of which, 

 when the seed is good and well ripened, there is a little flat 

 and oblong seed about half the size of the pith of a common 

 oat. These seeds are covered by a very thick coat ; and it 

 is so difficult to get them out of the scale, that it is neces- 

 sary to sow scale and all, w^ithout making an attempt to 

 get at the naked seeds. 



523. The manner of sowing the seeds is precisely that 

 pointed out for the sowing of the Ash, for which see from 

 paragraph 108 to paragraph 112, both inclusive. In that 

 part of the work, I have been very circumstantial and 

 minute relative to the manner of sowing; and I was so, for 

 the purpose of saving myself the trouble of repetition, as 

 well as for that of preventing the book from extending to 

 an unnecessary bulk. But, as to the season of sowing, that 

 must depend upon circumstances. The seed must always 

 arrive from America some time in the winter. If sowed in 

 the spring, and in April, or even in May, which I think is 

 best, the plants will not come up until the month of May 

 of the succeeding year ; but then all of them will come up 

 that v/ill ever come at all. If you were to keep the seeds 

 out of ground during the whole of the summer, and sow 

 them in the month of October or November, a part would 



