286 



AUBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART 111. 



more than seven or eight in the whole number, are productive. It is also 

 observed, that, during ten years after it begins to yiekl fruit, almost all the 

 seeds are unproductive ; and that, on large trees, the seeds from the 

 highest branches are the best. The bark, till the trunk exceeds 7 in. or 8 in. 

 in diameter, is smooth and even : it afterwards begins to crack, and the 

 depth of the furrow, and the thickness of the bark, are proportioned to the 

 size, and to the age of the tree. The heart, or perfect wood, of the tulip 

 tree is yello\v, approaching to a lemon colour; and its sap, or alburnum, is 

 white. '(^Michmix .) In Europe, though the tulip tree does not attain the 

 same magnitude that it does in situations favourable to it, in its native coun- 

 try, it still forms a magnificent tree ; in some cases, both in Britain and in 

 the middle of the European continent, reaching the height of 90 ft. or 100 ft., 

 flowering freely, and sometimes ripening seed. The annual shoots of young 

 plants, in the neighbourhood of London, are from 18 in. to 2 ft. in length j 

 and the tree will, in favourable circumstances, attain the height of from 15 ft. 

 to 20ft. in ten years; seldom, however, flowering till it is upwards of 

 twenty years old. The height, in England, frequently exceeds 70 ft. ; and it 

 has ripened seeds here, occasionally, from which young plants have been 

 raised.' It ripens its fruit very generally in France ; though it is observed, in 

 the Noiiveau Da Hamel, that these seeds do not vegetate so freely as those 

 which are imported from America. 



Geography. The southern extremity of Lake Champlain, in latitude 45°, 

 accorduig to IVIichaux, may be considered as the northern, and the Connecticut 

 river, in the longitude of 72°, as the eastern, limit of the tulip tree. It is 

 found beyond the Hudson, which flows two degrees farther west; and below 

 43° of latitude it is frequently met with, and fully developed. Its expan- 

 sion is not here repressed, as in Vermont, and in the upper part of the Con- 

 tinent, by the excessive cold, and by a mountainous surface unfavourable to 

 its growth. It abounds in the middle states, in the upper parts of the 

 Carolinas and of Georgia ; and is found still more abundantly in the western 

 country, particularly in Kentucky. Its comparative rareness in the maritime 

 parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, in the Floridas, and . in Lower 

 Louisiana, is owing less to the heat of the summer than to the nature of the 

 soil; which, in some parts, is too dry, as in the pine barrens, and in others 

 too wet, as in the swamps which border the rivers. Even in the middle and 

 western states, the tulip tree is less abundant than the oaks, the walnuts, 

 the ashes, and ihe beeches, because it delights only in deep, loamy, and ex- 

 tremely fertile soils, such as are found in the rich bottoms that lie along the 

 rivers, and on the borders of the great swamps that are enclosed in the 

 forests. In the Atlantic states, especially a,t a considerable distance from 

 the sea, tulip trees are often seen 70 ft., SO l\., and 100 ft. in height, with 

 trunks from 18 in. to 3 ft. in diameter: but the western states seem to be 

 the natural soil of this magnificent tree, and there it display's its most power- 

 ful vegetation. It is commonly found mingled with other trees, such as the 

 hickories, the black walnut and butter nut, the Kentucky coffee tree (Gym- 

 nocladus), and the wild cherry tree: but it sometimes constitutes, alone, 

 pretty large tracts of the forest ; as was observed by the elder Michaux on 

 the road from Beardstone to Louisville. In no other part of the United 

 States did he find tulip trees so loft}', and of so great a diameter. (Michaux.) 

 The artificial geography of this tree may be said to embrace the middle region 

 of Europe, from Berlin and Warsaw, on the north, to the shores of the 

 Mediterranean and Naples, on the south ; Ireland, on the west ; and the 

 Crimea, on the east. 



Hhtori/. When the tulip tree was first introduced into England is uncer- 

 tain ; but it was cultivated by Com])ton, at Fulham, in 1688. It was, however, 

 at that time, wholly unknown as a timber tree. Evelyn, speaking of it, says, 

 " They have a poplar in Vu-ginia of a very peculiar-shajied leaf, which grows 

 well with the curious amongst us to a considerable stature. 1 conceive it was 

 first brought over by John Tradeacant, under the name of the tulip tree, from 



