288 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



often 2 ft. or 3 ft. wide, are exclusively used for the panels of carriages. 

 When perfectly dry, they take the paint well, and admit of a brilliant polish. 

 The vicinity of Boston does not [)roduce this tree, and the coachmakers there 

 procure it from New York and Philadelphia : it is also sent for the same use 

 to Charleston, S. C, where the tulip trees are few in number, and inferior in 

 size. The seats of the Windsor chairs which are fabricated at New York, 

 Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and in many other towns, are always of this wood : 

 a large quantity of it is consumed in this way, and also in the manufacture of 

 trunks which are covered with skins, and of bedsteads which are stained in 

 imitation of mahogany. The circular board and wings of winnowing-machines 

 are made of this wood, as it is easily wrought in the lathe, and is very light ; 

 it is also much used for wooden bowls, and for the heads of hair brooms, or 

 sweeping-brushes. The farmers use it for the eating and drinking troughs of 

 cattle : these troughs are formed of a single piece ; and, exposed to the wea- 

 ther, they last as long as those made of chestnut and butternut (Chvya). In 

 Kentucky, the wood of the tulip tree is sometimes employed for the rails of 

 rural fences. It is found useful, also, in the construction of wooden bridges, 

 as it unites lightness with strength and durabiUty. The Inchans who inhabited 

 the middle states, and those who still remain in the western country, pre- 

 fer this tree for their canoes ; which, consisting of a single trunk, arc very 

 light and strong, and sometimes carry twenty persons. The wood of the tulip 

 tree aifords excellent charcoal, which, in America, is employed by the smiths 

 in the districts that furnish no fossil coal. In the lumber yards of New 

 York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, a great quantity of this wood is found, in 

 forms convenient for the uses above enumerated. In America it is very cheap ; 

 being sold at half the price of black walnut, wild cherry, and curled maple. 

 In all the country watered by the river Monongahela, between 39° and 40° 

 of latitude, the tulip tree is so abundant, that large rafts, composed wholly of 

 its logs, are made to float down the stream. Michaux remarks that, when a 

 poplar is felled, the chips of the heart-wood that are left upon the ground, 

 particularly those which are half buried in the leaves, suffer, at the end of 

 three or foiu' weeks, a remarkable change; the lower part becomes of a dark 

 blue, and they exhale a fetid ammoniacal odour ; though the live part of 

 the bark of the trunk, the branches, and still more of the roots, has an agree- 

 able smell, and a very bitter taste; and, even under the same circumstances as 

 the heart wood, it neither acquires the blue colour, nor the disagreeable smell. 



Medical Properties. In Virginia, some of the inhabitants of the country 

 steep the bark of the roots of this tree, with an equal portion of dogwood bark, in 

 brand}', during eight days ; and this tincture is considered a cure for intermittent 

 fevers. Poplar bai-k, reduced to powder, and given in substance to horses, 

 appears to be a pretty certain remedy for worms. The American Museum for 

 December, 1792, contains details of the valuable properties ascribed to this 

 bark, by Dr. Young of Philadelphia ; from which it appears that it is nearly 

 equal to quinquina, being a powerful tonic and antiseptic ; the aromatic princi- 

 ple appears to reside in a resinous part of its substance, which stimulates the 

 intestinal canal, and which operates as a gentle cathartic. In many instances, 

 the stomach cannot support it, unless each dose is accompanied by a few drops 

 of laudanum. In Paris, a spirituous liquor is made from the fresh bark of 

 poplar roots, with the addition of a sufficient quantity of sugar to render it 

 agreeable to the taste. (Michaux.) 



The Uses of the Tulip Tree in JEurope are limited almost entirely to those 

 of ornament; for, though there are numerous trees which would produce ex- 

 cellent timber if cut down, we have never heard of any having been felled for 

 this purpose, or, indeed, for any other. Every possessor of a tulip tree, in 

 Europe, values it far higher for its beauty in a living state, than for its pro- 

 ducts, or the artificial applications of them. On the Continent, where trees 

 ripen seeds, they may be considered as affording some profit from that source. 



Soil and Situation. In its native country, according to Michaux, the tulip 

 tree delights only in deep, loamj^ and exti-emely fertile soils, such as are found 



