POPLAR OR TULIP TREE. 
25 
the excessive cold, and by a mountainous surface unfavourable to its 
growth. It is multiplied in the Middle States, in the upper parts of the 
Carolinas and of Georgia, and still more abundantly in the western coun- 
try, particularly in Kentucky. Its comparative rareness in the maritime 
parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, in the Florid'as 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 the 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 at a considerable distance from the sea, 
Tulip Trees are often seen 70, 80, and 100 feet in height, with a diameter 
from 18 inches to 3 feet. But the Western States appear to be the natural 
soil of this magnificent tree, and here it displays its most powerful vegeta- 
tion. It is commonly found mingled with other trees, such as the Hicko- 
ries, the Black Walnut and Butternut, the Coffee Tree and the Wild Cherry 
Tree ; but it sometimes constitutes alone pretty large tracts of the forest, 
as my father observed in Kentucky, on the road from Beard Stone to 
Louisville. In no other part of the United States, did he find the Tulip 
Trees so lofty, and so great a diameter. He observed many of them in 
passing which appeared to be 15 or 16 feet in circumference ; and 3è miles 
from Louisville, he measured one, which, at 5 feet from the ground was 
22 feet and 6 inches in circumference, and whose elevation he judged to 
be from 120 to 140 feet ; the correctness of this estimate I have since had 
an opportunity of proving. OLall the trees of North America with deci- 
duous leaves, the Tulip Tree, next to the Buttonwood, attains the amplest 
dimensions : while the perfect straightness and uniform diameter of its 
trunk for upwards of forty feet, the more regular disposition of its branches, 
and the greater richness of its foliage, give it a decided superiority over 
the Buttonwood, and entitle it to be considered as one of the most magni- 
ficent vegetables of the temperate zone. 
In the development of its leaves, the Poplar differs from most other 
trees. Leaf-buds, in general, are composed of scales closely applied one 
upon another, which, in the spring, are distended by the growth of the 
minute bundle of leaves which they enclose, till they finally fall. On some 
trees, those buds are without scales, as for instance, on the Butternut. On 
the Tulip Tree, the terminal bud of each shoot swells considerably before 
it gives birth to the leaf: it forms an oval sac which contains the young 
leaf, and which produces it to the light only when it appears to have 
acquired sufficient force to endure the influences of the atmosphere. 
