28 
POPLAR OR TULIP TREE. 
Tulip Tree employed for the rails of rural fence ; but I must confess my 
inattention in not learning their duration. It is found useful also in the 
construction of wooden bridges, as it unites lightness with strength and 
durability. I have been assured that the heart of the Poplar might be pro- 
fitably employed for the fellies of large mill-wheels. The Indians who 
inhabited the Middle States, and those who still remain in the western 
country, preferred this tree for their canoes, which, consisting of a single 
trunk, are very light and strong, and sometimes carry twenty persons. In 
fine, the Poplar affords excellent charcoal, which is employed by smiths in 
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 which I have enumerated. 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 Monongahela river, between the 30° 
and 40° of latitude, the Tulip Tree is so abundant, that large rafts, com- 
posed wholly of these logs, are made to float down its stream. At Browns- 
ville, they are sawn into boards, which are used in the environs, and even 
at Pittsburg, in the construction of houses, and which are sold at $10 for 
1000 feet. I observed that the mean diameter of the logs was from 12 to 
15 inches ; that of the largest from 20 to 24 inches, and that of the smallest 
9 or 10 inches : their two extremities were of a dark blue color. I have 
also remarked that when a Poplar is felled, the chips of the heart which 
are left upon the ground, particularly those which are half buried in the 
leaves, suffer at the end of three or four weeks a remarkable change ; the 
lower part becomes of a deep blue, and they exhale a fetid, ammoniacal 
odor. 
The live part or cellular tissue of the bark which covers the trunk of the 
Tulip Tree, the bark of the branches, and still more that of the roots, has 
an agreeable smell and a very bitter taste. In Virginia, some inhabitants 
of the country steep the bark of these roots, with an equal portion of Dog- 
wood bark, in brandy during eight days: two glasses of this tincture, 
taken every day, sometimes cure intermittent fevers. Poplar bark, 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 circumstantial 
details concerning the valuable properties ascribed to this bark by Dr. 
Young of Philadelphia. I shall recall what he has written on this subject, 
though these properties have since been denied by other physicians in the 
United States, and though the use of this bark is not general in the coun- 
try, and is unknown in the capitals, where the faculty are most enlightened. 
In Dr. Young’s opinion, the most proper time to gather the Poplar bark 
for medical use is the month of January. He asserts that it is more bitter 
than the Peruvian bark, though less astringent, and that it possesses some 
