22 
TUPELO. 
bark of anj other tree, divided into hexagons, which are sometimes nearly 
regular. 
The leaves are 3 inches long, oboval, smooth, slightly glaucous beneath, 
alternate, and often united in bunches at the extremity of the young lateral 
shoots. The flowers are small, scarcely apparent, collected in bunches 
and supported by petioles 1 or 2 inches in length. The fruit, which is 
always abundant, is of a deep blue color, about the size of a pea, and 
attached in pairs. It is ripe toward the beginning of November, and per- 
sisting after the falling of the leaf, forms a part of the nourishment of the 
red-breasts in their autumnal migration to the south. The stone is com- 
pressed on one side, a little convex on the other, and longitudinally stri- 
ated. Bruised in water this fruit yields an unctuous, greenish juice, of a 
slightly bitter taste, which is not easily mingled with the fluid. I do not 
know that any attempt has been made to convert it into economical uses, 
and I believe it would be difficult to obtain from it a spirituous liquor, or 
even to convert it into vinegar. 
The Tupelo holds a middle place between trees with soft and those with 
hard wood. When perfectly seasoned the sap is of a light reddish tint, 
and the heart of a deep brown. Of stocks exceeding 15 or 18 inches in 
diameter, more than half the trunk is hollow ; a fact which I have repeat- 
edly witnessed. 
The ligneous fibres which compose the body of trees in general are 
closely united, and usually ascend in a perpendicular direction. By a 
caprice of nature which it is impossible to explain, they sometimes pursue 
an undulating course, as in the Bed and Sugar Maples, or, as in the last 
mentioned species, form ripplings so fine that the curves are only 1, 2 or 3 
lines in diameter ; or, lastly, they ascend spirally, as in the Orme tortillard , 
Twisted Elm, following the same bent for 4 or 5 feet. In these species, 
however, the deviation is only accidental, and to be sure of obtaining this 
form it must be perpetuated by grafting or by transplanting young stocks 
from the shade of the parent tree. The genus which we are considering 
exhibits, on the contrary, a constant peculiarity of organization ; the fibres 
are united in bundles, and are interwoven like a braided cord; hence the 
wood is extremely difficult to split, unless cut into short billets. This pro- 
perty gives it a decided superiority for certain uses ; in New York, New 
Jersey, and particularly at Philadelphia, it is exclusively employed for the 
naves of wheels destined for heavy burthens. It must be acknowledged 
that, in some parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the White Oak is 
preferred, which, as I have already remarked, appears, from its liability 
to split, to be little calculated for this object. Erom the difference of 
opinion on this subject, we may conclude that the ^Tupelo is esteemed 
solely for its difficulty in splitting, and not for its solidity and strength. 
The absence of these properties would be a still more essential defect in 
