TULIP TREE 
847 
which 858 were tulip trees. This charac¬ 
teristic tree was at one time very common 
in Kentucky; and, altho many merchant¬ 
able trees have been largely cut for lumber, 
it still furnishes a part of the surplus in 
the less thickly settled sections of the 
State. Young trees are rapidly springing 
up and beginning to bloom. On the ridges 
and tablelands of the eastern and central 
regions of Tennessee the tulip tree and 
sourwood are the most important sources of 
honey. The former begins blooming about 
the first of May, and yields heavily for 
about two weeks. 
In Maryland above the fall line on the 
Piedmont Plateau the tulip tree is suffici¬ 
ently abundant to yield a honey crop regu¬ 
larly. On the Coastal Plain it never fur¬ 
nishes a surplus. Formerly in central 
Maryland it was one of the main surplus 
honey plants, and it is still important in 
Montgomery County, where it is associated 
with chestnut, walnut, and maple. But it 
has been so largely cut for pulp wood that 
there has been a great decrease in the quan¬ 
tity of honey obtained. No other honey 
plant in North Carolina has so wide a dis¬ 
tribution as the tulip tree. It is found, in 
all parts of the State except in the eastern 
lowlands. The tulip tree is likewise widely 
distributed in South Carolina, but is most 
common in the Piedmont region. It ex¬ 
tends over northern Georgia where it is 
usually a reliable source of honey, and it 
is also found in the mountainous sections 
of northeastern Alabama. 
The nectar may be seen in both large 
and small drops on the orange-yellow por¬ 
tions of the petals, on the inner side, which 
thus serve as both nectaries and nectar- 
guides. The time of blooming varies with 
the conditions of the weather from the last 
of April to the beginning of June. When 
the blossoms are late in opening and the 
weather is warm and dry, the honey flow 
is very much heavier than when the bloom 
is early. Under such conditions there are 
few if any better honey plants than the 
tulip tree, and each flower will yield not 
far from a spoonful of nectar. When the 
flowers appear early in the season the flow 
is often interrupted by cold rains. A large 
quantity of honey is stored even when the 
trees are scarce, and one or two supers are 
often filled from this soimce alone. Where 
the trees are abundant there is little dan¬ 
ger of overstocking, and it has been esti¬ 
mated that 200 colonies could not take care 
of the nectar within their range. Unfor¬ 
tunately, there are today few such loca¬ 
tions, and they are in regions difficult of 
access. 
‘‘The tulip tree blooms so early,” writes 
Phillips, “that the poor beekeeper, or even 
the average beekeeper, does not have colo¬ 
nies strong enough to get the crop. At 
Washington the average date at which this 
tree begins to bloom is not far from May 5. 
It obviously requires skillful beekeeping 
to build up the colonies to full gathering 
strength at this early date. In order that 
the colonies may contain 75,000 to 100,000 
population at the time of the average date 
of the last killing frost, brood-rearing must 
be heavily under way by March 1. If this 
can be done, and we know that it is possi¬ 
ble by proper winter and spring care, then 
the tulip tree may be expected to give a 
crop almost every year. At this season the 
the weather is uncertain and the short 
blooming period (rarely over 10 days) may 
be broken by rains, but it is indeed rare 
not to have a few days of good gathering. 
The tulip tree is perhaps exceeded by no 
other plant in reliability of yield, and few 
other trees furnish as much nectar as a 
tree of this species.” 
The honey obtained from the tulip tree 
is bright amber when new, but it becomes 
darker with age and very thick, so that it 
closely resembles molasses. In quality it 
is fair, somewhat strong, but with a rather 
pleasant flavor. It is in good demand lo¬ 
cally thruout the South, but it does not sell 
well in the general market. As it is gath¬ 
ered early and does not command the high¬ 
est prices, it can be used to advantage in 
brood-rearing and increasing the strength 
of the colonies for gathering the lighter- 
colored honeys which come later. The 
tulip tree is a host for an abundance of 
plant lice in late summer, which furnish 
considerable honeydew. 
The seed should be sown as soon as ripe 
in moderately dry fertile soil, and should 
be protected during the first winter. The 
wood is soft and fine-grained and is easily 
worked; it is usually nearly white but in 
some localities is yellowish. It shrinks bad¬ 
ly in drying and consequently is not adapt- 
