In Ireland large tulip trees are rare. There are two good specimens at Fota, which measured in 1903, one 87 feet high by 11 feet 7 inches in girth, the other 57 feet by 14 feet 7 inches.
In France the tulip tree, favoured by warmer summers, seems to thrive better, and attains a larger size than in England. Mouillefert[1] speaks of a tree at the Chateau de Frêne, near Chaulnes, in the department of Somme, which in 1899 was 38 metres in height by 5 in circumference. He also mentions having seen in 1902 at the Chateau de Cheverny, near Blois, tulip trees planted along the banks of a canal, which at 50–60 years of age measured 31 metres in height and 2 metres in girth at 5 feet from the ground, whilst plane trees of the same age close to them were only 24 metres high and 1.65 in girth.
He considers that in a suitable soil and situation such as the valleys in a granitic mountain range, or on damp, rich soils, in fact in such places as the ash, the poplar, and the plane thrive, this tree might be grown as a forest tree to produce valuable timber, or as copse wood, cut at 18 or 20 years of growth for turnery purposes.
Considering, however, the cost of raising this tree in the nursery, and its liability to suffer from autumn frost in a young state, I do not think the tree can be considered likely to become a forest tree in England, except possibly in a few choice situations in the south and south-west.
Timber
The timber of the tulip tree is now very much used in North America for many purposes, and is also largely imported to England under the name of white-wood, canary-wood, and yellow poplar. Stevenson says of it,[2] "Though classed among the light woods it is much heavier than that of the common poplar, its grain is equally fine but more compact, and the wood is easily wrought and polished. It is found strong and stiff enough for uses that require great solidity. The heart-wood, when separated from the sap and perfectly seasoned, long resists the influence of the air, and is said to be rarely attacked by insects. It is imported in the form of waney logs and in sawn planks of very fine dimensions, in which state it commands a price fully equal to that of the first quality of Quebec yellow pine.
Hough[3] speaks of it as "light, rather strong, with close straight grain, compact, easily worked, and yielding a satiny finish. Sap-wood nearly white, heart-wood of a light lemon-yellow colour, or sometimes of a light brownish tint—whence its two seemingly contradictory names, white and yellow poplar, the former referring to the sap-wood, the latter to the heart."
Sargent says it is light and soft, brittle and not strong, is readily worked, and does not easily split or shrink. The heart-wood is light yellow or brown, weighing when absolutely dry 26-36 lbs. to the cubic foot. Large canoes were formerly made from it by the Indians, and it is now extensively used in construction, for the
