=56. Cucumber Tree= (_Magnolia accuminata_) (Tulip-wood, Poplar). Medium- to large-sized tree. Heartwood yellowish brown, sapwood almost white. Wood light, soft, satiny, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil, resembling and sometimes confounded with tulip tree (_Liriodendron tulipifera_) in the markets. The wood shrinks considerably, but seasons without much injury, and works and stands well. It bends readily when steamed, and takes stain and paint well. Used in cooperage, for siding, for panelling and finishing lumber in house, car and shipbuilding, etc., also in the manufacture of toys, culinary woodenware, and backing for drawers. Most common in the southern Alleghanies, but distributed from western New York to southern Illinois, south through central Kentucky and Tennessee to Alabama, and throughout Arkansas. MAPLE Wood heavy, hard, strong, stiff, and tough, of fine texture, frequently wavy-grained, this giving rise to "curly" and "blister" figures which are much admired. Not durable in the ground, or when exposed. Maple is creamy white, with shades of light brown in the heartwood, shrinks moderately, seasons, works, and stands well, wears smoothly, and takes a fine polish. The wood is used in cooperage, and for ceiling, flooring, panelling, stairway, and other finishing lumber in house, ship, and car construction. It is used for the keels of boats and ships, in the manufacture of implements and machinery, but especially for furniture, where entire chamber sets of maple rival those of oak. Maple is also used for shoe lasts and other form blocks; for shoe pegs; for piano actions, school apparatus, for wood type in show bill printing, tool handles, in wood carving, turnery, and scroll work, in fact it is one of our most useful woods. The maples are medium-sized trees, of fairly rapid growth, sometimes form forests, and frequently constitute a large proportion of the arborescent growth. They grow freely in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and are particularly luxuriant in Canada and the northern portions of the United States.