VIII. 1. THE NECKLACE POPLAR. 251 



1838, twenty feet and five inches in circumference, at the smallest 

 part between the ground and the branches. When first observ- 

 ed, fifty-five or sixty years previous, it was a small tree, not two 

 inches in diameter. To whichever of the two species it belongs, 

 it is a most favorable specimen of rapid growth ; and it is a fine, 

 broad headed tree. 



The necklace poplar is so called from the resemblance of the 

 long anient of matured fruits, before opening, to the beads of a 

 necklace. It has been cultivated for many years in Europe, 

 where it is called Virginian poplar, and Swiss poplar, the last 

 name being given from its having been extensively propa- 

 gated in Switzerland. It is also known in England by the 

 name of Black Italian poplar, from having been introduced from 

 Italy. It is valued for the great rapidity of its growth, which is, 

 in the climate of London, between thirty and forty feet in seven 

 years ; and even in Scotland, it has grown to the height of sev- 

 enty feet in 16 years ; thus becoming of a size for timber, sooner 

 than any other tree. Its timber is considered valuable in 

 building, as, like that of the other poplars, when kept dry, it is 

 very durable. Male trees are much to be preferred, in the vicin- 

 ity of dwelling-houses, as the cotton of the seeds adheres to 

 clothes and furniture in a most troublesome manner. — {Lou- 

 don 1 s Arboretum, III, 1658, 1659.) Cuttings of this tree root 

 more freely than those of the previous species. 



There is another poplar, the true Balsam Poplar, found in 

 Canada, in Maine, in Vermont, and in Connecticut, north and 

 south of us, and therefore probably also in Massachusetts, which 

 I have not detected growing naturally in any part of the State. 

 It has a great resemblance to the Balm of Gilead, differing from 

 it in having smaller leaves, which are uniformly rounded at 

 base and never heart-shaped. In the upper part of the town of 

 Kennebunk Port, in York County, Maine, in a sheltered hollow 

 of three or four acres, by the side of the Kennebunk River, on 

 the land of George Thompson, I found this tree growing natu- 

 rally in large numbers. Thence it has been extensively propa- 

 gated to the neighboring towns. On the leaves of the trees 

 there, I observed the caterpillar of the kitten moth, Phaloenafur- 



