REPORT ON THE MANAGEMENT AND VALUE OF rOPLAR. 119 



Inverness, amounting to 275£ miles, consumes annually about 

 5000 break-blocks, equal to about 2500 cubic feet of square wood. 

 If, therefore, 275| miles of railway require annually 2500 feet of 

 square wood, the 18,000 miles throughout the whole kingdom 

 must require 163,488 cubic feet. Poplar being the best kind of 

 wood for the above purpose, it would doubtless be so employed, 

 if it could be procured, which at present it cannot. 



During the last twenty years quite a change has taken place in 

 the value of the various kinds of wood. Oak timber, formerly of 

 the highest value, and in the greatest demand, has considerably 

 declined in price, even the best descriptions of it, such as ships are 

 built of; while those kinds of wood, once almost valueless, have 

 risen to more than double their former price, — such as poplar, 

 alder, willow, &c, — and seem likely to maintain, if not exceed, 

 their present price, unless an equally good and cheaper article can 

 be found as a substitute for them. If, as suggested by the High- 

 land and Agricultural Society of Scotland, poplar could be grown 

 upon ground which will not grow larch, and prices equal to what 

 the former commands can be obtained for it, the demand and con- 

 sumption continuing at the rate above indicated, then undoubtedly 

 all that the society anticipates, in point of profit, from its culti- 

 vation, would be fully realised. 



That poplar timber, as an article of produce, is one of the most 

 remunerative that the soil in many cases is capable of yielding, 

 will appear in the sequel of this paper ; while, at the same time, 

 upon certain descriptions of soil it has the advantage over most 

 other crops in early beautifying and adorning the landscape. 

 Within a very few years after it is planted, it is valuable to cut ; 

 and, indeed, it can be turned to profit at every stage of its growth. 

 The maturing of the heart-wood is of no consideration, the 

 sapwood being equally durable. Nor is it necessary, in order to 

 its profitableness, to grow the poplar to a great size, even were 

 the ground capable of doing so. Two trees containing 50 feet 

 each are more profitable to the grower and purchaser than one 

 tree containing 100 feet. The number of species of the poplar 

 family is variously estimated by different writers at from sixteen 

 to twenty-four, and the varieties belonging to each are numerous 

 and interesting. Of the above, four are indigenous to Britain ; 

 the others have been introduced from foreign countries, princi- 

 pally North America and Eussia. Of those species esteemed 

 valuable as timber trees, and adapted to the soil and climate of 

 Scotland, may be mentioned : — 



First, The Aspen — Eattler or Quaker (Populus tremula). It 

 grows wild in many districts all over the country, sometimes 

 springing up in damp places, and sometimes on dry gravelly 

 hillocks. In all cases it appears to prefer nature and wildness 

 to art and cultivation. It grows more abundantly in the High- 



