ARBORICULTURE. 



311 



The Family of Poplars. 



The Populus group comprises a good- 

 ly number of softwooded trees of rapid 

 growth, which are largely distributed 

 throughout the world. From Siberia to 

 Italy in the Old World and from the At- 

 lantic to the Pacific in the New, some 

 forms O'f poplar are everywhere present. 



In tilie eastern portion of the United 

 States the cottonwood, Populus niowi- 

 lifera, is the prominent representative 

 O'f the species. In Canada and on the 

 northern border of the United States the 

 balsam poplar, P balsamifera, abounds, 

 while in the higher altitudes of the Rocky 

 Mountains the aspen, P. tremuloides, 

 holds sole sway as a deciduous tree 

 among the more abundant conifers. 



In Utah the Lombardy poplar, with its 

 tall form waving in the breeze, is a prom- 

 inent picture on the otherwise treeless 

 plains. This tree is a native oi Lom- 

 bardy, Italy, but has become a resident of 

 Utah by adoption. 



In almost every city of this land the 

 abele, with its silvery leaves, is known 

 as one oif the few trees which stand the 

 dust, root mutilation, and abuse general- 

 ly, to which street trees in cities are 

 obliged to withstand. 



This tree, usually called silver poplar, 

 is of European origin, and has often been 

 described in Arboriculture. Its per- 

 sistent suckering habit is the greatest ob- 

 jection to its use in cities. In Europe 

 much cheap lumber is made from this 

 tree, but so far no such use has been 

 made of it in the United States, owing to 

 the greater abundance of other timber. 

 However, there is no doubt but it would 

 be profitable to plant large areas of abele 



for fuel, lumber and wood pulp. It 

 makes good paper, grows quickly, and is 

 easily propagated, the innumerable suck- 

 ers being obtained in large quantities 

 from about old trees in neglected locali- 

 ties. The suckering habit would not be 

 objectionable in forest plantations. 



After the wars with Napoleon I. a large 

 land owner in Silesia was almost bank- 

 rupt. The estate, according to the laws, 

 could not be mortgaged nor sold ; the 

 land was poor, and there was no money 

 to buy cattle to build up the large estate 

 for farming purposes. 



A forester advised the owner to plant 

 the white poplar, which he did, and in 

 twenty-five to thirty years enough tim- 

 ber was sold from the estate to engage 

 in proper farming and make the owner 

 wealthy. 



The broad-leaved cottonwood has 

 large distribution. The seed is small and 

 enveloped in a cottony covering, which is 

 wafted by the winds in all directio'ns for 

 great distances. Untold millions of the 

 very abundant seeds perish by alighting 

 in dry locations, or upon grass or weeds, 

 and not being able to reach the soil or 

 moisture, yet the seeds which alight upon 

 the sandbars O'f rivers and muddy banks 

 of streams grow up into- dense thickets. 



If all the seed produced in a single sea- 

 son were permitted to' grow intO' trees, 

 they would reforest the entire earth. 



As a lumber-producing fee the cotton- 

 wood requires deep, rich, moist soil, and 

 this it finds in the Delta lands, so called, 

 along the Mississippi River and lower 

 tributaries, Yazoo, Sunflower, and other 

 streams. Here the growth is rapid, mak- 



