6 1 o The Journal of Forestry. 



is commonly planted in Belgium ; either of these might answer the 

 description of your tree. 



The Poplars are not esteemed in this country where hard woods 

 abound, and are preferred [for construction ; but in the great prairie 

 regions, where the scarcity of woodlands is forcing the people to 

 plant, and wdiere millions of trees are annually set out, the rapid 

 growth of cotton-woods and their easy propagation from seeds and 

 cuttings make them favourite pioneers for the future forests which 

 must be planted. This, too, is following the natural indication, for in 

 our progress westward from the wooded regions of the Ohio valley 

 the cotton-wood is the proper arboreal form, and while almost all 

 others disappear, these continue to recur along the streams to their 

 very canons at the base of the Eocky Mountains. 



However, in the beginnings of an American Forestry, yet to be de- 

 veloped, we advise the planting of cotton-wood first, to act as windbreaks 

 under the shelter of which adjoining lands may afterwards be planted, 

 with many other species which would have inevitably succumbed to 

 the dry blasts from the prairies and open plains. With your leave, a 

 brief conspectus of the poplars of this country and Europe is here 

 presented, as the result of a recent study of the genus with the aid of 

 such works as were at hand in my limited library, and supported by 

 my own observations. In this article they will be divided into the 

 three very natural groups of Poplars, Aspens, and Cotton-woods. 



Poplars. 



1. Populus halsamifcra, Tacamahaca, or Balsam Poplar, is a very 

 distinct species. This is essentially a northern form, being found as far 

 north as the Great Slave Lake,* in latitude 63*^. Tree of medium to large 

 size, with open, straggling branches, leaves are onroundish petioles, oval, 

 coriaceous, dark green above, rusty brown beneath. Though unseemly, 

 it is somewhat cultivated. 



2. Poimlus candicans (Alton) Balm of Grilead, Heart-leaved Balsam 

 Poplar — is now considered merely a variety of the above. This form 

 is seen chiefly in cultivation, though it has little to recommend it. 

 The buds of both these are large and abundantly covered with a 

 balsamic resin that has been used in medicine. 



3. Poimlus angustifolia (James), is desribed by S. B. Watson-f* as a 

 common tree in the Eocky Mountains. It is now grouped with 

 candicans and halsamifcra, of which it is a very distinct western form : 

 different trees and locations present quite a variation in the foliage, 

 some leaves being ovate, while in other trees they are nearly linear, 



* Dr. Torrey in Nat. History of New York, Botany, vol. ii., p. 216. 

 t Clarence King's Survey of the 40th Parallel. 



