FOREST TREES. 



:o9 



spirits form a liniment in quality closely resembling the old well-known 

 " Friar's Balsam," and it is equally excellent as an application for fresh 

 wounds being styptic and very healing. 



American Aspen — Popnlns tremuloides, (Michx.) 



" Which whisper with the winds none else can see, 

 And 1 )ow to Angels as they wing by them. " — Shelley, 



" Shuddering even without a wind 

 Aspens their paler foliage move, 

 As if some spirit of the air 

 Breathed a low sigh in passing there." 



The Aspen may be seen in all low wet flats, forming thick groves 

 of slender growth with greyish smooth bark, which whitens in more 

 ■open situations. The wood is of little value : it is white, watery, and 

 brittle. 



On entering one of these Poplar flats, or siaales as the country ])eople 

 ■call them, a sensible change in the air is perceived, the dew seems more 

 heavily condensed, and a chilliness is felt even in warm summer days, 

 while the slightest breath of wind sets every leaf in motion, fanning the 

 air to coolness. 



The Aspen is a short-lived tree, subject to a black canker caused 

 by an insect that destroys the bark, and gives an unsightly aspect to the 

 larger trees which are usually found growing on waste lands by road 

 sides, where they spring up spontaneously. 



Large-toothed Aspen — Fopulus grandidentata, (Michx.) 



The leaves of this species are large and coarsely toothed at the 

 margins, especially when young ; very pointed and downy underneath 

 of a greyish tinge of green above. Like the common Aspen, it springs 

 up on old neglected clearings and waste places. The long, drooping, 

 silky catkins appear before the leaves expand. The growth of the tree 

 is rapid, but becomes unsightly in age with black rifts and scars ; the 

 juices of the tree attract the small black ants, and the Wood-peckers 

 help the work of decay either for the juices contained in the tree, or for 

 the insects that take refuge in the bark. The wood is considered of 

 little worth. The buds of the Poplars begin to form early in the 

 Autumn and slowly advance, till in March and April they may be seen 

 swelling the gummy varnished cases which protect the immature leaves 

 and catkins, the bluish silken down peeping out as if to try the 

 temperature of the early Spring before unfolding. Among the low 

 dwarf Willows, the leaf buds often appear so green that at Christmas 

 one might expect to see the bushes clothed with verdure. One is apt 

 to think these premature efforts of the trees are put forth, while the sap 



