176 AMENTACE^E 



its white leaves, and then look at the Black Poplar, we are ready to admit 

 the appropriateness of the name of the latter tree. The bark, which is at 

 first of a dim ash-colour, deepens into black as it becomes older, and the 

 leaves are dark green, and form a striking contrast to the whitened under- 

 surface of those of the Abele. Its leaves, like those of all the Poplars, are 

 very tremulous, and they served Homer, as well as many a modern bard, for 

 a simile : — 



" Like Poplar-leaves when zephyrs fan the grove." 



Wilcox thus describes the calmness of summer noonday : — 



" O'er all the woods the toinnost leaves are still ; 

 E'en the wild Poplai-leaves, that, pendent hung 

 By stems elastic, quiver at a breath, 

 Rest in the general calm. The thistledown 

 Seen high and thick by gazing up, beside 

 Some shading object, in a silver shower 

 Plumb down and slower than the slowest snow 

 Through all the sleepy atmosphere descends ; 

 And when it lights, though on the steepest roof, 

 Or smallest spire of grass, remains unmoved." 



This tree is not erect and spiry, like the Lombardy or Italian Poplar (P. 

 fdsfigiata), which is believed to be but a variety of it. It has wide-spreading 

 branches, forming a good extent of leafage, and is a very lai-ge tree, some- 

 times larger even than the Abele. It has been known in this country to 

 reach the height of ninety feet, and may often be seen seventy or eighty feet 

 high. Though it is not likely that this Poplar is indigenous, it is now very 

 common by river-banks and on other moist lands. It well answers the 

 purpose of the planter, for it is of rapid growth, bears lopping, and both in 

 France and Italy it is commonly pollarded, and used as a support to the 

 trailing vines. It looks very well in the spring, as its catkins, which are to 

 be seen in March and April on the leafless branches, are of a dark rich red 

 colour, and are very welcome to the insect race ; and in May, the foliage is 

 beginning to clothe the boughs. By the end of this month the catkins have 

 ripened their seeds, and away they float on the winds, or lie whitening the 

 ground beneath by the cottony down with which they are invested, and 

 which has been used in the manufacture of paper, and is wrought, in Germany, 

 into a kind of wadding as well as into hats. It is, however, borne away so 

 readily by the breeze, that it requires much pains to collect enough for any 

 iiseful purpose. The leaves and young shoots are eaten by the beaver ; and 

 in Eussia the bark is powdered, and given as food to sheep ; while, both in 

 that and this country, it has been used in tanning leather. The poor in 

 Norway and Kamtschatka often make their bread of the dried bark of the 

 Poplar. The wood is yellow, soft, and fibrous, and furnishes the materials 

 for some light articles, as clogs and bowls. The tree is comparatively short- 

 lived. 



The crushed buds of this Poplar yield a pleasantly fragrant substance, 

 which burns like wax, and which wa^ believed by our old herbalists to be a 

 vegetable remedy of great power in various diseases. The young shoots are 

 used in wicker-work ; or, stripped of their leaves, serve the housewife for 

 brooms. 



