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The balsam poplar is distributed over an area almost as great as that of the aspen 

 extending to about the same point north, and about Lakes Huron and Superior and in 

 the valley of the McKenzie River attains a large size. 



The large-toothed poplar does not range nearly so far noith, but is abundant in New 

 Brunswick and Gaspe, and is found in most parts of Ontario and Quebec. 



The Cottonwood is very common throughout a large portion of the North- West T^ 

 tories, where it is the chief source of fuel for the settlers. rri- 



The silver-leaved poplar was introduced as an ornamental tree from Europe, and the 

 rapidity of its growth and beauty of its foliage induced many to plant it. It will thrive 

 well in waste places and in the poorest soil. While young it forms a rather pretty tree, 

 but becomes ungainly as it grows older, and its persistent habit of sending up suckers 

 froni the roots has almost led to its abandonment for ornamental purposes. Wherever 

 tliis tree has been planted throughout the northern United States and Canada, it has, as 

 far as is known, proved hardy, and in rapidity of growth it has few equals, the trunk often 

 attaining a diameter of two feet within fifteen years. Isolated trees usually have low and 

 wide-spreading heads, but closely planted in groves they run up tall and straight, and the 

 poles taken out in thinning can be turned to many useful purposes, and the trees when 

 grown converted into useful lumber for building purposes where other timber is scarce. 



Poplar trees may be grown from cuttings, suckers or from the seed contained in the 

 catkins. Cuttings may be made from two or three to five or six feet in length, and from 

 an inch to two or three inches in diameter. They should be taken from the young woods 

 and the larger end sharpened by a sloping cut on one side to expose the bark. Suckers 

 can usually be obtained with a small proportion of root and grow very readily ; cuttings, 

 suckers, and young trees should be planted four feet apart. If young trees are to be raised 

 from seed the catkins should be gathered in June, the seed rubbed out with the hand and 

 mixed with sand to facilitate even sowing, planted in drills on mellow, moist soil from 

 half an inch to an inch deep, and kept free from weeds during the summer ; the young 

 trees will be ready for planting the following season. 



On most farms there are waste places, broken land, or small areas of poor soil un- 

 suited for general agricultural purposes, probably npthing could be used to occupy so pro- 

 fitably such waste places as poplar trees. In addition to the value of the thinnings while 

 growing and such portions of the wood as the owner may choose to sell w^hen grown, he 

 might enjoy all the advantages resulting from adjacent forest growth. Such clumps or 

 belts would act as useful wind breaks, protecting the crops in adjoining fields ; they 

 would help to equalize violent alternations of heat and cold, exercising a conservative in- 

 fluence on the humidity of the atmosphere, aid in inducing rain fall and in purifying the 

 soil and the air. 



FOREST TREE CULTURE. 

 By Hon. H. G. Joly, Quebec. 



The European traveller who visits only the settled parts of this Province, is invari- 

 ably disappointed at the scarcity and meanness of our trees. Of course, if he leave the 

 beaten tracks of travellers, and goes far enough into the wilderness, up the Ottawa and 

 the St. Maurice, he will see tine timber, but, in our settlements, we can only show him, 

 here and there, at long intervals, one solitary elm, model of grace and beauty, and the 

 traveller will feel, as we do, grateful to the man who spared that tree. 



On a warm summer's day, the Desert of Sahara, with its lovely oasis, would be sug- 

 gestive of coolness, compared with our country. No trees to shade the dusty roads, to 

 shelter the panting cattle, to set off the neat white- washed houses ; only far away, hidden 

 nearly out of sight, the patch of small neglected timber which the farmer is compelled by 

 pur stern winters, to spare from the general slaughter, as, without fuel, he will die. 



If every acre of ground were covered with valuable crops, one would try and get 

 reconciled to the absence of trees, and bow to the iron rule of our age which converts 

 everything into cash. But what a small proportion of all that ground is used profitably j 



