1644 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
abundance of fibrous roots the first season, cught to be transplanted into nur- 
sery lines for at least one year before removal to their final situation. The 
tree is admirably adapted for thickening or filling up blanks in woods and. 
plantations; and, for this purpose, truncheons may be planted 3 in. or 4in. in 
diameter, and 10 ft. or 12 ft. high. These truncheons have the great advan- 
tage of not being overshadowed by the adjoining trees, which is almost always 
the case when young plants are used for filling up vacancies among old trees. 
The truncheons need not be inserted very deeply in the soil, because the roots 
which they protrude, like those of all other trees having creeping roots, ori« 
ginate in a part of the trunk near the surface. When the white poplar is 
planted in masses, with a view to produce timber, the plants ought to be from 
15 ft. to 18 ft. apart every way, and they may be most profitably cut down 
at the end of 30 or 40 years; but, when they are only to produce poles of 
from 6 in. to 9 in. in diameter, fit for roofing sheds and similar purposes, they 
need not be planted at a greater distance than from 6 ft. to 9ft. every way; 
and, for coppice wood, from 4:ft. to 5 ft. is the proper distance. Owing to the 
softness of the wood, and its liability to shrink and crack, it is dangerous to 
cut off very large branches; and, even when branches of moderate size are 
cut off, the wound ought always to be covered over with grafting clay, or 
some description of plaster, to exclude the air. The tree is considered, 
both by French and English authors, as bearing lopping worse than any other 
species of the genus; and, when transplanted, the head should never be cut 
off, and not even cut in, unless the tree is to be planted in a hot and dry 
soil. 
Accidents and Diseases. When the tree is either carelessly pruned, orewhen 
a branch is broken off by accident, or a stump suffered to decay, the water 
seldom fails to be conducted to the heart of the trunk, and, by bringing on 
caries, to rot the timber. The leaves, and also the trunk, of the tree are 
liable to be infested by fungi, of which several species are common to the 
different species of poplar. (See p. 1638.) The porosity of the trunk, stool, 
and roots is favourable to the production of fungi of the larger kinds; and 
the Polyporus igniarius Fries may frequently be seen on the trunk of the 
tree, or on the stool ofa tree that has been cut down, of gigantic size. 
Statistics. Recorded Trees. At Strathfieldsaye, at Chalfont House, Bucks, and at Kingston, 
Surrey, Mitchell, writing in 1827, says, there are first-rate trees: at Longleat, he mentions some 
100 ft. high, with trunks from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in diameter, and with 40ft. to 60 ft. of clear bole. At 
Knowle, he saw one 9ft. in circumference, that had been felled and cross cut: the sap-wood 
was about 4in. thick, and the heart-wood spongy, like the inside of an overgrown turnip. At 
Wentworth House, Mitchell saw another overgrown abele, felled and sawn across, which presented 
the same appearance as the tree at Knowle. In Scotland, a tree at Drumlanrig, in Dumfriesshire, 
which stood on a dry soil, and was 80 years old, was, in 1773, 80ft. high, with a trunk 2ft. 6 in, in 
diameter. In the year 1769, a row of abeles, at Stevenston, in East Lothian, contained 122 trees, all 
about 80 ft. high, and having clear trunks of from 20 ft. to30 ft. The trunks were from 5 ft. to 7 ft. 
in circumference, and yet the trees stood only 7 ft. distant from each other. They grew in a deep 
moist soil, were then 80 years old, and afforded a great quantity of timber, though they had begun 
to decay. (Walker’s Essays, p. 50.) In France, in the years 1804 and 1805, several abeles, which 
were planted at Versailles in the time of Louis XIV., and had Jong been regarded as magnificent 
specimens, were cut down ; and, though they had begun to decay, they were cut into planks, and sold 
at a high price, for naval purposes. 
P6pulus dlba in England. In the environs of London, at Ham House, it is 85 ft. high, with a 
trunk 33 ft. in diameter. On the banks of the Thames, between Hampton Court and Chertsey, are 
several specimens upwards of 100 ft. high. In Devonshire, at Killerton, 25 years planted, it is 73 ft. 
high, diameter of trunk 2 ft. lin., and of the head 38ft. In the Isle of Jersey, 10 years planted, it is 
28 ft. high. In Surrey, at Deepdene, 10 years old, it is 27 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6in., and 
of the head 10ft. In Sussex, at Kidbrooke, it is 60 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 3ft., and of the 
head 30 ft. In Wiltshire, at Longford Castle, it is 100 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 ft., and of the 
head 90 ft. In Berkshire, at Bear Wood, 12 years planted, it is 40 ft. high; at Ditton Park, 90 years 
planted, it is 80ft. high. In Denbighshire, at Llanbede Hall, 50 years planted, it is 63ft. high. In 
Herefordshire, at Stoke Edith Park, it is 85 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4ft., and of the 
head 60 ft. In Leicestershire, at Belvoir Castle, 26 years planted, it is 60 ft. high. In Northampton- 
shire, at Clumber Park, 14 years planted, it is 25 ft. high. In Northumberland, at Hartburn, 
83 years planted, it is 82 ft. high. In Pembrokeshire, at Stackpole Court, 40 years planted, it is 60 ft. 
high, diameter of the trunk 23ft., and of the head 28ft. In Shropshire, at Willey Park, 16 years 
lanted, itis 30 ft. high. In Staffordshire, at Trentham, 26 years planted, it is 35 ft. high; at Alton 
owers, 6 years planted, it is 20ft. high. In Suffolk, at Finborough Hall, 80 years planted, it is 
100 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6ft., and of the head 75ft. In Yorkshire, at Grimston, 14 
years planted, it is 70 ft. high. 
Pépulus diba in Scotland. Inthe environs of Edinburgh, at Hopetoun House, it is 30ft. high; 
the diameter of the trunk 3ft. 10in., and of the head 30ft. In Haddingtonshire, at Tynningham, 
it is 58 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2ft. 3in., and of the head 42 ft. In Roxburghshire, 70 
years planted, it has a clean trunk 50 ft. in height, averaging for that height 2 ft. in diameter, and 
