IG** ATIBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



abundance of fibrous roots the first season, ought to be transplanted into nur- 

 sery lines for at least one ^ear before removal to tiieir final situation. The 

 tree is admirably adapted for thiekeninj^ or filling up blanks in woods and 

 plantations; and, for this purpose, truncheons may be planted 3 in. or 4 in. in 

 diameter, and loft, or l^^ ft. high. These trunciieons have the great advan- 

 tage of not being overshadowed by the ailjoiiiing trees, which is almost always 

 the ease when young plants are useil for filling u[) 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 j)oplar is 

 planted in masses, with a view to produce timber, the plants ought to be from 

 loft, 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 a in. to 9 in. in diameter, fit for roofing sheds and similar purposes, they 

 need not be planted at a greater distance than from Oft. to 9 ft. 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 oft' very large branches ; and, even when branches of moderate size are 

 cut offj the wound ought alwa) s 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, or when 

 a branch is broken oil' by accident, or a stump suflfered 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 of a tree that has been cut down, of gigantic size. 



statistics. Recorded Trees. At Strath fieldsaye, at Chalfoiit House, Bucks, and at Kingston, 

 Surrey, Mitchell, writing in 1827, savs, there are first-rate trees : at Longleat, he mentions some 

 l(«)ft. high, with trunks from a ft. to 4 ft. in diameter, and with 4Utt. to 60 ft. of clear bole. At 

 Knowle, lie saw one 9 ft. in circumference, that had been felled and cross cut : the sai)-wood 

 was about 4 in. thick, and the heart-wood spongy, like the inside of an overgrown turnip. At 

 Wentworth House, Mitchell saw another overgrown abcle, 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 SO years old, was, in 1773, 80 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft 6 in. in 

 diameter. In the year 1769, a row of abeles, at Stevenston, in East Lothian, contained li.'2 trees, all 

 about 80 ft. high, and having clear trunks of from 20 ft. to 30 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 timl)er, 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 I^ouis XIV., and had long been regarded as magnificent 

 specimens, were cut down ; and, though they had begun to decay, they were cut into pl.inks, and sold 

 at a high price, for naval purposes. 



Vopulus ulba in England. In the environs of London, at Ham House, it is 85 ft. high, with a 

 trunk 3} It. in diameter. On the banks of the Thames, between Hampton Court and Chcrtsey, are 

 several S|iccimcns upwards of 100 ft. high. In Devonshire, at Killerton, 25 years planted, it is 73 ft. 

 high, diameter of trunk 2 ft. 1 in., and of the head 38 ft. In the Isle of Jersey, 10 years planted, it is 

 28 ft. high. In Surrey, at Decpdcne, 10 years old, it is 27 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 in., and 

 of the head 10 ft. in Sussex, at Kidbrooke, it is 60 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 3ft., and of the 

 head .30 ft In Wiltshire, at Longford C.istle, it is l(X)ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 ft., and of the 

 head 90 ft. In Berkshire, at Hear 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 63 tt high. In 

 Herefordshire, at .Stoke Edith Park, it is 85 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4ft., and of the 

 held 60 ft. In Leicestershire, at Belvoir Castle, 26 years planted, it is 60ft. high. In Northampton- 

 .«hire, 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 6t)ft. 

 high, diameter of the trunk 2iSft., and of the head 28ft. In Shrop.'shirc, at Willcy Park, 16 years 

 planted, it is .30 ft high. In Staflbrdshire, at Trentham, 26 years planted, it is 35 ft. high ; at Alton 

 rowers, 6 years planted, it is 20ft. high. In Suflblk, ai l-"inborough Hall, SO years planted, it is 

 KKift. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 ft., and of the head 75 ft. In Yorkshire, at Grimston, 14 

 years planted, it is 70 ft. high. 



Vdpulus lilba in Scotland. In the environs of Edinburgh, at Honetoun House, it is ,30 ft. high; 

 the iliamelor of the trunk 3ft lOin., and of the head 30 fi. In Haddingtonshire, at Tynningham, 

 it is .58 ft. high, the di.ameter of the trunk 2 ft. 3 in., and of the head 42 ft In Koxburghshirc, 70 

 years planted, it h.is a clean trunk 50 ft in height, .averaging for that height 2 ft. In diameter, and 



