LIST OF FOREST-TREES. 



107 



There are new varieties of the elm of re- 

 cent introduction, as the Huntingdon, 

 Chichester, fan-leaved, &c. These 

 exhibit a more rapid and luxuriant 

 growth than the other species men- 

 tioned ; but their comparative value, 

 as regards the quality of the timber, 

 has not yet, as far as we know, been 

 satisfactorily determined. There is a 

 difference of opinion as respects the 

 comparative value of the wych and 

 the English elms. The weight of 

 opinion is in favour of the English 

 elm, ulmus campestris. The corked 

 barked elm is held on all hands to be 

 very inferior, particularly the Dutch 

 species. Where hedge-row timber is 

 at all admissible, the elm is perhaps 

 of all other trees the most to be pre- 

 ferred. The practice of lopping and 

 pollarding these trees sadly disfigures 

 the general appearance of the coun- 

 try where it is practised to any ex- 

 tent, and the timber of such pollards 

 is almost always found defective. The 

 wych elm attains to a great size; 

 Marshall (on Planting, vol. ii.) men- 

 tions a tree of this kind near Bradley 

 church, in Suffolk, which, in 1754, 

 measured twenty-five feet five inches 

 in circumference, and in thirteen years 

 after measured twenty-six feet three 

 inches, at five feet from the ground. 



AMENTACE^. Nat. Sys. 



Eng. Name. 



WILLOW-TREE. 



Bot. Name. 



SALIX. 



Diaecia 1,2, 3, 5, Andria. Linn. 

 Calyx, aments composed of scales ; corolla 

 none. In the MALE FLOWER, the nectary 

 consists of a melliferous gland ; in the 

 FEMALE FLOWER, the style is bifid. Seed 

 vessel or capsule one-celled, two-valved, 

 downy, numerous, ovate, very small. 



Time of sowing seed March ; but ge- 

 nerally propagated by cuttings or sets 

 in the spring. Soil Moist soils of 

 almost every description will suit this 

 tree. Uses -The osier (salix vimina- 

 lis) affords the materials of the basket- 

 maker ; also binders, thatching-rods, 

 rakes, scythe-handles, &c. The other 

 species enumerated, but especially the 

 Salix Russelliana, which is perhaps of 

 more rapid growth than the rest, af- 

 fords poles and rails, and is made use 

 of for a great variety of other purposes. 



The bark of the salix alba, Doctor A. 

 T. Thompson observes, supplies the 

 place of the Peruvian bark, in the 



case of intermittent fevers. It owes 

 its efficacy to a peculiar alkaline prin- 

 ciple which has been termed salicina, 

 and which can be separated from the 

 other components of the bark. 



Timber or Forest Species. 

 Species, with subserrate villose leaves. 



WILLOW-TREES. 



Common white. 

 Ash-coloured . . 

 Osier (bushy) 



SALIX. Natire of 



.alba Britain ., 



. cincrea .... 



, .vimindlis . . 



Round-leaved .... cdprea 



Species with leaves smooth, serrate. 



Long-leaved tri- 

 androus . . 



Peach-leaved amygdalina. 



Duke of Bedford's Russelliana . 

 Sweet, or bay-lvd. pentdndria . 



Crack .frdgilis 



Halbert-leaved . . . hastata 



Rose helix 



Golden vitellina. . . , 



Weeping babylonica. . 



tridndria . . .Britain ... 30 



15 



40 



Eng. Name. 



POPLAR. 



Bot. Name. 

 POPULUS. 



Dioecia Octandria. Linn. 



Calyx of the ament, a flat scale, torn at the 

 edge ; corolla, turbinated, oblique, entire ; 

 stigma of the FEMALE FLOWER, four-cleft; 

 seeds, many, ovate, furnished with capillary 

 pappas, which act as wings to carry the 

 seeds by the wind, enclosed in a one-celled 

 capsule. 



Time of sowing seed Propagated by 

 cuttings, suckers, and layers; the 

 first mode preferred. Soil It af- 

 fects a moist soil, but will grow in 

 almost every description of soil. Uses 

 The chief use of the wood of the 

 forest species is for the turner in the 

 manufacture of trays, bellows, and 

 various domestic utensils. The wood 

 of the Abele poplar is found to be 

 very useful for water-works, having 

 been proved to keep sound for a long 

 series of years when so used*. 



The common grey poplar is sometimes 

 confounded with the abele or white 

 species. The leaves of the former are 

 smaller and rounder shaped, and but 

 little cottony underneath, sometimes 

 smooth. The bark of the stem be- 

 comes of a beautiful silvery grey hue. 

 -This species is of slower growth, but, 



* Notwithstanding the general disrepute of the 

 wood of the Lombardy poplar for out-door works, 

 there are instances of its durability being proved, 

 in making close pulhigs, when well saturated with 

 coal-gas tar. 



