USES OF WOOD. 229 



they are serviceable; also for some kinds of 

 cabinet -making. Its employment in buildings, 

 for floors, is sometimes suggested because of its 

 whiteness, the readiness with which it can be 

 cleaned, and the difficulty with which it can be 

 ignited. The White Poplar (Populus alba), the 

 Black Poplar (Populus nigra), the Lombardy 

 Poplar (Populus fastigiata), the Aspen or Trem- 

 bling Poplar (Populus tremula), and the Grey 

 Poplar (Populus canescens) are the best known of 

 these trees. The whitest woods are those of the 

 White and the Grey Poplars, that of the latter 

 being the harder of the two. They are used for 

 packing-cases, for drapers' bobbins and rollers, 

 for toys, and for some of the inferior purposes 

 of the cabinet-maker and turner. The wood of 

 the Aspen, being exceptionally light, is used for 

 inferior casks, such as casks for packing fish, for 

 milk-pails, for clogs, sabots, butchers' trays, and 

 sometimes by sculptors and engravers for inferior 

 work. The Black Poplar is so called, according 

 to one explanation, because of a black circle found 

 within the centre of its trunk. In the wood pro- 

 duced by some individuals of this species there 



