POPLAR TREE. 339 



and butcher's trays cannot well be made without it, being 

 so exceeding light and tough." 



Evelyn, speaking of the quick growth of this tree, 

 says, " A specimen of this advance we have had of an 

 Abele tree, at Sion, which being lopped in February, 

 1651, did, by the end of October, 1652, produce 

 branches as big as a man's wrist, and seventeen feet in 

 height." 



He tells us that Sir Richard Weston made a plantation 

 of them near Richmond, calculating that thirty pounds 

 laid out in this way would, in eighteen years, return at 

 least ten thousand. 



The Dutch consider a plantation of them as an ample 

 portion for a daughter. 



Martyn says, that floors which he had seen, made of 

 planks of the Abele, were extremely beautiful. 



" The wood of the White Poplar," says Evelyn, " is 

 sought of the sculptor. In sword and buckler days, 

 they made shields of this material : it is soft, white, and 

 stringy, and makes good wainscotting, being little subject 

 to swell, or shrink." 



The Black Poplar, Populus nigra, has a long naked 

 trunk, and a handsome regular head ; the bark is ash- 

 coloured : the leaves are smooth on both sides, of a light 

 green colour, and slightly notched at their edges. It is 

 of quick growth, and in moist situations will rise to a 

 great height, throwing out innumerable suckers from the 

 roots. The bark being light, like cork, serves to support 

 the nets of fishermen. The wood is light, soft, and not 

 apt to splinter ; is used by the turner, and in particular 

 by the bellows-maker, being very close, yet light. It is 

 considered as excellent for flooring, on account of its 



