50 



Columbia species, much like the previous one. S. Lucida is common 

 through Canada and is more of a shrub than a tree. S. Nigra, the Black 

 Willow, is the largest in growth, often attaining thirty to forty feet in 

 height, and the trunk, when the tree has been subject to pollarding, 

 attains a great thickness. It is a universal tree. 



POPLAR (Populus), of which several species abound, is the most widely 

 diffused tree of North America, but is most abundant all through and 

 over the West and North- West. Its wood is of no great value except for 

 ornamental purposes, although it is occasionally used in the manufacture 

 of carriages and sleighs, and as charcoal for smelting purposes. Spools 

 and bobbins are made from it, an industry that is growing, and paper is 

 now being made from Poplar wood shavings reduced to pulp, an industry 

 that bids fair ere long to assume large proportions. The Poplar is one of 

 the principal trees in the North-West. The Narrow-leaved Poplar 

 (P. Angustifolia) of the Pacific coast is a medium-sized tree, not much 

 known, L its wood being of little value. The Balsam Poplar, or Balm of 

 Gilead, (P. Balsamifera) is well known from its aromatic smell in spring 

 when the buds are opening, the odour being especially perceptible in the 

 evening, or before and after rain. It is a large tree, but its wood is very 

 brittle and of little use. The largo toothed Poplar (P. Grandidentata) is a 

 medium-sized tree from seventy to eighty feet high, with a trunk some- 

 times two feet in diameter. Its wood is white, soft and very light, and is 

 largely ground into pulp for paper. The Cotton wood (P. Monilifera) is a 

 very large tree from 80 to 100 feet high, and with a trunk from four to 

 eight feet in diameter. Abundant in the North-West and in British 

 Columbia. It is a handsome tree, and throws up from its roots numer- 

 ous suckers which form quite an undergrowth around it When its 

 flowers are over, their stems are covered with a filmy down not unlike 

 cotton, whence its name. Dr. Dawson mentions a species of this Poplar 

 (P. Trihocarpa), growing in open spaces along streams and in river bot- 

 toms in British Columbia which reaches a height of from sixty to one 

 hundred feet, the wood of which is largely employed at some places on 

 Puget sound in the manufacture of staves for sugar barrels, which are 

 used at San Francisco for the Sandwich Islands crop. 



THE ASPEN (P. Tremuloides), the leaves of which are apparently always 

 in motion on the calmest summer day, from the peculiar manner in 

 which they are attached to the bough, is a small tree seldom attaining 

 a height of fifty feet, and with a small trunk. It is one of the most widely 

 distributed of Canadian trees, and prefers moist slopes and bottom lands. 

 It forms a second growth after fires in many parts of the country to the 

 exclusion of everything else. Its wood is white, soft and easily worked, 

 and is used in turning, and also for paper pulp. Its bark possesses a 

 smooth, greenish-white appearance, which comes off readily on being 

 touehed like whitewash. 



THE YEW ( Taxus Brevnfolia) occurs in Vancouver Island and on the 

 shores of the mainland adjacent, attaining sometimes a diameter of 2 

 feet It is a very tough, hard wood of a beautiful rose colour, employed 



