360 D E C I D U U S T R E E H. 



to be interesting. As the foliage is not dense, the tree is not de- 

 sirable to plant for shade, but should be placed where it will be 

 conspicuous in the spring, with a back-ground of heavier foliage in 

 summer and autumn. 



The aspen sheds its leaves early, but they often turn a pleasing 

 yellow before they fall that renders them quite ornamental. The 

 growth is rapid in good soils, giving the tree a pyramidal form 

 when young, and a symmetrically irregular outline at maturity. It 

 rarely exceeds forty feet in height. The branches and twigs have 

 a grayish hue, and the older bark is spotted with black. The outer 

 branches are slightly pendulous as the tree grows old. 



The English Aspen, F. tremula, is very much like the pre- 

 ceding, but comes into leaf a few days later, and is not so pretty a 

 tree. 



The Weeping English Aspen, F. t. peiidula, is a variety that 

 has long been known in England, and has been grown for a few 

 years in this country ; but we have seen no well-grown specimens, 

 and cannot, therefore, describe it. 



The American Tooth-leaved Poplar, or Large Aspen, 

 F. grandidefita, is a variety with larger, rounder, and more scolloped 

 leaves, and stronger growth, which comes into leaf mu£h later than 

 the first described aspen, and is less pleasing in all respects. An 

 irregularly round-headed tree, from forty to fifty feet in height, and 

 short-lived. 



The Weeping Poplar, F. g. pe?iduia, is a variety of the pre- 

 ceding species that has recently been much praised. It is proba- 

 bly an interesting and picturesque tree, and to be preferred in 

 planting to the common forms of the species. 



The Cottonwood or Canadian Poplar. F. canadcjisis. — 

 This, we believe, is the largest of the family, often attaining one 

 hundred feet in height. It forms entire forests in portions of the 

 west, some of which are known as Cottonwood swamps, though the 

 soil in which they grow is always warm rich land when drained. 

 Its growth is the most rapid and coarse when young of any of the 



