THE BALSAM POPLAR OR TACAMAHAC 



TO see this magnificent tree at its best one should visit some of the great streams of 

 British America, where it grows to a height of a hundred feet and is a most 

 conspicuous feature in the forest landscape. It extends from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific coast, and continues south as far as Maine in the East and as Nebraska and 

 Nevada in the West, extending north to Labrador and Alaska. In Sir John Franklin's 

 report of his last journey, he wrote that " the greatest part of the drift timber we observed 

 on the shores of the Arctic Sea was Balsam Poplar." 



When one unfamiliar with this tree first sees it growing isolated upon a hillside in 

 Northern New England, the tree seems especially remarkable for its straight, erect trunk, 

 and its slender, symmetrical outline. The leaves in the typical form are ovate lanceolate, 

 being much narrower than those of the familiar Balm of Gilead. The upper surface is 

 dark green and the under surface much paler. It has a characteristic balsamic odor by 

 which it may always be distinguished. The winter buds are much like those of the Cotton- 

 wood and the Balm of Gilead, being large, long, slender, and acutely pointed. The flower- 

 buds are much larger than the leaf -buds, the former developing in early spring into the 

 characteristic catkins illustrated in the upper right-hand corner of the plate, where the 

 seed-bearing blossoms are next the right margin and the pollen-bearing at the left. After 

 being fertilized by the pollen the former elongate into the fruiting catkins, one of which is 

 shown in the lower illustration on the left of the plate. 



Like all of the Willows and Poplars, this species may easily be multiplied by means 

 of branches cut off and set in moist soil. In a short time they will send out roots through 

 the bark, and rapidly develop a root-system that enables them to start their growth anew. 

 Any of these trees form excellent objects to utilize for planting in school gardening work. 

 If each child were encouraged to start such a little tree at school, and when it had developed 

 a root-system encouraged to take it home and plant it in some desirable situation, a great 

 impetus might readily be given to the movement for tree-planting. The tree garden is 

 likely to become indeed one of the- important phases of nature study in the schools, as it 

 furnishes admirable opportunities for the pupils to become acquainted with the trees as 

 well as to acquire a practical knowledge of some of the most interesting horticultural 

 operations. 



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