PROFITABLE TIMBER TREES 83 



growth, trees of this age are large enough for anything. 

 The great mistake often made in planting is that of giving 

 it too much room, and dotting it about at wide intervals 

 amongst slower-growing trees. In such cases the poplar 

 suppresses everything round it. Planted at 6 feet apart 

 and unmixed with other trees, a much cleaner and heavier 

 crop can be obtained, although individual trees will not 

 be so heavy as when allowed more room. Probably the 

 worst feature of the tree grown in this way is the diffi- 

 culty of disposing of the thinnings until they become of a 

 timber size. In pit-wood districts, where poles of any kind 

 can be disposed of without difficulty, even poplar thinnings 

 can be got rid of at a price, but elsewhere the only outlet 

 for them seems to be rough fencing and such purposes, and, 

 when dried and creosoted, poplar posts and rails are as 

 durable as most woods. 



THE WHITE POPLAR (Populus alba). 



The abele is also a rapid-growing tree, and in certain 

 situations is longer lived than the black Italian. Some of 

 the largest trees in the country of this variety stand in the 

 grove in Longleat Park, the measurements of the largest 

 being as follow : Height, 120 feet ; girth at five feet, 1 5 

 feet ; while others are little behind this in size. 



This tree propagates itself rapidly by suckers, and a few 

 trees in a wood will always ensure a crop of young poles, 

 which will develop into timber in time if able to get their 

 heads up. Whether it pays to leave them or not is a ques- 

 tion which must be decided upon the spot. On good ground 

 they must be considered more or less as weeds, as they take 

 the place of more valuable timber, but on cold sour clays 

 and wet swampy bottoms the presence of this tree can be 

 turned to good account if properly managed, either by grow- 

 ing it as large pole wood or timber. In such cases the best 

 method is that of growing it alone as much as possible, and 

 allowing the suckers to develop in groups of as near one 

 age as can be. They then grow tall and clean, and can be 

 thinned according to the size it is desired to obtain. Thick 



