TREES GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 



271 



springtime. Spring is, in fact, as the poets never grow tired of 

 telling us, the time to enjoy the fullness of life in the country. 

 Bowers of colour are everywhere, and what has been grey and 

 apparently dead during the winter is budding. An old slanting 

 roof within a small enclosure is transformed by the peaches' 

 spray into a garden that rivals those of Japan. 



SILVER-LEAF POPLAR. WHITE POPLAR. ABELE. 



(Plate CXLVIII.) 



PopHlus dlba. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Willow, Tall % round-topped. 30-100 /iW. Introduced New Bruns- March-May. 



wick to Virginia. 



Bark : light grey ; furrowed at the base and becoming smoother towards the 

 top. Buds : not glutinous. Leaves ; simple ; alternate ; with rounded and 

 downy petioles ; rounded-ovate; cordate at the base, with from three to five 

 pointed lobes ; finely serrate ; dark green and smooth above, white and cot- 

 tony underneath. The young leaves covered with down on both surfaces. 

 Staminate flowers ; growing in long, drooping catkins. 



The roadsides that have about them the greatest charm are 

 those that are shady, and in summer time, when the sun is 

 high, they are sought with gratitude by both man and beast. 

 Often along their borders an introduced tree will be mingled 

 with those that are natives ; sometimes this is so even in remote 

 places, and far away from any habitation. This has been noticed 

 about Populus alba. How has it come there is then wondered. 

 To follow, however, in imagination one of its fine, tufted seeds 

 as it is carried along by a playful breeze, is to find that al- 

 though it may rest awhile in some nook to-day, to-morrow it 

 will be taken up again, and perhaps again later, and may not 

 reach its final destination until a considerable distance has 

 been travelled. Much of the growth of this poplar that we 

 ordinarily see, however, is from the innumerable suckers that 

 spring up from the bases of the old trees, and which also mar 

 the beauty of many that are younger. 



East of the Alleghanies the tree is very common. It grows, 

 as well as in dry soil, by the side of streams and in moist 

 woods. 



