160 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



as some call it, cotton-wood. As you may 

 suppose from the name, it grows in the 

 northern parts of the country : I have seen 

 one on the banks of the Genesee River, in 

 the State of New- York, eighty feet high and 

 four feet thick ; but in general it does not 

 grow quite so large as this. The leaves are 

 very much like those of the Carolinian poplar, 

 but not quite as large; the stems on which 

 they grow are often of a bright red, and the 

 branches, instead of being round like those of 

 most other trees, have angles or corners run- 

 ning along lengthwise, the edges of which 

 are white ; and the trunk is almost always 

 angular too ; and this is also the case with 

 the Carolinian poplar. The wood is no 

 better. 



" Another kind is the American black pop- 

 lar, which also grows only in the Northern 

 States : it is much smaller than either of the 

 two kinds I have mentioned, for it is seldom 

 seen more than forty or fifty feet high. The 

 bark is grayish white, and the buds are brown ; 

 the leaves are quite small, not more than 

 three inches long, and two broad ; one of the 

 distinguishing features of this species is the 

 hairiness of the young shoots, and of the 



