162 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



The wood is very soft and light, and of no 

 service either in the arts or in manufactures. 



" The balsam poplar grows in Canada, and 

 in still more northern parts of the country, 

 but is very rare in the United States : it 

 grows as high as eighty feet. In the spring, 

 when the buds begin to come out, they are 

 covered with a yellowish gum, of a very 

 agreeable smell. The leaves are deep green 

 on the upper side, and silvery white below. 

 There is another kind of balsam poplar that 

 does grow in some of the northern parts of 

 the United States, particularly in Rhode 

 Island, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The 

 leaves are three times as large as those of the 

 other kind, perfectly heart-shaped, and the 

 stems they grow on are covered with hair or 

 down. The buds are covered with the same 

 sort of balsam or gum. This species never 

 grows more than fifty feet high, and the bark 

 is quite smooth. 



" The remaining two sorts of poplar are 

 known by the name of aspen. The first is 

 called American aspen, and is common enough 

 in the northern and middle sections of the 

 country ; its height is generally about thirty 

 feet, and its diameter only five or six inches. 



