THE SOFTWOODS 197 



also yields good timber at forty or fifty years of 

 age, it is not so rapid in growth as the black 

 poplars. Hence it is less suited than these for 

 growth in highwoods ; but, on the other hand, it 

 is the best of all the poplars for coppice woods 

 on suitable low-lying tracts, where it quickly pro- 

 duces a remunerative crop. As it is less affected 

 than the black poplars by the smoke of towns, 

 this form of crop may prove highly profitable 

 wherever there is any demand for match-wood. 



Like the common aspen, the abele throws up 

 plentiful suckers, which indeed often render it 

 a great nuisance in pasturage and meadow land ; 

 but slips or cuttings do not strike so readily as 

 in the case of the black poplars. The latter are 

 easily propagated by sets of the young wood put 

 out in spring, which do best if they are placed 

 for a year in the nursery. Such yearling cuttings 

 of the Canadian poplar often grow to a height of 

 four feet in the nursery, which shows its power 

 of establishing itself and its early rapidity of 

 growth. If rank growth of weeds were not to 

 be feared, the cuttings could of course be best 

 and most cheaply put in position at once in 

 spring when cut from the parent tree. In this 



