1644 ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART III. 



abundance of fibrous roots the first season, ought to be transplanted into nur- 

 sery lines for at least one year before removal to their final situation. The 

 tree is admirably adapted for thickening or filling up blanks in woods and 

 plantations; and, for this purpose, truncheons may be planted 3 in. or 4 in. in 

 diameter, and 10ft. or 12 ft. high. These truncheons have the great advan- 

 tage of not being overshadowed by the adjoining trees, which is almost always 

 the case when young plants are used for filling up vacancies among old trees. 

 The truncheons need not be inserted very deeply in the soil, because the roots 

 which they protrude, like those of all other trees having creeping roots, ori- 

 ginate in a part of the trunk near the surface. When the white poplar is 

 planted in masses, with a view to produce timber, the plants ought to be from 

 loft, to 18ft. apart every way, and they may be most profitably cut down 

 at the end of 30 or 40 years ; but, when they are only to produce poles of 

 from 6 in. to 9 in. in diameter, fit for roofing sheds and similar purposes, they 

 need not be planted at a greater distance than from 6 ft. to 9 ft. every way ; 

 and, for coppice wood, from 4 ft. to 5 ft. is the proper distance. Owing to the 

 softness of the wood, and its liability to shrink and crack, it is dangerous to 

 cut off very large branches ; and, even when branches of moderate size are 

 cut off., the wound ought always to be covered over with grafting clay, or 

 some description of plaster, to exclude the air. The tree is considered, 

 both by French and English authors, as bearing lopping worse than any other 

 species of the genus ; and, when transplanted, the head should never be cut 

 off, and not even cut in, unless the tree is to be planted in a hot and dry 

 soil. 



Accidents and Diseases. When the tree is either carelessly pruned, or when 

 a branch is broken off by accident, or a stump suffered to decay, the water 

 seldom fails to be conducted to the heart of the trunk, and, by bringing on 

 caries, to rot the timber. The leaves, and also the trunk, of the tree are 

 liable to be infested by fungi, of which several species are common to the 

 different species of poplar. (See p. 1638.) The porosity of the trunk, stool, 

 and roots is favourable to the production of fungi of the larger kinds ; and 

 the Polyporus igniarius Fries may frequently be seen on the trunk of the 

 tree, or on the stool of a tree that has been cut down, of gigantic size. 



Statistics. Recorded Trees. At Strath fieldsaye, at Chalfont House, Bucks, and at Kingston, 

 Surrey, Mitchell, writing in 1827, says, there are first-rate trees : at Longleat, he mentions some 

 100ft. high, with trunks from 3 ft. to 4ft. in diameter, and with 40ft. to 60ft. of clear bole. At 

 Knowle, he saw one 9 ft. in circumference, that had been felled and cross cut : the sap-wood 

 was about 4 in. thick, and the heartwood spongy, like the inside of an overgrown turnip. At 

 Wentworth House, Mitchell saw another overgrown abele, felled and sawn across, which presented 

 the same appearance as the tree at Knowle. In Scotland, a tree at Drumlanrig, in Dumfriesshire, 

 which stood on a dry soil, and was 80 years old, was, in 1773, 80ft. high, with a trunk 2ft. 6 in. in 

 diameter. In the year 1769, a row of abeles, at Stevenston, in East Lothian, contained 122 trees, all 

 about 80 ft. high, and having clear trunks of from 20 ft. to 30 ft. The trunks were from 5 ft. to 7 ft. 

 in circumference, and yet the trees stood only 7 ft. distant from each other. They grew in a deep 

 moist soil, were then 80 years old, and afforded a great quantity of timber, though they had begun 

 to decay. (Walker's Essays, p. 50.) In France, in the years 1804 and 1805, several abeles, which 

 were planted at Versailles in the time of Louis XIV., and had long been regarded as magnificent 

 specimens, were cut down ; and, though they had begun to decay, they were cut into planks, and sold 

 at a high price, for naval purposes. 



Fopulus alba in England. In the environs of London, at Ham House, it is 85 ft. high, with a 

 trunk 3J ft. in diameter. On the banks of the Thames, between Hampton Court and Chertsey, are 

 several specimens upwards of 100ft. high. In Devonshire, at Killerton, 25 years planted, it is 73 ft. 

 high, diameter of trunk 2 ft. 1 in., and of the head 38 ft. In the Isle of Jersey, 10 yearsplanted.it is 

 28 ft. high. In Surrey, at Deepdene, 10 years old, it is 27 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 in., and 

 of the head 10ft. In Sussex, at Kidbrooke, it is 60ft. high, diameter of the trunk 3ft., and of the 

 head 30 ft. In Wiltshire, at Longford Castle, it is 100 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 ft., and of the 

 head 90 ft. In Berkshire, at Bear Wood, 12 years planted, it is 40 ft. high ; at Ditton Park 90 years 

 planted, it is 80ft. high. In Denbighshire, at Llanbede Hall, 50 years planted, it is 63ft. high. In 

 Herefordshire, at Stoke Edith Park, it is 85ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4ft., and of the 

 head 60 ft. In Leicestershire, at Belvoir Castle, 26 years planted, it is 60 ft. high. In Northampton- 

 shire, at Clumber Park, 14 years planted, it is 25 ft. high. In Northumberland, at Hartburn, 

 83 years planted, it is 82 ft. high. In Pembrokeshire, at Stackpole Court, 40 years planted, it is 60 ft. 

 high, diameter of the trunk 2$ ft., and of the head 28ft. In Shropshire, at Willey Park, 16 years 

 planted, it is 30 ft. high. In Staffordshire, at Trentham, 26 years planted, it is 35 ft. high ; at Alton 

 Towers, 6 years planted, it is 20ft. high. In Suffolk, at Finborough Hall, 80 years planted, it is 

 100ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6ft., and of the head 75ft. In Yorkshire, at Grimston, 14 

 years planted, it is 70 ft. high. 



Vdpulus alba in Scotland. In the environs of Edinburgh, at Hopetoun House, it is 30ft. high; 

 the diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 10 in., and of the head 30ft. In Haddingtonshire, at Tynningham, 

 it is 58 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 3 in., and of the head 42 ft. In Roxburghshire, 70 

 years planted, it has a clean trunk 50ft. in height, averaging for that height 2ft. In diameter, and 



