1658 



ARBORETUM AND FItUTlCETUM. 



I'AKT III. 



It comes into leaf, in the climate of London, 1517 



in the last week of April, or in the beginning 

 of May; about which time the male catkins 

 have chiefly dropped off. The cottony seed 

 is ripe about the middle of May, and is so 

 abundant, even in young trees, as to cover the 

 ground under them like a fall of snow. When 

 young, the tree shoots up with a strong erect 

 stem, which is much less liable to put out 

 timber-like branches than any other poplar 

 whatever, except P. fastigiata and P. balsa- 

 mifera. The rate of growth, in the climate of 

 London, on good soil, is between 30 ft. and 

 40 ft. in 7 years ; and even in Scotland it has 

 attained the height of 70 ft. in 16 years. There 

 appears to be little doubt of its being a native 

 of America ; but, as Pursh has only seen it in 

 gardens there, and neither Michaux nor his 

 father had ever seen it there at all, we think it probably only a cultivated 

 variety of P. canadensis ; which, as we have before observed, comes so near the 

 P. nigra of Britain, as to induce us to think that they are not specifically dif- 

 ferent. P. monilifera was introduced into England in 1772, from Canada; but, 

 as it is figured in Abbott and Smith's Natural History of Georgia, vol. ii. t. 71., 

 it appears to be also a native of that country. After its first introduction, it 

 does not appear to have been much cultivated for some years, when it was 

 brought into notice by Messrs. Archibald Dickson and Co., of Hasendeanburn 

 Nursery, under the name of the black Italian poplar. Its history under this name 

 is thus given in Pontey's Profitable Planter : Messrs. Dickson obtained the 

 plant from a gentleman in their neighbourhood, who had received it from his 

 son, then residing in North America. Mr. Archibald Dickson then travelled 

 for the firm through most of the northern districts of England; and, having 

 a high opinion of this poplar, of which he had been the first to procure a 

 stock of plants, he recommended it every where. The name of the black 

 Italian poplar he accounted for to Mr. Pontey, by saying that he had learned 

 that this sort of poplar was common in Italy, as well as in America. Mr. 

 Pontey adds, in confirmation of Mr. Dickson's statement : " As I can now 

 recollect his having so recommended the article, and also having bought our 

 first stock from him, in or about the year 1 787, I have, therefore, good reason 

 to suppose his account is in every respect accurate : indeed, it stands strongly 

 confirmed by the age of the trees found on the southern verge, and within his 

 route, as they are much older than those to the south of it ; and, therefore, I 

 think Messrs. Dickson entitled to the credit of having first recommended and 

 disseminated a tree, the rapid growth of which, in addition to its being highly 

 ornamental, will prove of essential benefit to the country." (Pontey's Prof. 

 Planter, p. 218.) This was written in 1813, when Mr". Pontey published 

 the first edition of his book ; and the black Italian poplar has, since that 

 period, been far more extensively planted in Britain than any other species 

 or variety of the genus. Notwithstanding this evidence in favour of its being 

 a native of North America, we think (as we believe all the white-barked pop- 

 lars, such as P. njgra, P. canadensis, P. 6etulaefolia, P. fastigiata, and P. angu- 

 lata, to be different forms of one species) that P. monilifera may have been 

 originated in Italy or Switzerland, and carried out to North America ; and, if 

 so, this will readily account for the English name of black Italian, the 

 American name, mentioned by Michaux and Browne, of Swiss poplar, and the 

 French name of Peuplier Suisse. We have heard of a plant of P. fastigiata, 

 which appears to be throwing out a side branch of P. monilifera ; but we are 

 not authorised at present to state any particulars respecting it. The female 

 catkins of the two kinds appear so much alike, as to leave no doubt in our 

 minds of their identity as species. 



