CHAP. CIII. 



PO'PULUS. 



1661 



banks, and carries off part of the surface soil, so as to expose that which has 

 lain covered for many years, " a great quantity of black poplars always spring 

 up ; and among them are many of the cypress, or Lombardy, poplars." (Gard. 

 Mag., vol. xii. p. 569.) Signer Manetti, from whom we quote, adds : " These 

 seeds have lain buried in the soil for many years, and were, no doubt, produced 

 by the forests which once covered the banks of the Po, the remains of which 

 are still to be found in many places." (Ibid.) To us it appears not impro- 

 bable, that the plants alluded to may have sprung up from seeds distributed 

 by the winds the same season, as the fresh soil would form a very favourable 

 nidus for their reception. The Lombardy, or cypress, poplar is said to be also a 

 native of Persia and the Himalayas, and to have been mentioned by Avicenna. 

 Morier found it abundant in Persia ; of which country Bosc and some other 

 botanists consider it a native, and thence to have been introduced into Italy. 

 The first avenue of Lombardy poplars planted there, Bosc observes, was 

 between Milan and Pavia; and the date of this avenue could, doubtless, be 

 obtained from the municipal documents of either or both of these cities. It 

 is singular, that the Lombardy poplar was not introduced into Tuscany till 

 .1805; a circumstance which appears to us strongly in favour of the sup- 

 position of its not being indigenous to Lombardy, or any part of Italy. 

 So remarkable a tree could not have escaped the notice of the Roman agri- 

 cultural writers ; and would, undoubtedly, have been recorded by Pliny, if it 

 had been known in Europe in his day. Into France it was introduced in 



