166 



THE BLACK POPLAE. 



where they would be least expected. A writer in the 

 Gardener's Magazine states that the kitchen-garden at 

 Versailles was entirely neglected from the beginning of 

 the French Revolution until 1819 ; and that, in the 

 interval, the light downy seeds of the Black Poplars and 

 Willows of the neighbouring woods had sprung up from 

 the ground, and from the crevices of the walls, and attained 

 even a timber size. The same author records a similar 

 instance in Moscow, where, in 1814, he saw springing up 

 everywhere, from the ashes of those ruined houses which 



had not been rebuilt, 

 plants of the native 

 Black Poplar.^ Thus, 

 had Moscow been left 

 to itself, that immense 

 city would have become 

 by this time a natural 

 forest. 



The timber arrives at 

 perfection in about fifty 

 or sixty years, soon after 

 which it begins to decay. 

 In the arts it is of no 

 great value ; and, owing 

 to its lightness and soft- 

 ness, is not much used, except for packing-cases and soles 

 of shoes, &c. In Russia the bark is used in the preparation 

 of morocco leather, and in England for tanning leather. 

 Loudon states that the bark of the old trunk is employed 

 by fishermen for buoying up their nets, and mentions 

 other uses to which various parts of the tree may be 

 applied ; but none of these are important. 



There are many trees of this species existing in Great 

 Britain which exceed seventy feet in height : one at Bury 

 St. Edmund's is said by Strutt (from whose Sylva the 

 engraving at page 165 is taken) to be ninety feet high and 



^ Loudon states this to be the Aspen. 



LEAF OF BLACK POPLAR. 



