Lombardy Poplar in Italy. 569 



nursery in the usual way, with scarcely any balls ; but a great 

 deal of care was taken in watering them, and in shading them by 

 day : I also took care to sprinkle them over their leaves with 

 waiter, ^five or six times every day successively, during the first fort- 

 night after planting ; and eventually I withdrew the shading by 

 degrees, according to the weather. 



I have now only to repeat what I stated at first ; viz. that the 

 object of this paper is to elicit from others, upon philosophical 

 principles, their opinions as to which is the best season of the 

 year for transplanting evergreens with success, particularly when 

 drawn from the nursery, either with or without balls, as it may 

 happen. 



63. Portland Place, 1835. 



Art. V. Notice 7-especting the Lombardy Poplar (Vopidiisjasligiata 

 Desf.) in Italy. By Signor Giuseppe Manetti, Botanical Gar- 

 dener and Comptroller of the Administration of the Vice-regal 

 Gardens at Monza. 



The Lombardy, or, as we call it, the cypress poplar, is not 

 now so frequently seen in the Milanese territory as formerly ; and 

 the few that still remain there appear to have been planted on 

 the banks of rivers and brooks, or near houses, for ornament. I 

 have not been able to convince myself that it grows any where 

 spontaneously, except in the garden of Conte Orrigo, as I men- 

 tioned in a former letter ; and when I wrote to my brother Luigi, 

 to ascertain if it grew spontaneously in the province of Venice, 

 he informed me that, although very fine trees of it are to be seen 

 about villas between Venice and Verona, and also near the river 

 Brenta, he never saw it grow spontaneously ; and that it is there 

 always propagated by cuttings.. 



I think that this poplar is a native of the banks of the Po ; 

 because, though it is cultivated to a considerable extent in Mo- 

 dena, Bologna, and Ferrara, it is found in the greatest abundance 

 on the banks of that river, particularly on the Bolognese side. 

 A friend of mine, who has property on the low ground near 

 Mantua, has also observed, that, when the soil is dug up there, 

 or when the river overflows its banks, and carries off part of the 

 soil, so as to expose the virgin earth, a great quantity of black 

 poplars always spring up, and among them many of the cypress 

 or Lombardy poplars. These seeds were no doubt produced 

 by the forests which once covered the banks of the Po, the re- 

 mains of which are still to be found in some places. In my letter 

 of the 24th of last January, I told you that I agreed with Pro- 

 fessor Moretti in thinking that the cypress poplar was a hybrid; 

 but,, since I have studied it more closely, I must say that I con- 



