THE GREY, OR COMMON WHITE POPLAR. 179 



an undergrowth to protect and shelter other trees, and 

 contribute to take away the naked and starved appearance 

 such plantations so generally exhibit. 



In cultivating this Poplar in masses, and with a view 

 to produce timber, London recommends the young trees to 

 be planted from fifteen to eighteen feet apart every way : 

 this we consider quite necessary, both on account of its 

 rapid growth and the running nature of its roots, which 

 require space to throw up strong suckers to succeed the 

 first planted trees as they are thinned out ; should the 

 soil not be of too moist a nature, the interstices might, 

 when the plantation is first made, be filled with larches, 

 which would yield a crop of useful railing, posts, &c, 

 before the Poplars had reached a timber size. 



No tree requires less pruning, even the shortening in 

 of branches is rarely wanted, and large limbs ought never 

 to be amputated, as the wounds readily imbibe the wet, 

 and soon communicate a taint and rot to the trunk of the 

 tree. 



The soil most congenial to the nature of the Grey 

 Poplar is a loam near water, but not where the earth 

 is saturated with stagnant moisture. The wood of trees, 

 however, grown in rich moist ground, is more open and 

 spongy in texture than when cultivated upon drier soils, 

 where the species, though it does not make the same 

 rapid advance, thrives very well and attains a large and 

 useful size. 



It is propagated by layers, or by suckers thrown up 

 by the roots which run near the surface, and sometimes by 

 cuttings or truncheons, which may be planted any time 

 during the spring months. 



The wood is very white, and when dry of a tough 

 nature, allowing nails to be driven into it without splitting, 



N 2 



