200 populus. 



Italy as well as to North America. We may, however, 

 remark that, although imported to England from America, 

 it has never been found growing in a wild state in the 

 latter country, neither of the Michauxs, father or son, 

 having met with it, and Pursh it appears has only seen 

 it growing in gardens, and never in a natural state. We 

 are not aware how long it has been known or cultivated 

 in Europe, but probably for a considerable period, as it 

 has been planted to a great extent in parts of Switzerland, 

 and is well known to the French by the name of Peuplier 

 Suisse, so that there does appear to be some foundation 

 for another conjecture of Loudon's, viz. that it may have 

 originated in Switzerland or Italy, and been afterwards 

 carried from thence to North America. If it be only 

 a variety of some other species, a circumstance by no 

 means improbable, it may, if of European origin, either 

 have sprung from the seeds of the Black Poplar, Pop. 

 nigra, or from those of the Lombardy Poplar, Pop.fasti- 

 giata, (which Loudon again supposes may itself be a va- 

 riety of Pop. nigra,) as it appears to partake in an inter- 

 mediate degree of the character of both kinds, being- 

 more fastigiate in its growth than the one and less so 

 than the other ; or if it originated in America, from the 

 Pop. Canadensis, to which it is generally allowed to appear 

 nearly related. Of all the Poplars hitherto introduced, 

 it is, we think, by far the most valuable, looking to it in 

 the light of a useful and profitable timber tree, as it grows 

 with astonishing rapidity, and produces a timber of large 

 scantling and excellent cpiality, equal if not superior to that 

 of any other of its genus. During youth the side branches 

 are subordinate to the main stem, which shoots up erect 

 and perfectly straight to a height of eighty, ninety, and even 

 one hundred and twenty feet. The ramification of young 



