BLACK ITALIAN, OB NECKLACE-BEABIXG POPLAB. 201 



trees, though not so fastigiate as that of the Lombardy 

 Poplar, is more so than that of most other kinds ; and it 

 is not till it has reached the age of twenty-five or thirty 

 years, and attained the dimensions of a first-rank tree, that 

 its principal hranches begin to swell and to take a more 

 horizontal and spreading direction. To attain its greatest 

 developement it requires a free moist loam, and it thrives 

 particularly well near to running Avater; it also succeeds 

 and grows to a very large tree upon stiffish loam, and 

 even upon light and sandy soil makes good progress. As a 

 hedge-row tree in exposed situations we have also found 

 it to succeed beyond expectation, as it resists or stands 

 well up to the wind, and, in growth far outstrips the 

 ash, elm, and indeed any other tree, except perchance 

 the Salix alia and Salix Russelliana. It requires both 

 air and space to arrive at perfection, and does not suc- 

 ceed well in mixed plantations closely cooped up by 

 other trees, or even when planted thickly by itself; there- 

 fore, when intended for full-sized timber and grown in 

 mass, the plants ought to be put in at wide distances 

 or from sixteen to eighteen feet apart. It may, however, 

 be planted much thicker when intended for poles, small 

 rafters, &c, as the trunk in a few years runs up to a very 

 great height, without much taper or difference of diameter ; 

 and such plantations upon a good soil we have no doubt 

 would yield a great and rapid profit, where wood of this 

 description is in demand. 



The wood is of a greyish white colour, tough when 

 seasoned, and if kept dry very durable ; its great size 

 renders it fit for the largest buildings, and as flooring for 

 manufactories and other erections nothing can surpass 

 it, as in addition to the property of not splitting by per- 

 cussion it possesses the peculiar advantage of not easily 



