ADVENTITIOUS BUDS 87 



of these single trunks by a group of several trunks. 

 In that case the young plantation is cut down to the 

 level of the ground, and around the edge of each 

 cross-section there presently spring a number of 

 adventitious buds which shoot up into an equal num- 

 ber of stems, so that each sapling that would have 

 developed only one trunk is transformed into a stump 

 from which start numerous sprouts or suckers, all 

 of the same age and strength. Then instead of a 

 wood or forest we have a growth of underbrush, or 

 a copse. When the suckers have acquired the de- 

 sired size, a fresh cutting back lays them low and 

 induces a still denser growth of shoots by multiply- 

 ing the number of wounds. It is thus that from a 

 single stock, repeatedly cut back and as often re- 

 invigorated by the growth of adventitious buds, a 

 quantity of wood is obtained exceeding that pro- 

 duced by the free and solitary development of one 

 tree. 



"Spared by the axe, the poplar rises in a majestic 

 obelisk of verdure. The willow, so ungraceful in 

 appearance along the banks of our ditches, with its 

 shapeless top bristling with shoots sticking out in 

 all directions, is, in its natural state, a tree of rare 

 elegance on account of the suppleness of its branches 

 and the fineness of its foliage. Considered as a 

 thing of beauty, it certainly has nothing to gain by 

 man's interference with its mode of growth. But, 

 alas, productivity does not always go hand in hand 

 with beauty ; and if it is desired to make these two 

 trees, the poplar and the willow, produce a great 



