288 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 
ation, the cottonwood is probably the best of the poplars for 
general ornamental planting. It grows rapidly and in almost 
every soil, and yet it possesses an air of strength and durability 
which most of the poplars lack. Its foliage is always bright 
and glossy, and the constant movement of the broad, rich green 
leaves gives it an air of cheeriness which few trees possess. 
The tree has been much used upon the western prairies and in 
western towns much too abundantly for good landscape effects. 
‘The rapid growth of the tree gives a feeling of luxuriance to 
plantations, even when most other trees appear to be weak or 
starved. The cottonwood grows best upon rather low lands, 
and yet it is generally an admirable tree upon high and dry 
areas.” 
The so-called Carolina-poplar, according to Prof. Bailey, is. 
only a very luxuriant, cultivated form of the cottonwood. Like 
the locust, the cottonwood has an extensive root-system, and 
reproduces itself profusely by means of root suckers. It is, there- 
fore, excellent for holding the soil in place. 
The wood of this tree is extensively used in the manufacture 
of paper, and there is no reason for supposing that the demand - 
will not increase. This tree grows perfectly on the moist pine- 
barren land of Southern New Jersey, and I can see no reason 
why its cultivation should not be encouraged. 
Throughout southern Europe the poplars are extensively 
planted by the owners of small holdings. These tall straight 
trees form a characteristic feature of the French and Italian 
landscape. ‘They prefer poplar, because the trees are easily pro- 
duced from cuttings, because they soon grow to a size fit for 
boards, because they yield the peasant loppings for fuel, and 
because they throw so little shade that grass and other crops 
will grow between the rows. Plate XXIV shows a peasant bind- 
ing poplar loppings in fagots for fuel, and a peasant sawing 
boards by hand from poplar logs which he has probably raised 
from cuttings of his own planting. 
This leads us to the consideration of those persons who possess. :. 
small tracts of land in South Jersey out of which they must earn 
a livelihood. ‘The land has been undergoing such a process of 
division of late that the average land-holder probably owns little 
more than a hundred acres. ‘The day of the large farm in New: 
