Populus 1 80 1 



cold, as because of the two unusually cold and wet summers. A paper on the 

 subject by Mr. H. D. Geldart^ gives many interesting particulars; and all his 

 correspondents seem to agree that the damage was much greater than in the colder 

 winter of 1860-61, when the thermometer at Audley End near Saffron Walden went 

 down on Christmas morning to - 11". Mr. Geldart quotes the replies received by 

 Mr. Southwell to his inquiries as to the death of Lombardy poplars in other parts of 

 England as follows. Twenty miles round York, death or severe injury was almost 

 universal ; in Wilts, they had suffered very much ; in west Dorset, most of them 

 were killed or seriously injured ; near Doncaster, all were more or less killed ; but 

 at Oxford among the College gardens it was the exception to find a damaged tree ; 

 and Mr. C. B. Plowright wrote that in the west of England the Lombardy poplars 

 did not seem to be injured at all. 



In Scotland it was, according to Dr. Walker, introduced at New Posso in 

 Tweeddale as early as 1765 from cuttings sent by the Earl of Hertford, and was 

 extensively distributed some years later by Lord Gardenstone ; but the climate of 

 most parts of Scotland is evidently too cold or too wet to suit this tree, as none of 

 those mentioned by Loudon are still alive so far as I can learn, except one at 

 Brahan Castle, Ross-shire, that was 70 ft. by 6 ft. in 1838. When I visited this 

 place in 1907 I found a fine tree 98 ft. by about 9 ft., which may be the same. Six 

 miles north of Inverness, on the high-road to Beauly, I also saw four well-shaped 

 trees, of which the largest was 90 ft. by 1 1|- ft., showing the excellent climate of that 

 district. Mr. Renwick tells us of one near Braid wood, Lanarkshire, which was 

 93 ft. by 10^ ft, in 1910; this was blown down on 5th November 191 1. 



In France the Lombardy poplar is common, though now on account of its inferior 

 growth often replaced by the hybrid poplars. It commonly attains no ft. to 120 

 ft. in height, but I have seen none approaching the trees near Rouen mentioned 

 by Loudon^ which, according to M. Dubreuil, were then 150 ft. high. A tree^ at 

 the Trianon, Versailles, was 17^ ft. in girth at four feet from the ground in 1888. 



The Lombardy poplar has been planted largely in the irrigated districts of Utah, 

 and, according to F. C. Sears,* rows of tall Lombardy poplars, marking the irriga- 

 tion canals, are a feature in the landscape. (H. J. E.) 



In Chile,® especially about Valparaiso, the Lombardy poplar is largely planted, 

 both in gardens and on the margins of the irrigation canals, where it grows so rapidly 

 as to be ready for felling in fifteen years. Its timber is used for indoor work in 

 houses. Dode states * that in Chile and Argentina there is a form of the Lombardy 

 poplar which keeps its leaves evergreen. 



Mr. Lovegrove has sent us specimens of the Lombardy poplar from Kashmir, 

 where it is planted along roads, and often attains 100 ft. in height and 7 ft. in girth. 



' Trans. Norf. and Nonv. Nat. Soc. iii. 354-366 (1880-1884). Cf. Gard. Chron. xv. 764, 798, and xvi. 246 (1881), 

 where instances are given of the death of many trees also in the north of France and in Belgium. 



^ Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1670 (1838). 



s Garden and Forest, i. 174 (1888). * Ibid. x. 357 (1897). 



^ Dr. W. Balfour Gourlay, in Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin. xxiv. 74, plate 7 (1910). It is much attacked in Chile by the 

 quintral, Loranthus tetrandus. 



^ Bull. Soc. Dend. France, 1908, p. 29, and 1909, p. 152, where this form is named P. pyramidalis, var. Thaysiana, 

 Dode. 



