828 THE POPLAR. 
There are other species of the poplar introduced, and some- 
times cultivated in this country ; but they are less important 
than those described, on account of their being either of small 
stature or too tender for our climate. 
The growth of the poplar from seed.—All the poplars blossom 
early in spring, and the female plant usually ripens and sheds 
the seed in the end of May or early in June. On account of 
the facility with which young plants can be produced from 
cuttings and layers, the growth of the tree by seed is seldom 
practised. The following, however, is the mode of raising 
the tree by that means :— 
The seeds appear a white, cottony substance, and where the 
ground is smooth, such as on short meadow grass, or along a 
road-side, they sometimes can be readily swept up. On being 
collected, they should be immediately sown on the surface of 
smoothly-dug, friable ground, then raked in, and rolled with 
a heavy roller, or smoothly tramped in with the feet. This 
bed should then be shaded by being overspread with straight- 
drawn straw, or with broom, or heath, or some such substance, 
that will furnish shade and admit air. If the weather is not 
very moist, watering all over the covering should be carefully 
performed with rain or pond water, or that which has been 
for some days kept stagnant in the sunshine. The plants will 
spring in a week or two, according to the heat of the weather, 
and the cover may then be removed. They will be a few 
inches long before winter, and in spring should be transplanted 
into nursery lines about fifteen inches apart, and the plants at 
the distance of six or eight inches. 
The soil most suitable for all the species is that which is rich, 
loose, and moist, or in the vicinity of water. The cost of 
trenching the ground is always well repaid by rapidity of 
growth. When a poplar becomes stunted it rarely regains its 
vigour. If it ceases to grow freely from any other cause than 
unsuitable soil, it will generally show a tendency to spring 
from the surface of the ground ; and if young, on being lopped 
over at the surface, and confined to one shoot, it will become 
vigorous. 
