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 



