popuLus. 183 



21. P. monilifera. Black Italian Poplar. — Selby, Brit. For. 

 Trees, p. 198. — In plantations. — " One of the largest and finest, and 

 perhaps, also, one of the oldest specimens of the species in Britain, is 

 now growing at Maxwell heugh, near Kelso. The trunk, previous 

 to dividing into the enormous limbs which form the head, is sixteen 

 feet and a half in height ; at the base it measures thirty- one feet in 

 girth, at two feet above the ground twenty-one feet, and at ten feet 

 above the base eighteen feet ; its solid contents are found to be up- 

 wards of nine hundred feet, and yet this enormous vegetable pro- 

 duction cannot be much above sixty years old. At Tvpizell, planted 

 in light free loam above twenty-two years ago, it is upwards of sixty 

 feet high, with a straight continuous trunk, and measures in girth, 

 at two feet from the ground, five feet five inches : others of a younger 

 age show an equal rapidity of growth." Selby. Also Stat. Ace. Rox- 

 burghs. p. 306. 



22. P. fastigiata. Lombardy Poplar. In avenues and pleasure- 

 grounds. — "A Lombardy Poplar, at Nisbet, in Berwickshire. It 

 grows on the north side of the canal, opposite to the garden, mea- 

 sured on the 15th of September, 1795, 6 ft. 1 in. This tree was 

 then 26 years old, and was 60 feet high, so that its growth for such 

 a period of time was certainly very great." Walker, Essays, p. 63. 



23. P. balsamifera. JSalSam i^oplar. — In avenues and planta- 

 tions. — " The Balsam Poplar was first raised in a nursery-ground at 

 Leith, by seeds sent from Canada, in the year 1768." "The very 

 early disclosure of its leaves in spring, and their fragrance, which per- 

 fumes the air, render it very agreeable." Rev. Dr. Walker. — There 

 is a very fine round-headed tree at Belford (Selby's Brit. For. Trees, 

 p. 210), about 50 feet high, with a trunk, at a foot from the ground, 



7 feet 9 inches in circumference. 



Oct. 7, 1852, I measured a leaf that had fallen from a young Bal- 

 sam Poplar at Newwaterhaugh, and I found the length of it to be 

 lOJ inches, and the breadth 9#ths. The leaf of a Lime, measured 

 about the same time, was 7 inches long by 7 in breadth ; and another 

 was 61 by 6 inches. The leaf of a Plane-tree from Gunsgreen, and 

 within the breath of the ocean tide, was 1 1 ^ inches in breadth, and 



8 in length. I presume these are large leaves, and beyond the average 

 size ; and it is a question whether their size was dependent on the 

 young age of the tree, or the influence of the sea air. Perhaps on 

 both. That the sea has a tendency to enlarge vegetation, seems 

 proved by the following notes with which Mr. Hardy has furnished 

 me. On the 21st October, 1849, he gathered leaves from some dimi- 

 nutive shrubby Oaks that grew close upon the sea-beach, at the base 

 of one of the steep gravelly declivities to the east of Redheugh, and 

 intermingled with hazels, sloethorns, briers, honeysuckles, brambles, 

 and clumps of the French-willow. The foliage of these dwarfed and 

 storm-beaten Oaks has a luxuriant character, more especially the 

 lower leaves. One leaf was 12 inches long and 5^ broad; another 

 11 by nearly 6; another 10| by 4| ; and another 10^ by 5^. 

 The leaves were strong and thick in texture. The leaves of the 



