CHAP, CIII. SAIACA^CEJE. PO'PULUS. 164-7 



dant in Russia, and particularly so in the woods about Moscow ; and it is, 

 perhaps, worthy of notice, that, in the year 1813, the year following the fire 

 which burned down the greater part of that city, seedling plants of the trem- 

 bling poplar sprang up every where among the ruins. The seeds had, doubtless, 

 been wafted thither by the winds in the earlier part of the year 1812. Hence, 

 had that city been deserted at that time, it would, in a very few years, have 

 been one immense forest, the soil being every where rich. In Smith's Pro- 

 drowns of Sibthorp's Flora Grceca, the moist meadows of Bceotia, Mount 

 Athos, and the neighbourhood of Constantinople, are given as localities 

 where this tree is found. Among modern botanists, it appears to have been 

 first recorded by Dodonaeus, who adopts Pliny's name of Populus libyca. It 

 is mentioned by Gerard, Cook, Evelyn, Villars, and other authors, who all 

 notice its property of not bearing lopping, which it has in common with P. 

 alba, trepida, and grae v ca. 



Properties and Uses. In a natural state, the bark of the trembling poplar 

 forms the principal food of beavers, where the animal abounds ; and deer, goats, 

 and other quadrupeds of these kinds, are fonder of the spray and buds, than 

 they are of those of any other tree. The young shoots and leaves, [«roduced 

 in the form of suckers from the roots, are greedily eaten by cattle and sheep. 

 According to Withering, the roots, from their nearness to the surface, im- 

 poverish the land, and prevent anything else from growing on it luxuriantly ; 

 and the leaves, the same author observes, destroy the grass. Artificially con- 

 sidered, the uses of the trembling poplar, like that of all trees having a wide 

 geographical range, are various. The wood of the trembling poplar weighs, 

 when green, 54 lb. 6 oz. ; half-dry, 40 lb. 8 oz. ; and quite dry, 34 lb. 1 oz. : it 

 consequently loses two fifths of its weight by drying. It shrinks by this 

 operation one sixth part of its bulk, and cracks and splits in an extreme de- 

 gree. The wood is white and tender : and it is employed by turners ; by 

 coopers, for herring casks, milk-pails, &c. ; by sculptors and engravers; and by 

 joiners and cabinet-makers ; and for various minor uses, such as clogs, butcher's 

 trays, pack-saddles, &c. In France, sabots are made of the wood, and also 

 the bars and pins which serve to keep in their places the bottoms of casks ; 

 under-pinnings for flooring, laths, and rounds of ladders, and wooden vessels 

 of different kinds If the tree is cut when the trunk is filled with sap, and 

 employed green, the wood soon heats, and is quickly destroyed by fungi, under 

 the appearance of mouldiness. The bark is employed in tanning, in common 

 with that of P. alba and of P. nigra. It may also be employed in buildings, 

 in situations where it will be kept perfectly dry ; but, when it is intended for 

 that purpose, it ought to be cut down in the middle of winter, disbarked im- 

 mediately, and deprived of its moisture by steaming and drying, or other 

 means. As fuel, the wood is of feeble quality; and, though its flame is 

 bright and clear, it gives but little heat, and the fires made of it are of short 

 duration, the embers soon dying out. On account of the rapidity with 

 which it gives out its heat, it is preferred for heating ovens and stoves. 

 Its charcoal is light and soft, and it is employed in the fabrication of 

 gunpowder. The value of the wood as fuel is to that of the beech as 970 

 is to 1540; and its charcoal is to that of the same tree as 988 is to 1600. 

 A thousand pounds' weight of the ashes of the wood produces 61 lb. 4 oz. 

 of potash; the tree, among a list of 73 plants, occupying only the 71st 

 place. The leaves are employed, in France, Germany, and Sweden, as food 

 for cattle, sheep, and goats, either in a green or dried state ; and they are 

 cut every two years for that purpose, during summer. Bosc thinks this the 

 most valuable purpose to which the tree can be applied. Cattle, sheep, and 

 goats, he says, are passionately fond of aspen leaves, when green ; and like 

 them very well when dry. The powdered bark, given in doses of half a pound 

 each, expels the bots and worms from the stomachs of horses ; and in 

 Russia, Pallas informs us, the bark is used in domestic medicine, in scorbutic 

 and other cases. In the Highlands of Scotland, and other places, the bark 

 of young trees is made into torches. In landscape-gardening, the tree has a 



