163+ ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART III. 



The bark of the old trunk, being very thick, light, and corky, is employed by 

 fishermen to support their nets, and, it is said, is used as corks for bottles. 

 The buds, macerated in boiling water, and afterwards bruised in a mortar 

 and pressed, yield a fat substance, which burns like wax, and exhales a fine 

 odour. The balsamic sap with which the buds are covered forms the basis of 

 what Gerard calls that " profitable ointment, unguentumpopulewn, which is used 

 as a soothing remedy against nervous diseases and hemeroides." The young 

 shoots, especially when the plants are kept low, may be used as a substitute 

 for those of the willow, in basket-making. When the tree is pollarded, and 

 lopped every three or four years, it produces a great quantity of fuel, which 

 can be used green. The shoots, with the leaves on, are formed into brooms. 

 The cottony substance, or flock, which surrounds the seeds, has been used, 

 in Germany and in France, as wadding ; and it has also been manufactured 

 into cloth, hats, and paper ; but the expense of collecting it, and the want 

 of length and elasticity in the fibre, occasioned the manufacture to be given 

 up. In Kamtschatka, and in Norway, the inhabitants are sometimes under 

 the necessity of drying the inner bark, and grinding it, in order to mix it 

 with their oatmeal. (See Laing's Norway.) The flowers are much sought 

 after by bees. In landscape-gardening, the tree is valuable for particular 

 purposes, on account of the rapidity of its growth, the great bulk of its head, 

 and the striking effect of its dark red flowers in early spring ; but it is unfit 

 for grounds which are not of considerable extent, unless when treated as a 

 pollard or dwarf. 



Poetical and mythological Allusions. According to Ovid, when Phaethon 

 borrowed the chariot and horses of the sun, and by his heedless driving set 

 half the world on fire, he was hurled from the chariot by Jupiter into the Po, 

 where he was drowned ; and his sisters, the Heliades, wandering on the banks 

 of the river, were changed into trees ; but, whether these trees were poplars 

 or alders, the poets do not seem to be agreed. The evidence in favour of the 

 poplar consists in there being abundance of black poplars on the banks of 

 the Po ; in the poplar, in common with many other aquatic trees, being 

 so surcharged with moisture as to have it exude through the pores of the 

 leaves, which may thus literally be said to weep ; and in there being no 

 tree on which the sun shines more brightly than on the black poplar, thus 

 still showing gleams of parental affection to the only memorial left of the 

 unhappy son whom his fondness had contributed to destroy. 



" And eke those trees, in whose transformed hue, 

 The Sun's sad daughters wailed the rash decay 

 Of Phaethon, whose limbs with lightnings rent, 

 They gathering up, with sweet tears did lament." Spenser. 



The quivering of the leaves of the black poplar, and the manner in which 

 the sun dances on their smooth surfaces, have made them afford to the 

 poets joyous images, of activity and beauty. Homer, speaking of Penelope's 

 handmaids, says : — 



" Some ply the loom ; their busy fingers move 



Like poplar leaves when zephyr fans the grove." Pope's Odyssey, book vii. 



And a Spanish poet compares the tree to his lady's hair : — 



" Bach wind that breathes, gallantly here and there 

 Waves the fine gold of her disorder'd hair, 



,\ . green poplar leaf in wanton play 



I > nires lor Joy at rosy break of day." Wiefen's GarcUasso. 



S'j'f, Stotd&m, $<■. For the tree to attain a large size, the soil ought to be 

 good, though if need not be deep; more especially if it be in the immediate 

 \i< initv of water. In such situations, the black poplar forms a very profitable 

 pollard tree; and it. is often so planted and treated in France and Italy, for 

 the purpose of affording props lor vines. It is readily propagated by cuttings 



or truncheon . 



Inxccts, DitemtSf Sfc The black poplar is famous among naturalists for 



