' POPLAR. 133 



which grew to the height of thirty-five feet 

 in five years, and many at two years old to 

 the height of twelve feet. Martyn says, 

 " I have measured one of my own trees, 

 which has been planted about twenty-five 

 years, and find that it measures six feet five 

 inches round, a foot above the ground, and 

 six feet, at the height of five feet ; it is sixty- 

 three feet five inches high, and has not in- 

 creased so much in height as in girth, for 

 some years past." 



The most extraordinary trees of this kind 

 that we have seen, were in a swampy situation 

 on the borders of the Seine, near Rouen, in 

 Normandy, where they seemed aspiring to 

 reach the height of the towers of the cathe- 

 dral of that city. These trees had not been 

 planted more than about twenty years ; yet 

 their height is such, as to make it quite 

 awful to walk in the avenues. The moisture 

 of the soil in which they are planted, and the 

 height of the mountains that shelter them, 

 have both contributed to draw them up in an 

 extraordinary manner. 



In some parts of Flanders great profit is 

 made by planting the common kinds of 

 black and white poplar ; and the like advan- 

 tage would be made in this country, were more 

 attention paid to planting these trees in boggy 



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