VOL 1. THE NECKLACE POPLAR. 251 
1838, twenty feet and five inches in circumference, at the smallest 
part between the ground and the branches. When first observ- 
ed, fifty-five or sixty years previous, it was a small tree, not two 
inches in diameter. 'T’o whichever of the two species it belongs, 
it is amost favorable specimen of rapid growth; and itis a fine, 
broad headed tree. 
The necklace poplar is so called from the resemblance of the 
long ament of matured fruits, before opening, to the beads of a 
necklace. It has been cultivated for many years in Europe, 
where it is called Virginian poplar, and Swiss poplar, the last 
name being given from its having been extensively propa- 
gated in Switzerland. It is also known in England by the 
name of Black Italian poplar, from having been introduced from 
Italy. It is valued for the great rapidity of its growth, which is, 
in the climate of London, between thirty and forty feet in seven 
years; and even in Scotland, it has grown to the height of sev- 
enty feet in 16 years; thus becoming of a size for timber, sooner 
than any other tree. Its timber is considered valuable in 
building, as, like that of the other poplars, when kept dry, it is 
very durable. Male trees are much to be preferred, in the vicin- 
ity of dwelling-houses, as the cotton of the seeds adheres to 
clothes and furniture in a most troublesome manner.—(Lou- 
don’s Arboretum. III, 1658, 1659.) Cuttings of this tree root 
more freely than those of the previous species. 
There is another poplar, the true Balsam Poplar, found in 
Canada, in Maine, in Vermont, and in Connecticut, north and 
south of us, and therefore probably also in Massachusetts, which 
I have not detected growing naturally in any part of the State. 
It has a great resemblance to the Balm of Gilead, differing from 
it in having smaller leaves, which are uniformly rounded at 
base and never heart-shaped. In the upper part of the town of 
Kennebunk Port, in York County, Maine, in a sheltered hollow 
of three or fouracres, by the side of the Kennebunk River, on 
the land of George Thompson, | found this tree growing natu- 
rally in large numbers. ‘Thence it has been extensively propa- 
gated to the neighboring towns. On the leaves of the trees 
there, I observed the caterpillar of the kitten moth, Phalena fur- 
