THE WHITE POPLAR, 6r 



THE GREATER TREES OF THE NORTHERN FOREST. 

 THE WHITE (OR DUTCH) POPLAR {Populus alba). 

 For many years in England the vogue for coniferous trees has thrown the 

 planting of summer-leafing trees into the background, and among the trees that 

 have suffered most from this neglect is this noble Poplar, which one so seldom 

 sees put to good use either on woodland or in picturesque planting. Here and 

 there, in getting down from the hills in Kent or in Wiltshire, and going near 

 an old house or village, we see it, perhaps, rising with a splendid dignity from 

 the rich hollows and ask if any tree of our country is more beautiful or stately. 

 When we do see it, it is too often solitary, whereas the tree is seen to best 

 effect as a small or large group. In our country, in hollows and sheltered 

 places, there is no tree that could be used to better effect, and that even in 

 places too moist or unsuitable for other trees. Rabbits are very destructive to 

 young trees, and in a plantation we have made of it many tall young trees are 

 all gnawed round and snap off at the base, so that when planting the White 

 Poplar in places where rabbits abound it should certainly be wired for six or 

 seven years. 



Our illustration is engraved from a picture which was shown in the Paris 

 Salon a few years ago, and well shows how the fine form of the tree appeals to 

 the artist, and in every state the fine grace of the tree is very clear to those 

 who care for tree form. Even poor specimens in suburban gardens show that, 

 even more, perhaps, in winter than in summer. 



This fine tree has an additional claim upon us in that it is a native of our 

 own country as well as central and western Europe, and therefore there can 

 be no doubt about its fitness for our climate. Our own opinion is that it is 

 very rarely that an introduced tree is as good as a native tree either for effect 

 or for any other purpose. Those who undervalue the wood of the White 

 Poplar in our country should know that it is said by Mathieu (Flore Forestiere) 

 to be very much more valuable the further south we go, and that the wood in 

 the north is too soft and has various other defects. 



It is much more cultivated in Holland, Flanders, and near regions than in 

 our country, and hence, we suppose, the name of " Dutch " Poplar. This has 

 led us to go to a source in that country for our description of the tree, and in 

 a paper written by M. N. L. Crahay, in the " Bulletin de la Societe Central 

 Forestiere de Belgique" we find a good account of it from a forest point of 

 view : — 



" The White Poplar is a valuable tree in many ways, and, we think, it 

 deserves a more important place in forestry than it has yet received. It is a 

 tall, handsome tree, straight in the stem, dignified, and, in conditions that suit 

 it, may grow 100 to 120 feet high and measure 10 to 13 feet round. The 



