354 



THE POPLAR. 



which is so like cotton, that it has, though with 

 indifferent success, been manufactured into cloth 

 and paper. Most of the tribe are very prolific 

 in suckers from the root. The wood is soft and 

 light, and of little worth in the arts and manu- 

 facture's. It certainly possesses one property 

 which makes it valuable for some purposes, 

 that, namely, of being very difficult to ignite ; 

 hence it may be employed with advantage in 

 flooring rooms. The name Populus is said by 

 some to be derived from a Greek word {iratTrdWco, 

 to vibrate) bearing allusion to the tremulous 

 motion of its leaves. Others say that the tree 

 derived its name from being considered in an- 

 cient Rome the tree of the people" {arbor 

 populi), a circumstance which brought it into 

 notoriety during the French Revolutions, and 

 procured for it the unenviable notoriety of be- 

 ing erected by the mob in the public places 

 as the Tree of Liberty." 



Four species are indigenous to Great Britain, 

 and many others have been introduced, and are 

 now extensively cultivated. Of these last a short 

 notice will suffice, although one of them, the tall 

 Lombardy Poplar, is probably more generally 

 known than any of the native kinds. 



