358 



THE WHITE POPLAR. 



The White Poplar is a tree of very rapid 

 growth, attaining a height of from eighty to a 

 hundred feet. When about fifty or sixty years 

 old it is in perfection ; soon after this it begins 

 to decay inwardly, but will continue growing for 

 a century longer. Evelyn recommends it as a fit 

 tree to be planted by " such late builders as seat 

 their houses in naked and unsheltered places, and 

 that would put a guise of antiquity upon any 

 new inclosure ; since by these, while a man is on 

 a voyage of no long continuance, his house and 

 lands may be so covered as to be hardly known at 

 his return.'* In England we rarely see many of 

 them growing together, as they are generally 

 planted to contrast with trees of darker foliage ; 

 but in France they are in some places so abun- 

 dant as to be the prevailing trees in extensive 

 tracts of country, and their wood, called white 

 wood," is used as fuel, to the exclusion of almost 

 all other firing. 



The timber, which is soft and light, was 

 anciently used for making shields, for which its 

 property of yielding under a blow eminently 

 fitted it. Nails may be driven into it without 

 splitting it ; hence it may be used with advantage 

 for packing cases. Being very light, it is made 

 into the rollers used by linen-drapers ; and, on 

 account of its uninflammable properties, more 

 than its extreme whiteness, it is well adapted 

 for flooring rooms. 



The White Poplar is propagated either by 

 suckers, which rise in great numbers from the 

 roots, by cuttings, or by layers. 



