212 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. the heads must by no means be diminished, but the lower branches may, 

 "■^^^''^'^ yet not too far up ; the foot should also be cleansed every second year : 

 This for the White. The Black Poplar is frequently pollarded, when as 

 big as one's arm, eight or nine feet from the ground, as they trim them 

 in Italy for their Vines to serpent and twist on ; and those they poll, or 

 head, every second year, sparing the middle, straight, and thrivingest 

 shoot, and at the third year cut him also. There be yet that condemn 

 the pruning of this Poplar, as hindering its grow^th. 



2. The shade of this tree is esteemed very wholesome in summer, but 

 they do not become walks or avenues, by reason of their suckers, and that 

 they foul the ground at the fall of the leaf ; but they should be planted 

 in barren woods, and to flank places at a distance, for their increase, and 

 the glittering brightness of their foliage : The leaves are good for cattle, 

 which must be stripped from the cut boughs before they are fagotted. 



kingdom of a sufficient age to enable us to fix the standard of its excellence. So far as we 

 yet know, it promises to answer the high character given of its quick growth. 



All the foreign Poplars grow very freely in this country, and, like the others, are propaga- 

 ted by cuttings and layers. 



The Poplar was sacred to Hercules, " Populus Alcldae gratissima and when any cere- 

 monies were instituted in honour of that god, its tender branches and leaves were twined 

 round the heads of the votaries : 



Tum Salii ad cantus, inceiisa altaria circum, 



Papuleis adsunt evincti tempera ramis. ^neid viii. 1. 28i. 



It was customary with lovers to write verses upon the bark of different trees. Ovid, in 

 the epistle from Oenone to Paris, fixes upon the Poplar : 



Populus est, memini, fluvial! consita ripa. 



Est in qua nostri litera scripta memor. 

 Popule, vive, precor, quae consita margine ripse 



Hoc in rugoso cortice carmen babes : 

 Cum Paris Oenone poterit spirare relicta. 



Ad fontem Xanthi versa recurret aqua. ' 



Homer beautifully compares the fall of Simoisius, by the hand of Ajax, to a Poplar just 

 cut down : 



So falls a Poplar, that in wat'ry ground 



Rais'd high the head, with stately branches crown'd, 



(Fell'd by some artist with his shining steel. 



To shape the circle of the bending wheel,) 



Cut down it lies, tall, smooth, and largely spread. 



With all its beauteous honours on its head. tope. 



