DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
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plantations ; the more so, perhaps, because it is an exotic. 
At some distance, the downy under surfaces of the leaves, 
turned up by the wind, give it very much the aspect of a tree 
covered with white blossoms. This effect is the more strik- 
ing, when it is situated in front of a group or mass of the 
darker foliage of other trees. It is valuable for retaining its 
leaves in full beauty to the latest possible period in the au- 
tumn, even when all the other deciduous trees are either 
brown, or have entirely lost their leafy honours. Its growth 
is extremely rapid, forming a fine rounded head of thirty 
feet in height, in six or eight years. 
The Lombardy poplar is a beautiful tree, and in certain 
situations, produces a very elegant effect ; but it has been 
planted so indiscriminately, in some parts of this country, 
in close monotonous lines before the very doors of our houses, 
and in many places in straight rows along the highways for 
miles together, to the neglect of our fine native trees, that it 
has been tiresome and disgusting. This tree may, however, 
be employed with singular advantage in giving life, spirit, 
and variety to a scene composed entirely of round-headed 
trees, as the oak, ash, etc., — when a tall poplar, emerging, 
here and there from the back or centre of the group, often im- 
parts an air of elegance and animation to the whole. It may, 
also, from its marked and striking contrast to other trees, be 
employed to fix or direct the attention to some particular 
point in the landscape. When large poplars of this kind 
are growing near a house of but moderate dimensions, 
they have a very bad effect, by completely overpowering the 
building, without imparting any of that grandeur of char- 
acter conferred by an old oak, or other spreading tree. It 
should be introduced but sparingly in landscape composition, 
as the moment it is made common in any scene, it gives an 
