SELECTION OF TREES FOR PLANTING 63 
Carolina Poplar. —Choice of the Carolina Poplar in 
the eastern states is chiefly influenced by its rapid 
growth, and this very rapidity of development carries with 
it one of the factors which make the choice unwise. Its 
rank growth involves short life, and it is necessary to 
remove this tree at about 
the time more slowly grow¬ 
ing species would be coming 
into their full usefulness and 
beauty. The Carolina Pop¬ 
lar, like certain other trees, 
litters the street with falling 
flowers, seeds and leaves. 
After a few years of growth 
under humid conditions, its 
wood becomes brittle to 
such an extent as to cause the breaking of limbs and 
branches, adding another source of litter. The persistent 
and widespreading roots of the trees penetrate sewers 
and drain pipes and are a frequent nuisance in this 
respect; while the main roots are so near the surface as to 
cause cracking of sidewalks and derangement of curbing. 
The only excusable location for the Carolina Poplar is 
the congested business street, where it is to be kept severely 
pruned into formal shape and small size, or the western 
half of the country. In congested streets the Ginkgo is 
better. Real estate operators have been liberal users of 
the Carolina Poplar in suburban residential allotments 
because of their cheapness and ease of culture, but the 
planting of the tree for this purpose is shortsighted and 
adds no permanent value to property. In the drier 
regions of the west, where but few trees thrive, it can be 
used to advantage, and under these conditions its most 
serious defects in regions more favorable to plant growth 
are overcome by the adverse conditions. 
