1658

ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM.

PART III.

It comes into leaf, in the climate of London ,in the last week of April, or in the beginningof May; about which time the male catkinshave chiefly dropped off. The cottony seedis ripe about the middle of May, and is soabundant, even in young trees, as to cover theground under them like a fall of snow. Whenyoung, the tree shoots up with a strong erectstem, which is much less liable to put outtimber-like branches than any other poplarwhatever, except P. fastigiata and P. balsa-mifera. The rate of growth, in the climate ofLondon , on good soil, is between 30 ft. and40 ft. in 7 years; and even in Scotland it hasattained the height of 70 ft. in 16 years. Thereappears to be little doubt of its being a nativeof America ; but, as Pursh has only seen it ingardens there, and neither Michaux nor hisfather had ever seen it there at all, we think it probably only a cultivatedvariety of P. canadensis; which, as we have before observed, comes so near theP. nigra of Britain , as to induce us to think that they are not specifically dif-ferent. P. monilifera was introduced into England in 1772, from Canada ; but,as it is figured in Abbott and Smith’s Natural History of Georgia, vol. ii. t. 71.,it appears to be also a native of that country. After its first introduction, itdoes not appear to have been much cultivated for some years, when it wasbrought into notice by Messrs. Archibald Dickson and Co., of HasendeanbumNursery, under the name of the black Italian poplar. Its history under this nameis thus given in Pontey’s Profitable Planter: — Messrs. Dickson obtained theplant from a gentleman in their neighbourhood, who had received it from hisson, then residing in North America . Mr. Archibald Dickson then travelledfor the firm through most of the northern districts, of England; and, havinga high opinion of this poplar, of which he had been the first to procure astock of plants, he recommended it every where. The name of the blackItalian poplar he accounted for to Mr. Pontey, by saying that he had learnedthat this sort of poplar was common in Italy, as well as in America . Mr.Pontey adds, in confirmation of Mr. Dickson’s statement: “ As I can nowrecollect his having so recommended the article, and also having bought ourfirst stock from him, in or about the year 1787, I have, therefore, good reasonto suppose his account is in every respect accurate: indeed, it stands stronglyconfirmed by the age of the trees found on the southern verge, and within hisroute, as they are much older than those to the south of it; and, therefore, jthink Messrs. Dickson entitled to the credit of having first recommended anddisseminated a tree, the rapid growth of which, in addition to its being highlyornamental, will prove of essential benefit to the country.” (Pontey’s Pry-Planter, p. 218.) This was written in 1813, when Mr. Pontey publishedthe first edition of his book; and the black Italian poplar has, since thatperiod, been far more extensively planted in Britain than any other speciesor variety of the genus. Notwithstanding this evidence in favour of its beinga native of North America , we think (as we believe all the white-barked pop-lars , such as P. nigra, P. canadensis, P. Jetulaefdlia, P. fastigiata, and P- angu-lata, to be different forms of one species) that P. monilifera may have beenoriginated in Italy or Switzerland, and carried out to North America ^ and, iso, this will readily account for the English name of black Italian, tAmerican name, mentioned by Michaux and Browne, of Swiss poplar, antiFrench name of Peuplier Suisse. We have heard of a plant of P■ fastigiat^which appears to be throwing out a side branch of P. monilifera; but we anot authorised at present to state any particulars respecting it. The t® 13 ^catkins of the two kinds appear so much alike, as to leave no doubt in ominds of their identity as species.