CHAP. CIII.

salica'ce/e. po'pulus.

1661

banks, and carries off part of the surface soil, so as to expose that which haslam covered for many years, “ a great quantity of black poplars always springup; and among them are many of the cypress, or Lombardy , poplars.” ( Gard.Mag., vol. xii, p. 569.} Signor Manetti, from whom we quote, adds: “ Theseseeds havelain buried in the soil for many years, and were, no doubt, producedby the forests which once covered the banks of the Po, the remains of whicht0 ^ oun d i n tnany places.” {Ibid.) To us it appears not impro-bable, that the plants alluded to may have sprung up from seeds distributedJ'Ue winds the same season, as the fresh soil would form a very favourablenidus for their reception. The Lombardy , or cypress, poplar is said to be also anative of Persia and the Himalayas, and to have been mentioned by Avicenna .Vtorier found it abundant in Persia ; of which country Bose and some otherJ? tan * sts cons ider it a native, and thence to have been introduced into Italy .

e first avenue of Lombardy poplars planted there, Bose observes, wasoht' 66 ^ ^® atI an d P av ia; and the date of this avenue could, doubtless, beis ^ i *' roln t ' 3e municipal documents of either or both of these cities. ItIsn*; 1 ^' 1 ar> - t ' le Pbmtmtdy poplar was not introduced into Tuscany till• > a circumstance which appears to us strongly in favour of the sup-position of its not being indigenous to Lombardy, or any part of Italy .ci°j 1 eina rkable a tree could not have escaped the notice of the Roman agri-bad h w fj ters > an< I would, undoubtedly, have been recorded by Pliny , if itbeen known in Europe, in his day. Into France it was introduced in