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furnish a kind of copse : But in case you plant them of rooted trees, or chap, xv.smaller sets, fix them not so deep ; for though we bury the truncheonsthus profound, yet is the root which they strike commonly but shallow.
They will make prodigious shoots in fifteen nr sixteen years; but then
durable, if kept dry, and the poles make tolerable spars after the bark has been carefullyremoved. The bark, when permitted to remain upon poles of soft wood, harboursanimalculse, which in time eat away the strength of the timber.
4. PQPULUS (balsamifera) . foliis subcordatis denticulatis. Lin. Sp. PI. 1464. Tee
CAROLINA POPLAR.
This Poplar grows to a large timber-tree, and has a peculiar majesty. It is an exceedingly swiftgrower, insomuch that it has been known to shoot ten feet in the space of one summer. Thebark is smooth, and of a whitish colour; though that on the y oung shoots is of a tine green.The young shoots have five angles. The bark of which these are composed, being extendedby the future growth, leaves the traces of these angles on the older branches; and this givesthe tree in winter a particular look; for at the base of each bud they curve over and meet.Thus, between every bud, there are formed figures like niches of public buildings, with anupright in the middle, at the top of which, like an ornament, is seated the bud fpr the futureshoot. Of all the trees in a collection, no one more agreeably entertains us by its leaves thanthis, whether we consider the colour, figure, or size. Their colour is a light shining green,which is heightened in the autumn, by the strong mid-rib, and the large veins that ifsue fromit, turning to a red; the lefser veins also being in some degree affected, occasion upon thesame leaf an agreeable contrast. They are heart-shaped, and notched at the edges. Butthe size of the leaves gives this tree its greatest dignity: These majestic leaves are placed alter-nately on the branches ; though, as the tree advances iu height, they diminish in size. Thisspecies shoots late in the autumn ; and the young shoots have their ends often killed in hardwinters, which is an imperfection, as it causes the tree to have a very bad look in the spring,both before and when the leaves are putting out: These, however, when they appear, makeample amends for tire former defect. The flowers afford no beauty, being only catkins, likeother Poplars.
5. POPULUS (heteropeylla) foliis cordatis primoribus villosis. Lin. Sp. PI. 1464.Tee VIRGINIA POPLAR.
This species of Poplar also forms a large timber-tree. The branches are numerous, veined,and angular. The leaves are heart-shaped, broad, slightly serrated, and downy on their firstappearance. The flowers come-out in loose catkins, and make little show; they appear earlyin tiie spring, and are succeeded by numerous downy seeds, which are carried by the windsto a considerable distance:
“ Arise, ye winds, ’tis now your time to blow,
“ And aid the work of nature: On your wings“ The pregnant seeds conveyed shall plant a raceFar from their native soil.”
The Lombardy, or Po Poplar , is another species of this tree; but there are none in this
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