its pyramids of large white flowers, delicately marked with red and yellow. It grows very rapidly, and to a great height; but the timber is soft, spongy, and not durable, and therefore of little value. It is white, but every way inferior to the lime, as it does not stand the tool, and almost anything will scratch it. It has sometimes been used by the turner, and also for pipes; but though it is cheap, the advantage of using it is very questionable. As it requires a good soil, it is not worth cultivating but as an ornamental tree. The Turks are said to grind the nuts, and mix them with the food of their horses (whence the common name): they devour them with avidity, and they are stated to be eaten whole by sheep and by poultry when boiled; but hogs refuse them both raw and prepared. The bark of the horsechesnut has been (employed with some success in dyeing yellow. The leaves drop off early in the season, and then the appearance of the tree is rather unsightly.

POPLAR.

Of the Poplar (Populus) there are about fifteen species described; but it is necessary to mention only two as timber trees: the white poplar, or spreading poplar (Populus canescens); and the Lombardy poplar, or poplar of the valley of the Po (Populus dilatata), which is spire-shaped, has its branches at very small angles with the trunk, and runs up to a great height. The abele tree (Populus alba) is distinguished by its broad leaves. All the poplars are fond of moisture, and may be planted near marshy places, where few other trees, save the alder, will grow.

The small-leaved white poplar is a native of most parts of Europe; but it is doubtful whether the largeleaved one, the abele, be a native of England,-at all events, the plants of it were obtained chiefly from

Flanders in the seventeenth century. The poplar grows very rapidly. In favourable situations it will make shoots three inches in diameter, and sixteen feet long, in the course of a single season. The loppings of the poplar are not very inflammable, and thus they are superior to those of the elm, and many other trees, for heating ovens, and for other purposes in which the loppings of trees are used.

The wood of the poplar is soft, and it is far from durable; but it is not apt either to swell and shrink, or to warp, and it is very light, so that it is employed for butchers' trays, hogs' troughs, and other articles, in which lightness and cheapness are preferred to durability. It is possible, in consequence of the rapidity with which the poplar grows, and the ease with which it can be worked, that, on the spot where it is produced, it may be more economical for common household purposes, and for casks and packages for dry goods, than more durable timber. It is a tree largely cultivated by the Dutch, being well adapted to their moist soil and climate. On the

Continent a species of poplar is manufactured into thin slices, called sparterie, which is made up into ladies' bonnets. The seeds of the white poplar, also, are surrounded with a sort of cotton, of which it has been attempted to manufacture paper and even cloth. Pallas, in his travels, attempted to shew that the cotton of the Populus alba was as valuable as that of America; but no experiments upon it have yet been

successful.

In Holland, the black poplar is also much cultivated. It grows rapidly, is cut down at about twentyfour years old, and made into wooden shoes and other articles. The timber is of nearly the same quality as that of the white poplar, perhaps a little better; and it is used for almost the same purposes.

The trembling poplar, or aspen, is singular on account of the agitation of its leaves by the slightest breeze that can stir. It is very generally diffused, and the timber of it is applied to the same purposes as the black poplar.

The leaves of almost all the poplars are of a pale or silver colour on the under sides, and the twigs are flexible, which gives them an agreeable variegation of colour when agitated by the wind. The susceptibility of motion is one of the accidental beauties of trees; and the motion of the poplar is peculiarly graceful, for it waves in one simple sweep from the top to the bottom, and the least breath of wind stirs it, when other trees are at rest.

The Lombardy poplar grows rapidly, and shoots in a compact spire to a great height. It is not so hardy as the others; but, when planted in a favourable soil, it will grow at the rate of four or five feet in height annually.

The timber of the Lombardy poplar is even worse than that of the other poplars; but for temporary purposes the rapidity of its growth is some compen

sation. It is, perhaps, the lightest of timber, and, therefore, well calculated for packing-cases; and though soft, it will bear some strain without breaking. The vessels in which the people of Lombardy carry and squeeze their grapes are all made of this poplar; and they also frequently train their vines to the tree. In England it is chiefly used as an ornamental tree. The Lombardy poplar is, so far as has been observed, the only spiry tree that is deciduous, or sheds its leaves: the tree which it most nearly resembles in its form, though not in its foliage, is the cypress.

WILLOW, &c.

Of the willow, called Salix, from the Latin word which signifies "to spring up," and so denominated on account of the great rapidity of its growth, there are many species, of which not fewer than one hundred and forty-one have been enumerated by Sir James Smith. Some of these, however, very much resemble each other, so that the species of willows are not so well defined as those of some other trees. Of this great number, it will be necessary to mention

only four-two, which are chiefly used in the manufacture of baskets, one which is a timber tree, and another which is used principally as an ornament.

The basket-making willows-at least, those most generally and frequently used for that purpose (for baskets may be made of the twigs of many others)are the Osier (Salix viminalis); and the Yellow Willow (Salix vitellina); the timber-tree is the White Willow (Salix alba); and the ornamental one, the Weeping Willow (Salix Babylonica).

Osier-Salix viminalis.

The osier is a native of most parts of Europe, and grows spontaneously in fenny places. When allowed, it becomes a small tree, but it is generally cut down for basket-work. The osier grows very rapidly; and is used only for the coarser basket-work, unless when split into pieces. On the banks of large rivers, osier beds may be planted with great advantage; and the osier will also thrive in dry situations if the soil be good. Cuttings of osiers take root very readily, and