POPLAR, ECONOMICAL USES. There are several varieties of poplar tree, which render useful service in the arts. The timber of the white poplar is very light coloured, and is used in France and Germany for a variety of minor purposes. It makes excellent packing because nails may be driven into it without causing it to split. It is used extensively by turners and cabinet-makers. The boards and rollers around which pieces of silk are wrapped in merchants' warehouses and in shops are made of this wood, which is adopted on account of its lightness lessening the expense of freight. It is much used for flooring-boasals, for large folding-doors for barns, and for other building purposes. It is used as a substitute for lime-tree in musical instru ments. Wooden dishes and casks are occasionally made of it. The timber of the black poplar is used for much the same purposes as the white. It is yellow, soft, and easy to work ; and is preferred by cabinet-makers for many purposies. It is used for clogs, the soles of wooden shoes, bowls and other turner's ware, and in cart-building. The Lombardi poplar produces wood less serviceable than that from the other varieties ; hut rafters, small beams, boards, &e., made of this wood and afterwards coated with tar, are found to be durable. The wood of the Trembliny poplar or Aspen is white and tender; and is employed by tnrners ; by coopers for herring casks, milk pails, &c.; by sculptors and engravers; by joiners and cabinet-makers; and by the makers of clogs, wooden shoes, butchers trays, pack saddles, and a number of other articles.
As fuel, poplar wood is of inferior heating power ; but it gives out Its heat very quickly ; the ovens belonging to most of the Paris bakers are heated by this wood. The bark of the black poplar is employed in tanning leather ; when pulverised It is eaten by sheep ; and being very thick, light, and corky, it is used by fishermen to support their nets, and even as corks for bottles. The bark of the aspen forms the principal food of the beaver ; it is also usefully employed in medicine.
In Sweden the leaves of the white poplar are eaten by cattle. The buds of the black poplar, tnacersted in boiling water, and afterwards bruised In a mortar and pressed, yield a fat substance which burns like wax and exhales a fine odour. The balsamic sap with which the buds are covered forms the basis of an ointment that was much prized in former times. The young shoots may be used in basket-making ; and the shoots with the leaves on are sometimes used as brooms. The cottony substance or flock that surrounds the Need has been used in Germany and France as wadding; and it has also been occasionally rcum[aoturd into -cloths, hats, and paper. The Balsam poplar yields a balsun from the buil.; it is collected from the trees in spring, at which season it collects into drops on the points of the buds. In Siberia a medicated wino is prepared from the buds.