"The river poplaris found on the banks of rivers and brooks and in wet
places, and is a noble and graceful tree. The trunk is light gray in
color, and the young trees have a smooth, leather-like bark. The broad
leaves, of a very rich green, grow on stems nearly as long as
themselves, and the flowering aments are of a light-red color. The
leaf-stalks and young branches are also brightly tinted. Another of
these trees has a very singular name: it is called the necklace poplar."

[Illustration: LOMBARDY POPLAR.]

"Do the flowers grow like real necklaces?" asked Clara.

"Not quite," replied her governess, "but the reason given is something
like it. The tree is so called from the resemblance of the long ament,
before opening, to the beads of a necklace. In Europe it is known as the
Swiss poplar and the black Italian poplar. Its timber is much valued
there for building. There are also the black poplar and that queer,
stiff-looking tree the Lombardy poplar. Cannot one of you tell me where
there are some tall, narrow trees that look almost as if they had been
cut out of wood and stuck there?"

"I know where there are some," said Malcolm: "right in front of Mrs.
Bush's old house; and I think they're miserable-looking trees."

"When old and rusty, they are not in the least cheerful," replied Miss
Harson; "and it is so long since Lombardy poplars were admired that few
are found except about old places. The tree is shaped like a tall spire,
and in hot, calm weather drops of clear water trickle from its leaves
like a slight shower of rain. It was once a favorite shade-tree, and a
century ago great numbers of Lombardy poplars were planted by village