finish and spirit to a group; but the effect is generally lessened, if
not altogether spoiled, in small places, if more than one Lombardy is in
view. One or two specimens may often be used to give vigor to heavy
plantations about low buildings, and the effect is generally best if
they are seen beyond or at the rear of the building. Note the use that
the artist has made of them in the backgrounds in Figs. 12, 13, and 43.

Poplars and the like.

Another defect in common ornamental planting, which is well illustrated
in the use of poplars, is the desire for plants merely because they grow
rapidly. A very rapid-growing tree nearly always produces cheap effects.
This is well illustrated in the common planting of willows and poplars
about summer places or lake shores. Their effect is almost wholly one of
thinness and temporariness. There is little that suggests strength or
durability in willows and poplars, and for this reason they should
usually be employed as minor or secondary features in ornamental or home
grounds. When quick results are desired, nothing is better to plant
than these trees; but better trees, as maples, oaks, or elms, should be
planted with them, and the poplars and willows should be removed as
rapidly as the other species begin to afford protection. When the
plantation finally assumes its permanent characters, a few of the
remaining poplars and willows, judiciously left, may afford very
excellent effects; but no one who has an artist's feeling would be
content to construct the framework of his place of these rapid-growing
and soft-wooded trees.

[Illustration: Fig. 33. A spring expression worth securing. Catkins of
the small poplar.]