92 ox GKOWTH AND CULTIVATION OF WILLOWS IN SCOTLAND. 



acre of willow timber, at the most moderate computation, would 

 not be less than £300 to £350, and the two thinnings would have 

 more than paid the entire cost of planting and subsequent 

 management. 



Willows for timber may be planted at a small outlay. It is 

 only necessary to clear the land of rough weeds or brush, and if 

 the ground is soft enough to admit of the cuttings being pushed 

 in, nothing more need be done. To make it better understood, it 

 may be stated that all willows grow better from cuttings than 

 they do from rooted plants. Although easy to grow, willows are 

 precarious to transplant ; and if I had a young plantation to 

 remove, I should cut the roots entirely off, and push in the stem 

 in the form of a cutting. This method of planting, when care- 

 fully done, and the ground well trodden down, is invariably 

 successful. My plan is as follows : — Plant a piece of ground in 

 the nursery with the sort of willow intended for trees, after the 

 method advised for the planting of basket willows. At the end 

 of the first year trim oft' all but the best grown twigs, or what is 

 more effective, cut all off as in the case of basket willows. In 

 the next crop the shoots will be clean, long, and straight, From 

 this crop select all the best rods, sharpen the root ends, trim off 

 all the laterals, leaving the top or lead untouched, mark out the 

 ground at the proper distances, and in straight lines, and push 

 the rods 8 or 10 inches into the ground, tread firmly down, and 

 the planting is completed ; and at the minimum of cost — with the 

 advantage that every tree grown from such a beginning will be 

 long, clean, and straight, and all that is required after this is to 

 see that the young plantation is not overpowered by any rank 

 undergrowth. This species of willow {S. alba) grows well in 

 Scotland, and many very large specimens now exist. In the 

 park at the west end of Glasgow there are a few very fine 

 examples, which have long since seen their best. Many of the 

 river banks and shady glens in Scotland are well adapted to the 

 growth of this species of willow, and would yield a handsome 

 return to the grower. The willow as a forest tree has never 

 received fair treatment, probably because it bears more ill usage 

 without being destroyed than other trees. It has been found of 

 great service as a pollard, and is chiefly found in that humble 

 position. No wood finds a more ready market, nor is any in 

 greater demand. It possesses advantages which no other tree 

 does ; it is light, smooth, soft, and tough ; it takes a high polish 

 in the lathe, and it does not easily burn ; it will bear more 

 pounding and hard knocks without splinter or injury than the 

 wood of any other British forest tree ; it is the best wood for the 

 floats of paddle-steamers, strouds of water-wheels, break blocks 

 for railway coal and luggage trucks, sides and bottoms of carts 

 or barrows, where great wear and tear are required ; and were it 



