2 1 6 1 he Journal of Forestry. 



Willows will grow on land occasionally overflowed by salt water, provided it is 

 suitable in other respects. 15th. In collecting willows for scientific obser- 

 vation or classification, avoid decision until you have grown them in a trial 

 ground and compared them with others similarly situated, willows being so 

 much altered by soil, situation, and climate as to be unrecognisable even by 

 those who have studied them for years. If this plan be adopted, much of 

 the confusion that now exists will be avoided, and many of the so-called 

 species will be found to be only varieties. 16th. Willows planted on the 

 banks of rivers are of great value in preserving the soil from being washed 

 away, by reason of the grasp and tenacity of their long fibrous roots. 

 17th. At the present price of cuttings and labour, the outlay for planting 

 basket willows, including everything, may be stated at 25s. per 1,000 

 cuttings, which at 20,000 cuttings per acre— the ordinary quantity— would 

 be £25, and, unless under very exceptional circumstances, this may be 

 taken as the ordinary cost of forming an osier plantation. 18th. The 

 importance of planting quick-growing timber trees in a country so limited 

 in area as ours is admitted ; and the willov>- is not only one of the best 

 trees for this purpose, but no wood sells more readily, nor is so difiicult to 

 obtain, nor will yield a greater return. 19th. All cuttings should be 

 pushed from 8 in. to 10 in. into the soil, and in a slanting direction. 

 20th. The number of cuttings required for an imperial acre is as follows : — 

 18 in. each way, 19,3G0 ; 21. in., 10,890 ; 36 in., 4,818; 48 in., 2,722.- 

 WilUam Scaling, Bas^ford, Notts, in Agricultural Gazette. 



Preserving Fence Posts. 



"We extract the following remarks on this subject from the American 

 Country Gentleman, and we invite our correspondents' opinions upon the 

 methods they find most efiBcacious for preserving wooden posts in this 

 country : — 



" I notice in your pages the statement that ' it is always important to 

 have a thorough bottom drainage for posts ; and for this reason, if they 

 are set over a drain, they will last longer.' I would ask whether this point 

 lias been proved by actual experience. If so, I must abandon a theory 

 hitherto supposed to be based upon scientific principles, as well as the 

 practical knowledge I thought I had gained from the testimony of others 

 and from my own experience. Wood and other organic matter decay by 

 combining with the oxygen of the air, but water is needed to effect the 

 union. Consequently, if wood be kept absolutely dry, a limit could 

 scarcely be assigned to its durability. If the air be excluded by water, or 

 by earth saturated therewith, the result is nearly the same. 



" Of the first fact we are constantly reminded by the care necessary to. 

 preserve buildings and wooden articles from injury by water, while that 

 which lies safely buried, subject to no changes, and needing no care, is for- 

 o-otten. Builders, however, will use the most perishable woods under water 

 as foundation for costly and permanent superstructure. The houses of 

 Venice have stood for many centuries upon piling twenty feet in length, 



