CHAP. CIII. SALICA‘CE. SA‘LIX. 1459 
Thames and the Cam are the most celebrated. In both these rivers, and in 
some others, small islands are frequently planted entirely with willows, and 
are called osier holts. There are many such islands in the Thames, between 
London and Reading. The most extensive willow plantations in fields are 
in the fenny districts of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire ; and, perhaps, 
the largest plantation in England is that of Mr. Adnam, near Reading. The 
principal market for basket willows is London; but they are in demand, more 
or less, in every town in the country. The willow is frequently cultivated as 
a pollard, the lop being valuable for fence-wood, poles, hurdles, and fuel. 
It is sometimes, also, cultivated as a timber tree; but, as an ornamental tree 
or shrub, it may be considered to be in a great measure neglected. 
Properties and Uses. The importance of the willow to man has been re- 
cognised from the earliest ages; and ropes and baskets made from willow 
twigs were probably among the very first of human manufactures, in countries 
where these trees abound. The Romans used the twigs for binding their 
vines and tying their reeds in bundles, and made all sorts of baskets of them. 
A crop of willows was considered so valuable in the time of Cato, that he 
ranks the salictum, or willow field, next in value to the vineyard and the 
garden. In modern times, “the many important uses,” Sir W. J. Hooker 
observes, “ rendered to man by the different species of willow and osier, serve to 
rank them among the first ia our list of economical plants.” In a state of nature, 
the willow furnishes food by its leaves to the larvae of moths, gnats, and 
certain other insects ; and, by its flowers, to the honey-bee. Its wood, also, is 
preferred to most others by the beaver. The leaves and young shoots are 
wholesome and nourishing to cattle; and in some northern countries they are 
collected green, and then dried and stacked for that purpose. In France, 
those of S. caprea, whether in a green or dried state, are considered the very 
best food for cows and goats; and horses, in some places, are fed entirely on 
them, from the end of August till November. Horses so fed, it is stated, will 
travel 20 leagues a day without being fatigued. (Bosc.) In the north of Sweden 
and Norway, and in Lapland, the inner bark is kiln-dried and ground for 
the purpose of mixing with oatmeal in years of scarcity. In a rude state of 
civilisation, the twigs of the willow were used in constructing houses, house- 
hold utensils, panniers, the harness of horses and cattle, and for various pur- 
poses connected with boats and fishing. The twigs are still very generally 
applied, in Russia and Sweden, to all these uses ; and Dr. Walker relates that 
he has ridden in the Hebrides with a bridle made of twisted willow twigs, and 
lain all night at anchor with a cable made of the same material. The bark of 
the trunks of young trees is used generally, throughout the north of Europe, 
for the same purposes as that of the lime tree (See p. 368.); and in Tartary, 
it is said, it is macerated, and the fibre, when separated, spun into threads, 
from which cloth is woven. 
The bark of the willow, and also the leaves, are astringent ; and the bark of 
most sorts may be employed in tanning. That of S. capreais used both for tanning 
and dyeing black, in Sweden, the north of Scotland, and Switzerland. ( Walker.) 
A substance called salicine has been extracted from the bark of S. Russelliana, 
S. Helix, and some other kinds of willow, which Professor Burnet states to 
have been “ proved to be equally efficient with the Peruvian bark ;” and he 
remarks on the wise provision of Providence, in placing the remedy for agues, 
and other low fevers, exactly in those moist marshy situations where these 
diseases are most prevalent. (See Burnet’s Inaugural Address to the Medico- 
Botanical Society, February, 1831, p.12.) This new principle was first dis- 
covered by M. Leroux; and M. Majendie states that he has known three 
doses of 6 grains each stop a fever; which is nearly the same quantity as 
would be required for the same purpose of sulphate of quinine. (Annales de 
Chimie, tom. xliii. p. 440., as quoted in Brande’s Journal for 1831.) Salicine is 
in the form of very fine nacreous whitish crystals, perfectly soluble in water 
or alcohol. It is very bitter, and partakes something of the colour of willow 
bark. The process for obtaining it is rather long; and it requires about 3 lb. 
5c 3 
