CHAP. cm. ^ALicA^cEi^. .sa'lix. 1525 



appears to be the upland, or red-twigged, willow of Pontey ; but it 

 may possibly be only a variation of the species, or the female. The 

 uses and culture of this sort may, of course, be considered as the 

 same as the last. There is a plant of this variety in Essex, at Audley 

 End, which, 20 years planted, is 35 ft. high ; the diameter of the 

 trunk gift., and of the head 45 ft. In Northamptonshire, at Wake- 

 field Lodge, a tree, 16 years planted, is 30 ft. high. There are plants 

 in the Hackney arboretum, and at Woburn and Flitwick. 

 ± S. ?a. Y3 crispa.—A specimen received from Mr. Donald, nurseryman, 

 Woking, Surrey, named S. crispa, is very diiferent from S. crispa 

 Forbes in Sal. Wob., and seems clearly S. alba. The specimen con- 

 sists of a young shoot of the year, bearing leaves ; and these leaves 

 are narrow, contorted, and silky. So far as we can judge from the 

 single specimen, the kind may be regarded as a variety of S. alba, 

 analogous to that which .S". b. crispa, S. annularis Forbes, is, relatively 

 to S. babylonica. 

 * 5. a. 4 rosea Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. — The plant in Messrs. Loddiges's 

 collection under this name does not show any obvious marks of 

 difference from S. alba, nor any striking appearance of rosiness. 

 The epithet ?osea, may probably have been appHed in relation to the 

 rosaceous tufts of leaves which are sometimes found on S. alba, as 

 noticed under S. HhYix. 

 Properties and Uses. In the north of Europe, the bark of this tree is 

 used for tanning leather, and for dyeing yarn of a cinnamon colour ; and the 

 leaves and young shoots are given to cattle in a green state, or dried like the 

 twigs of the birch, and laid up for winter fodder. The inner bark of this tree, 

 like that of Scotch pine, being kiln-dried, and ground into a fine flour, is mixed 

 with oatmeal, and made into bread, in seasons of great scarcity, by the inhabit- 

 ants of Norway and Kamtschatka. The branches of the tree are used as stakes, 

 poles, handles to rakes, hoes, and other implements, and as faggot-wood for 

 fuel. The timber of the trunk is used for various purposes. It weighs, in a 

 green state, 70lb. 9oz. per cubic foot; half-dry, 51 lb. 14 oz.; and quite 

 dry, 32 lb. 12 oz. ; so as to lose more than one half of its weight by drying, 

 during which it loses a sixteenth part of its bulk. In ship bottoms, Mr. 

 Gorrie informs us, it is not found so liable to split by any accidental shock as 

 oak, or other hard wood. It is found an excellent lining for stone-carts, bar- 

 rows, &c. In the roofs of houses, rafters of this tree have been known to 

 stand a hundred years ; and, with the exception of about half an inch on the 

 outside, the wood has been found so fresh at the end of that period, as to be 

 fit for boat-building. (Gard. Mag., vol. i. p. 45.) The wood is also used in 

 turnery, mill-work, coopery, weather-boarding, &c. ; and the stronger shoots 

 and poles serve for making hoops, handles to hay-rakes, clothes-props (see 

 fig. 169. Encyc.ofCott. Arch.), and various other instruments and implements; 

 and the twigs are employed in wickerwork. Mitchell says the Huntingdon 

 willow has been in great demand for making willow hats for gentlenren's 

 summer wear, split, and worked the same as straw for bonnets. (Betid., 

 p. 56.) The bark, which is thick, and full of cracks, is in nearly as great 

 repute for tanning as that of the oak; and it is also used in medicine, in 

 the cure of agues, as a substitute for cinchona ; though it is inferior 

 for both purposes to that of S. RusseWidna. As fuel, the wood of this tree 

 is to that of the beech as 808 is to 1540; but the old bark makes a 

 very useful fuel ; and both it and the wood will burn when green, in which 

 state the wood is said to give out most heat. The charcoal is excellent for 

 use in the manufacture of gunpowder, and for crayons. The ashes are 

 very rich in alkali, containing more than a tenth part of their weight of 

 that salt. In France, a fine blood-red colour is obtained from the bark ; 

 and that of the young tree is used in the preparation of leather for making 

 gloves. 



5g 4 



