88 OSIERS AND WILLOWS 



intermediate variety between the ordinary red and 

 white species and is clearly distinguished by the blue 

 tone of the foliage, whence its name is derived. Its 

 habit of growth is marked by an upright or pyramidal 

 character, not spreading out to anything like the same 

 angle as the two species previously named. In all 

 other respects as to size of foliage and serrations it is 

 very similar to the ordinary Red Willow. 



This variety of the Red Willow has found the 

 greatest favour and realised the most fancy prices. 

 Its main branches (see illustration) grow at angles of 

 30 to 45 degrees. At the Agricultural Show held at 

 Nottingham in 1915, when I exhibited specimens of 

 the Caerulea variety growing in tubs, several manu- 

 facturers of high-class cricket bats assured me that 

 they had paid in isolated instances as much as 100 

 for a single tree; whilst the prevailing prices at that 

 period (1914-15) for the best grown Caerulea reached 

 145. per cubic foot, and ordinary qualities of the Red 

 Willow realised 55. to los. per cubic foot prices 

 sufficient to justify an extended cultivation. It will 

 be found to do best in a rich loam with heavy subsoil. 



The so-called Huntingdon Willow is a variety of the 

 ordinary White Willow, and up to a comparatively 

 few years since was regarded as an ideal kind for 

 cricket-bat making. The Red Willow is also largely 

 grown in the Huntingdon and adjoining districts. A 

 colleague of mine planted in the Leicester district a 

 White Huntingdon Willow in rich alluvial soil. Ai 

 eight years old it had grown to a height of 35 ft., and its 

 circumference at i ft. from the ground was 33 in. 

 Another of the same variety, planted on gravelly soil, 

 reached 24 ft. in height, and at a foot from the ground 

 measured 23 in. in circumference; a third planted in 



