TREE WILLOWS 91 



to equal it for floats for paddle steamers or the strouds 

 of water-wheels, and it wears longer in water than any 

 other wood. It provides the best brakes for railway 

 coal-wagons and luggage trucks; it is the only wood 

 that will stand that kind of pressure and concussion 

 without fracture. Its extreme elasticity and tough- 

 ness make it the best of woods for the sides and bottoms 

 of carts and barrows when work such as loading coal 

 or stone is required, and, were it obtainable in sufficient 

 quantities, it would be the best material for construct- 

 ing passenger carriages for our railways; since car- 

 riages made of this wood would be less liable to be 

 splintered by collision. The wood of the willow, like 

 its kindred timber, the poplar, burns slowly and is 

 not easily kindled, a quality which ought to be a con- 

 siderable recommendation where it is necessary to use 

 wood in close proximity to fire. Years ago willow 

 was very largely used by powder manufacturers for 

 charcoal, and was preferred to any other wood. It is 

 still so employed in the U.S.A., and its discontinuance 

 has only come about owing to the short supplies. The 

 wood of the willow is much esteemed by painters for 

 their crayons, and for domestic uses nothing is so 

 suitable for making wooden bowls, Lancashire clogs, 

 yokes for milkers, milk buckets, moulds for buttons, 

 cutting-boards for all classes of trades requiring boards ; 

 basket-makers greatly appreciate it for sieve rims, 

 seed-hoppers and scuttles. 



In the remote event of any extensive planting of 

 the best willow trees, an acre, if planted 3 ft. apart 

 with trees of two years' growth, would require 4840. 

 This would not be too close for the first eight or nine 

 years, when they might be thinned out to half that 

 number. The thinnings would find a ready sale for 



