150 Grafting and its effects on trees 



Willows. By the labour in removing suckers (which is 

 not likely to be done beside ponds and lakes that are 

 out of the garden) we not only lose our precious tree 

 and its beauty of form everywhere, but we also estab- 

 lish a lot of wretched trees — the very last thing we 

 should want, perhaps— in a beautiful situation. This 

 happened in almost every case of the grafted Willows, 

 so that round my lakes I have a set of dying Willows or 

 Willows arising from the stocks of kinds already dead. 

 All Willows are easily grafted, and some of our finest 

 Willows are usually sent out by the trade from cuttings, 

 and, therefore, are safe ; but the moment a Willow has 

 any pretence of being rare, new, or graceful, then, for 

 the sake of increasing it in the cheapest way, it is 

 worked on the Common Withy or Ozier, and every one 

 of the beautiful Willows so worked is sure to be lost. 

 There is not one of these Willows but could be easily 

 increased from cuttings, layers, or seeds. It is very 

 likely that many beautiful Willows have been lost from 

 the practice of grafting; and it is a notable loss, because 

 many of the Willows are among the most beautiful of 

 plants, bushes, and trees we could possibly have beside 

 or near water. The lesson of all this is that people 

 should ask for what they want and refuse to have a 

 grafted Willow on any condition. I have a line on each 

 side of a stream of what is called the American Weep- 

 ing Willow, a very graceful one. For several years at 

 first they looked distinct and even beautiful ; but, in 

 spite of continual repression of the suckers of the 

 Ozier on which they are grafted, these have already 

 got the upper hand, and the once graceful and distinct 

 little line of grey weeping trees is now a hideous 

 funeral procession— at the bottom a thick cloud of half- 



