302 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



as a timber Willow. Mr. W. Scaling, of Basford, includes it 

 among the sorts which he recommends in his valuable publication, 

 "The Willow" (London, 1871). 



Salix purpurea, Linne.* 



Of wide range in Europe and West Asia. One of the Osiers. In 

 deep moist soil, not readily otherwise utilised, it will yield annually 

 four to five tons of the best of rods, qualified for the finest work. 

 Impenetrable, not readily inflammable, screens 25 feet high can be 

 reared from it in five years. In localities exposed to storms, wil- 

 low-screens fully forty feet high can be raised. It is invaluable also 

 for the reclamation of land along watercourses. Rich in salicin, 

 which collativally can be obtained from the peelings of the twigs 

 when the latter are prepared for basket-material. From Mr. 

 Scaling's treatise on the Willow, resting on unrivalled experience, it 

 will be observed that he anew urges the adoption of the Bitter 

 Willow (also called the Rose Willow or the Whipcord Willow), S. 

 purpurea (L.), for game-proof hedges, this species scarcely ever being 

 touched by cattle, rabbits, and other herbivorous animals. Not only 

 for this reason, but also for its very rapid growth and remunerative 

 yield of the very best of basket material, he recommends it for field 

 hedges. Cuttings are planted only half a foot apart, and must be 

 entirely pushed into the ground. The annual produce from such a 

 hedge is worth 4s. to 5s. for the chain. For additional strength 

 the shoots can be interwoven. In rich bottoms they will 

 grow from 7 feet to 1 3 feet in a year. The supply of basket 

 material from this species has fallen very far short of the 

 demand in England. The plant grows vigorously on light soil or 

 warp-land, but not on clay. It likes sandy loam and will even do 

 fairly well on gravelly soil, but is not so easily reared as S. triandra. 

 S. rubra (Huds.) is also admirably adapted for hedges. The real 

 Osier, S. viminalis (L.), is distinguished by basket-makers as the 

 soft-wooded willow, and is the best for rods requiring two years' 

 age, and also the most eligible for hoops, but inferior to several 

 other species for basket manufacture. S. triandra (L.) is a promi- 

 nent representative of the hard-wooded basket-willows, and com- 

 prises some of the finest varieties in use of the manufacturers. A 

 crop in the third year after planting from an acre weighs about 12 

 tons, worth 3 for the ton. S. fragilis (L.) and S. alba (L.) are 

 more important as timber willows, and for growing hoop-shoots. 

 Their rapidity of growth recommends them also for shelter planta- 

 tions, to which advantage may be added their uninflammability and 

 their easy propagation ; the latter quality they share with most 

 willows. Mr. Scaling's renewed advocacy for the formation of 

 willow plantations comes with so much force that his advice is here 

 given, though condensed in a few words. Osier plantations come 



