436 Select Plants for Industrial Cult-are and 



Salix alba, Linn.* 



The Huntingdon or Silky Willow of Europe, originally of North- 

 Africa, Northern and Western Asia ; according to Prof. Andersson 

 of exclusively Asiatic origin, yet praised already in the Odyssee. 

 It bears the frosts of Norway to lat. 63 52'. It is positively known, 

 that the Silky Willow will live to an age of 150 years, and probably 

 much longer. Available for wet places not otherwise in cultivation. 

 Height reaching to 80 feet, circumference of stem sometimes to 20 

 feet ; of rapid growth. Foliag'e silvery-pubescent. Wood smooth, 

 soft and tough, bearing pounding and knocking better than that of 

 any other British tree ; eligible where lightness, pliancy and elas- 

 ticity are required ; hence in request for wheel-floats and shrouding 

 of water- whoels, as it is not subject to splinter; for the sides and 

 bottoms of carts and barrows, for break-blocks of trucks ; also used 

 for turnery, trays, fenders, shoe-lasts, light handles [Simmonds]. 

 Its weight is from 26 to 33 Ibs. per cubic foot. Timber, according' 

 to Robb, the lightest and softest of all prominently utilitarian, 

 woods ; available for bungs ; it is planed into chips for hat-boxes, 

 baskets and woven bonnets ; also worked up for cricket-bats, boxes, 

 and many utensils, as well as for matches. The charcoal is excellent 

 for gunpowder. The bark is particularly valued as a tan for 

 certain kinds of glove-leather, to which it imparts an agreeable 

 odor. Mr. Scaling records, that in rich grounds on the banks of 

 streams this willow will grow to a height of 24 feet in 5 years with 

 2 feet basal girth of the stem ; in 8 years he found it to grow 35 

 feet, with 33 inches girth at 1 foot from the ground. Loudon 

 noticed the height to be 53 feet in 20 years, and the girth 7| feet, 

 In winterless countries the growth is still more rapid. To produce 

 straight stems for timber, the cuttings must be planted very close, 

 some of the trees to be removed from time to time. After 30 or 40 

 years the trees will deteriorate. Scaling estimates the value of an 

 acre of willow-timber to be about 300. The Golden Osier, Salix 

 vitellina, L., is a variety. The shoots are used for hoops and 

 wicker-work. With other large willows and poplars one of the 

 best scavengers for back-yards, where drainage cannot readily be 

 applied ; highly valuable also for forming lines along narrow 

 watercourses or valleys in forests, to stay bush-fires. All willows, 

 as early flowering, are of particular importance to apiarists [Cook, 

 Quinby]. The extreme rapidity of growth of most willow- trees 

 and poplars, particularly in mild climes, renders it quite feasible T 

 to rear them purposely for providing wood as an adjunct to paper- 

 material, particularly on ground not eligible as agrarian. 



Salix Babylonica, Tournefort.* (S.pendula, Moench.) 



The Weeping Willow. Indigenous in North-China ; sparingly 

 wild, according to Stewart, in the Himalayas probably likewise in 

 Persia and Kurdistan. One of the most grateful of all trees for 

 the facility of its culture and its fitness for embellishment ; also as 

 one of the quickest growing and most easily reared of all shade- 



