8 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The willows are comparatively short-lived, but possess 

 surprising ability to repair broken tops or other injuries 

 they may sustain. They have a strongly developed 

 fibrous root system which is always seeking moisture. For 

 this reason willows may become a nuisance when growing 

 near buildings, since the rootlets will quickly enter and 

 clog drain-pipes with open joints, and may cause trouble 



by obstructing wells and giving the water an unpleas- 

 ant taste and odor from the decaying vegetable matter. 

 The roots also interfere with the flow of water in 

 irrigation ditches. Willows have no very serious insect 

 or fungous enemies, although they are sometimes attacked 

 by a saw-fly larva which somewhat resembles the 

 currant worm. 



COMMERCIAL USES 



WILLOW is not important as a tree for producing 

 sawed lumber. Black willow furnishes most of 

 the saw timber, which is logged with cottonwood 

 and the other species with which it grows, and manufac- 

 tured into box boards, lath and rough dimension stock. 

 Some of the lumber is used for fixtures, such as show- 

 cases, racks, shelving and tables. The total amount of 

 willow lumber cut in 1913 in the United States was slightly 

 less than five million feet, B. M. The lumber warps in 

 seasoning but is fairly durable when exposed to moisture. 

 The wood is 

 tough because 

 of a more or less 

 twisted fiber; 

 for this reason 

 willow is said 

 to make the 

 best steamboat 

 paddles, be- 

 cause it wears 

 better in the 

 water than 

 other woods. 



A consider- 

 able quantity 

 of willow wood 

 is used in the 

 manufacture of 

 excelsior; Ken- 

 tucky reports 

 the use of 3,000,000 feet, B. M., annually for this purpose. 

 The wood is soft and cuts easily on the lathe, and is used 

 for wooden ware, cricket and baseball bats, and novelties. 

 English willow is important for the manufacture of arti- 

 ficial limbs. Willow is also used in slack cooperage, and 

 small saplings are split for barrel hoops and for bands for 

 binding boxes in which nursery stock is shipped. Char- 

 coal made from willow wood has a very fine, even texture, 

 and is used for artists' charcoal, and until recent years 

 was in demand for the manufacture of smokeless powder. 



By far the largest amount of willow wood is consumed 

 on farms in the form of fuel, fence posts, bean poles, and 

 for other uses. It makes a quick, hot fire and is a good 

 summer firewood. The diamond willow has the reputa- 

 tion of making a very durable fence post, and the white 

 or yellow willow is credited with a life of seven years if 

 the bark is removed and the wood thoroughly cured before 

 the post is set. Fencing is an important problem in the 

 prairie states, and one solution is presented in raising a 



quick growing wood, like willow or cottonwood, and then 

 treating the posts with creosote. The creosote greatly 

 extends the life of the post and thus lessens its annual 

 cost. White willow grows in diameter at the rate of about 

 one inch in three years, and yields from one to three cords 

 of wood per acre per year in a well managed plantation. 

 Growth is slower on upland soil than on rich bottom soils. 

 Willow has a number of interesting miscellaneous uses. 

 Cork cutters use willow wood for whetting cutting imple- 

 ments. The ancients used this wood for shields because 



of its lightness 

 and toughness. 

 Willow bark 

 furnished the 

 South with a 

 substitute for 

 quinine during 

 the Civil War, 

 and it also 

 yields salicylic 

 acid and tan- 

 nin. The tan- 

 nin in the bark 

 of several vari- 

 eties of basket 

 willow was 

 found to range 

 from 6'-2 to 



WILLOW BASKETS 



Three useful shapes which are in steady demand in many parts of the world, the high clothes-basket, the two 



market baskets and the smaller one, which serves several purposes. 



11 / per cent. 

 Because of its 

 fibrous roots, the willow has an important place as 

 a soil-binder. It is frequently planted along the sides of 

 eroding streams, and on embankments or sandy bottoms, 

 to prevent the soil from being washed away. Along the 

 Mississippi River, large quantities of the sandbar willow 

 are cut each year and bound into fascines for building 

 dams that force the current to deepen the main channel 

 and for revetments that prevent the banks from caving 

 in and washing away. Occasionally freshly cut willow 

 fence posts are set with the bark on; these take root and 

 become living fence posts, capable of furnishing shade for 

 cattle and fuel for the farm. 



The growing of willow shoots for weaving into furni- 

 ture, children's go-carts and a great variety of baskets is 

 an important industry. The ancient Romans regarded 

 the willow as one of the most useful trees cultivated, and 

 they developed a number of varieties adapted to weaving. 

 The shoots were made into baskets, beehives and fences. 

 During the Middle Ages the weaving of willow baskets 



