CHAPTER XXIV 

 TREES AND SHRUBS FOR WET PLACES. 



IN this connection I do not propose to discuss trees and shrubs which 

 will thrive near the sides of ponds or lakes, with their roots near but not 

 actually in the water. Such plants are, as a matter of fact, very numerous, 

 and include a large proportion of those described in this work. Planted 

 on the sloping banks of a piece of water, trees and shrubs are really 

 placed in a very favourable position. They can extend their root system 

 towards or away from the water as suits their individual requirements, and 

 can scarcely suffer from drought. 



It is very different when we come to discuss trees whose roots are 

 wholly or mostly in water, or those that will grow in permanently wet or 

 swampy ground. The number of such trees and shrubs is not very great, 

 especially after those belonging to two or three genera, such as Salix 

 Populus and Alnus^ have been allowed for. 



Swampy areas, from their very nature, are not frequently planted for 

 ornament. Where they are small, the coloured-stemmed willows, such as 

 the red and yellow barked varieties of Salix vitellina, Salix daphnoides, and 

 S. acutifolia, should be used. The economic value of larger sites is not 

 so frequently taken advantage of as it might be. At the present time, for 

 instance, no English timber is so valuable, or gives such quick returns, as 

 the cricket-bat willow Salix ccerulea. The timber of Salix fragilis^ and 

 the strong, quick-growing poplars like Populus serotina and P. Eugenei^ 

 is much in demand for those ephemeral uses of which, in modern civilisa- 

 tion, there are so many. Individual trees of the cricket-bat willow sell 

 readily* enough, but of the others plantations must be fairly extensive to 

 be remunerative. The expenses connected with felling, cutting up and 

 hauling are proportionately so much more in the case of odd trees that 

 timber dealers will not give paying prices for them. 



The following may be recommended for boggy ground : 



97 G 



