Salix 1 76 1 



which it attains in the mountains is not due to the fall in temperature, as it ripens 

 seed and grows to be a fine tree in Livonia. 



The white willow is supposed to be indigenous in Britain in marshy ground 

 from Sutherland southwards ; and is considered by Praeger 1 to be probably in 

 Ireland an original tree of river banks, but now generally planted. 



Witches' brooms ' on this species are apparently formed by the irritation set up 

 by a mite (Eriophyes salicis), which causes a shoot to branch repeatedly and produce 

 small narrow soft leaves, the whole mass often measuring a foot in diameter, and 

 turning bright red in autumn. 



The white willow was early introduced into North America, where it is now 

 planted both in Canada and the United States. Together with S. fragilis, it has 

 proved very useful as a windbreak in the prairie regions, and where timber is scarce 

 is valuable for fuel. It is also a useful tree for reclaiming and holding the soil along 

 streams. The wood is fairly durable in contact with the soil, and has been 

 employed for fence-posts in the north-western plains of the United States. Pinchot 3 

 recommends that it should be grown as coppice, when required for posts or fuel ; and 

 says that plantations should be tilled frequently till they are well shaded. This 

 cultivation destroys weeds, and prevents excessive evaporation of moisture from the 

 soil. (A. H.) 



Remarkable Trees 



A tree at Bury St. Edmunds, figured by Strutt, Sylva Britannica, plate xxiii, 

 as the Abbot's Willow, is one of the largest white willows of which we have record. 

 It was measured by a surveyor, named Lenny, in 1822, when it was 72 ft. high by 

 i8| feet in girth, and was estimated to contain 440 feet of timber. Loudon was 

 informed that it was almost dead in 1836. 



The largest white willow known to us is at Haverholme, near Sleaford, in the 

 park east of the priory, and measured 4 in 1907 about 80 ft. high by 25^ ft. in girth, 

 with a spread of branches about 80 ft. in diameter. A photograph, for which I am 

 indebted to Miss F. H. Woolward (Plate 380) shows it to be past its prime; but 

 though partly decayed, it is said to be still increasing in girth. 



At Water Hall farm, Bayfordbury, Herts, there is a tree, about seventy years 

 old, which Mr. H. Clinton-Baker measured in 1912. It is about 65 ft. high ; and has a 

 short bole, 27 ft. in girth at one foot from the ground, and divided at four and a half feet 

 up into two stems, the larger of which is 1 7 ft. in girth at six feet from the ground. 



At Compton Wynyates, Kineton, a beautiful old mansion belonging to the 

 Marquess of Northampton, there is a group of sound healthy trees from 80 to 90 ft. 

 high, one of which girthed 10 ft. 4 in. in 1905. 



At Highclere, there is a fine tree, a picture of which by Alfred Parsons, now in 

 the possession of Lady Carnarvon, was reproduced by Robinson, Wild Garden, 258 

 (1895). It formerly had three stems, but the two largest were blown down some 



1 Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. vii. 283 (1901). 2 Proc. Roy. Hort. Soc. xxxvi. pt. ii. p. cxvii. (1910). 



3 U. S. Dept. Agric. Forest Circ. No. 87 (1907). 



4 Measured by Mr. J. Cowance. In Woods and Forests, 1884, p. 642, this tree was said to have been, in 1881, 27 ft. 

 4 in. in girth at one foot from the ground, 20 ft. 5 in. at four feet, and 28 ft. at seven feet. The branches spread 40 ft. on 

 one side, and 28 ft. on the other. Cf. Card. Chron. xiv. 362 (1893). 



