r.kiTisn FORKST TREES 323 



osiers nuikc strung demands on light, although on the better 

 classes of soil the number of shoots per acre in coppices is 

 often very large during the first year or two, even when the 

 stools are closely planted. The amount of shade cast by 

 the tree-willows is comparatively slight, so that, where the 

 timber finds any good market, they are well suited for reten- 

 tion as standards over coppice until they reach the most 

 advantageous girth for felling. 



Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity. 

 Natural reproduction of willows takes place partly by sponta- 

 neous layering, partly by seed-shedding. True root-suckers, 

 like those thrown up by the aspen, are not developed to any 

 great extent, though shoots made by the roots, wherever ex- 

 posed, and specially where they may have received any in- 

 jury, may often at first sight be mistaken for true stoles. 

 This spontaneous layering is particularly useful in the binding 

 of dunes and sand-drifts when once the creeping willow 

 (S. repens) has obtained a foothold. For natural reproduc- 

 tion by the seed, which ripens in the end of May, a combina- 

 tion of favourable circumstances is necessary, low elevation, 

 wind-still situation, and freedom from growth of grass or 

 weeds ; after the spring floods have drained off, the seedlings 

 appear early in June. Even where ebb and Hood meet, the 

 (top of seedlings can less safely be reckoned on, whilst the 

 danger of their being choked by rank growth is much in- 

 creased. The seed loses its germinative power very quickly. 

 Reproduction by seed is the exception, not the rule, and is 

 chiefly resorted to only when pollarding is kept in view, as 

 seedlings yield the most durable stems ; of all the genus, the 

 white willow pollards best. All willows are dioecious, the 

 weeping willow (S. babylonicd), however, only produces female 

 flowers, and exhibit a great tendency to the production 

 of cross-breeds. They are endowed with great recuperative 

 power of reproducing lost portions, and shoot freely from 



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