WILLOWS AND POPLARS 



tree-lover. When winter comes, there will be 

 another set of contrasts to see in the way the 

 various species lose their leaves and get ready 

 for the rest time during which the buds 

 mature and ripen, and the winter colors again 

 shine forth. 



These observations may be made anywhere 

 in America, practically, for the willow is almost 

 indififerent to locality, growing everywhere that 

 its far-reaching roots can find the moisture 

 which it loves, and which it rapidly transpires 

 to the thirsty air. As Miss Keeler well remarks, 

 "The genus Salix is admirably fitted to go 

 forth and inhabit the earth, for it is tolerant 

 of all soils and asks only water. It creeps 

 nearer to the North Pole than any other woody 

 plant except its companion the birch. It trails 

 upon the ground or rises one hundred feet 

 in the air. In North America it follows the 

 water -courses to the limit of the temperate 

 zone, enters the tropics, crosses the equator, and 

 appears in the mountains of Peru and Chili. 

 . . . . The books record one hundred and 

 sixty species in the world, and these sport and 

 hybridize to their own content and to the 



117 



