70 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING. 



er of them has found it for his advantage to cut 

 off the sprouts, after a few years' growth, and 

 take them to the mill, as the qualities of this 

 wood make it very desirable in the manufacture 

 of powder. 



But the willow is a quite valuable tree. Few 

 trees are so easily cultivated or adapt them- 

 selves to so many situations. It grows rapidly, 

 and the white or gray willow especially, if al- 

 lowed to do so, attains a large size. There is 

 one in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which, at 

 four feet from the ground, measures twenty -two 

 feet in circumference. It is said to have been 

 planted seventy-five years ago. Its limbs spread 

 so as to cover an area of nearly one hundred 

 feet diameter, and they are so large as to admit 

 of seats being constructed among them in the 

 form of a gallery, which is reached by a stair- 

 case from the ground, and will contain nearly a 

 hundred persons. 



Contrary to the general impression, the wil- 

 low is not a tree which is confined to low or 

 wet situations. It flourishes equally well upon 

 high ground. In Europe it is highly esteemed 

 as a timber-tree, and willow-lumber is constantly 



