202 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



from the long slender branches of which 

 baskets are made ; but the branches of the 

 American willows are too brittle." 



"But, Uncle Philip, I have seen a great 

 many baskets at the basket-shops in New- 

 York, that were made of small round branches 

 like willow ; did they come from England ?" 



" Oh no ; the European willow has been 

 introduced into the United States as well as 

 the weeping willow, and it is almost as 

 common here as in Europe. It is larger, and 

 has touofher branches than our native wil- 



o 



low. The kind that comes nearest to the 

 European is what we call the black willow: 

 it grows from twenty to thirty feet high, and 

 is common enough in the Middle and Western 

 States : the leaves are very much like those 

 of the weeping willow, but the branches do 

 not hang. Both sides of the leaf are of the 

 same colour. The country people sometimes 

 make a decoction from the roots, which is 

 extremely bitter, and said to be a good puri- 

 fier of the blood ; no other use is made of the 

 black willow except to make charcoal for 

 gunpowder. Another kind is called the shi- 

 ning willow, on account of the brilliancy of 

 the leaves, which are very large ; sometimes 



