CHAP. CIII. SAUCA'CE.E. SA^LIX. 1161 



with an instrument called a shave, and afterwards divided into ribands by 

 a steel comb with sharp teeth. Similar willow hats were formerly manufac- 

 tured in England, and sheets of what is called willow, which is a kind of stuff 

 woven with fine strips of the wood and afterwards stiffened, are still in common 

 use for the framework of bonnets ; and, when covered with felt, for light cheap 

 summer hats. This stuff is chiefly manufactured by the weavers at Spitalfields, 

 where one set of persons cut the willows into thin strips, and others weave 

 these strips into sheets. 



The downy substance which envelopes the seeds is used by some 

 kinds of birds to line their nests; and by man, occasionally, as a substitute 

 for cotton, in stuffing mattresses, chair cushions, and for other similar pur- 

 poses. In many parts of Germany, it is collected for making wadding for 

 lining ladies' winter dresses ; and a coarse paper may be formed of it. The 

 shoots of willows of certain vigorous-growing kinds, when cut down to the 

 ground, produce, in two years, rods which admit of being split in two for 

 hoops for barrels ; while others, in one year, produce shoots more or less 

 robust, and of different degrees of length, which are used, with or without their 

 bark on, for all the different kinds of basket-making and wickerwork. This 

 last application, indeed, is by far the most general purpose to which the willow 

 is applied. In the neighbourhood of London, the market-gardeners use the 

 smaller shoots of T. decfpiens for tying up broccoli, coleworts, and other vege- 

 tables sent to market in bundles; and, both in Britain and on the Continent, the 

 smaller shoots of willows are used for tying the branches of trees to walls or 

 espaliers, for tying up standard trees and shrubs into shape, for making 

 skeleton frames on which to train plants in pots, for tying bundles and pack- 

 ages, and for a thousand other purposes which are familiar to every gardener, 

 or will readily occur to him in practice. The lop of willows, and all the 

 branches or old trunks which can be applied to no other useful purpose, 

 make a most agreeable fuel, producing, when dry, a clear fire with little smoke; 

 but, when the wood is moist, it is apt to crack. In the time of Evelyn, willow 

 wood appears to have been that principally used in the manufacture of char- 

 coal, both for smelting iron, and for gunpowder; but, for the former purpose, 

 it has long given way to the coke of mineral coal. It is still in request for 

 gunpowder, on account of its taking fire readily, and is esteemed by painters 

 for their crayons. 



The uses of the entire plant are various. Almost all the species being 

 aquatics, and of rapid and vigorous growth, they are peculiarly fitted for 

 planting on the banks of rivers and streams, for restraining their encroach- 

 ments, and retaining the soil in its place. Various other trees and shrubs, 

 from being also aquatics, and having numerous roots, are, no doubt, adapted for 

 this purpose, such as the alder ; but the willow has this great advantage, that 

 it grows readily by cuttings, and, therefore, does not require the soil to be dis- 

 turbed by the operation of planting. As coppice-wood, to be cut down every 

 six or eight years, S. caprea and its numerous varieties are valuable plants ; 

 few others producing so great a bulk of hoops, poles, and faggot-wood in so 

 short a time, in a cold, moist, undrained soil. S, alba is also an excellent 

 species for coppice, where the soil is drier and better ; and forms a good nurse 

 for plantations of timber trees that are made in moist situations. The shrubby 

 kinds make hedges, both in dry and in moist soil ; but, in the latter, such 

 hedges arc of most value on account of the use of their annual shoots in 

 basket-making. The sorts of willow that can be grown for timber with 

 most advantage are, S. alba, S. Russcltiana, S. fragilis, S. caprea, and .sonic 

 others, which we have enumerated under the head of Culture. The trees 

 which are most ornamental arc, the well-known S. babylonica, S. alba mas, S. 

 alba foem., S. vitellina, S. pentandra, S. acutifolia, S. prae'cox, S.purpurea, S. //elix , 

 S. r/mygdnlina, and some others. S. caprea is remarkable for the profusion of its 

 flowers ; S. vitellina, for its yellow bark ; S. declpiens, for its white cane-like 

 shoots; and S. acutifolia, and S. praeYox for their purple shoots, covered, when 

 i'Dg three or lour years' growth, with a delicate bloom, like that of 

 5 c 4 



