1466 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



female plant is the more desirable kind for the object of the cultivator. There 

 can be no doubt that the female of every species is the more vigorous-growing 

 plant; and, consequently, where timber or coppice-wood, hoops, or rods for 

 the larger kinds of basketwork, are the produce wanted, the female of the 

 species to be cultivated ought to be preferred, however difficult it may be, 

 in the present state of the nursery culture of willows, to procure plants 

 the sex of which is known. On the other hand, as we have before observed, 

 when tough, yet delicate, rods are required for basket-making, not only the 

 finer-growing species, but the males of these species, ought to be selected. It 

 ought also to be borne in mind, as a general principle, that willows, to be of 

 any use, either as basket-rods, hoops, poles, or timber trees, must annually 

 ripen their shoots ; and that, in cold climates, this cannot be done where 

 they are grown in soil which is abundantly supplied with water late in the 

 season. Hence the colder the climate, the drier should be the soil; on 

 account of the necessity of perfectly ripening the wood. In regard to gene- 

 ral management, few ligneous plants require so little care as the willow, when 

 cultivated as timber or coppice-wood ; but considerable care is requisite 

 where it is grown for hoops or rods for wicker work. 



Culture of Tree Willows. Willow groves, or plantations of the tree in 

 masses for the production of timber, are best formed in low moist bottoms, 

 which, however, must be drained in such a manner as that the soil may 

 never become saturated with stagnant water. When planted in rows, or as 

 single trees, the most eligible situation for the willow is along the high 

 banks of rivers, brooks, or ditches. Some sorts, and especially S. alba and 

 S. RusselhVzwa, may also be planted in upland soil in masses ; and S. caprea 

 will succeed in cold, boggy, or marshy soil, if drained ; but neither this nor 

 any other kind of tree willow will produce timber in peat, gravel, sand, or 

 chalk. When willows are intended to remain where they are first planted, 

 and to grow up as trees, all that is necessary, at the end* of the first year's 

 growth, is to cut off all the shoots but the strongest one, which is left to 

 become the stem of the future tree. The after-management of thinning, 

 pruning, &c., differs in nothing from the ordinary routine culture of timber 

 trees. In felling willow trees when the bark is an object, the trees may 

 either be barked standing, in the month of May, and cut down in the August 

 following ; or cut down in May, and disbarked while lying on the ground. 



Choice of Species for growing as Timber Trees. S. alba, which will attain the 

 height of from 60ft. to 80ft. in 20 years. S. Russelliana and S. fragilis, 

 which are frequently confounded ; and, indeed, in external appearance 

 differ very slightly from each other, except in size. S. Russelh#7*a grows 

 as rapidly, and to as great a height, as S. alba ; but S. fragilis, though it grows 

 with equal rapidity, does not attain so great a height. S caprea, and some 

 of its allied kinds, grow as rapidly as S. fragilis for three or four years ; 

 and will attain nearly the same height as that species in the same time ; 

 that is, on good soil, from 30 ft. to 40 ft. in twenty years. According to Bosc, 

 S. caprea is the most valuable of all the tree willows grown in France. 

 Other willows, which attain a timber-like size, or about 30 ft. or 40 ft. in twenty 

 years, are, S. triandra, S. rotundata, S. liicida, S. Meyen//r/, S. prac v cox, S. 

 Pontederana, S. acuminata, S. pentandra, S. vitellina, and S. omygtUtiina. 

 Many, and perhaps most, of the other species, in good soil, if allowed sufficient 

 room, and trained to a single stem, would attain the size and character of 

 trees; but, with a view to timber, the four species first mentioned, viz. S. 

 alba, S. Russelh'awfl, S. fragilis, and S. caprea, are alone worth cultivating. 



Culture of the Willow as Coppice-wood. The best sorts for this purpose 

 are S. caprea and its allied kinds. Plants may either be raised from 

 cuttings or from seeds, which are produced in great abundance. In the 

 plantation, they may be placed at 4 ft. or 5 ft. apart every way ; and afterwards 

 thinned out as the stools increase in size. No other species of willow will 

 produce such vigorous shoots in a bad soil ; and in a good soil, after being 

 cut over, shoots of one year may frequently be found from 10 ft. to 12 ft. in 



