NOTES ON THE VARIOUS SPECIES 259 



WILLOW 



The soft wood of the willow (and not less of 

 its relatives, the poplars and cottonwoods) is 

 quickly decayed when once exposed to the ele- 

 ments. Very old willows are rarely sound if they 

 have been seriously wounded, as they usually are, 

 sooner or later, by the tearing away of one of 

 their large branches. Cavity work is rarely 

 worth while on old and contorted willow trunks, 

 though it may be quite valuable in the case of 

 younger trees. Willows grow so fast that 

 wounds are healed with astonishing rapidity, if 

 the tree is given half a chance. There is plenty 

 of opportunity for preventive work on willows, 

 not letting the limbs crowd each other or form 

 dangerous crotches, and bracing promptly limbs 

 which promise to grow beyond the limit of their 

 own strength. Willows often send out roots 

 from the side of a wound in the bark. These 

 roots either work down to the ground or else, if 

 the trunk is far decayed, spread out in the rotten 

 wood of the tree's own trunk, thus making the 

 best of a bad business. 



