* I."] PLANTATIONS OF OSIERS. 



ed. We shall, however, be contented with mention- 

 ing the opinion of a 'gentleman, who has made the cul- 

 tivation of Willows part of his employment. He says, * 



* Moderate moisture is favourable to the production of 

 ' fine twigs ; but water continually stagnant, may be 



* considered ruinous. The writer has seen good osiers 



* grow where water stood in the bottom of an old ditch 

 6 during the greater part of the winter months ; but 



* thinks that water continually stagnant is very destruc~ 



* tive in summer, by preventing the wood from ripen- 



* ing ; and he apprehends, that when good osiers grow 

 4 in water, the roots must reach sound, dry soil, im~ 



* mediately contiguous ; which was the case in the in- 



* stance mentioned above ; for the soil was dry and mo- 



* derately rich also, on each side of the ditch. * 



It ought, however, to be noticed, that the kinds of 

 Willows which are naturally of a firm and woody tex- 

 ture, as the common sallow (&dix aquatica) endure 

 standing water much better than such sorts as make na- 

 turally very vigorous pushes like the common hoop wil- 

 low, and some of the basket willows. We know of a 

 striking instance of this on tl e estate of Raith in Fife- 

 shire, at the West Mill-dam* part of which is occasi- 

 onally dry during the summer months, but seldom irt 

 winter. Many years ago, the part which is occasional- 

 ly dry was planted with basket willows of various kinds 5 

 but those which throve best, and continued to live long- 

 est* were the hard- wooded kinds, which made natural- 

 ly small shoots. 



It is presumed that these instances will show the ne- 

 cessity of completely draining the site of a proposed 

 Willow plantation, as the first step towards its forma* 

 M m 2 tiom 



* Mr Sbirreff's Paper on Osiers, Far, Mag. May 180,5,- 



