168 FOEESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 



by cuttings, and the expense is slight. The wood of both 

 white willow and crack willow is tough, and indents with- 

 out splintering from blows or hard usage. It can be used 

 for brakes, carts, hurdles, roofing, and flooring. 



4. Cricket-bat willow or blue willow {Salix coerulea). 

 This is a hybrid between Salix fragilis and Salix alba, 

 occurring only in the female sex, and invariably propagated 

 by sets or cuttings. It is grown in the eastern counties of 

 England, mainly in Essex, Hertford, Suffolk, Norfolk, and 

 Cambridgeshire. Eemarkably fast in growth, it produces a 

 wide-ringed timber, light in weight and of great elasticity, 

 which is used for making cricket bats, and sells at a higli 

 price. Trees often attain, in thirteen to fifteen years after 

 planting, 40 to 50 feet in height and 13 to 15 inches in 

 diameter. Cricket-bat willow should be planted only in 

 good sites, such as rich alluvial lands by the side of a 

 running stream, or fertile loam where there is a good supply 

 of moisture. Ground of any kind sodden with stagnant 

 water, and clay, gravel, and peat soils are quite unsuitable. 

 Large sets, 6 to 10 feet long, should be used for planting. 

 As this willow requires much light and space, and the 

 object is to produce as quickly as possible a short stem, 

 clear of branches for about 12 to 15 feet, the part utilisable 

 by the bat-maker, a good crown of foliage must be preserved 

 from the start, and the trees should be planted wide apart, 

 the distance between them being not less than 30 feet. A 

 fvill account of the cultivation of this tree was given by the 

 writer in Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, vii. 1763- 

 1769 (1913), of which an abstract by A. P. Long was 

 published in Joitrn. Board of Agriculture, xxi. 289 (1914). 



Black Walnut (Juglans nigra). — It has been proposed to 

 grow this American species in our woods, as the timber is 

 very valuable, and splendid single trees are known to occur 

 in many parks in the south of England. The tree is, how- 

 ever, exacting as regards soil and climate. It is sensitive 

 to frost when young, but afterwards becomes perfectly 

 hardy. It requires for its good development a considerable 



