WILLOWS AND POPLARS 



and the vastness of Nature's forces shown in 

 the cataract? The birds are visitors to Goat 

 Island and the other islets that divide the 

 Niagara River, and they have brought there 

 the plants of America in wonderful variety. 



There is one willow that has been used by 

 the nurserymen to produce a so-called weeping 

 form, which, like most of these monstrosities, 

 is not commendable. The goat willow is a 

 vigorous tree introduced from Europe, having 

 large and rather broad and coarse leaves, dark 

 green above and whitish underneath. It is 

 taken as a "stock," upon which, at a conve- 

 nient height, the skilled juggler with trees 

 grafts a drooping or pendulous form known as 

 the Kilmarnock willow, thus changing the habit 

 of the tree so that it then "weeps" to the 

 ground. Fortunately, the original tree some- 

 times triumphs, the graft dies, and a lusty 

 goat willow rears a rather shapely head to 

 the sky. 



This Kilmarnock willow is a favorite of the 

 peripatetic tree agent, and I have enjoyed 

 hugely one notable evidence of his persuasive 

 eloquence to be seen in a Lebanon Valley 



"3 



