willows: their growth, use, and importance. 37 



USES OF WILLOWS FOR PROTECTION. 

 PROTECTION FROM EROSION. 



The adaptability of willows to moist conditions and their rapid 

 growth make them the best available plant for protecting soil from 

 erosion by running water or wave action. 



In Europe, especially in Russia, very definite methods have been 

 worked out for protecting soil from gullying and for the building up 

 and improvement of gullied fields. In this work willows have been 

 largely used and have given the best results obtained from any of 

 the numerous species tried. In this country farmers are just begin- 

 ning to realize the importance of such protection and improvement 

 work. Thousands of acres of abandoned fields would still be pro- 

 ductive if proper preventive measures had been taken to check ero- 

 sion. To the farmer who sees great holes gouged into his fields and 

 the fertile top soil washed away from the land the question of devising 

 some means of checking this devastation is of vital importance. 



Most owners fail to appreciate the danger and allow the erosion 

 to continue until the damage is done. Usually erosive action in a 

 field is apparent first as sheet washing which is generally the fore- 

 runner of a gully. This can be stopped by the use of cover crops, 

 judicious tillage, or in extreme cases by terraces and ditches. A 

 gully already formed should be filled with brush, straw, or stone, or 

 planted with some tree or shrub. It is surprising how fast a gully 

 builds up when the bottom has been thickly planted with willows. 

 They break the force of the current and catch and hold the sediment. 

 This process would kill most trees, but the willows are able to survive 

 and to eliminate a gully in a few seasons. The tree growth may then 

 be removed so that farm implements can pass over, unless danger 

 of a recurrence of the gully makes it necessary to keep the area in sod. 



For the protection of stream banks willow plantations are generally 

 the most effective, although cottonwood may also give good results. 

 The best species to use are the vigorous growing wild ones found in 

 the vicinity. Where native willows are not readily available, the 

 white, yellow, crack, or weeping willow should give good results. 

 Cuttings of any of these can be obtained cheaply from the various 

 nursery dealers. The use of trees in the protection of stream banks 

 is necessarily confined to creeks and small rivers and only to those 

 having a medium velocity. Tree planting is generally without avail 

 on raving banks of very swift streams, especially if the soil is loose, 

 e ii is also without avail along the largo rivers even if they are not 

 swift. These are problems for an engineer, although at the beginning 

 tb<- caving of a hank can often be prevented by proper treatment of 

 tin- tree cover at dangerous places. Planting can be done success- 



