'IHE MOUNTAIN ASH. 



44.: 



water. It nms to a considerable height, and no 

 tree can be more graceful on the margin of a lake 

 or stream. The twigs, which hang down so 

 beautifully, are tough, as well as long and slen- 

 der; and there can be no doubt that they would 

 answer well for basket-making; but this tree is 

 chiefly introduced on account of the beauty of 

 its appearance. It has been said, that the first 

 willow was planted in England by the celebrated 

 Alexander Pope. According to the account of 

 tliis circumstance, the poet having received a 

 present of figs from Turkey, observed a twig of 

 the basket in which they were packed putting 

 out a shoot. He planted this twig in his garden, 

 and it soon became a fine tree; from which stock 

 many of the weeping wiUows in England have 

 sprung. This tree, so remarkable on every ac- 

 count, was cut down a few years ago. 



The willow has not only been noticed, but 

 employed in basket work in this country from 

 a very early period, and there is some probability 

 that the Britons taught the art to the Romans, 

 at least, from the mention of a basket brought 

 to Rome by painted Britons, in Martial, we 

 should be led to infer that baskets of British 

 manufacture were esteemed in the capital of the 

 world. 



The timber of the willow is applicable to many 

 purposes similar to those in vi^hich the poplar is 

 employed, and in toughness it is far superior. 

 The ancient Britons sometimes made their boats 

 of basket-work of willow, and covered them 

 with the skins of animals : they were remarka- 

 bly light and buoyant. 



The willow is used extensively in the manu- 

 facture of charcoal; and it has been found to be 

 superior to most other woods in producing char- 

 coal, for gunpowder. A good deal depends, 

 however, upon the manufacture. In the ordin- 

 ary modes of making charcoal, by building the 

 wood up in a pyramidal form, covering the pile 

 with clay or earth, and leaving a few air-holes, 

 which are closed as soon as the mass is well 

 lighted, combustion is imperfectly performed. 

 For charcoal, to be used in the manufacture of 

 gunpowder, the wood should be ignited in iron 

 cylinders, so that every portion of vinegar and 

 tar which it produces should be suffered to es- 

 cape. In India, charcoal is manufactured by a 

 particular caste, who dwell entirely in the woods, 

 and have neither intermarriage nor intercourse 

 with the Hindoo inhabitants of the open country. 

 They bring down their loads of charcoal to par- 

 ticular spots, whence it is carried away by the 

 latter people, who deposit rice, clothing, and iron 

 tools, a payment settled by custom. The be- 

 nevolent bishop Heber wished to mitigate the 

 condition of these unfortunate people, but he 

 found that he could not break through the Hin- 

 doo prejudice against them. Evelyn, in his 

 Sylva, fears that the progress of our iron man- 



ufacture would lead to the destmction of all our 

 timber, in the preparation of charcoal for fur- 

 naces. He did not foresee that we should find 

 a substitute, by charring pit coal into coke. In 

 1788, there were eighty-six iron furnaces in 

 England, of which twenty-six were heated by 

 charcoal of wood; in' 1826, there were three 

 hundred and five, all served by coke. 



The flowers of the sallow willow make their 

 appearance about the 10th of March; and those 

 of the others follow in succession. The leaves 

 are out by the second week of April. They are 

 all' of uncommon facility of propagation and 

 culture, and are readily raised from cuttings. 

 Plantations for basket-work or hoops, should be 

 made on deep loamy soil on the banks of rivers, 

 within reach of water, but by no means satur- 

 ated with it. Few willows are either bog or 

 marsh plants. The cuttings should be of two 

 year's wood, or the strongest portions of one 

 year's growth, two and a half feet long, one foot 

 mi a half of which should be put into the 

 ground. They are commonly planted in rows 

 two and a half feet distant each way. After three 

 years they should be out down to the first planted 

 head; after this the stock will afford an annual 

 crop of twigs. According to Dr Hunter, willow 

 plantations yield £5 per acre and upwards, ac- 

 cording to situation and demand. 



Among the many uses to which the willow 

 was applied by the Romans, was that of binders 

 to tie up the vines to their poles. Regulai- 

 plantations of the willow were raised for this 

 purpose. The weeping wiUow, so called from 

 its pendulous branches and leaves, which often 

 contain a crystal di-op of water at their points, 

 was the emblem of grief and disappointment. 

 Thus Shakspeare writes, "I offered him my 

 company to a willow tree to make him a garland, 

 as being forsaken." It is probable that under 

 those trees, the children of Israel mourned their 

 captivit3^ "By the rivers of Babylon, there we 

 sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered 

 Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows 

 in the midst thereof." — Psalms. 



The salix herhacea, which is not a herbaceous 

 plant, as the name would imply, but really a 

 tree, is the smallest of all trees yet known, being 

 only from one to three inches in height, even 

 when of mature age. 



The Mountain Ash (pyrus aucupariaj. Na- 

 tural family rosacece ; icosandria, di-pentaginea, 

 of Linnsus. This is also called the wild service, 

 quichheam, and rowantree. This tree grows natur- 

 ally in many parts of England, and is fi-equently 

 introduced into plantations and ornamental 

 shrubberies, both for the beauty of the leaves, 

 and the brilliant red of its clusters of berries. 

 In the south of England it is rarely permitted 

 to grow to any height; but in the northern coun- 

 ties, and in Scotland and Wales, it frequently 



