1762 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



years ago. Mr. Storie informs us that the stem remaining, which leans to one side, 

 is over 50 ft. in height and girths 13 ft. at five feet from the ground. 



At Fawsley Park, Daventry, a tree, of which a photograph was reproduced in 

 Xh^ Journal of the Northampton Natural History Society for 1882, was said to have 

 been no less than 102 ft.'high and 9 ft. 2 in. in girth. This tree was blown down in 

 February 1882 ; and apparently all that now survives_^is a small tree, grown from a 

 cutting, specimens of which were kindly sent us by Lady Knightley of Fawsley. 



In Scotland, Henry measured in 1904 two trees at Palnure, Kirkcudbright, 

 which were 86 ft. by 10 ft. 8 in., and 82 ft. by 12 ft. 9 in. 



At Coodham House, Kilmarnock, there are two great trees, the largest of which 

 was 17 ft. I in. in girth in 1904, when it was measured by Mr. Renwick. Mr. J. 

 M'Gran, the gardener, informs us that in 1910 it was about 60 ft. high, and girthed 

 17 ft. 8 in. at three feet from the ground, 19 ft. 8 in. at five feet, and 21 ft. at six feet. 



At Moncreiffe I saw in 1907 a remarkable old willow, of which the original 

 trunk, now broken, measured 19 ft. 4 in. in girth. The branches had become rooted 

 in several places ; and one of these, now severed from the trunk, is over 6 ft. in 

 girth. The total circumference of the branches is 106 paces. The foliage of this 

 tree, of which we have not seen flowers, is not so white as usual ; and it may be a 

 form of S. viridis. 



In Ireland we have no records of any very large trees ; but in Mucksna Wood, 

 a mile from Kenmare, I saw by the road-side in 19 10 some very fine willows, which 

 the Marquess of Lansdowne believes to have been planted eighty or ninety years 

 ago. I measured one of these 85 ft. by 9 ft. 10 in. 



The white willow attains a large size in Germany. T. Schube ^ gives reproduc- 

 tions from photographs of two enormous trees which are growing in Silesia, one at 

 the Primkenauer factory, 20 ft. in girth, and the other, with a taller stem not quite so 

 thick on the road between Stronn and Korschlitz. The largest willow^ in Berlin, 

 which grew beside a canal and had a girth of 23 ft., fell to the ground in 1894. 

 Beissner reports^ a tree, 92 ft. high and 9 ft. in girth in 1907, which is growing in a 

 park at Hohenmistorf in Mecklenburg. As the park was laid out in 1854, this willow 

 probably dates from that year. 



Timber 



The wood of this species is used for making cricket-bats of an inferior kind, 

 those of the best class being mainly obtained from 5". coerulea. Apart from this 

 special use, the wood of the white willow is of considerable value, though it is not 

 so much esteemed now as formerly. It is tough, and indents without splintering 

 from blows or hard usage, and is used on that account for brakes on railway waggons, 

 and for the sides and bottoms of carts ; it is also used for the rims of riddles and milk- 

 pails, and by turners for making toys. It is also valuable for hurdle-making. G. W. 

 Newton states* that George Stephenson had a high opinion of willow, as forming 

 durable blocks for paving. Gorrie states^ that "in roofing it has been known to 

 stand one hundred years as couples, and with the exception of about \ in. on the 



1 Mitt. Deut. Dend. Ges. 1910, p. 52, figs. 8 and 9. 2 Ibid. 1894, p. 29. 3 Ibid. 1907, p. 56. 



« Timber Trees, 34 (1859). 6 Loudon, Card. Mag. i. 45 (1826). 



