314 THE WILLOW. 
the proper form for resisting the influence of water. By 
this means materials of a shifting character are consolidated, 
and by being yearly lopped the willows establish a permanent 
embankment. 
Of the dwarf willows or osiers, adapted for basket-making, 
the variety is very great. The most approved kinds are S. 
viminalis (L.) S. rubra (Hudson), S. Forbyana (Smith), and the 
numerous varieties related to these species, among which the 
pack-thread, whip-cord, and red Dutch are known in some 
districts. The kinds are always propagated by cuttings, which 
are planted on the ground where they are to remain. A 
cutting is made of the strongest portion of a one-year shoot, 
about fourteen inches long. About two-thirds of its length is 
placed into the ground. They are formed into lines eighteen 
inches to ‘three feet asunder, and the plants from one to two 
feet apart, in proportion to the strength of the species. They 
reach their full strength the third year, and endure yearly 
lopping variously, according to the nature of the plant, the 
soil, and climate. Some varieties are more tender and subject 
to disease than others. Of late years an atmospheric blight has 
been severely felt in some quarters. It has usually occurred 
in the end of July or beginning of August; its influence is 
known at the time by a faded curl on the foliage near the top 
of the shoot, where a black spot is formed on the twig, and 
marks the height of the growth at the time of the casualty. 
Each spot covers a small portion of dead wood, which 
occasions the rod to snap when bent at that point. Some 
of the best varieties of viminalis have suffered by this influence, 
particularly such as were old, and had outlived their most 
vigorous period, while the young and vigorous plants of the 
same species were almost exempt from injury. 
Among ornamental willows the S. Babylonica forms a very 
graceful and interesting tree. It is a native of Asia and of 
the north of Africa. Being somewhat tender, it is only in the 
best of soils and seasons, in this country, that it ripens its 
young twigs at their extremities. Unlike most willows, it 
does not grow freely from cuttings, and should therefore be 
