GETTING AC^AINTED WITH THE TREES 



of it: "I never once have seen it where it did 

 not hurt the effect of its surroundings, or at 

 least, if it stood apart from other trees, where 

 some tree of another species would not have 

 looked far better." One of the great merits of 

 the tree, its difference of habit, its variation 

 from the ordinary, is thus urged against it. 



I have spoken of the basket willow, which 

 is scientifically Salix viminalis, and an intro- 

 duction from Europe, as indeed are many of 

 the family. In my father's nursery grew a 

 great patch of basket willows, annually cut to 

 the ground to make a profusion of "sprouts," 

 from which were cut the "tying willows" used 

 to bind firmly together for shipment bundles 

 of young trees. It was an achievement to be 

 able to take a six-foot withe, and, deftly 

 twisting the tip of it under the heel to a 

 mass of flexible fiber, tie this twisted portion 

 into a substantial loop ; and to have this novel 

 wooden rope then endure the utmost pull of 

 a vigorous man, as he braced his feet against 

 the bundle of trees in binding the withe upon 

 it, gave an impression of anything but weak- 

 ness on the part of the willow. 



104 



