CHAP. cm. 



SALICA V CEjE. .S^LIX. 



1527 



species, which stand on the margin of a pond, and were planted as cuttings 

 there in 1S08, and measured for us in 1836. The height of these trees was 

 respectively 60 ft., 63 ft., 60 ft., 70 ft., and 71ft.; and they contained in the 

 trunk 17 ft., 20 ft., 16 ft., 42 ft., and 22 ft., and, with the addition of the 

 branches and bark, 55 ft., 85 ft., 40 ft., 101 ft., and 60 ft. It thus appears that 

 the largest tree had increased in its trunk at the average yearly rate of exactly 

 H cubic foot, and, in the trunk and head taken together, at the rate of more 

 than 3| cubic feet ; which increase accords in a very satisfactory manner with 

 that above recorded by Mr. Gorrie. 



Pontey calculates that an acre of land worth 3/. 10s. annually for rent and 

 taxes, if planted with the Huntingdon willow in sets cut from shoots of two 

 years' growth, and 10 in. or 12 in. in length, would, in 7 years, be worth 

 67/. lO.v. per acre; thus affording a clear profit of 39/. a year. {Prof. Plant., 

 4th ed., p. 72.) 



Sir J. E. Smith, in speaking of this willow, says that the bark is thick, full 

 of cracks, good for tanning, and for the cure of agues, though inferior in 

 quality to that of S, Russellmwfl!, " the true Bedford, or Huntingdon, willow." 

 We are certain that in Scotland, and, we think, frequently in England, the term 

 " Huntingdon willow" is applied to S. alba. 



Salix alba is one of the few willows which Gilpin thinks " beautiful, and fit 

 to appear in the decoration of any rural scene. It has a small narrow leaf, 

 with a pleasant light sea-green tint, which mixes agreeably with foliage of a 

 deeper hue." In ornamental plantations, care should be taken never to plant 

 this species of willow with trees which are not of equally rapid growth with 

 itself; for, with the exception of poplars, no tree so soon destroys the character 

 of young plantations of hard-wooded trees, such as pines, oaks, beeches, &c. 

 Perhaps one of the best situations, in point of ornament, is on the banks of a 

 broad river or lake, ample room being allowed for the head to expand on 

 every side ; but, when the object is to produce clean straight timber, the tree 

 requires to be drawn up in masses. It is observed by Sang, that, if " the 

 Huntingdon willow were not so very common, and so frequently met with in 

 low or mean scenery, it might, perhaps, be reckoned more ornamental than 

 many of the other kinds. They certainly are very elegant plants when young, 

 and in middle age ; and, if not picturesque when grown old, yet there is some- 

 thing very striking in their hoary and reverend appearance." {Plant. Kal.) 



"X 



-m 



Statistics. — Recorded Trees. Mitchell speaks of a Huntingdon willow, near the Lodge of Milton 

 House, Northamptonshire, 70 ft. high, with a head 60 ft. in diameter, and the stem 13 ft. in circum- 

 ference. There is a holt of this willow, he says, in Cheshire, between the river Weaver and the 

 Manchester canal, the trees in which are 70 ft. high. In Farey's Derbyshire Report, it is stated, that 

 a tree of .S'alix alba, felled at Wilksworth, produced 156 ft. of timber, 'which sold at 2s. 6d. per foot. 



Su/ix dlba in England. Near London, at Ham House, Essex, it is 79 ft. high, with a trunk ?At. 



3 in. in diameter; on the Common of Turnham Green, the tree of which a portrait is given in 

 our last Volume was 55 ft. high, but it was blown down 

 in the hurricane of the 29th of November, 1836. In 

 Devonshire, at Killerton, it is 65 ft. high, with a trunk 

 2 ft. 10 in. in diameter. In Gloucestershire, at Dodding- 

 ton, 46 years planted, it is 60 ft. high ; the diameter of 

 the trunk 2§ft., and of the head 50 ft. In Cheshire, 

 at Eaton Hall, 17 years planted, it is 50 ft. high. In Den- 

 bighshire, at Llanbede Hall, 45 years planted, it is 57 ft. » 

 high. In Oxfordshire, near Oxford, on the banks of the 

 Cherwell, it is 60 ft. high ; the diameter of the trunk 4 ft., 

 and of the head 60 ft. In Pembrokeshire, at Stackpole «$ 

 Court, 50 years planted, it is 60 ft. high. In Rutlandshire, ^ 

 at Belvoir Castle, 26 years planted, it is 50 ft. high. In £g| 

 Suffolk, at Bury St. Edmunds, near the site of the ancient ^ 

 church, a tree of this species, in 1835, was 75 ft. high ; the 

 circumference of the trunk 18 ft. 6 in., and that of the two 

 principal limbs 15 ft. and 12 ft. respectively ; the circum- 

 ference of the space covered by the branches was 204 ft., 

 andthecubic contents ofthe tree were 440 ft. ofsolid tim- 

 ber. The above dimensions were taken from Mr. Strutt's 

 Sylva, who has given an engraving of the tree, from 

 which fig. 1316. is reduced to the scale of 1 in. to 50 ft. 

 This tree began to decay in 1835 ; and in November, 3836, as we are informed by Mr. Turner, three 

 fourths of it were dead ; so that it now presents a splendid ruin. In Yorkshire, at Hornby Castle, it 

 is 70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4| ft., and ofthe head 80 ft. 



Sdlij: dlba in Scotland. Near Edinburgh, at Hopetoun House, it is 70 ft. high ; diameter of trunk 



4 ft. 9in. ; and ofthe head 65 ft. In Haddingtonshire, at Tyningham, it is 36 ft. high ; the diameter 



^{W 



