OR, PLAIN TEACHING. 



231 



branches. The cones are from 

 five to seven inches long, and 

 from one to two inches broad. 

 The wood is light, elastic, and 

 varying in durability, according 

 to the soil upon which * it has 

 grown. 



The ashes furnish potash ; and the trunk 

 produces an immense quantity of resin, from 

 which Burgundy pitch is made. The resin is 

 obtained by incisions made in the bark, when it 

 oozes out between that and the soft wood. The 

 principal uses to which the wood is applied, are 

 for scaffolding poles, ladders, spars, oars, and 

 masts to small vessels. The planks and deals 

 are used for flooring rooms, and by musical 

 instrument makers and carvers ; they are also 

 used by cabinet makers for lining furniture, and 

 for packing boxes, and maay similar purposes. 

 The wood, being fine-grained, takes a high 

 polish, and does well for gilding on.* 



Willows, 1, are trees of light, 

 graceful, and quick growth. 

 They generally nourish on the 

 banks of rivers and lakes, and 



l 



618. 



other moist situations, and are 

 confined chiefly to the temperate 

 regions of Europe and America. 



• Loudon's Tree* and Shrubs. 



There are sacred and solemn 

 associations with these trees : the 

 captive Israelites thus sung : — 



" By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down ; yea, 

 there we wept, when we remembered Zion. 



" We hanged our harps upon the willows in 

 the midst thereof. 



" For there they that carried us away captive, 

 required of us a song ; and they that wanted 

 us required of us mirth, saying, 1 Sing us one 

 of the songs of Zion.' " — Psalm cxxxvii. 



As a general description of 

 this numerous family, they vary 

 from shrubs of two inches or 

 three inches in height, to trees 



619. 



of eighty or ninety feet. The 

 branches are round and flexible, 

 the leaves, 2, are single, undi- 

 vided, stalked, generally alter- 

 nate, deciduous. The leaves are 

 generally arranged spirally on 

 the branches ; but in a few 

 species they are opposite, and 

 not in a spiral order. The 

 catkins, 3, are early, in some 

 species erect, in others drooping, 

 and spring either from the same 

 buds as the leaves, or more 



