AN EVIL ART AND ITS RESULTS, 



189 



AN EVIL ART AND ITS RESULTS. 



In buying a number of Willows some 

 years ago, I was happy enough to find 

 one of unusual beauty and grace — a 

 weeping form of the Yellow Willow 

 (Salix vitelina). This Willow is usual- 

 ly graceful in its habit, but this weeping 

 form is pendulous, and I liked it for its 

 exquisite beauty, fine colour through- 

 out the year, and the usefulness of its 

 abundant shoots, which tie like a good 

 twine. I was fortunate in getting seve- 

 ral plants on their natural roots, every 

 one of which throve, and in every stage 

 looked well. Then, seeking more, a 

 number were sent me grafted on the 

 common Ozier,and in the case of these 

 a very difTerent set of circumstances 

 arose. In the first place, you do not 

 get a healthy tree, because the Ozier is 

 not nearly so stately or fine as the Yel- 

 low Willow and does not form a good 

 stock. There is a hard and ugly angle 

 between the stiff stem of the stock and 

 the abundant branches of the Yellow 

 Willow. Death begins very soon, and 

 comes in every case, if the shoots are 

 not removed. The appearance of the 

 grafted plants as compared with the 

 other is simply piteous, and the plants 

 are not only worthless, but a nuisance, 

 because after a few years the stocks (of 

 which we have already thousands in the 

 woods everywhere) will become weedy 

 trees out of place. It will at once be seen 

 from this how much is lost by grafting 

 trees in the case of Willows. By the la- I 

 bour in removing suckers (which is not 

 likely to be done beside ponds and lakes j 

 that are out of the garden) we not only 



lose our precious tree and its beauty of 

 form everywhere, but we also establish 

 a lot of wretched trees, — the very last 

 thing we should want, perhaps — in a 

 beautiful situation. This happened in 

 almost every case of the grafted Wil- 

 lows, so that round my lakes I have a 

 set of dying Willows or Willows arising 

 from the stocks of kinds already dead. 

 All Willows are easily grafted, and some 

 of our finest Willows are usually sent 

 out by the trade from cuttings, and, 

 therefore, are safe ; but the moment a 

 Willow has any pretence of being rare, 

 new, or graceful, then, for the sake of 

 increasing it in the cheapest way, it is 

 worked on the common Withy or Ozier, 

 and every one of the beautiful Willows 

 so worked is sure to be lost in time. I 

 do not think there is one of these Wil- 

 lows that could not be easily increased 

 from cuttings, layers, or seeds. It is very 

 likely that, as far as gardens are con- 

 cerned, many beautiful Willows have 

 been lost from the practice of grafting; 

 and it is a notable loss, because many 

 of the Willows are among the most 

 beautiful of plants, bushes, and trees we 

 could possibly have beside or near water, 

 which occurs so often in our country. 

 The lesson of all this is that people 

 should ask for what they want and re- 

 fuse to have a grafted Willow on any 

 condition. I have a line on each side 

 of a stream of what is called the Ameri- 

 I can Weeping Willow, a very graceful 

 one. For several years at first they 

 I looked distinct and even beautiful; but, 

 in spite of continual repression of the 



