1907.] 



Cricket Bat Willow. 



461 



THE CRICKET BAT WILLOW. 



In recent years the supplies of willow adapted for the manu- 

 facture of cricket bats have become seriously limited, and 

 prices have risen in proportion. At a sale of willow trees on 

 Sir Walter Gilbey's estate at Sawbridgeworth, in February, 

 1906, the best " bat willow " realised prices estimated to be 

 equivalent to about ys. per cubic foot. The agent of a large 

 estate in Essex is said to have declined an offer of £1,500 

 for the best 100 willows on the estate ; and Mr. John 

 Shaw, of the well-known firm of Shaw and Shrewsbury of 

 Nottingham, last winter offered £40 for a single tree. When 

 it is remembered that trees have been known in favourable 

 situations to reach a saleable size in twelve years (having 

 in that period attained a girth of about 50 inches) these 

 prices show that there is no timber so profitable at the 

 present time as that of the cricket-bat willow. It is not sur- 

 prising, therefore, that the attention of owners of land suitable 

 for the growth of willows should have been attracted by this tree. 

 As a matter of fact a large number of willows have been planted 

 during the last few years with a view to meeting the future 

 demand. But we have it on the authority of Mr. Shaw, one 

 of the largest buyers as well as a leading expert, that not more 

 than one-fourth of the trees that are being planted are the best 

 cricket-bat willow. 



The identity of the true " bat willow " has always been 

 obscure. The cricket bat maker recognises the tree best suited 

 to his purpose with infallible certainty, but the characters on 

 which he relies are not characters on which the botanist bases 

 his distinctions. With a view to helping the planter to recog- 

 nize the willow best suited for cricket bats, the matter has 

 been investigated at the Royal Gardens, Kew, by Mr. W. J. 

 Been, and the information available is published in the Kew 

 Bulletin, No. 8, 1907. 



The " Open-Bark " Willow (Salix fragilis, L.) — The two 

 commonest ■ terms used in describing willows from the bat- 

 maker's standpoint are " open-bark " and " close-bark." 

 There is no difficulty or mystery about the " open-bark." It 

 is the Crack Willow — the Salix fragilis of Linnaeus — a common 

 tree on the banks of the Thames near Kew. Although a useful 



