242 



THE WILLOW. 



this statement will not tempt many of my readers 

 to study tlie Willow-tribe botanically ; but if it 

 does, they can select their own guide. 



If modern science has done so little towards 

 reducing this unruly tribe to order, we must not 

 expect much accuracy from the older naturalists. 

 Accordingly we find that Pliny mentions only eight 

 species, and it cannot now be ascertained what 

 these were, for he distinguishes them more by the 

 names which they bore in his time, than by de- 

 scription. He places them among the most useful 

 of aquatic trees, furnishing vine-props, cordage, 

 osiers for fine and coarse basket-work, and rural 

 implements of many kinds. No tree, he says, 

 affords a safer return to the planter, gives less 

 trouble, or is more independent of the seasons. On 

 the authority of Cato, he assigns to it the third 

 rank among the most valuable of vegetable pro- 

 ductions, placing it before Olive-yards, corn, and 

 pasturage. 



The Willows are natives of the temperate regions 

 of the northern hemisphere, and are much more 

 numerous in the Old World than in the New. The 

 majority grow by the sides of water-courses, but a 

 few grow high up in the mountains, and are found 

 nearer to the North Pole than any other shrubby 

 plants. As far as it is possible to include under 

 a general description so extensive an array of 

 species, they may be characterized as trees or 

 shrubs varying in height from sixty feet to a few 

 inches. They grow rapidly, and readily shoot 

 from cuttings ; the wood is white, the bark of the . 

 trunk rather smooth than otherwise ; that of the 

 branches downy or smooth, in the latter case some- 

 times to such a degree as to appear varnished. In 



