/ 



The Willow. 



them, poles not of the straightest description may do very 

 well, 



579. There are several sorts of Willows, that grow pro- 

 miscuously in the coppices. To give to these their botanical 

 description would be perfectly useless ; but there are two 

 sorts, which prevail greatly over all the rest, in the estima- 

 tion of woodmen, and which indeed are the sorts that thrive 

 best, and produce the greatest quantities of hoops and 

 poles. They very much resemble each other in outward 

 appearance, whether as to leaf, bark, and every other cir- 

 cumstance, but which have a clear distinction in the colour 

 of the wood ; one having a red heart, and the other being 

 white all the way through. The White-hearted Willow 

 is good for very little as a hop-pole, while the Red- 

 hearted Willow will last nearly as long as the Ash. The 

 difference in the qualities holds good in the making of 

 hoops, hurdles, rods, and every thing else to which the 

 wood of the dry land Willows is applied. 



680. The Willow, like other coppices, is cut in the 

 winter, and the stuff converted to its various uses as quickly 

 as possible. The coppice ought to be cleared by the be- 

 ginning of March, and ought not to be begun to be cut 

 until the whole of the leaf be completely off. If you begin 

 cutting too soon, you injure both the crop and the stools; 

 seeing that the sap has not wholly descended from the 

 former, and seeing that the latter will bleed, and be thus 

 deprived of parts of its powers of reproduction. 



581. Under the head of Tulip Tree, I have said enough 

 about the horrible consequences of clearing coppices by 

 the means of wagons and carts, and I beg to be understood 

 as repeating here all that I there said on the subject ; 



