The Willow. 



raised, by stakes or poles, in the manner before-mentioned, 

 it can never be a fine and lofty tree if raised in that manner; 

 and it would be absurd to expect it. This tree would grow 

 to sixty feet high, if raised from the seed, and that it might 

 be^ 1 am sure, in the manner which 1 have spoken of above; 

 but if not raised from the seed, small cuttings at most 

 ought to form the foundation of a Weeping Willow tree. 

 These cuttings ought to be, like those of the osiers, from 

 the butts of shoots of the former year. They ought to be 

 put into a nursery to strike, putting about a foot of them 

 into the ground, and leaving not more than an inch out of 

 the ground. One shoot ought to be suffered to go up the 

 first year. There ought to be careful prunings of the stub 

 at the bottom; and, in the next spring or fall, the tree 

 ought to be taken up, its roots pruned, and then it ought 

 to be carefully planted upon the spot where it is intended 

 to abide. Here it might be cut down again the first year 

 after the planting, and a single shoot suffered again to go 

 up ; but this shoot would be so long and so slender in the 

 upper part of it, that, if left at full length, the tree w^ould 

 become a curved thing at once. Therefore, it ought the 

 next year to be cut down, within two feet of the point 

 where it was cut down before, and another single shoot 

 suffered to come out and to go on, as near to the last cut 

 as possible; and thus you ought to proceed till you have got 

 a trunk of the length that you wish to have it. Then the 

 head may be suffered to spread away from the straight 

 trunk in every direction. The side-shoots being kept con- 

 stantly pruned off, all the little crooks made by the several 

 cuttings would soon grow out, and would leave no trace 

 of there ever having been any : the trunk would be straight 

 and smooth from one end to the other. 



591. From all that has been said upon the subject of the 



