The Willow. 



I' ' Willow, it is evident that it surpasses every thing else in 

 value in watery situations; and it does not much care 

 whether the water be running or stagnant. Any little dell 

 that is kept constantly wet by the oosings out from tlie 

 sides of a hiil, is admirably adapted for any of the Willows, 

 and the crop which they produce is prodigious. As dry 

 coppices, they are very good, and produce a greater crop 

 of hoops and rods than either the Birch, the Hazel, or the 

 Ash. I have seen one single red-hearted Willow stem, that 

 produced upwards of two hundred hoops, each rod being 

 split into two hoops. But there must be room for this, 

 and the Willow should not be planted in good ground at 

 distances less than rows at six feet apart, and plants at six 

 feet apart in the row; and, in such ground, the poles men- 

 tioned in the former part of this article should be laid in 

 rows, at six feet apart instead of five, and the lower parts, 

 for the shoots to come out of, should also be at six feet apart. 

 The quality of the Willow, for rods, hoops, and poles, is 

 Inferior to the Hazel; but it is equal to the Birch ; and 

 the red-hearted Willow makes a much better pole than 

 the Birch. In very dry ground, the Willow does not 

 succeed. It makes short shoots in such ground, sends out 

 laterals instead of going up, and seldom produces much 

 besides fire-wood. 



592. I cannot refrain from adding here, that I have now 

 (March, 1828) several Willows, which have been raised 

 Jrom the seed, this year, in my garden. They get to be 

 four feet high the fii'st summer. 



