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according to M. de Theis [Translators note: probably Alexandre Etienne Guillaume 

 Baron de Theis, 1765-1842] stems from two Celtic words, Sal, near, and lis, water; a tree 

 that grows near water. From Salix we get the French word saule [Translator's note: i.e. 

 willow tree], German, weide, weidenbaum. Danish, pill. Italian, salcio. Hungarian, tilz-fa. 

 Polish, wierzba. 



USES. The wood of the willow tree isn't very much in demand, but since the trees 

 grow quickly, many are planted. The wood of the white willow is supple and sturdy. 

 Hoops are made from its stout branches and ties from the slender ones. Willow boards are 

 used for making crates and for light construction. Charcoal from the young branches is 

 suitable for manufacturing gunpowder. 



The bark of the white willow has a bitter taste. It's an astringent and an 

 antipyretic. It's been used successfully to treat intermittent fevers. The bark of young 

 branches two to three years old is the choice for this purpose. It's administered as a 

 powder at a dose of an eighth of an ounce repeated four or six times during the intervals 

 between outbreaks of fever. 



CULTIVATION. Willow trees can be grown from seeds, but normally they're 

 propagated from cuttings called slips that thrive especially well in damp soil. But it 

 should not be flooded, because in that case trenches would have to be dug nearby and the 

 earth put back at the bases of the trees to form an embankment. 



The willows form a very large genus; there are more than a hundred and twenty 

 species of them. Furthermore they're difficult to distinguish because they offer few- 

 conspicuous and consistent features. The soil and the climate can bring about such 

 remarkable changes that even the most scrupulous observer would be very hard put to 

 identify them. For example, as M. Desfontaines says. I've seen the downy willow of our 

 Alps change its shape in a garden so much that it would have been impossible for even 

 the most expert and practiced botanist to recognize it. It had lost its whiteness, the leaves 

 had become much larger, and the tree, which in its native soil is always very small, 



