110 
AMEBIC AN AGrBICULTUBIST. 
[March, 
Some Uses of Willows. 
An American, travelling in England, is 
struck by the frequent occurrence in the land¬ 
scape, of the Pollard Willows, the low rounded 
heads of which, in some localities mark the 
water courses for long distances. Willows 
thus treated ; for the Pollard is not, as some¬ 
times supposed, a distinct kind of willow, 
may be occasionally seen in some of our older 
States, but less frequently than formerly. 
The White Willow excitement of some 
twenty years ago, was unfortunate, as many 
farmers, finding 
that the tree did 
not bear out 
the extravagant 
claims of specu¬ 
lators, became so 
disgusted with it 
that they over¬ 
looked its real 
merits. W 7 hile 
the White Wil¬ 
low hedge will 
not be, as claim¬ 
ed, ‘ f the uni¬ 
versal fence,” the 
White, and other 
willows may be 
made most use¬ 
ful especially to 
those who live in 
prairie regions. 
The question fre¬ 
quently comes 
from the West 
and elsewhere, as 
to the best meth¬ 
od of preventing 
streams from en¬ 
croaching upon 
their banks. Lin¬ 
ing the banks 
with a row of 
willows is a very 
ancient practice, 
and probably 
there is no better 
method. Their 
roots, especially 
in wet ground, 
form dense mass¬ 
es of fine fibres 
well suited to re¬ 
tain the soil in 
place. The ease 
with which such a bander is established 
is greatly in its favor. Cuttings of almost any 
size readily take root; these may be a foot or 
two long, and as thick as one’s finger, or they 
may be large enough for fence posts, accord¬ 
ing to the readiness with which they can be 
procured. While the roots are useful in pre¬ 
serving the bank, the tops may be turned to 
good account to afford fuel or poles for vari¬ 
ous purposes upon the farm. Another use 
for willows is as a wind-break, to shelter the 
house and farm buildings, as well as to pro¬ 
tect orchards and young forest trees from the 
prevailing winds. When planted for this 
purpose, as well as along the streams, the tops 
are made most useful by occasional pollard¬ 
ing. In growing willows for basket-making, 
the stem reaches barely above the ground, 
and the shoots are cut every year. With 
pollards, the tranks grow 6 to 8 feet high, 
and the stems are cut once in three or five 
years, according to the use to be made of 
them. This treatment of the willow very 
likely had its origin in the fact that the wood 
of an old trank is poor and of little value, 
while that of a young branch is vastly supe¬ 
rior, and will serve many useful purposes. 
The pollard is started, either by setting 
a willow stake of the higlit desired for 
the trunk, or by planting small cuttings, 
and when the trees from these have grown 
tall enough, to cut them square off. The 
nearer they are planted the straighter the 
shoots will grow. The engraving shows 
the manner of cutting; every branch is 
removed close to the trunk. The following 
spring an abundant growth will 6tart from 
dormant or “ adventitious ” buds. Some of 
the trunks of veiy old pollard willows are 
picturesque objects. They are often decayed 
in the center, and it is not rare for seeds of 
other plants, earned there by birds, to ger¬ 
minate and grow in the decayed wood. Some¬ 
times roots have started from the willow 
branches themselves, and made their way 
down through the hollow trunk to the ground. 
The shoots of pollards make fairly durable 
rails, when nailed to posts; and they answer 
as sides for ladders, and a great number of 
other uses on the farm. The kind of willow 
most readily obtained in this country is the 
White Willow, and its variety the Golden, or 
Yellow Willow. The Sallow, or Goat Willow 
(Salix Caprcea), is kept in some nurseries and 
is preferable, on account of the greater hardi¬ 
ness of its wood, for poles or for fuel. In 
England other trees are pollarded, especially 
the Ash and the Wych Elm, in order to raise 
poles, while in Italy the Mulberry is so treated 
for the convenience in gathering its leaves 
for feeding silk worms, while the tranks are 
used as supports to which to train grape vines. 
Cut-Worms and other Insects in Georgia. 
BY DR. A. OEJILER, WILMINGTON ISLAND, GA. 
Very many gardeners and farmers, with¬ 
out any knowledge of the habits and met¬ 
amorphoses of insects, were congratulat¬ 
ing themselves that, following our last very 
severe winter, they would suffer less than 
usual in the spring and summer from preda¬ 
tory insects. Contrary to such expecta¬ 
tions, however, we suffered more severely 
than I can remember in an experience of 
twenty-six years, the insects having been 
retained in their dormant, liybernating state 
during the entire winter by the severe cold, 
until when they came. forth at the opening 
of spring they found favorable weather and a 
plentiful supply of food for their sustenance. 
The common Cricket was early, very in¬ 
jurious to strawberry plants and fruit, and, in 
one field especially, they were troublesome to 
my young cabbage plants. The Mole Cricket 
( Gh'yUotaipa ), cut off the seed leaves of young 
watermelon plants so persistently that I was 
compelled to plant ten acres of my crop over 
five times. In August the Grass-worm of the ' 
South (Laphygma frugiperda), came on some 
farms in such countless numbers as not only 
to devour every blade of grass, but to destroy 
large plantings of cabbage, one man losing 
every plant from eight pounds of seed. Still 
later, Grasshoppers appeared so abundantly 
that, between the two and the voracious Cut¬ 
worm, our winter crop of cabbage for the 
northern markets was materially short¬ 
ened, notwithstanding many truck farmers 
secured a partial supply of plants from 
the North. I have been located on the ex¬ 
treme end of this island for the past sixteen 
years, and during that time I have never, 
to my recollection, noticed the presence 
of a Cut-worm without stirring him up 
and preventing the advent of his probable 
progeny. On a field upon which a thick 
growth of Cow Peas had been plowed under 
about a month previous, I undertook, early 
in November, to plant out cabbages, when I 
found Cut-worms had taken possession in 
such numbers that I was compelled to de¬ 
sist until I could get rid of them. In an 
area of twenty-two square yards, I caught, 
one morning, under ten turnip leaves 
placed on two adjacent rows, 294 Cut-worms, 
and 58 of all sizes under one single leaf about 
a foot long. My son caught 15 at the root of 
a small cabbage plant. Prof. Riley having 
requested some to be forwarded to Washing¬ 
ton, I send out a negro lad some days after¬ 
ward, and he brought me from the same 
field over 250, which proved to be nearly 
every one the larvae of Agi'otis suffusa. Find¬ 
ing them too numerous to be hunted, I 
placed turnip leaves poisoned with Paris 
Green upon the field, and left them quietly to 
make way with themselves, which they did 
with such perfect success that a week after¬ 
wards I had a great stand of plants. They 
have been very abundant everywhere in this 
section. In my experience with Cut-worms 
I have found prevention better than cure, I 
seek either to deter the moths from laying 
the eggs of the future worm, where I expect 
POLLARDING, OR CUTTING THE YOUNG GROWTH FROM OLD WILLOWS. 
