346 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
its uses in the manufacture of gunpowder and cricket bats, 
we may safely say that the most scantily-furnished house can 
boast of some article of Willow manufacture iu the shape of 
baskets. British basket-making is, as far as we know, the 
oldest national manufacture; it is the manufacture in con¬ 
nection with which we have the earliest record of the value 
placed on British work. British baskets were exported to 
Rome, and it would almost seem as if baskets were unknown 
in Rome until they were introduced from Britain. We have 
curious evidence of the high value attached to these baskets. 
Juvenal describes Catullus in fear of shipwreck throwing over¬ 
board his most precious treasures : “ precipitare volens etiam 
pulcherrima,” and among these “ pulcherrima ” he mentions 
“ bascaudas.” Martial bears a still higher testimony to the 
value set on “British baskets,” reckoning them among the 
many rich gifts distributed at the Saturnalia—• 
“Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis 
Sed me jam vult dicere Roma suam.”—Book xiv. 99. 
Many of the Willows make handsome shrubs for the garden, 
for besides those that grow into large trees, there are many 
that are low shrubs, and some so low as to be fairly called 
carpet plants. Salix Regince is one of the most silvery shrubs 
we have, with very narrow leaves; S. lanata is almost as silvery, 
but with larger and woolly leaves, and makes a very pretty 
object when grown on rockwork near water; S. rosmarmifolia 
is another desirable shrub; and among the lower-growing 
species, the following will grow well on rockwork, and com¬ 
pletely clothe the surface: S. alpina , S. Grahami , S. retusa , 
S. serpyllifolia , and S. reticulata . They are all easily cultivated 
and are quite hardy. 
MooDbtne, see ijonegsucfcle. 
TOomwoob. 
To weed this Wormwood from your fruitful brain. 
Loves Labour’s Lost , v. 2, 857.. 
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