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Views and Reviews. 
Willow Trees for Towns. 
Many writers on trees give lists of suitable 
species for town gardens, but. they seem 
entirely oblivious of the beauty and suit¬ 
ability of many of our Willow trees for the 
purpose, or even of their existence. This 
applies more particularly to large towns, per¬ 
haps, than to the smaller ones. Willows are 
no doubt characteristic of wet parts, of the 
country, particularly in the fen districts, but 
in such places the eye is kept upon then- 
utility as much as their beauty, and the trees 
are usually pollarded. There are exceptions 
to the general rule, however, and Willows are 
planted in and about towns, and highly 
appreciated by the inhabitants. The town 
of Bedford might be mentioned as an in¬ 
stance, where the Great Ouse River runs 
through the town, and its hanks are beauti¬ 
fully and effectively planted with Willow 
trees. 
Willows are plentiful in many places, but 
they are too often planted merely to hold up 
the river banks, and in such cases they are 
stooled back periodically at short intervals, 
so that, as far as their growth is concerned, 
we never see anything but. insignificant 
bushes, suggestive of the Osier holt rather 
than anything planted with the view of 
beautifying the place. True, some people 
allow them to rise up with a. stem and then 
pollard them, but that is only one feature 
of a Willow that may be turned to omar 
mental account. Willows rarely display 
their true character till they form naturally- 
grown trees of at least four to six years 
standing, in which time they will form, 
decent trees, if they have been properly 
dealt with during that time. 
In a word, we may say that Willows are 
the best-abused class of plants, in this coun¬ 
try at least. People who are fond of lopping 
trees allow themselves full scope to deal with 
this class of woody vegetation, and the result 
is that very few Willows at the present day 
are allowed to develop their natural form 
and beauty. They may be described as the 
Bamboos 'of temperate climates, including 
our own. It was not always so, for we have 
evidence that Willow trees in bygone days 
were not only highly respected and admired, 
but they even attained a considerable 
amount of notoriety, and were even described 
as famous. One or two of these notable 
Willows we shall make allusion to in the 
course of our remarks. 
The arboreal Willows are undoubtedly 
most suitable for town planting, and if 
objections are made to size, we are confident 
that they are as amenable to pruning into 
the desired shape and size as the London 
Plane, the Lime, Sycamore, Elm, or any 
other large-growing subject. Some might 
argue that the want of longevity was against 
them, but the same arguments might be 
advanced against the Poplar, several of 
which are amongst the popular and most 
frequently-planted of London trees. Anyone 
may go into different parts of London and 
find not only the Lombardy Poplar, hut its 
typical form, the. Black Italian Poplar, 
planted in large numbers, even in small 
gardens, where severe pruning must of a 
necessity be earned out in the course of a 
few years. Against these some of the British 
Willows would certainly hold their own, and 
not only be effective, but harmonise with 
their gray surroundings and the misty skies 
of London. 
The White Willow (Salix alba.) we should 
place in the front, rank amongst Willows as 
a. suitable town tree. It is more regular and 
upright in growth than its near relative, the 
Crack Willow (S. fragilis), and there are 
several forms of it that are perfectly distinct 
and would remain effective during the whole 
season, when then- shade or their peculiar 
colour might be appreciated ; and the fact of 
their being deciduous would enable trees of 
this class to come through the ordeal of 
London smoke easily. The ordinary form 
of the -White Willow when in full leaf has 
been described as of a light sea green, but 
the term hoary, in our opinion, would be 
more applicable. A healthy, well-grown tree 
of appreciable size looks like a great bank of 
gray mist, and makes a. beautiful contrast 
with trees whose foliage consists of some 
shade of green. 
