36 
LITTLE WANDERERS. 
and it is also used as a medicine. It is not poisonous, 
but is rather unpleasant to handle, as it is apt to make 
one sneeze. 
The bark of willows is also used in Europe for tan- 
ning, instead of oak or hemlock bark, which is com- 
monly used in this country. 
" Tan bark" is bark that has been ground up and 
had the "tannin/' or substance that hardens leather, 
extracted from it. The tan bark is then put on roads 
or walks, or sometimes on city streets, to deaden the 
noise. It is often used in the country for 
banking up houses in the winter. 
Willows grow quickly, and some of 
those that like wet places are often 
planted on sandy shores of lakes or 
streams, or on banks, that their roots may 
bind the sand or loose earth together and 
so keep the shore from shifting. 
Very often a willow twig A 
can be made to grow by 
merely sticking the cut end 
in damp earth, and many 
a large willow has thus 
planted as a twig by the hand 
of a little child. 
