SAL 
SAL 
Those who grow osiers for faggoting 
underwood should select only those which 
have long and tough rods, such as vimena- 
lis, rubra , Forbyana , Lambertiana, or 
purpurea, are suited for this purpose, and 
planted in a damp quarter of the wood, 
occasion little or no trouble. In dis¬ 
tricts where wet morass lands abound, 
and the facilities for draining are few, 
perhaps few things offer a more promising 
chance of turning it to account than the 
growth of willows for their timber; so 
also where river frontage can be secured, 
a considerable profit may be confidently 
expected. Perhaps the best mode of 
management would be in the manner of 
a plantation of coppice wood; cut over 
at eight or ten years, they would return 
an immense quantity of useful stuff, from 
which timber of a size, to be useful in 
the arts, might be selected, wood for 
charcoal, poles, smaller material suitable 
for crates, hoops, implement handles, 
and stakes, will also be plentiful, besides 
what may be made of the bark; and 
when the lightness of this wood is con¬ 
sidered, it is evident the cost of carriage 
must be decidedly lower than would be 
incurred for any other kind. Mr. Lowe, 
on his survey of the county of Notting¬ 
ham, states the net profit of an acre of 
willows, treated as plantation trees, to 
be £214 at eight years old; and at ten 
something like £300. The kinds best 
suited to this mode of culture, are such 
as make the most rapid growth, and are 
of erect habit: several sorts which are 
deficient of the required toughness to 
render them valuable as osiers, are par¬ 
ticularly suited to the growth of timber, 
and among the class, the following may 
be mentioned as most prominently useful: 
Salix Russelliana. This is certainly 
the very best kind for plantations; it is 
of erect vigorous growth, reaching in a 
few years to a height of eighty or ninety 
feet, with a straight proportionate trunk 
yielding wood of the best quality, firm, 
light, and durable; it may be known by 
its deeply serrated, and quite smooth 
leaves : the bark is very little inferior to 
that of the oak for tanning, and from it 
the salicine already mentioned is most 
abundantlv obtained. 
Salix alba. At the same time, of the 
largest and most useful of willows; it is 
readily distinguished by its hoary leaves, 
which are elliptic-lanceolate, acute, ser¬ 
rated, and silky on both sides; it succeeds 
on drier land than any other species. 
The average height of the trunk is forty 
feet, but it has generally a very large 
girth. Only the female plant of this 
species has yet been noticed, unless the 
next is it. 
Salix ctzrulea. Although pronounced 
a species, there is no perceivable differ¬ 
ence between this and the preceding, 
except that its leaves are a little longer, 
and have a blueish tinge. It is also re¬ 
markable that, while we have only female 
plants of S. alba , there are none but 
males of S. ccerulea. This and their si¬ 
milarity in habit, has led to the idea of 
their being specifically the same. The 
timber of the present kind is greatly 
esteemed for turnery and implement- 
making ; hats and bonnets are also ma¬ 
nufactured from it; a great quantity is 
used to make gunpowder, and the bark 
is nearly equal to that of S. Russelliana 
for tanning; and it is likewise employed 
as a substitute for cinchona. In France 
they stain leather for gloves a fine blood- 
red colour with a preparation obtained 
from the bark of young trees; and the 
leaves and young shoots are given to 
cattle, either green, or dried and pre¬ 
served in the manner of hay. 
Salix fragilis is greatly inferior to 
either of the foregoing, being of crooked 
growth and brittle. The wood of the 
main trunk is, however, esteemed for 
cabinet-work, for, though short, it has, 
w T hen seasoned, a beautiful tinge of pink, 
which is greatly admired and is very 
pleasing when brought to a good face. 
Salix caprea is another comparatively 
small species, but its wood, being very 
tough and durable, creates a great de¬ 
mand for it in the manufacture of hur¬ 
dles and short tool-handles, for which 
purpose it is superior even to ash. As 
an underwood, this species is perhaps 
equal to anything we have, as it succeeds 
in any soil or situation. 
With regard to the planting of willows, 
nothing can be more easy. They may be 
