BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 431 
and few of them more than 5 feet. Mr. Jacobs, failing to get 
good osiers on rich, low land, planted a few on high, dry land, 
near his residence; and from this field he got osiers from 5 to 
7 and even 8 feet in length every year, without applying any 
fertilizer or expending any labor in cultivation; this he con- 
tinued to do as long as he lived, which was probably ten years 
after the cuttings were planted out. Other parties planted the 
purpurea for hedges on high, dry land, but the growth was so 
rapid that it proved not suitable for hedges. 
The question has arisen in my mind, why do most, if not all 
American writers who are considered good authority on the subject, 
recommend the viminalis and condemn the purpurea? and why is 
it that after forty-six years of trial, I find the purpurea an excel- 
lent variety for osiers, and the viminalis not worth growing? Can 
it be that the soil of Hingham differs so much from that of any 
other part of the United States, that another variety of willows is 
required elsewhere to make a success in the business? Can it 
be that so many writers have made a mistake in the variety of 
willows? May it not be that the persistent efforts which have 
been made to grow the purpurea on wet land have led many to 
believe that this variety is of but little value, when if they had 
made the same efforts to grow it on dry land, they would have 
found it to be a variety of great value for osiers; if so, then it is 
time that this fact should be made known to the public; that 
those who are about to plant willows on high Jand may not make 
the mistake of planting varieties that are sure to make the business 
a failure. 
So many associate the willow with running water, or low land, 
that it is very difficult to convince the public that there are va- 
rieties which grow best on sandy plains; yet years of close 
observation have proved to me that Salix purpurea not only 
grows best on dry land, but grows best in hot, dry weather. By 
actual measurement it has been found that this variety in hot, dry 
weather with bright sunshine, will grow in a dry soil from 3 to 
4 inches in twenty-four hours; while in rainy weather the growth 
does not exceed one half of an inch, though it be within a few days 
of the period when the growth was from 3 to 4 inches. 
For more than forty years I have had a row of the purpurea 
willow growing on top of quite a high hill; about ten years ago, 
