Huntsville gazette., 1882-05-06
The Willow as a Timber.Tr

And there are some trees which are
deserving of more attention than has
yet been given them in this country.
The willows, for instance, have seldom
been cultivated in large way; and yet
there are few trees SO easily grown, or
which will pay better for cultivation.
They adapt themselves to wide range
of soil and climate. They grow on
high ground and on gravelly soils not
less than by the sides of streams, where
we most commonly see them. They
are of rapid growth and yield large
return. The osier-willow is specially
useful, we know, for the manufacture of
baskets, chairs, and other articles Of
furniture, and we import it to the ex-
tent of S5,000.000 annually, when we
might produce it easily in almost any
part of our country. We hardly think
of the willow as a timber-tree or for the
production of lumber, but only as yield
ing cheap, poor sort Of fuel. But in
England the wood is greatly priced for
many purposes. While it is light
it is also tough; it does not break
into slivers. Hardly any wood is
so good, therefore, for the Innings of
carts and wagons used in drawing stone
or other rough and heavy articles. 1t
makes excellent charcoal, especially for
the manufacture of gunpowder. 1t bears
exposure to the weather, and boards
made of it are very serviceable for
fences. Some species of it are admira-
BILE for use as live fence or hedge. On
account of its comparative incombusti-
bility, the willow is eminently useful for
the floors of buildings designed to be
fire-proof. 1t grows to large size and
furnishes great amount Of Lumber.
There is white willow growing in
Stockbridge, Massachusetts,, which, at
four feet from the ground, measures
twenty-five feet in circumference and
extends its branches fifty feet in every
direction. Traditions says it was brought
from Connecticut in 1897 by a traveller,
who used it as riding g-swith. The Hon.
Jesse w. Fell, in giving an account of
experiments in tree-planting, on an ex-
tensive scale, in Illinois, says, "Were l
called upon to designate one tree, which
more than all others, l would recon-
mend for general planting, l would say
unhesitatingly it should be the white
willow" Professor Brewer says: s'In
England, where it is often sixty or sew
enty feet high in twenty years, there is
no wood in greater demand than good
willow. 1t is light, very tough, soft,
takes good finish, will bear more
pounding and knocks than any other
wood grown there, and hence its use for
cricket-bats, for floats to paddle-wheels
of steamers, and break-blocks on cars.
It is used extensively for turning, plank
ing coasting-vessels, furniture, OK -yokes,
wooden legs, shoe-lasts, etc., Fuller
says: SIT groweth incredibly fast-it
being byword that the profit by will
lows will buy the owner horse before
that by other trees will pay for the sad
de-" The basket-willow, well culti-
waited, will yield net income of $3.50
year to the acre. On the whole, there
fore, it would seem that the various
kinds of willow, the economic value of
which has been hitherto entirely over
looked in our country, are eminently de-
serving of attention, and will amply re-
ward those who cultivate them.-From
methods and Profit of Tree Planting,"
By Il. N. Egleston, in Popular Science
Nonthlg.