Willow

a shrub or tree of both continents. There are about 200 species. The willow is a plant of the north temperate zone, but dwarfs extend far into Arctic regions and are recognized as distinctly alpine plants. Willows have slender, pliant branches, often red or yellow and highly ornamental in wintertime, with long, pointed leaves and flowers of two kinds in separate catkins. In the north these catkins or "pussy" willows are the earliest flowers children gather. They may be hastened, "forced," by placing twigs in bottles of water in a warm room. Willows grow chiefly in moist land along streams or around the margins of lakes and swamps, but are planted often for grateful shade in dooryards. They are planted on the banks of streams, where the fibrous roots bind the soil and prevent its washing away. Willow twigs are charred for artists' charcoal. Willow charcoal is used in the manufacture of gunpowder. The willow of cemeteries, the emblem of mourning, is the weeping willow of Babylon. The Hebrew poet, referring to the dumbness of captives in a strange land, says: "By the rivers of Babylon we sat down. . . . We hanged our harps upon the willow."

Willows are raised easily from cuttings and are planted on the prairies for windbreaks. Some kinds stand drouth well. Willow baskets are made of peeled twigs, chiefly in Europe, where pollarded willows or basket osiers are raised along the roadsides for the purpose. Every two or three years the branches are all cut off, leaving a bare trunk possibly not over ten feet high. It sends out a large number of new shoots the next spring. In time this gives a trunk of great size with no top. Most trees would die with such treatment, but the willow thrives.

In this country Baltimore, Richmond, and York are centers of the willow industry and of basket making. The United States Department of Agriculture is carrying on experiments at Arlington, seeking to produce willow shoots that surpass in length, toughness, smoothness, whiteness, and smallness of pith. It is found that the basket willow does best indeed in rich bottom land, but that it is at home amid swamps. The shoots should be cut yearly or else they will not only grow too large, but they will be rendered useless by the appearance of branches the second season.

American willow growers cut to the ground, a clean sweep, in midwinter. The shoots are placed on end in four inches of water. When the warm days of spring come the sap starts and the bark is loosened. As fast as the shoots are stripped they are tied in bundles and stored away in the dark to prevent the wood from hardening and becoming brittle.

Botanically, the willow is allied closely to the poplar or aspen. Botanists find it difficult to distinguish the different species of the willow. On examining a catkin it will be found to consist of numerous flowers, each just within, that is to say, above, a bract. The sterile flowers have from two to ten stamens. The number of stamens is of importance in identifications. The fertile flowers consist of a single pod each. The shape of the pod, the length of its neck, etc., are points of importance to the systematic botanist. The bark of all the willows is bitter. The taste is due to a peculiar juice from which white, silky, salicylic crystals are produced. Salicylic powder is almost as bitter as quinine, and is used as a substitute for it in cases of fever. It may be used to preserve foods, and is a remedy also for acute rheumatism. The cone-like growths at the tips of many willow branches are galls caused by the sting of a gall gnat. On opening the cone it will be found to be inhabited by the maggots of the gnat.