Jacobæan Ragweed. _Senecio jacobea._
Dedicated to _St. Romanus_.
_The Willow._
According to T. N., a Cambridge correspondent, this tree is, in that
county, called the Cambridge oak. Old Fuller calls it “a sad tree,
whereof such who have lost their love make their _mourning garlands_;
and we know that exiles hung up their harps upon such doleful
supporters. The twigs hereof are physick to drive out the folly of
children. This tree delighteth in moist places, and is triumphant in the
_Isle of Ely_, where the roots strengthen their banks, and top affords
fuell for their fire. It groweth incredibly fast, it being a by-word in
this county, that the profit by willows will buy the owner a horse
before that by other trees will pay for his saddle. Let me add, that if
_green ashe_ may burne before a queen, _withered willows_ may be allowed
to burne before a lady.” The old saying, “She is in her willows” is here
illustrated; it implies the mourning of a female for her lost mate.
_The Willow_ (Salix)
In _Sylvan Sketches_, to an account of the willow, elegant poetical
illustrations are attached, from whence are extracted the subjoined
agreeable notices.
According to some botanists, there are more than fifty British willows
only. The sweet, or bay-leaved willow, _salix pentandria_, is much used
in Yorkshire for making baskets; its leaves afford a yellow dye. Baskets
are also made from the osier, which belongs to this genus; but of the
willows, the bitter purple willow, _salix purpurea_, is the best adapted
for the finest basket-work. The common, or white willow, _salix alba_,
takes its specific name from the white silken surface of the leaves on
the under side. The bark is used to tan leather, and to dye yarn of a
cinnamon colour. It is one of the trees to which the necessitous
Kamtschatdales are often obliged to recur for their daily bread, which
they make of the inner bark, ground into flour. The bark of this willow
has in some cases been found a good substitute for the Peruvian bark.
The grey willow, or sallow, _salix cinerea_, grows from six to twelve
feet high. In many parts of England, children gather the flowering
branches of this tree on Palm Sunday, and call them palms. With the
bark, the inhabitants of the Highlands and the Hebrides tan leather. The
wood, which is soft, white, and flexible, is made into handles for
hatchets, spades, &c. It also furnishes shoemakers with their
cutting-boards, and whetting-boards to smooth the edges of their knives
upon.
The weeping willow, _salix Babylonica_, a native of the Levant, was not
cultivated in this country till 1730. This tree, with its long, slender,
pendulous branches, is one of the most elegant ornaments of English
scenery. The situation which it affects, also, on the margins of brooks
or rivers, increases its beauty; like Narcissus, it often seems to bend
over the water for the purpose of admiring the reflection:--
------“Shadowy trees, that lean
So elegantly o’er the water’s brim.”
There is a fine weeping willow in a garden near the Paddington end of
the New Road, and a most magnificent one, also, in a garden on the banks
of the Thames, just before Richmond-bridge, on the Richmond side of the
river. Several of the arms of this tree are so large, that one of them
would in itself form a fine tree. They are propped by a number of stout
poles; and the tree appears in a flourishing condition. If that tree be,
as it is said, no more than ninety-five years old, the quickness of its
growth is indeed astonishing.
Martyn relates an interesting anecdote, which he gives on the authority
of the _St. James’s Chronicle_, for August, 1801:
“The famous and admired weeping willow planted by Pope, which has lately
been felled to the ground, came from Spain, enclosing a present for lady
Suffolk. Mr. Pope was in company when the covering was taken off; he
observed that the pieces of stick appeared as if they had some
vegetation; and added, ‘Perhaps they may produce something we have not
in England.’ Under this idea, he planted it in his garden, and it
produced the willow-tree that has given birth to so many others.” It is
said, that the destruction of this tree was caused by the eager
curiosity of the admirers of the poet, who, by their numbers, so
disturbed the quiet and fatigued the patience of the possessor, with
applications to be permitted to see this precious relic, that to put an
end to the trouble at once and for ever, she gave orders that it should
be felled to the ground.
The weeping willow, in addition to the pensive, drooping appearance of
its branches, weeps little drops of water, which stand like fallen tears
upon the leaves. It will grow in any but a dry soil, but most delights,
and best thrives, in the immediate neighbourhood of water. The willow,
in poetical language, commonly introduces a stream, or a forsaken
lover:--
“We pass a gulph, in which the willows dip
Their pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink.”
_Cowper._