ender twigs associated with so much that was interesting, and
he untwisted the basket, and planted one of the branches in the ground.
It had some tiny buds upon it, and he hoped he might be able to rear it,
as none of this species of Willow was known in England. Happily the
Willow is very quick to take root and grow. The little branch soon
became a tree, and drooped gracefully over the river, in the same manner
that its race had done over the waters of Babylon. From that one branch
all the Weeping Willows in England are descended."--KIRBY'S
_Trees_.[323:1]

There is probably no tree that contributes so largely to the
conveniences of English life as the Willow. Putting aside its uses in
the manufacture of gunpowder and cricket bats, we may safely say that
the most scantily-furnished house can boast of some article of Willow
manufacture in the shape of baskets. British basket-making is, as far as
we know, the oldest national manufacture; it is the manufacture in
connection with which we have the earliest record of the value placed on
British work. British baskets were exported to Rome, and it would almost
seem as if baskets were unknown in Rome until they were introduced from
Britain, for with the article of import came the name also, and the
British "basket" became the Latin "bascauda." We have curious evidence
of the high value attached to these baskets. Juvenal describes Catullus
in fear of shipwreck throwing overboard his most precious treasures:
"precipitare volens etiam pulcherrima," and among these "pulcherrima" he
mentions "bascaudas." Martial bears a still higher testimony to the
value set on "British baskets," reckoning them among the many rich
gifts distributed at the Saturnalia--

"Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis
Sed me jam vult dicere Roma suam."--Book xiv, 99.

Many of the Willows make handsome shrubs for the garden, for besides
those that grow into large trees, there are many that are low shrubs,
and some so low as to be fairly called carpet plants. Salix Reginae is
one of the most silvery shrubs we have, with very narrow leaves; S.
lanata is almost as silvery, but with larger and woolly leaves, and
makes a very pretty object when grown on rockwork near water; S.
rosmarinifolia is another desirable shrub; and among the lower-growing
species, the following will grow well on rockwork, and completely clothe
the surface: S. alpina, S. Grahami, S. retusa, S. serpyllifolia, and S.
reticula