chap. cm.

SALICa'cEjE. SA'LIX.

1511

ing to some, this is a distinct species, indigenous to the island; and otherseven assert that it is not a willow at all. Being anxious to procure correctinformation as to the tree at St. Helena, we sent a letter to the MorningChronicle, which appeared in that journal on Sept. 5. 1836. We receiveda great many answers; some dried specimens ; a number of drawings andengravings, either lent or given ; and one living plant. The result of thewhole, as far as it is worth making public, is as follows:—No species ofwillow is indigenous to St. Helena; but about 1810, or before, whenGeneral Beatson was governor there, he, being fond of planting, had a greatmany forest trees and shrubs introduced from Britain; and though, asappears by the St. Helena Gazette for 1811-12, he had the greatest diffi-culty in preserving his plantations from the numerous goats which aboundedin the island, yet several of the trees survived, and attained a timber-likesize. Among these was the tree of .Salix babylonica, which has since beencalled Napoleon’s willow. This tree grew among other trees, on the sideof a valley near a spring; and, having attracted the notice of Napoleon, hehad a seat placed under it, and used to go and sit there very frequently,and have water brought to him from the adjoining fountain. About the timeof Napoleon’s death, in 1821, a storm, it is said, shattered the willow inpieces; and, after the interment of the emperor, Madame Bertrand plantedseveral cuttings of this tree on the outside of the railing which surroundsthe grave; and placed within it, on the stone, several flower-pots withheartsease and forget-me-not. In 1828, we are informed, the willowswere found in a dying state; and twenty-eight young ones were, in conse-quence, placed near the tomb, which was at that time surrounded with aprofusion of scarlet-blossomed pelargoniums. A correspondent, who was atSt. Helena in 1834, says one of the willows was then in a flourishing con-dition ; but another, who was there in 1835, describes it as going fast todecay, owing to the number of pieces carried away by visitors. In whatyear a cutting from this willow was brought to England for the first timewe have not been able to ascertain; but it appears probable that itmay have been in the year 1823, and that one of the oldest plants is thatin the garden of the Roebuck tavern on Richmond Hill, which, as it appearsby the inscription on a white marble tablet affixed to it, was taken fromtbe tree in that vear. Since that period, it has become fashionable topossess a plant of the true Napoleon’s willow ; and, in consequence, a greatmany cuttings have been imported, and a number of plants sold by theLondon nurserymen. There are now trees of it in a great many places.There is a handsome small one in the Horticultural Society’s Garden; oneat Kew; several at Messrs. Loddiges’s; some in the Twickenham BotanicGarden; one in the garden of Captain Stevens, Beaumont Square, MileEnd; one in the garden of Mr. Knight, at Canonbury Place, Islington,brought over in 1824; one in the garden of No. 2. Lee Place, Lewisham,Kent; one in the garden of No. 1. Porchester Terrace; one in the gardenof S. C. Hall, Esq., Elm Grove, Kensington Gravel Pits; one, a veryflourishing and large tree, in the garden of Mrs. Lawrence, Drayton Green ;one at Clayton Priory, near Brighton; one at Allesley Rectory, near Co-ventry; several at Cbatsworth ; and there are various others in the neigh-bourhood of London, and in different parts of the country. In ornamentalplantations, the weeping willow has the most harmonious effect when in-troduced among trees of shapes as unusual as its own ; partly of the samekind, as the weeping birch, and partly of contrasted forms, as the Lombardypoplar; and the effect of these three trees is always good when accom-panied by water, either in a lake, as in fig. 1305., or in a stream and water-fall, as in fig. 1306. Both these views are of scenery in the park at Monza.(See Encyc. of Gard., ed. 1835, p. 36.) Fig. 1037. is an example of the useof trees having drooping branches, and others having vertical branches, suchas the Lombardy poplar, in contrasting with and harmonising horizontal lines.(See Gard. Mag., vol. i. p. 117.) For further remarks on the use of the