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C. J. Cornish - The Naturalist on the Thames
weeks, the cock bird keeping anxious guard day and night, while the hen would probably have died of
starvation unless fed by kindly neighbours, for the river affords very little food for a swan, and this
required far longer time to find than the bird was willing to spare from her nest. This was then robbed in
the night, and the cock bird maltreated in defending it. The return of fish and fowl to the London Thames
shows by the best of tests that the efforts of the Thames Conservancy to preserve the amenities of the
river, of the Sewage Committee of the County Council to maintain its purity, or rather to render it less
impure at its mouth, and of the adjacent County Authorities to protect bird life, are all yielding good
results, and justify the courage with which such an apparently hopeless task was undertaken. To the
Conservancy I would offer one or two suggestions, which County Councillors might also consider. The
river is the only large natural feature still left in the area of London and Greater London. Now
that it contains water in place of sewage, there is a guarantee that its main element as a natural amenity in
a great city will be maintained, and as it becomes purer, so will the facilities which it offers for boating,
fishing, and bathing increase. But it should not be embanked beyond the present limit at Putney.
Stone walls are not a thing of beauty, and a natural river-bank is. At present, from Putney to Richmond
the greater part of the Thames flows between natural boundaries. If these can be maintained, the growth
of willows, sedge, hemlock, reeds, water ranunculus, and many other fine and luxuriant plants affords
insect food for the fish and shelter for the birds, besides giving to the river its natural floral border. If this
is replaced by stone banks the birds and the fish will move elsewhere.
[1] Mr. J.E. Vincent tells me that in 1902 the herons were heard as far down the river as Chelsea.
[2] In the beautiful grounds of Chiswick House, where the present occupier, Dr. T. Tuke, carefully
preserves all wild birds.
OSIERS AND WATER-CRESS
Osiers, the shoots of which are cut yearly for making baskets, crates, lobster-pots, and eel-traps are a
form of crop of which not nearly as much is made in the Thames Valley as their profitable return
warrants. Properly managed they nearly always pay well, and, in addition, they are very ornamental, and
for the whole of the summer, autumn, and winter are one of the very best forms of covert for game. They
are commonly seen near rivers, especially in parts where the ground is flooded in winter. But osiers may
be grown anywhere on good ground, and are a rapid and paying crop, giving very little trouble, though
they need some attention even on the banks of tidal rivers. It is estimated that in the whole of Great
Britain there are only between 7,000 and 8,000 acres of osier beds, but these average three tons of rods
per acre, and the value of the crop when harvested is often at least L15 per acre gross return. As fruit
cultivation is immensely increasing in England, there is a corresponding increase in the demand for
baskets to put the fruit in. This is the main reason why osiers, unlike most farm crops, keep up their price.
Immense quantities are now imported from Belgium, France, and Germany because our own crop is not
nearly sufficient.[1] They do not require a wet soil or to be near water: all that the willow roots need is
that the land shall be good and not too dry or sandy. Stagnant, boggy ground does not suit them at all,
though they will grow well in light loam. Many species of osier are of most brilliant colouring in winter
and early spring. In some the rods are golden yellow; in others the bark is almost scarlet with a bright
polish, and the osier bed forms a brilliant object from December to February, just before the rods are cut.
The kind of willow grown varies from the slender, tough withes used in making small baskets and
eel-traps, to the large, fast-growing rods suited for making crates for heavy goods. The planter must find
out for which kind there is the readiest market in the neighbourhood, and then get his land ready. It needs
thorough clearing and trenching to the depth of from twenty to thirty inches. The young osiers should
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