THE WILLOWS 



9 



became important in France and Gemiany, and later, in 

 England. Previous to the European war, France, Italy, 

 Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, and Russia grew 

 basket willows extensively, and had a large export trade 

 in willow rods and basket ware. 



Experience has proved that willow makes the most 

 durable and serviceable baskets. Basket willows intended 

 to be used with the bark on must be smooth, tough, flex- 

 ible, branchless, and cylindrical, and the color of the bark 

 must remain a light brown. Those to be used in the 

 peeled state must have the same general characteristics, 

 and must remain white in color when peeled. In addition 

 to these qualities, the rods must have a small pith and 

 straight grain in order to bring the highest market price. 

 In many places in the United States basket willows are 

 grown on ordinary corn land, but generally if they are 

 planted on high ground, the land chosen is deep and 

 heavy, but when the willow bed is subject to overflow, 

 the land may be poorer in quality. Usually the ground 

 is prepared as for ordinary field crops, and cuttings, 10 or 

 12 inches long, are planted 9 inches to a foot apart, in 



An attempt to replace European grown willows with 

 imports from Japan has not been on a sufficient scale to 

 affect the market. The importers of Japanese rods of 

 good quality have been asking top prices for their ware, 

 rather than attempting to capture the market by under- 



WILLOW WARE ARTICLES 



A fine German lunch basket, a dog basket made in New York, and a best quality 



Liverpool clothes-basket. 



rows 2]i to 3 feet apart, or from 14,000 to 23,000 cut- 

 tings per acre. Sufficient cultivation is given to prevent 

 the willows from being smothered by grass and weeds. 



Osier culture was begun in the United States by Ger- 

 man immigrants, and the industry attained its largest 

 proportions between 1870 and 1875. At present, basket 

 willows are grown only in restricted localities in a rela- 

 tively small portion of the country. In 1909, Illinois 

 manufacturers used 108,000 pounds of willow rods, mostly 

 imported from Holland and Germany, at prices ranging 

 from 5 to 8 cents per pound. The last two years has seen 

 a decided boom, both in the growing of basket willows 

 and in their manufacture in this country. With the 

 cutting off of supplies of rods from Germany and the 

 curtailment of imports from France and England the 

 price of American rods has steadily advanced. Competi- 

 tion in manufactured wares has also been reduced to the 

 point where foreign goods no longer set the market price. 



A WILLOW CHAIR 



The furniture o£ willow is growing more and more popular and there 



has been a steadily increasmg demand for it for some years. 



selling. It is probable that high transportation costs 

 together with limited amounts of rods available account 

 for this. 



In Liverpool, New York, the largest center of the 

 industry in this country, higher prices are ruling than 

 ever before. Wholesale prices of standard baskets had 

 on July 31 increased $1 per dozen over quotations before 

 the war. Prices ranging from 5 to 6 cents for steam-peeled 

 rods have advanced to 7 to 9 cents per pound ; the average 

 price of sap-peeled rods has advanced from 6 to 7/. cents 

 per pound, with the finer grades commanding a price of 

 from 8 to 12 cents per pound. The crop this year in the 

 vicinity of Liverpool will be over 400 tons greater than 

 last year, owing to the fact that many of the old willow 

 holts which had been abandoned were cleaned up this 

 spring. These holts will yield a crop of about two tons 

 of green willow rods per acre this fall. The season has 

 been particularly good in all sections as there has been 

 very little trouble with either insects or disease. 



The problem of peeHng the -rtdllows still remains acute, 

 as machinery invented for this purpose has not been 

 satisfactory. At present willow strippers are demanding 

 $18 per ton for green willows and $20 per ton for dry 

 willows. Willow growers and basket makers are, however. 



