No. 112.] 315 



various parts of our State, whose interest in the cause will induce 



them to undertake, and carefully to carry out the experiment by 



sowing not less than one-eighth of an acre of each sort named : 



and that, to this end, the Corresponding Secretary be directed to 



procure, by importation or purchase, an ample supply of seeds, 



and furnish them, in his discretion, to such persons as shall agree 



to prosecute the experiments, in conformity with directions to be 



given by the Secretary, and to report the results to the Society^ 



in such form as may be prescribed. 



WM. KELLEY, 



J. DELAFIELD, 



B. P. JOHNSON. 



OSIER OR BASKET-WILLOW. 



lis Cultivatl.n^ TJaes^ Sfc. 



BY C. N. BEMENT. 



Almost all the willows are found naturally either in a cold soil 

 or moist climate, are chiefly natives of the colder parts of tem- 

 perate regions of the Northern Hemi;'phere, and are generally 

 found in a cold moist soil, or near water. A few species are na- 

 tives of the Arctic Circle ; and Royle mentions several species as 

 indigenous both to the low lands and mountainous regions of 

 Northern India. The low growing kinds are sometimes found in 

 dry arid soils j but in such soils they are never in a thriving state. 

 It has been observed that willows grown on a dry soil, the young 

 shoots are smaller, harder, tougher, and more compact and dura- 

 ble than when grown in rich nitjist soils. In dry soils also, the 

 growth of the plant is much slower than in moist ones. • 



The species indigenous in North America, as described by Pursh 

 in 1814, amounted- to 37, as eitlier wild or in a state of cultiva- 

 tion. Since then Dr. Barratt, of Connecticut, has undertaken to 

 describe all the willows grown in this country, whether indige- 

 nous or exotic, numbering 100. Among all the species desciibed 

 by botanists, amounting to 182, only about six species are consi- 

 dered worthy of cultivation for basket-making in the present 

 day 



