2:J6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



be grown to advantage in Massachusetts? If so, how, and 

 on what soil ? 



That will be pretty difficult to answer in few words ; but 

 Mr. Hersey of Hingham has had experience, and can answer 

 it intelligently. 



Mr. Heksey. I have brought some basket-willows here, 

 and I think the willows might answer the question them- 

 selves. To answer it fully, of course, would require an hour 

 or two. I would say, in short, that I believe it can be grown 

 to advantage in Massachusetts. I am aware, that, during the 

 last twentj^-five years, there have been a great many efforts 

 made to introduce its culture into the State, and nearly all 

 of them have been failures ; but those failures, I believe, 

 have been caused by a want of the proper information. 

 First, the right varieties of willows have not been secured; 

 and second, when people have got the right varieties, they 

 have not put them on the right soil, and consequently they 

 have made a failure. 



There are more than three hundred different varieties of 

 the willow, the most of which we generally see grow on 

 low land ; and therefore, as a natural consequence, when we 

 get a basket-willow, we jump at the conclusion that we must 

 put it where our willows grow: so we put it on wet land, 

 forgetting that there are some varieties of willows which 

 flourish on wet land, while there are others which will grow 

 only on dry land ; and for some we have to go even to the 

 tops of high mountains. Now, the variety that we must 

 cultivate, if we hope to be successful, is what is called the 

 Vlminalis. The desirable basket-willow is one whose shoots 

 will be very small at the bottom, and run up, holding the 

 same size, to a great length. A willow that is as large as 

 your thumb at the lower end, and tapers to a point in a 

 length of two, three, or four feet, is of little use to the 

 basket-manufacturer ; but one which runs up like this, of 

 substantially the same diameter for eight or ten feet, is very 

 valuable. That is the characteristic of the Viminalis. 



Then there is another thing about it ; and that is, it is a 

 variety which flourishes well only on warm soil. These wil- 

 lows which I hold in my hand were grown upon a sand-bank. 

 You may think that strange ; nevertheless, it is true. That 

 willow, the Viminalis, came up by accident where good ma- 



