CULTIVATION OF BASKET-WILLOW. 213 



cents per pound, according to quality. An acre of land will 

 produce an average yearly crop of three thousand pounds, 

 worth two hundred and ten dollars. If peeled by hand, it 

 will cost ninety dollars. The cutting and all other expenses 

 will not exceed twenty dollars ; leaving ninety dollars profit. 

 If machines are introduced, reducing the cost of peeling 

 to half a cent a pound, the profit will bo increased to a 

 hundred and sixty-five dollars per acre. If one-half of this 

 can be realized, our light land can be put to no more profit- 

 able use. The above statement of the amount which will 

 grow on an acre is not guesswork, but from actual tests : in 

 fact, under favorable conditions, a few rods have been grown 

 that produced, the second year after set, at the rate of six 

 thousand pounds of peeled osiers to the acre. 



Years of experience and close observation have removed 

 all doubts that the willow can not only be easily grown on 

 light, dry land, but also grown at a large profit, providing 

 the present and past prices can be maintained. As this 

 must depend in a great measure on the extent of the basket 

 business and the amount of importations of willows and 

 willow-ware, a careful investigation has been made to ascer- 

 tain to what extent importations have been made during tlie 

 last twenty years. The "New^ American Cyclopasdia," pub- 

 lished by D. Appleton & Co. in the 3^ear 1870 (vol. 2, p. 

 706), states that " the value of the osier, in both the crude 

 and the manufactured state, annually imported into this 

 country, is about five million dollars." This same statement 

 is found in various papers written by men whose authority 

 has ever been unquestioned. If these figures are correct, it 

 is evident that it will be some years before the market will 

 be overstocked ; for, our willows for many kinds of work 

 being superior to the imported, an increased production 

 would reduce and finally stop importations. To make this 

 paper as reliable as possible, it was thought best to get the 

 official figures in regard to importations. Application for 

 this purpose was made to Mr. Beard, collector for the port 

 of Boston, who very kindly furnished the amount of impor- 

 tations into the United States for each year since 1870 : his 

 record not extending back any farther. Application was 

 made to the Bureau of Statistics at Washington, which was 

 very promptly answered, giving the amount of importations 



