Consumption of Basket Willows. 277 



Value of Rods Imported Since 1905. 



The appraiser at the Port of New York has kindly furnished 

 estimates of the average number of pounds of willow of the dif- 

 ferent grades for every $100 of import value. From these figures 

 it was possible to calculate that the three quality classes of the 

 finer grade cost 7.5, 6.5 and 6.0 cents per pound respectively, and 

 the coarser grade costs about 3.3 cents per pound. The average 

 price per pound for all grades imported is about 6 cents. By 

 dividing this into $54,711 the result will be 911,850, or the number 

 of pounds imported during 1908. The actual appraised value of 

 the average grade of willow is probably less than 6 cents, and, 

 therefore, it is safe to say that the total amount imported during 

 1908 was about 1,000,000 pounds. 



The average yield in this country is about 1,300 pounds per acre. 

 One million pounds, therefore, represents about what can be 

 grown on 800 acres. There is, however, a large quantity of manu- 

 factured willow-ware imported which represents approximately 

 1,500,000 pounds in addition to the one million pounds above re- 

 ferred to. 



The following table shows conditions in 1907 and 1908, the 

 total value for 1908 of consumption being around $225,000, which 

 is approximately $75,000 more than the preceding year : 



