Nezi's and N'otcs. 



119 



Growers generally can get more for their rods from exporters 

 than local basket makers can afford to pay for them. 



Germany is unable to consume all the basket-willow rods she 

 produces, and is therefore in dire need of more lucrative foreign 

 markets. The recent increase on import duty in the United 

 States discourages in a small measure the importation of willow- 

 ware into this country. Enormous quantities of basket-ware and 

 unmanufactured material are exported annually to England, 

 France, Austria, and the United States. 



The German willow plantations have an entirely different ap- 

 pearance from those in the United States. Here there is very 

 little cultivation or care taken to prevent the growth of weeds in 

 and between the rows of willows, nor is there proper drainage 

 provided. Every winter or spring the rods are cut back to the 

 stools, close to the ground, so that nothing remains except the 

 thick, knotty stumps hardly more than an inch of two above the 

 ground. Early in the spring when the frost is out of the ground 

 laborers go over the field, loosen up the soil, so that it may become 

 thoroughly porous and retain a sufficient amount of moisture. 

 The stools put forth new shoots in the spring, sometimes to the 

 number of 20 or even 40 or more, which often grow to the height 

 of 6 or 10 feet in a single season, depending upon the variety 

 planted, age of stumps, and upon the soil and soil moisture. 



In the province of Pommern, in western Germany, the 

 laborers who are employed in the willow fields are, according to 

 the Oriental custom which still survives, hired by the day. They 

 live in the small villages (Doerfer), and when the proper time 

 comes to harvest the crop and prepare rods for the market, the 

 proprietor or foreman of the farm goes to the neighboring towns 

 and hires men, women, and children for from 25 cents to 50 cents 

 a day. When the willow rods are all cut, they are placed with 

 their butt ends in a shallow pool of running water from four to 

 six inches deep, where they remain until the sap comes up and 

 leaves begin to sprout. Peelers are hired to remove the bark, 

 which is work generally done by old men, women, and children. 

 Only a single rod can be peeled at a time, and it is, therefore, a 

 very slow process. The apparatus for peeling consists of a round, 

 steel rod, from one-fourth to five-eighths of an inch in diameter 

 and about four feet long, which is doubled over so that the two 



