1472 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Ili. 
small end of a wand, and passing it once or twice round the cross formed by the 
points of intersection ; after which one, or perhaps two, secondary ribs are in- 
troduced on each side of the vertical main rib. The wattling is then proceeded 
with a little farther, when two or more secondary ribs are introduced; and 
this process is continued till a sufficient number of subordinate ribs are put 
in to support the wattling of the entire structure. For coarse baskets, 
wattled with rods having the bark on, the distance of 3in. or 4in. between 
the subordinate ribs, at the widest part, will be sufficient ; but for baskets 
made of peeled rods, even of the largest size, 4 in. are rather too much. 
When the form of the basket is a square or a parallelogram, exactly the same 
process is pursued ; but greater care and skill are required in bending both the 
main ribs and the subordinate ribs to the required forms. To facilitate this, 
the rods which are to form the main ribs, and also those for the secondary 
ribs, are split up the middle; and, to render it easier to bend them, they are 
steeped for some hours in cold water. The rods intended for the subordinate 
ribs are sometimes split into four parts; and, in bending both the main and 
the subordinate ribs, the pith is always kept inwards, so that the outer side 
presents a smooth surface. When the rods are to be split in two, a common 
knife is made use of ; but when they are to be split into three or more parts, 
a piece of hard wood, 7 in. or 8 in. long, and about 1 in. in diameter, and cut 
so as to present three or four sharp edges radiating from its centre, called 
a cleaver, is made use of. The knife being entered at the thick end of the rod, 
so as to split it into three or four parts for the length of 1 in., the split part is 
entered on the cleaver, and drawn against it till the whole rod is split from 
one end to the other. This process is more simple, rapid, and easy in the 
execution, than in the description. 
Another Scotch mode of forming baskets and small hampers is, by com- 
mencing at the centre of what is to form the bottom, and working from that 
outwards, and, after the bottom is completed, upwards. In proceeding 
according to this mode, two ribs, or larger wands, are laid on the floor, cross- 
ing each other at right angles; and one or two small wands are woven round 
them, as a nucleus in which to insert the end of other ribs. These ribs, 
it is evident, may be increased in number, and extended in direction, at plea- 
sure, so as either to make the bottom of the basket circular, oval, or right- 
angled. When the work is completed as far as the sides, the ribs are 
turned upwards, and the work continued in a perpendicular direction as high 
as required; when a horizontal rod, or rim, can be introduced, and made 
fast to the upright rods by wattling. If a handle is wanted, it can readily 
be added. 
The English mode of basket-making, which is in many respects easier than 
the Scotch and German mode, is effected by means of willow rods of one 
year’s growth alone; whereas the Scotch mode requires the addition of rods 
of two years’ growth for the handles, rims, and ribs; and, in the case of all 
baskets intended to be tolerably strong, of rods, for these purposes, of a tough 
and more durable kind of wood, such as ash, oak, hazel, &c. By the English 
mode, the workman begins on the floor, on which he lays two, three, or more 
rods, but commonly three, parallel to and touching each other, and cut to the 
length of the diameter of the bottom of the basket. On these three rods are 
placed other three, parallel to and touching each other at right angles, cut also 
to the length of the diameter of the bottom of the basket. The operator now 
puts his foot on the centre of intersection of the six rods, and begins to make 
the rods fast there, by interweaving, or wattling, round them, with small rods. 
_As he proceeds with his interweaving, he frequently turns round the skeleton 
bottom, under his foot, spreading out the rods which form the ribs, so that 
their extremities, after two or three courses of wands have been woven in, 
are at equal distances from each other in the circumference of what is to form 
the bottom of the basket, like the spokes of a wheel. The weaving being — 
carried on to the full extent of the bottom, the latter is now turned upside — 
down, and, the points of the radiating ribs being cut off, a willow rod is inserted 
a a a 
