CHAP. CIII. SALICA CER, SA‘LIX. 1475 
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sulphur (14]b. is sufficient for a room 10 ft. on every side, and 10 ft. high) 
is then dropped into the iron vessel, and the operator instantly leaves the 
room, shutting it close, and leaving it for ten or twelve hours, generally 
all night. The chemical explanation of the mode in which the sulphureous 
gas generated operates has not, we are informed by chemists, been yet sa- 
tisfactorily given. Some kinds of osiers whiten much better than others. 
One of the best for this purpose is S. amygdalina; next, S. triandra, and 
S. decipiens ; and the worst is S. Forbydna, the rods of which cannot be 
whitened at all. 
Profit of a Plantation of Osiers for Wickerwork or Basketwork.— Much has 
been said of the great profit to be obtained from a plantation of willows for 
hoops or basket-making; on which, as in all similar cases, it may be observed, 
that extraordinary care, in the case of any crop whatever, will be attended 
with extraordinary produce ; and that, wherever there is extraordinary profit 
without extraordinary care, there must be extraordinary risk. This last is 
the case with willow plantations, in common with those of the hop, of rape 
for seed, and of various other crops. Mitchell quaintly remarks that, where 
aaeetty of land is planted with basket willows, “aman will do well to 
make a net profit of 10/. per acre; for the plants are very subject to the 
depredations of insects.” In the Transactions of the Society for the Encourage- 
ment of Arts, vol. xxiii., for 1805, an account is given of a plantation of seven 
acres, made in the fen lands of Ely, from which we extract the following 
details : — The land was cast into beds 12 ft. wide, and raised 18 in. higher 
than the general surface, by the earth taken out of the intervening open drains. 
Fourteen thousand sets were planted per acre, and the following is an account 
of the result: — 
5v 38 
