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saturated with moisture. It must also be well pulverized or prepared to a depth of 
12 or 13 inches, and thoroughly cleared of weeds; and, if poor, well manured before 
planting. If it is strong, cold land, lime may be used with advantage; but if lime is 
applied on light land the crop of osier will be scabbed or cankered. If possible, avoid 
open drains, and throwing the land into beds; where drains are required use pipes, as 
open drains would interfere very much with the economical working of the land after- 
ward. If the land is well cleaned and properly prepared, much after-expense will 
be spared, and better crops will be obtained. The opposite course would be false 
economy. 
Much difference of opinion exists among growers as to the size and age of cuttings; 
the distance between the plants; how far it is necessary to push them into the soil ; 
and how far to leave them out or above the ground. I have very carefully examined 
the yarious methods—have tried and experimented upon them—and find the following 
plan to be the best, producing the heaviest crops, best quality, more easily and conse- 
quently more cheaply cleaned, the least exhaustive of the soil, and if it is desirable to 
change it to ordinary arable land again, it can be done at a very moderate expense. 
The cuttings may be taken from either the one or two year old shoots; if the one-year 
- old shoots are well grown they will strike more easily, and throw out quite as strong 
spray or shoots as two-year olds, and are not quite so expensive; they should be nine, 
or at most ten, inches long, and cut from the rod with a sharp knife, in a slanting 
direction. The bottom or root end of the red is first sharpened, then take the first ten 
inches with one sharp cut, again sharpen the rod and cut off a second, and so on for the 
third, if the rod is very finely grown. Not more than three cuttings should be taken 
from one rod, unless it is a two-year old, in which case it may be cut up to the entire 
length of the first year’s growth. In cutting the sets not more than one cut should be 
made, however thick the rod may be, as it is necessary to have the ends without any 
split or shatter. If the rods from which the cuttings are obtained are in good condi- 
tion the cuttings will sustain no injury by remaining out of the ground for five or six 
weeks, if not exposed to very dry winds. All the varieties of S. fragilis, or willow 
proper, will do best planted 18 inches by 12; the varieties of S. viminalis, or osier, 18 
inches by 12. 8S. amygdaliana, and its varieties, known in the trade as Spaniards, Ger- _ 
mans, Italians, &c., will do best and produce the heaviest crops planted 16 inches by 
‘8; and this distauce will do for all the finer kinds of willows. 
The writer then describes a mode of planting by means of a frame, 
which marks the particular spot at which the plant is to be inserted in 
the ground: 
This will be found a munch more expeditious as well as more accurate method than 
planting by lines, and the cost of such frame is not more than a few shillings. If the 
ground is in good condition two active boys will plant, with this:frame, 4,000 cuttings 
per day. To prevent the ends of the cuttings injuring the hands by pushing them into 
the ground, hand-leathers must be used; the thumb and forefinger of the right hand 
must also be covered, to enable them to push the cuttings quite into the ground, as no 
part of the plant must be left uncovered ; this is a very important point to be attended 
to. The cuttings must be pushed in a little slanting ; they will be more easily got into 
the soil, and put out side roots better than if pushed in perpendicularly. 
The advantages to be derived from getting the cuttings quite into the ground are 
many: Rods so planted send out straight shoots, and when the crop is cut off close to 
the ground manure can be applied the land plowed between the rows and ‘harrowed 
over, and kept as clean as aw ordinary arable field. This, by many, will be looked upon 
very skeptically, but I have practiced it for some years, and have every reason to be 
satishied with the result. 
Before this method was adopted I found it next to impossible to keep willow-grounds 
from being overrun with weeds; strong land, more especially, became sodden and hard, 
and the weed-roots could not be got out by the hoe. It has often been asked whether 
the roots of the willows do not get destroyed. In some eases the roots are disturbed 
slightly, but disturbing a few roots does not injure the plant, and great vigor is im- 
parted to them by mauuring and pulverizing the ground. After the land has lain 
some time in ridges and has shown a tendency to break down, I use a harrow with the 
teeth rounded at the ends so as not to tear or split the plants. A willow-plantation 
worked in this way presents a very different appearance to the reedy rubbish beds, 
with a few moss-grown pollards dotted about, and called osier-grounds, met with in 
many parts of the country. 
The accompanying illustration shows the difference between willows growing direct 
from the ground and those planted in the old style. 
Willows grown straight are more valuable than when bent or crooked at the butt, 
and they cannot be grown straightif the stools stand above the ground. By cutting 
close to the ground the stools or roots do not rot or become covered with moss, and by ° 
turning over the ground and keeping all clean, the larvee of insects destructive to the 
plants are got rid of; and if it is desirable to stub the ground, so as to use it for other 
