424 
The third year’s crop may be taken as an average value of the ten following years, 
after which, unless great care is bestowed, there will'be a slow but gradual diminution 
of produce. Taking these, however, as the data to reckon from, the actual profit at 
the end of twelve or thirteen years would be very considerable. There will, of course, 
be accidental or special circumstances which will, to some extent, alter the nearest cal- 
culation that can be made ; for, as willows are liable to certain diseases, and also sub- 
ject like other crops to the fluctuation of market prices, allowances must be made, 
With respect to diseases, which consist chiefly in the attacks of insects, much isin the 
hands of the cultivator. The cutting down to the ground, and leaving no lodgment for 
the larvze, combined with cleanly cultivation, will do much towards warding off their 
attacks. Again, as in other crops, the damage done to willows extends over a large 
area, and when a more than usually bad season occurs an advance of prices takes 
place, and it not unfrequently happens that a bad crop is not necessarily a loss to the 
grower. Some varieties of willow are very little subject to the attacks of insects, 
and the prudent cultivator will carefully avoid the kinds that are so, and leave the 
more speculative man to grow the more precarious sorts. 
No one must attempt to grow willows (unless of the bitter sorts) where hares or rab- 
bits abound. Certain loss of capital will be the result of planting in such places. The 
rule has been to plant willows in any out-of-the-way corner, where nothing else would 
grow, and when planted take no further care of them. Such a system can never be 
made to pay, except for coppice-wood, and I should strongly advise no one to attempt 
cultivating basket-willows in such a fashion; but so little attention has been paid to— 
the subject hitherto that there is a comparatively new and wide field open to the man 
of enterprise and ability. 
The average weight of a crop of the best and harder kinds of willows would be in 
the green state about 6 tons per acre, and of the soft sorts or osier 7 or 74 tons. At 
present prices the respective values would be, if sold green: 
Gone ateealOsuper tons. .-15-66 sso Se - : 
2 OMI Ap ao MOE VeRO See Ber ae eeaiee sao, 6 5 —50 Cea eeoeE Ed OBO mSc yaa sc 17 10 0 
If peeled the 6 tons would produce 2 tons’9f white willows, worth 16s. per ewt., and 
the cost of peeling would not exceed £7 Os. 0d. 
2 tons of white willow, at 16s. per ton.---- CR Estilo, ok Ue ae £32.07 0" 
Deduct expenses for peeling....----.----------++---++ +--+ - 2-2 eee eee eee eee CHO 
Producelofvanlacres.- sce eos. Heute oer am ane seme oe aa atone temas 25 0 0 
7 tons of osiers, if peeled, would yield— 
21 tons of white rods, at 11s. per cwt...--.---.------------ e222 - ++ eee eee £27 10 0 
Deduct cost of peeling.......---- ---- ---- ---- - 2-2 eee eee eee eee eee eee 5 10 0 
Produce Of an acre... . ce oo26 b-a ace sec tiee ee cease cee = antes sem 22 00 0 
The quantity here stated as the average produce of an acre is not intended to apply 
to those weed-beds that are not more than half planted, but to an osier-bed under 
proper cultivation. It will be seen that the cost of peeling, and also planting osier, is 
not quite so great as that of the finer kinds, the rods being larger, and fewer cuttings 
required. 
The above estimate is for a crop of one year’s growth; for two-year old willows it is 
absolutely necessary to have osier, as no hard-wooded sorts make good two-year-olds, 
whilst osiers, as two-year-olds make a better return. By osiers is here meant the soft - 
wooded sorts, Salix viminalis, aud its varieties, which are always called osier by basket- 
makers, in contradistinction to the finer varieties. ‘ 
In cultivating willows.for two-year-olds, if it is intended to allow them to stand 
upon the stools for the second year, all the small, crooked, or rough rods whieh are ot 
little value should be pruned or taken away with the knife, and only the long, straight 
rods allowed to remain, by which means greater vigor is imparted to them ; or, if the 
object be to extend the area of planted ground, they may be all cut down, the finest 
rods only being selected and stuck into prepared ground in their entirety, and left in 
that state to be cut off the following season, by which means an excellent crop of two- 
year-old osiers will be obtained, and the ground planted at the same time. 
The chief points to be observed by the cultivator are, to keep his land clean and 
well worked, and to replace any failing root by sticking long rods in the ground, as be- 
fore stated, thus keeping his land fully cropped. If any intending planter means to 
allow weeds and willows to strive for the mastery unmolested, and give no attention 
to the ground when planted, I should advise him to let willow-growing alone as a 
source of profit. 
Another purpose to which the willow may be applied is well worthy , 
of the attention of farmers in this country, where timber for fencing 1s 
