50 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



9. The Cultivation of Osiers. 



By Robert Sinclair. 



The following is a brief statement of an experiment in the culti- 

 vation of osiers on the Atlantic seaboard in the island of Harris. 



The soil is partly deep peat, partly a loam of peat and 

 boulder-clay debris, and partly a poor, brashy, gravelly boulder 

 drift of an exceptionally hungry nature. The extent of land 

 is one-eight of an acre, the aspect is northern, and badly 

 exposed to Atlantic blizzards from the north-west. Referring 

 to the Board of Agriculture's leaflet on osier growing (No. 36), 

 it would appear that all the conditions were most unfavourable. 



In March 1905 the plot was planted with cuttings ^ at 30 ins. 

 by 24 ins. (much too far apart, as the writer has since learned), 

 and all the sets rooted very well. When the young shoots 

 got to be about 3 or 4 feet high, a gale of two days' duration 

 from the N.W. loosened every stool in the plot, laying over 

 the whole crop to an angle of 45 degrees. Shortly afterwards 

 another strong wind from the E.S.E. threw the whole lot 

 just about as far back the other way. Needless to say the 

 writer was in despair, and made desperate efforts to firm up 

 the stools by tramping, but to little purpose, and the plants 

 kept playing battledore and shuttlecock with every change 

 of wind until the crop was cut in February of 1906. 



The produce was carefully weighed, and it scaled 1022 lbs. 

 green off the stool, plus some small bundles given away un- 

 weighed. This is just 3 tons 13 cwts. per acre, and it may 

 be pronounced phenomenally heavy for a first cutting, even 

 under favourable conditions in the osier districts of England. 



The second crop was cut in January last (1907), and scaled 

 1753 lbs., or just over 6 tons 5 cwts. per acre. This year the 

 crop looks like making at least 10 tons per acre. The experi- 

 ment is being extended this year by planting out more plots 

 with other varieties, but it is too soon to give any statement 

 regarding results. 



No account has been kept of the cost, as most of the labour 

 lias been done by the writer himself. The best results appear 

 to be got from the use of 2-year old cuttings, costing from 



' The author informs us that the trade name of the osier planted is Merrion 

 osier. The staff of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, to whom twigs were 

 submitted, identified these as Salix viminalis. — Hon. Ed. 



