THE CULTIVATION OF OSIERS. 5 I 



9s. to 1 28. per 1000, and as it takes about 17,000 to plant an 

 acre, and, further, the fencing must be proof against all farm 

 stock and rabbits, it is manifest that a large initial outlay 

 must be faced, and that at least one year is (in a sense) lost 

 waiting for revenue. 



All the same, few crops pay so well, and none are so 

 independent of weather, when once fairly established. Properly 

 planted and cared for, osiers ought to form the mainstay of 

 the small landholder, and need not be beneath the consideration 

 of even the most advanced agriculturist on highly rented land. 

 They like good land, well treated in every way. They make 

 splendid shelter for other and more tender crops, they stand 

 the sea blasts perfectly ; those under the writer's observation here 

 are now some 8 or 9 feet high, and have been frequently 

 whipped by north-west blasts direct from the ocean, yet not 

 a leaf has been removed or injured, nor are even the tender 

 tops injured — a remarkable testimony to their value as a 

 •shelter-plant. 



From a national point of view it may be presumed that 

 silviculture will, ere long, take a very advanced place in the 

 use of land in this country. It is fairly obvious that further 

 depopulation over many areas is unpreventible unless by some 

 constantly productive employment within those areas, and it 

 is equally obvious that repopulation can only be brought about 

 by similar means. There are vast areas of heavy rainfall 

 within the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland admirably 

 adapted for the production of first class timber — that is a fact 

 universally admitted by all who have any knowledge of the 

 subject, — and it seems a reasonable belief that a great and 

 comprehensive scheme of forestry, in conjunction with agri- 

 culture, horticulture, and their thousand and one allied 

 industries, would not only go far to arrest further rural 

 depopulation, but probably (perhaps certainly) be productive of 

 a strong surplus population to carry on the industries of our 

 large cities, as well as to help to stock our colonies. 



In any such scheme the lowly osier deserves recognition, 

 (i) It would yield an immediate and constant profit; (2) it 

 would give immediate shelter ; (3) it would yield an early and 

 a rapidly increasing revenue, until the forest timber came to 

 do so; (4) its cultivation is simple; and (5) its harvesting 

 is independent of gales or rain. 



