THE NEW FORESTRY. IQI 



CHAPTER XVII. 



OSIER CULTIVATION. 



SECTION I. 



OSIER cultivation is a subject more allied to market 

 gardening than to forestry, as carried on at present, but there 

 is no reason why osiers should not be grown on private estates 

 where a market can be found for the produce. The demand, 

 however, is not very great, and the trade is mainly in the hands 

 of growers in the Thames and Severn valleys and in Cam- 

 bridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. In addition to the home 

 supply, about three hundred thousand bundles are imported 

 annually from Holland and France. Osiers (willows) are 

 used for tying purposes by nurserymen and others, in hurdle 

 making, and extensively for making chairs, baskets, etc. 

 No great capital is required to go into osier culture, and the 

 profits are said to be large, as after the beds are established 

 very little cultural attention is required, and the beds last 

 for more than twenty years. Osiers require a very moist 

 or wet soil, and do not suffer by flooding in summer, but 

 means should be provided to drain the water off in winter or 

 when required. Thick planting and dense culture is essential 

 in order to prevent the stems from producing side-shoots, 

 clean, single wands being the aim. The French pay much 

 attention to this, using varieties of the willow and methods of 

 culture that produce wands of suitable size for all purposes, 

 the thicker and coarser ones going for common purposes, and 

 the slender ones for the manufacture of neat baskets and other 

 useful articles. The ground having been selected, deeply 

 dug, and thrown into beds about ten feet wide, with alleys 

 between, it should be planted about February, or earlier, 

 by inserting short pieces of mature shoots into the soil from 

 fifteen inches to three feet apart, according to the variety and 

 the purpose for which the osiers are intended, strong-growing 

 varieties being given most room, and vice versa. Some 

 recommend the beds to be frequently hoed and dug to prevent 

 weeds growing ; but given a good soil to begin with, very 

 little attention of that kind is needed. Most good osier plan- 

 tations that we have seen were so dense that no weeds could 

 grow under them, and the surface of the beds were covered 



