4 OSIERS AND WILLOWS 



It is necessary that the ground should be well 

 drained to avoid the injury to the crop which would 

 arise from excess of wet during the winter months. 

 The life of the heads, the quality of material, and the 

 yield are very materially affected by wet and cold. 

 5. triandra and 5. purpurea will do best under damp 

 and moderately heavy soil conditions. Other varieties, 

 chiefly those of the 5. viminalis species (the true osier) 

 will thrive under much drier conditions. 1 



It should be clearly understood that willows of 

 commercial value will not grow on wet, undrained, 

 swampy or peaty ground. 



At the same time the situation of the willow holt 

 should be such that the long spreading ^rootlets of the 

 plant can draw upon abundance of moisture at all 

 times. These conditions can best be fulfilled by low- 

 lying land in the neighbourhood of rivers or water- 

 courses. The water-course provides a cheap and easy 

 means of carriage from the holt to the preparing 

 yards. 



PREPARATION OF GRASS AND ARABLE LAND 



As a rule arable land is not equal to meadow, because 

 it usually lacks that high state of fertility which follows 

 the breaking up of old turf. Even in the case of old 

 turf it is found that the willow crop greatly benefits 

 by the headlands having a good, heavy dressing of 

 manure ploughed in. No willow crops grow so well on 

 the outside as on the sheltered, inside portion ; conse- 

 quently the extra stimulus to the poorer fringe which 

 is exhausted by tree and hedge growth will bring the 



1 The types of soil best suited to the different varieties are 

 discussed in the section on "Varieties of Willows." 



