14 OSIERS AND WILLOWS 



Having regard to the importance of sets being 

 supplied from healthy cuttings, a guarantee should be 

 obtained from the supplier, who, if he is a man that 

 understands his business, will have no hesitation in 

 giving it, that the cuttings are true to their respective 

 names or kinds, and cut from rods which were not 

 in the previous season attacked by aphis or any 

 disease. 



Growers should always plant more than one sort to 

 meet variations in seasons, which may suit one kind 

 better than another. It is indispensable that every 

 species or variety be planted true to its kind. This 

 point cannot be sufficiently emphasised, because 

 different kinds produce marked contrasts in quality, 

 even when the treatment is identical, and when this 

 is the case the market for high-class manufactured 

 goods is either lost or a much lower price realised. 

 Nothing from the standpoint of the skilled worker is 

 worse than to see several sorts of material in his product. 

 By planting several sorts the requirements of an all- 

 round trade will be met, and the longest time possible 

 be gained for harvesting the crop. Between the sap 

 rising in the earliest and the latest sorts there is some- 

 times a period of three weeks. 



CULTIVATION OR CLEANING 



After the ground is planted it is most essential that 

 all weeds should be kept down by hoeing. Weeds, if 

 allowed to spread, not only affect the growth of the 

 willows, but also the quality of the material. Especi- 

 ally is this the case with the finest and choicest kinds 

 of willows when one year old. Any saving effected 



