AMERICAN SYLVICULTURE 



one stump artificially. Spring cutting and high stumps are 

 objectionable. 



On dry and impoverished soil, or under the regime of fires, 

 Chestnut coppice is hopelessly lost. 



F. Cottonwood: 



The sprout forest of Cottonwood produces match stock and 

 pulpwood. The stumps, have little vitality and will not endure 

 more than four rotations of twenty years each. Very low stumps 

 are required to insure healthy sprouts and to encourage the pro- 

 duction of rootsuckers. The growth is very fast in the first years. 



G. Willows (Osier-culture): 



Osier culture is considered a money maker in Germany where 

 labor, is cheap. It is now in vogue in New York and in New 

 Jersey. The best species are Salix viminalis, Salix amygdalina, 

 Salix purpurea, Salix acutifolia (caspica). The rotation comprises 

 one or two years. With the exception of Salix caspica, a moist 

 soil is required (meadow land in river bottoms) by the willows. 



The stumps do not yield a return for more than twelve to six- 

 teen years. 



For the formation of an Osier grove, shoots two feet long are 

 used, of which about 80,000 are put in per acre. It is stated that 

 the more shoots there are per acre, the better is the quality of the 

 Willow, as branchy stuff cannot be used for basket making. 



Cultivation between the rows is said to be very advisable or 

 even necessary, especially in the first year. There are many 

 insects feeding on the leaves and many fungi besetting the leaves 

 of the Willows. 



A one-year rotation is best. After three or four years, how- 

 ever, a two-years' rotation frequently intervenes, so as to allow the 

 root to develop unhampered. The shoots two years old are used 

 for the framework of heavy baskets. The cutting takes place in 

 July and August. Krahe, however, advises cutting in November. 



The first cost of an Osier plantation is very high. After Krahe, 

 the net yield amounts to $32 per acre per annum. 



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