REPORT FOR 1912 AND 1913 43 



Basket Willow Culture. 



Maryland for many years has been an important producer of 

 willow for basket making. The industry is centered in the vicinity 

 of Baltimore, with Lansdowne, Elkridge, Laurel, Patapsco and Crowns- 

 ville as the chief plantation areas. The States which are most 

 prominent in the willow industry are New York, Pennsylvania, Mary- 

 land, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, but for certain purposes, 

 such as willow furniture, the Maryland stock is considered of superior 

 quality. This is due to the fact that we have a milder climate and 

 a longer growing season than prevail in the other willow-growing 

 States. At the same time, the warm, humid climate prevailing here 

 encourages certain fungus diseases and insect pests to an extent not 

 realized in the other States. In fact, this handicap has become so 

 serious that many of the growers are being driven out of business. 

 It is believed that these difficulties are not insuperable and that a 

 more thorough study of conditions would enable the growers to suc- 

 cessfully carry on the business and develop it to a much greater extent 

 than has been the case hitherto. To that end an investigation was 

 made last summer of different plantations and the results of the 

 study are now being worked up for publication. 



Relation of Forests to Water-Power Development. 



The importance of forests in regulating the flow of water and 

 its conservation is becoming more universally recognized. The 

 numerous rivers and streams in all except the tidewater sections of 

 the State, reaching in their ramifications nearly every farm, have a 

 vast potential value as power producers. It is by protecting and 

 conserving the forests which feed the streams that water power can be 

 made most effective. The principal coal fields are becoming rapidly 

 exhausted of the more accessible supplies, and in consequence the 

 price of coal is advancing. This emphasizes the need of some other 

 means of generating power, and it is natural to turn to the immense 

 amount of power that goes to waste in our rivers and streams. With 

 improved methods of electrical generation and transmission, the ques- 



