418 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



should be planted 6 by 18 inches or 5 by 15 inches apart. Other- 

 wise they are likely to branch too much. The number of cuttings 

 for an acre when the rows are 18 inches apart and the cuttings 6 

 inches apart is 58,080. 



Cultivating the Holt. The success of a plantation depends 

 largely on sufficient soil moisture, freedom from weeds, and per- 

 manently loose soil. Cultivate early in the spring and as often as 

 necessary to remove all weeds and to keep the soil loose. If this 

 is done well for the first two or three years, there will be very little 

 trouble with weeds thereafter, because the weeds are completely 

 shaded out by the dense leaf development. Bind weeds and wild 

 morning-glories are very troublesome in most holts, and must be 

 removed. The holt can not be cultivated too often so long as the 

 stools and shoots are not injured by the cultivator. 



Harvesting the Rods. The best time for cutting the rods is 

 between November 15 and February 15. Rods from one-year-old 

 holts should be cut at the end of the first year, preferably when the 

 ground is frozen. During the first year the root system is small and 

 care must be taken in cutting not to pull up the stools. Keep knife 

 sharp and make the cutting strokes clean and decisive. Cut close 

 to the stools but not into them. Rods to be peeled are stood on 

 end in a pit containing water from 4 to 6 inches deep and kept 

 there until the sap rises (the buds open and leaves appear), when 

 the bark can be removed. The peeled rods are quickly bleached 

 and dried when exposed to the sun, after which they are sorted, 

 tied in bundles, and stored in a dark dry place. Frequently willow 

 rods are steamed or boiled in water for three or four hours as a 

 means of preparing for peeling, a method which loosens the bark 

 and renders the peeling easy. Boiling or steaming gives the rods 

 an undesirable dark buff color which makes them less valuable. Rods 

 are peeled by drawing them through a springy wooden or steel 

 fork, shaped like a clothespin (fig. 10, 1-7), but larger. This 

 loosens the bark in strands so that it can easily be removed by the 

 hands. 



Marketing Willows. Peeled rods may be sold to local basket 

 makers or to large willow-ware makers, who are usually glad to buy 

 home-grown instead of imported stock. For the larger market the 

 rods must be white and properly sorted according to sizes in order 

 to compete with the imported stock, which is of good color and con- 

 sists of long, straight, branchless rods, carefully sorted into equal 

 lengths and into grades of uniform quality. Those who sell to local 

 basket makers are able to offer them at a lower prices than those 

 who have to ship to a distant market. The grower who sells to 

 local consumers can also keep in constant touch with his customers 

 and cater more successfully to their requirements in special varie- 

 ties and grades of rods than can the grower whose product goes to 

 larger markets. (F. B. 341.) 



EUCALYPTUS. 



On the Pacific coast a natural hardwood supply is wanting. 

 Oak and other hardwood lumber shipped in from the Eastern 



