PURPLE BASKET WILLOW 



287 



this country, where it has escaped and become widely and thoroughly natural- 

 ized. No detailed systematic census of its artificial range in the United States 

 has been made, but it has thoroughly adapted itself to the varying climatic 

 conditions from Maine to Nebraska and from Minnesota to Kentucky, Tennes- 

 see and Georgia. Doubtless, it will be possible to increase the area of its 

 distribution considerably. The purple willow is perfectly hardy, and in loca- 

 tions where other varieties of basket willows have been injured by frost this 

 one remained totally unharmed. 



The purple willow demands more sunlight for its best development than 

 any other basket willow. Its small, narrow leaves and its habit from spreading 

 out from the stools in order to form an open stand show that it requires con- 

 siderable air and light. It is least sensitive to shade in moist fertile soil, and 

 becomes more shade-enduring as the stools increase with age. In dry soil it 

 makes a rapid growth, provided, it receives sufficient air and sunlight. In 

 plantations where the American green and the purple willow are planted 

 alternately in rows 18 inches apart, the latter develops comparatively few 

 shoots which grow up straight and rise above the dense and broad-leaved 

 American green willow in quest of air and sunlight and the lower leaves drop 

 off early in the season for want of sufficient light. Mixed planting in close 

 ranks prevents the development of branches and stimulates height growth. 

 The shoots grow up straight and remain thin and cylindrical. 



The purple willow should be planted on southern exposures where it may 

 receive the benefit of the hot rays of the sun, for its grows most rapidly during 

 hot, dry weather with bright sunshine. Even in a dry soil it has made a 

 height growth of 2 to 3 inches during a sunny day; in rainy weather for the 

 same length of time the growth did not exceed one-half inch. 



The soil best adapted for growing the purple willow is deep, fresh sandy 

 loam ; a soil yielding good crops of Indian corn also yields a profitable crop if 

 willow is properly managed. It also thrives in well-drained, mucky soil if 

 weeds are kept out. A few growers in parts of Massachusetts and New York 

 claim that it can be grown with good profit on sandy upland. It has been 

 grown for forty-three years on upland and the annual yield showed no decrease 

 during all that time. It requires less soil moisture than most other basket 

 willows. Although a deep sandy loam is best suited to the purple willow, a 

 moist, sandy, clay soil oftentimes produces a very rapid growth, if the subsoil 

 is loose and moist. The persistent efforts of many growers to propagate it on 

 wet land have yielded results showing that it does not require wet soil. In 

 upland it develops a great mass of rootlets to take up the available moisture. 

 In well-drained locations the soil can be cultivated frequently and thus kept 

 loose and aeriated. It is said that rods grown in wet loam are tougher and 

 more flexible than those grown on rich, fertile uplands, but this has not been 

 fully substantiated. 



