440 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



made baskets imported that year was equal to that sum. In recent 

 years the importation into the United States of willow-material for 

 baskets, chairs and other utensils has, according- to Simmoiids, been 

 estimated as approaching 1,000,000 dollars. Land, comparatively 

 unfit for root- or grain-crops, can be used very remuneratively for 

 osier-plantations. The soft- wooded willows like to grow in damper 

 ground than the hard-wooded species. The best peeled willow- 

 branches fetch as much as 25 for the ton. Peeling is most easily 

 effected by steam, by which means the material is also increased in 

 durability. No basket-willow will thrive in stagnant water. Osier- 

 plantations in humid places should therefore be drained. The 

 cuttings are best taken from branches one or two years old. and are 

 to be planted as close as one foot by one foot and a half. No part 

 of the cutting must remain uncovered, in order that only straight 

 shoots may be obtained ; manuring and ploughing between the 

 rows is thus also facilitated, after the crop has been gathered, and 

 this, according to the approved Belgian method, must be done by 

 cutting the shoots close to the ground after the fall of the leaves. 

 The accidental introduction from abroad of destructive saw-flies 

 (particularly Nematus ventralis), which prey also on currant- and 

 gooseberry-bushes, should be guarded against. 



Salix rubra, Hudson.* 



Throughout Europe, also in West- Asia and North-Africa ; much 

 chosen for osier-beds. When cut down, it will make shoots 8 feet 

 long in a season. Dr. Porcher regards it as one of the most valu- 

 able species for work, in which unpeeled rods are used. It is also 

 admirably adapted for hedges. The bark is one of the best for 

 salicin. Considered by some as a hybrid between S. purpurea and 

 S. viminalis. 



Salix tetrasperma, Roxburgh. 



Mountains of India, from 2,000 to 7,000 feet. Height of tree 

 reaching 40 feet. This thick-stemmed willow is worthy of a place 

 on banks of watercourses. The twigs can be worked into baskets, 

 the wood serves for gunpowder, the foliage for cattle-fodder. 



Salix triandra, Linne.* (S. amygdalina, Linne.) 



The Almond-Willow. Through nearly all Europe and extra-tropi- 

 cal Asia. Height of tree at length 30 feet. It sheds its bark annu- 

 ally after the third year. Likes rich loamy soil ; requires less space 

 than S. viminalis, more than S. purpurea. It is a prominent repre- 

 sentative of the hard- wooded basket- willows, and comprises some 



of the finest varieties in use by the manufacturers. Shoots are 

 obtainable 9 feet long ; they answer for hoops and white basket-work, 

 being pliant and durable. The bark contains a good deal of salicin. 

 For basket-purposes 20,000 to 30,000 cuttings can be planted on an 

 acre, and 2,000 to 3,000 can be planted in a day by an expert ; the 

 second year's crop is already of considerable value ; at five years it 



