488 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



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 mate- 

 rial 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. Fit for heathy-moory soil. When cut down, 

 it will make shoots 8 feet long in a season. Dr. Porcher regards it 

 as one of the most valuable 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 water-courses. The twigs can be worked into baskets, 

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



Salix viminalis, Linne.* 



The common Osier of Europe, North- and West-Asia. Height 

 to 30 feet. The best of basket-willows for banks subject to occa- 

 sional inundations. It is a vigorous grower, very hardy (to lat. 

 67 56' in Norway), likes to be fed by deposits of floods or by 

 irrigation, and disposes readily of sewage [Scaling]. The species 

 best suited for clayey soil, giving the largest return thereon. For 

 the slopes of ditches the varieties Kerkoi, monandra and Uralensis 

 are very eligible [F. Schellack]. One of the best for wicker-work 

 and hoops; when cut it shoots up to a length of 12 feet; dis- 

 tinguished by the basket-makers as the soft-wooded willow ; it is 

 best for rods requiring two years' age, but inferior to several other 

 species for basket-manufacture. Prof. Wiesner mentions this species 

 among those drawn into use for tanning purposes. S. Smithiana 

 (Willdenow) is a hybrid of S. viminalis and S. caprea, and has 

 proved one of the best willows for copses and hedges. Its growth is 

 very quick and its foliage remarkably umbrageous. In the Hamburg 

 willow-plantation of Mr. F. Olandt five millions of willow-cuttings 



