CHAPTER XXVII 

 WILLOWS FOR BASKET-MAKING 



PREVIOUS to the war, preferential railway and boat rates, 

 aided by keen foreign competition, wellnigh rendered the 

 time-honoured industry of basket-making a thing of the 

 past in this country. The best classes of osiers, cleaned 

 and ready for manipulation, were delivered to our principal 

 markets from Continental sources at so low a price that 

 competition on our part was almost out of the question. 

 There are still, however, a few stations, such as those in 

 Bedfordshire, the fen districts of Lincoln and Cambridge, 

 and along certain reaches of the Thames, where willow 

 culture is engaged in, though not in the same energetic 

 way as was the case some half a century ago. 



About 7,000 acres, producing roughly 20,000 tons of 

 osiers, are cultivated in this country at the present time, 

 many small plantations having been grubbed out and the 

 land laid down in other crops during the past five and 

 twenty years. 



This falling off is much to be regretted, as the sorting 

 and harvesting of osiers and basket-making gave light and 

 remunerative employment to a large number of residents, 

 both young and old, of the districts in which the willow- 

 beds were situated. Land that was damp and could not 

 well be brought under other cultivation without the expense 

 of drainage, gave a good return under a crop of osiers. 

 Taking everything into consideration, and judging from 

 talks that I have had recently with those who are interested 

 in the osier industry, the formation of willow-beds, under 

 the plea that considerable profits attend the undertaking, 

 is not to be recommended. No doubt in some favoured 



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