1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



121 



For the New England Farmer. 



LIGHT WANTED ON WILLOWS. 



Mr. Editor : — A statement is going the rounds 

 of agricultm-al and other journals, that basket-wiL 

 low is im2)orted into this country to the amount of 

 five or six millions of dollars worth annually ; and 

 recommending the ^nllow crop for general cultiva- 

 tion. In the last volume of the statistics of our 

 Commerce and Navigation, on the 220th page, I 

 find the amount of manufactured willow imported, 

 put down at $132,658; of unmanufactured, at 

 $45,459. Is there any other willow imported than 

 that which is published in this volume, by our na- 

 tional Congi'ess ? Are these figures reliable ? If 

 there is only forty thousand dollars worth of the 

 raw material imported, and if that is a good index 

 of the present demand for willow, will not extensive 

 willow planters, who have gone into the business 

 upon the belief that there is an unlimited demand 

 for it, be greatly disappointed ? What is the origin 

 of this six million statement ? Is there another 

 Multicaulis speculation in the wind ? As you edi- 

 tors know every thing, please enlighten one of 



The Public. 



For the New England Farmer. 



Mr. S. Bro\\'n: — Dear Sir — At your request 

 I offer the following in reply to the editor of "The 

 Homestead :" 



Like your correspondent, W. C, I am curious to 

 know who is the author of the statement he refers 

 to. I have seen it in two New York papers — the 

 JV. Y. Weekly Times and the jV. F. Tribune. I 

 had, Ijefore receiving your letter, made up my mind 

 to write to the editor of the JV. Y. Weekly Times, 

 and ask for better evidence that so large a quantity 

 of willow is imported from Europe, as is given by 

 their correspondent, in the words, "from the best 

 data M'ithin our reach." I have more than once 

 told Mr. Buckminster, of the Massashusetts 

 Ploughman, that there is not over two hundred 

 thousand dollars worth of willow and willow-bas 

 kets imported from Em-ope annuall}- ; that the 

 baskets cost considerable more than the willow, and 

 are retailed here at about one-third the price they 

 can possibly be manufactured at. I believe I made 

 a statement in your office, which, in substance, was 

 the same. You will observe that my statement 

 corresponds with that found in the Statistics of U. 

 S. Commerce and Navigation. I did not get my 

 information from that work, but from a careful col- 

 lection of information from reliable persons, who, 

 like myself, are interested in the manufactui'e of 

 ■willow. 



In the United States there is used in casing glass 

 bottles and demijohns, and in the manufacture of 

 willow-baskets, not more than $50,000 worth of 

 willow, of which $17,000 worth are grown in Del- 

 aware, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Rhode Is- 

 land and Massachusetts. I have no knowledge of 

 any being gro\^^^ in Vermont for more than three 

 years past. Messrs. Parker and Colby, of Vermont, 

 are spoken of in the article referred to by your 

 con-espondent. Mr. Colby is the inventor of a ma- 

 chine for peeling willoAV, the cost of which is said 

 to be $200. 



To save me the trouble of answering a number 

 of letters, from persons who ask for information in 

 regard to Mr. Parker's plantation and Mr. Colby's 

 plantation and peeling machine, permit me to oiler 

 to all Avho inquire of me, the following : 



From letters received by me, from Erastus Par- 

 ker, and from a relative of ]\Ir. Colby, I conclude 

 that their experience in willow culture is small, and 

 their knowledge of the same very imperfect. I 

 have seen the sketch and descrij)tion of Mr. Colby's 

 peeling machine, which 'he has published, and have 

 my doubts of its use for the purpose it is intended, 

 but desire to avoid saying anything that would in- 

 jure the inventor. AVhen the peeling machine has 

 been used a whole season, and the willow peeled 

 with it has been worked up into baskets, its real 

 value can be properly estimated. 



Yours, with respect, John Fleming. 



Sherhorn, Mass., Jan. 28, 1856. 



For t!ie New England Farmer. 



"ENGLISH LAPSTONE POTATOES." 



Mr. Editor: — In the J^tew England Farmer 

 of January 26th, I noticed an article mth the above 

 title, in which the writer asks others who have 

 tried the variety spoken of, to give the re- 

 sults of their experiments. I am one of that 

 number who bought a few of the "Lapstone Kid- 

 ney" — as they called them — at a high price, behev- 

 ing the statements that were made concerning 

 them. I bought some of the "Fluke Kidney" at 

 the same time, in regard to which I may have a 

 few words to say at another moment. I planted 

 the "Lapstones" in a field with over sixty other 

 sorts, named varieties and seedlings, in rows three 

 and a half feet apart, hills two feet apart in the 

 row ; the manure used was the same throughout 

 the field, a large spoonful of guano to a hill ; they 

 were planted about the first of June, hoed twice, 

 and all the weeds kept down. The land was high 

 and loamy, and suffered a little fromthe drought. 

 The result, on digging, was very unsatisfactory, they 

 were, emphatically, "small potatoes and few in a 

 hill ;" the yield was not over half that of the Davis' 

 Seedling, State of Maine, and other first rate sorts, 

 while it was not one third as much as some of the 

 coarser sorts, such as "Jenny Lind," "Rhode Island 

 Seedling," "BuUard's Seedling," &c. 



What I did get, I consider fit for nothing but to 

 feed to stock or pigs ; they are yellow meated and 

 very strong, and I confess it is more than I can do, 

 to eat such a potato, after being used to the State 

 of Maine, and other good sorts. They rotted Mith 

 me, a good deal, both before digging, and after be- 

 ing put into the cellar. I consider the variety un- 

 worthy of attention, for Me have more than twenty 

 local sorts that are infinitely superior. I try all 

 kinds, and hold flist to those that are good. May 

 have more to say on the subject of potatoes at an- 

 other time. J. F. C. II. 



JVewton Centre, Jan. Sth, 1856. 



Pl.vntixg Fruit Trees for Others.— The 

 Spaniards have a maxim, that a man is ungrateful 

 to the past generation that planted the trees from 

 which he eats fruit, and deals unjustly towards the 

 next generation, unless he plants the seed, that it 

 may furnish food for those who come after him. 

 Thus, when a son of Spain eats a peach or pear by 

 the road-side, wherever he is, he digs a hole in the 

 ground with his foot, and covers the seed. Conse- 

 quently, all over Spain, by the road-sides and else- 

 where, fruit in great abundance, tempts the taste, 

 and is ever free. 



