1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



455 



drilling and the careless handling of too Drafts here tap the basin at its lowest 



many wells in the lowest, best watered and most vulnerable point, and draw 



parts of the artesian area, where the de- the water away from the higher, less 



pletion is felt last and least seriously. favorably situated lands. 



THE BASKET WILLOW. 



THE BUREAU OF FORESTRY SUGGESTS A 

 NEW METHOD OF GROWING WILLOWS 

 THAT WILL YIELD A BETTER GRADE 

 AND INCREASE PRODUCTION PER ACRE. 



THE culture and manufacture of 

 basket willow have not attained 

 in the United States the degree of per- 

 fection and profit that mark the indus- 

 try in Europe. This is for several rea- 

 sons, the most important being, the 

 relative compensation of labor and the 

 failure of the American grower to adopt 

 the most improved methods. The grow- 

 ing, harvesting, care, and manufacture 

 of willow require manual labor wholly 

 unassisted by machinery. The cheap 

 labor of Europe has grown willow, and 

 woven it into baskets at a profit impos- 

 sible with us and our better paid labor. 

 American ingenuity has still further 

 complicated the issue by producing a 

 cheap split-wood basket to take the 

 place of the more expensive and durable 



willow. Thus an industry of good pos- 

 sibilities is languishing 



The Bureau of Forestry has taken up 

 the matter and given it careful study. 

 Its expert has thoroughly investigated 

 the methods of culture and manufacture 

 both in this country and in England. 

 Germany, and Holland. In addition 

 the Bureau has established a willow 

 plantation on the Department's experi- 

 mental grounds near Washington, D. C. , 

 where the best species of basket willows 

 were set out on different soils and 

 spaced in accordance with different 

 methods of planting. The results of 

 this research will shortly be made 

 known by the Bureau in a bulletin en- 

 titled "The Basket Willow." 



The Bureau's purpose was to discover 



PURPLE OR WELSH WILLOW (Sali.v piirpnrea} PLANTED 3 FEET nv i FOOT. MARYLAND. 



SEPTEMBER, 1902. 



