45 s 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



Octobu 



a means of reducing the cost of the raw 

 product, peeled and unpeeled willow 

 rods, and also of improving the quality. 

 This has been definitely ascertained. It 

 is entirely a matter of properly regulat- 

 ing the distance between the sets in 

 planting, care in cutting the crop of 

 rods, and in selecting better species and 

 strains of willow. The custom has been 

 to plant in rows 3 feet apart, spacing a 

 foot in the rows between the sets. A 

 far better plan is to put the rows only 

 20 inches apart and reduce the distance 

 between the sets to 9 inches. When 

 this is done and the crop is cut close to 

 the ground the rods will be longer and 

 less branchy, the plants longer lived, 

 and the yield per acre much greater. 

 The initial cost is slightly higher than 

 under existing methods, but this is 

 more than offset by the increased re- 

 turns. At present an average produc- 

 tion of six tons of green rods per acre 

 is exceptional ; by the method now ad- 

 .vocated by the Bureau eight or more 

 tons per acre of better rods can be pro- 

 duced. When to improved methods of 

 culture, the advantages from a choice of 

 better European varieties of willows for 

 planting are added, the result will be a 

 marked reduction in the price of the 

 raw material and a distinct betterment 

 of the condition of both the producer 

 and manufacturer. 



The growing of basket willows was 

 introduced into the United States some 

 sixty years ago by German basket-mak- 

 ers, who settled in western' New York 

 and Pennsylvania. They first attempted 

 to use wild willows, but soon abandoned 

 these as impracticable and imported the 

 purple or Welsh willow. They grew 

 the rods, and the manufacture into bas- 

 kets was made profitable by whole fam- 

 ilies engaging in the weaving. Their 

 product has always been a cheap variety 

 of basket, since they use steam in peel- 

 ing the rods, which gives them an un- 

 desirable dark color. When the in- 

 dustry was extended farther west and 

 down to the Baltimore district, Mary- 

 land, hand-peeled rods were used and a 

 much higher grade basket manufact- 

 ured. But this country, in the ex- 

 tensive use of willow-ware, has never 

 approached Europe, where are found 



not only heavy farm baskets and recep- 

 tacles made of unpeeled willow, but 

 market, clothes, and fruit baskets of 

 peeled willow, furniture, hampers, and 

 trunks, and most artistically wrought 

 split willow- ware designed for countless 

 other uses Could all these be as 

 cheaply manufactured here as there, 

 their use by us would doubtless be as 

 extensive as that across the sea, for 

 willow- ware is not only prettier than its 

 substitutes, but, what is still more im- 

 portant, lighter and more durable. 



Another use for willow in this coun- 

 try is found in the growing demand for 

 willow furniture, which has become 

 fashionable in the North, while in the 

 warm climate of the South.it is rapidly 

 taking the place of upholstered furni- 

 ture. Good wages can be paid in the 

 manufacture of this kind of furniture. 

 It is a profitable industry and steadily 

 growing in importance, while willow- 

 basket making has barely held its own 

 in the last decade. The demand for 

 furniture material has been met to this 

 time chiefly by importing French rods. 

 But this can be changed if our own 

 willow-growers will adopt more scien- 

 tific methods of culture and market 

 their rods only after they are well sea- 

 soned not soon after cutting, as is non- 

 custom ary. 



In the bulletin by William F. Hub- 

 bard, which the Bureau will issue in a 

 few days, every aspect of willow cul- 

 ture and manufacture is exhaustively 

 treated. The character of the ground 

 to be used, preliminary cultivation, 

 planting, weeding and cultivation, cut- 

 ting, sorting, peeling, and packing, all 

 are discussed thoroughly, and advice as 

 to each branch of the work is clearly 

 given. The virtues and defects of the 

 different species of willows suited to 

 basket manufacture are described. In- 

 undation in the spring after harvest and 

 before the new crop season opens is a 

 new aid in protecting the holts from 

 insects and in fertilizing the sets espe- 

 cially advised by the Bureau. 



A valuable part of the bulletin is a 

 chapter on insects injurious to baskt-t 

 willows, prepared by the Bureau <>f 

 Entomology. This not only de-crihes 

 the insect enemies of the willow, but 



