PLAITED WOOD-WORK. 159 



for thread, of birch and aspen- wood ; spindles, chiefly of beech - 

 wood ; pipe-stems, of apple, cherry, plum, maple, &c. ; walking- 

 sticks, of oak or ash coppice-shoots, white-thorn, vine-stock, dog- 

 wood, fruit-trees, and many exotic woods such as those of olive, 

 greenheart, &c.; cask-taps, of pear, apple, yew, larch and Cembran 

 pine ; bungs are made of split oakwood and inferior sprucewood. 

 Wherever these articles are made in factories, the demand on 

 neighbouring forests may be considerable ; as, for instance, for 

 spindles, wooden buttons, bungs, handles for tools, &c. 



Section XV. — Plaited Wood-work. 



This section may be divided into basket-work, and plaited 

 wood-work properly so called. 



1. Basket-Work. 



The basket-maker prepares wares of all shapes and dimen- 

 sions, from coarse hampers, fish-traps, &c., to the finest kinds 

 of baskets. The materials used are osiers, chiefly of Salix 

 vimitialis, imrpurea, rubra, amygdalina, triandra, Lamhertiana, 

 2)ruinosa, &c., also shoots of birch and of climbing plants, and 

 the finer roots of Scotch pine, mountain-pine or larch. The 

 best osiers are thin yearling shoots, free from branches, about 

 six to eight feet long, with white, soft wood ; one or other kind 

 of willow is preferred, according to locality, but »S'. riminalis and 

 amygdalina, jnirjnura and rubra are the best esteemed. 



For superior basket-work, the osiers are peeled, which is done 

 immediately after they have been cut, when the sap is rising. 

 The osiers may, however, be peeled, if they are plunged into 

 water at a temperature of from 100 to ISC' Falir., without 

 becoming impaired in colour or texture. After being peeled the 

 willows should be thoroughly dried by exposure to the sun and 

 air, or they will turn bluish and become brittle. They must be 

 steeped in water when used, in order to recover their flexibility. 

 For rough hampers and fish-traps the coarser osiers up to h inch 

 thick are used, unpeeled, but freshly cut. 



Coarser baskets are made from unsplit osiers, the thin ends 

 being cut-off", so that the thickness of the pieces used may be 

 fairly uniform. Finer basket-work is made of split osiers. 



