1472 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



small end of a wand, and passing it once or twice round the cross formed by the 

 points of intersection ; after which one, or perhaps two, secondary ribs are in- 

 troduced on each side of the vertical main rib. The wattling is then proceeded 

 with a little farther, when two or more secondary ribs are introduced ; and 

 this process is continued till a sufficient number of subordinate ribs are put 

 in to support the wattling of the entire structure. For coarse baskets, 

 wattled with rods having the bark on, the distance of 3 in. or 4 in. between 

 the subordinate ribs, at the widest part, will be sufficient ; but for baskets 

 made of peeled rods, even of the largest size, 4 in. are rather too much. 

 When the form of the basket is a square or a parallelogram, exactly the same 

 process is pursued ; but greater care and skill are required in bending both the 

 main ribs and the subordinate ribs to the required forms. To facilitate this, 

 the rods which are to form the main ribs, and also those for the secondary 

 ribs, are split up the middle ; and, to render it easier to bend them, they are 

 steeped for some hours in cold water. The rods intended for the subordinate 

 ribs are sometimes split into four parts ; and, in bending both the main and 

 the subordinate ribs, the pith is always kept inwards, so that the outer side 

 presents a smooth surface. When the rods are to be split in two, a common 

 knife is made use of; but when they are to be split into three or more parts, 

 a piece of hard wood, 7 in. or 8 in. long, and about 1 in. in diameter, and cut 

 so as to present three or four sharp edges radiating from its centre, called 

 a cleaver, is made use of. The knife being entered at the thick end of the rod, 

 so as to split it into three or four parts for the length of 1 in., the split part is 

 entered on the cleaver, and drawn against it till the whole rod is split from 

 one end to the other. This process is more simple, rapid, and easy in the 

 execution, than in the description. 



Another Scotch mode of forming baskets and small hampers is, by com- 

 mencing at the centre of what is to form the bottom, and working from that 

 outwards, and, after the bottom is completed, upwards. In proceeding 

 according to this mode, two ribs, or larger wands, are laid on the floor, cross- 

 ing each other at right angles; and one or two small wands are woven round 

 them, as a nucleus in which to insert the end of other ribs. These ribs, 

 it is evident, may be increased in number, and extended in direction, at plea- 

 sure, so as either to make the bottom of the basket circular, oval, or right- 

 angled. When the work is completed as far as the sides, the ribs are 

 turned upwards, and the work continued in a perpendicular direction as high 

 as required ; when a horizontal rod, or rim, can be introduced, and made 

 fast to the upright rods by wattling. If a handle is wanted, it can readily 

 be added. 



The English mode of basket-making, which is in many respects easier than 

 the Scotch and German mode, is effected by means of willow rods of one 

 year's growth alone; whereas the Scotch mode requires the addition of rods 

 of two years' growth for the handles, rims, and ribs ; and, in the case of all 

 baskets intended to be tolerably strong, of rods, for these purposes, of a tough 

 and more durable kind of wood, such as ash, oak, hazel, &c. By the English 

 mode, the workman begins on the floor, on which he lays two, three, or more 

 rods, but commonly three, parallel to and touching each other, and cut to the 

 length of the diameter of the bottom of the basket. On these three rods are 

 placed other three, parallel to and touching each other at right angles, cut also 

 to the length of the diameter of the bottom of the basket. The operator now 

 puts his foot on the centre of intersection of the six rods, and begins to make 

 the rods fast there, by interweaving, or wattling, round them, with small rods. 

 As he proceeds with his interweaving, he frequently turns round the skeleton 

 bottom, under his foot, spreading out the rods which form the ribs, so that 

 their extremities, after two or three courses of wands have been woven in, 

 are at equal distances from each other in the circumference of what is to form 

 the bottom of the basket, like the spokes of a wheel. The weaving being 

 carried on to the full extent of the bottom, the latter is now turned upside 

 down, and, the points of the radiating ribs being cut off, a willow rod is inserted 



