CHAP. CHI. 



51LICACEJE, 



14-75 



1281 



1285 



sulphur (llb. is sufficient for a room 10ft. on every side, and 10ft. high) 

 is then dropped into the iron vessel, and the operator instantly leaves the 

 room, shutting it close, and leaving it for ten or twelve hours, generally 

 all night. The chemical explanation of the mode in which the sulphureous 

 gas generated operates has not, we are informed by chemists, been yet sa- 

 tisfactorily given. Some kinds of osiers whiten much better than others. 

 One of the best for this purpose is S. amygdalina; next, S. triandra, and 

 S. decfpiens ; and the worst is S. Forbyawa, the rods of which cannot be 

 whitened at all. 



Profit of a Plantation of Osiers for Wickerwork or Basketwork. Much has 

 been said of the great profit to be obtained from a plantation of willows for 

 hoops or basket-making ; on which, as in all similar cases, it may be observed, 

 that extraordinary care, in the case of any crop whatever, will be attended 

 with extraordinary produce ; and that, wherever there is extraordinary profit 

 without extraordinary care, there must be extraordinary risk. This last is 

 the case with willow plantations, in common with those of the hop, of rape 

 for seed, and of various other crops. Mitchell quaintly remarks that, where 

 a quantity of land is planted with basket willows, " a man will do well to 

 make a net profit of 107. per acre; for the plants are very subject to the 

 depredations of insects." In the Transactions of the Society for the Encourage- 

 ment of Arts, vol. xxiii., for 1805, an account is given of a plantation of seven 

 acres, made in the fen lands of Ely, from which we extract the following 

 details : The land was cast into beds 12ft. wide, and raised 18 in. higher 

 than the general surface, by the earth taken out of the intervening open drains. 

 Fourteen thousand sets were planted per acre, and the following is an account 

 of the result: 



5 D 3 



