CULTIVATION^ OP THE WILLOW. 109 



{Salix lanceolata) -which is used iu cooperage, and procured from Holland a thousand 

 stocks, hoping that I had here found an osier capable of being utilized, but my experi- 

 ments gave me only a very imperfect material for the making of barrel hoops, and the 

 cost became so great that I abandoned the experiment. I then procured other speci- 

 mens of the Salix lanceolata from Hamburg, and these now constitute my nursery. As 

 my first trials gave me a certainty of result iu osiers as good as those of Holland, 

 and which iu three years were quite suitable for use, I established, with the aid of 

 the Norwegian Government, a larger nursery, and our consul-general at Amsterdam 

 received through our government an order for 5,000 stocks of the true Salix lanceolata. 

 I aiso procured from England several kinds of osier very suitablefor basket-work, palm- 

 pile, meni}igs-pil€, and oesoer-pile. These osiers are very good for small hoops and heavy 

 basket-work, while for the liner work in baeket-making I have obtained useful results 

 from the Salix purpurea and Salix viminalis, of Germany, Salix Americana, and others. I 

 have thus embraced fifteen species of osiers in my cultivation. 



My design in establishing a plantation of osiers has been to prove their utility and 

 profits in such a way, that the small i^roprietors of the country can be benefited 

 by their imitation. Our district, from its fisheries, consumes a great amount of basket- 

 work and cask-hoops, and Stavanger alone has occasion for half a million of barrels iu 

 a year. As each of these requires a dozen hoops, it is easy to see what an interest the 

 production of osiera is to our country, and I am surjirised that an object of so great 

 utility has not long ago been made a subject of experiment. The affair since my labors 

 have been commt need has excited mnch interest in this country, since it has demon- 

 strated conclusively that we can hero produce osiers suitable for hoops. As a proof of 

 this, I have received within the last six months orders for 25,000 roots from the coun- 

 try people, and nearly 50,000 from wealthy proprietors. My manner of reproducing 

 the osier is very cheap and simple. In November and December I cut all the strong 

 branches to a length of about 25 inches. The cut is as smooth as possible, and always 

 beveling. The slips are kept in a cellar protected from frost with the bottoms set in 

 wet sphagnum. ' By moistening the ends from time to time with water, not only are 

 the buds kept fresh through the winter, but even the roots begin to develop. In this 

 way the buds are more vigorous and grow faster than they would if cut in the spring, 

 as is the usual practice. In the spring, when the ground is i^repared by forming ridges 

 in the wet soil or digging trenches in the dry soil, I begin the plantation. In poor 

 marshy grounds where these ridges are made, I plant the slips from one to two aunes 

 apart in one direction, and 30 to 40 inches the other; but in good dry ground I plant 

 20 inches apart in one direction and 40 in the other. This planting is done as follows : 

 We first draw a line across the field we wish to plant, and along this cord we form a 

 ditch about 18 inches deep, into which wo put the slips in such a way that those who 

 plant may with one hand press in the slip, while he takes the distance with the other. 

 When the slips are all placed, we fill the ditch half full with the earth that has been 

 thrown out, and then throw some manure from the stable between the slips, but with- 

 out touching them, and then fill up the rest of the trench with soil. We then estab- 

 lish another line parallel with the former, and proceed in like manner. After the 

 planting is done, we water all the slips with manure water, diluted with twice ita 

 quantity of common water, a proceeding that is absolutely necessary in our poor soils, 

 because, as the roots have been already formed, they must have nourishment at once, 

 and the manure that has been buried with them cannot supply it until after some time. 

 After trying various experiments, I have come to adopt this method of management 

 with the very best results. At the end of five months my slips will have grown more 

 than five aunes (about 10 feet) in length, which is an exceptional result in our coun- 

 try, where the climate is very rude and exposed to every wind. In making my first 

 experiments I selected a plot of ground such as experts would have thought the very 

 poorest iu the neighborhood. I have iu my nursery about 15,000 roots. 



The slips are planted somewhat inclined, with the leaning slope turned to the 

 north, for if it was set toward the south it would be injured by the action of the sun 

 and the rain. The solar heat is more useful when it falls upon the longest side, which 

 is turned to the sun. In dry soil we do not make ridges, but set the plants from 21 to 

 22 inches in the ground, as the wind would uproot them if set at a less depth. The 

 shoots are allowed to grow without hinderauce the first year. The above manage- 

 ment is that for the willows intended for cask-hoops. When planting for basket-work 

 wemust proceed as follows: I form hedges around the other willows, the plants being 

 12 inches apart, and where the ground is deep enough, and where it is necessary to 

 guard against the north or west winds, which arc very injurious to the plants, I make 

 an embankment of turf, which also serves as a defense against cattle. These banks 

 are about 2 aunes (4 feet) high and about 20 inches wide at the top. The central part 

 is of soil covered with living turf and fixed by willows, the roots of which penetrate 

 into the interior and are a further shield against the violent winds which often prevail. 

 The soil for this bank is taken from the interior so as to form a ditch and thus present 



1 Peat-moss. 



