CULTIVATION OF THE WILLOW. Ill 



forty or fifty, while others, by neglect, will run out in seven or eight.^ 

 They should arrive to good condition the first year. The crop will range 

 from two to five tons, green, to the acre. They should be cut annually — 

 the first year being of little or no value. 



Mr. O. B. Galusha, in a lecture at the Illinois Industrial University 

 in 18G9, in speaking of the white willow, says: 



I regai d this as probably combining more desirable qualities for cultivation in groves 

 for lumber purposes than any other variety of the soft-wood, rapid-growing deciduous 

 trees, and am decidedly of the opinion that this and the golden variety are the best 

 deciduous trees within my knowledge for wind-breaks or screens, but wish to be dis- 

 tinctly understood as not recommending this tree as a hedge-plant, or the planting of 

 this or any other one sort to the neglect of other desirable varieties. Strong cuttings 

 of this tree seldom fail to strike root at once in mellow soil, and will make a growth 

 of from two to six feet the first season. It thrives in all kinds of soil, making as much 

 wood in a given number of years as any other known sort, not even excepting the 

 Cottonwood, growing into a large tree, sometimes four feet in diameter. The wood is 

 of rather tine texture for a light wood, making a fair article of soft lumber, which bears 

 a fine polish. It is also valuable for making wooden ware, bowls, trays, &c. It also 

 splits freely, which is a desirable quality in making fence-posts, rails, railroad-ties, and 

 iire-wood. * * * The golden willow is similar in growth and texture to the white, 

 but I think does not make so large a tree. I have measured about a dozen trees of 

 this variety (golden), which were planted by the roadside 15 years ago last spring, 

 and find the average circumference of the trunks at three and a half feet from the 

 ground to be 5 feet 3 inches. A white willow « » * which has grown from a email 

 cutting put in 13 years ago last spring, now measures 6 feet 2 inches near the ground, 

 forming a head or top 30 feet across. This variety, when planted in groves, grows 

 tall and almost perfectly straight. I have carefully computed the expeuse of raising 

 ten acres of trees of this variety and converting them into lumber, and find the entire 

 cost not to exceed $10 per thousand feet. This estimate is based ujion actual measure- 

 ment of the growth of trees. The land itself is valued at $40 per acre, with interest 

 upon this amount, together with expenses computed as before, at 6 per cent, com- 

 pound interest. I take ten acres in these estimates of growing artificial groves because 

 it is desirable to have trees enough together, or in close proximity, that the cost of 



{mtting up and removing a saw-mill would be but a trifle upon each thousand feet of 

 amber sawed.* 



The value of the willow in preventing erosion in the banks of rivers and 

 streams, for holding the soil liable to washing away in valleys, and for 

 filling up the channels worn by small streams in loose gravelly soil, and 

 preventing further gullying, must have been noticed by every observ- 

 ing person. This office is performed by the multitude of long tracing 

 roots that it sends through the damp soil wherever they find nourish- 

 ment, the shoots by which it multiplies and spreads from the roots, and 

 sometimes when crowded, by the prostrate branches. 



Such willows, when abundant and of large growth, also serve a useful 

 purpose by preventing injuries from floating ice in rivers, and they are 



' Traite pratique de la Culture de V Osier, et de son usage dans Vindustrie de la Vannerie, 

 ■fine et commune. Par A. Moitrier. Paris (1855), p. 17. See also Guide Pratique de la 

 Culture du Saule, et de son emploi en. Agriculture, nolamment dans la creation des Oseraieset 

 Saussaks, avee un appendice sur la culture dn Boseau. Par M. J. Koltz. Paris, 1867. 18mo. 

 p. 144. La SalicicuUure et la Vannerie. Par BufFaut-Cur6, Langres, p. 31. 



Mr. Scaling, of Basford, near Nottingham, England, has also written an admirable 

 treatise on the osier-willow. A synopsis of his methods, prepared by the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture (Hon. Frederick Watts), is given at pages 419-426 of the monthly re- 

 ports of the Department of Agriculture for 1873. 



It is stated that between 6,000 and 7,000 ac^es arecultivatfd in England and Ireland, 

 and that 4,400 tons are imported into Great Britain annually at a cost of $218,045, be- 

 sides baskets worth $224,200. Contrary to the belief of many, the willow does not 

 require a swampy soil, but will grow on any land not too dry, and often yields a greater 

 profit than the ordinary farm-crops. As a rule the osier is tougher when grown on 

 strong loam inclining to clay, but the Salix helix, or rose-willow, becomes scrubby and 

 poor in such soil. The varieties of willow cultivated are many. Dr. Host, of Vienna, 

 is said to have cultivated over 300 : the Duke of Bedford, at Wobum Abbey, 250, and the 

 nursery at Basford over 300 varieties. 



The details published in the reports of 1873, above cited, would be very instructive 

 to those in quest of fuller information upon this subject. 



^Second Annual Report of Trustees of Illinois Industrial University, p. 35.5. 



