476 NORFOLK SOCIETY. 



Some experienced willow growers like to have their planta- 

 tions on low, damp, (not wet) flat lands. But, perhaps, good 

 springy, side hill land is to be preferred ; because such land is 

 more healthy, both for the plant and for him that cultivates it. 

 When such side hill land can be had facing the south, it will 

 be found to produce more willow, and in greater perfection, 

 than can be grown on flat land of any kind. 



Many suppose that the more wet the land is, the greater 

 and fairer will be the crop, and the greater, also, the profits it 

 will afford. This, too, is a mistake ; for it is not the largest 

 and rankest willow that will yield the greatest profit, but that 

 which is of moderate size, smoothest grown and most tough. 

 Such willow will command the greatest price in the market. 

 It is wrong to suppose that the extra bulk or quantity will 

 more than make up the deficiency in price, for there is, gener- 

 ally, a very full supply of such material in the market. Hence 

 it is, that the experienced cultivator exercises all his ingenuity 

 and skill to have his willow grow of the average size, father 

 than of a mixture of very small and very large. To secure so 

 desirable an end, nothing will be found of more service than a 

 proper selection of soil ; and good springy, side hill land, is 

 unquestionably the best. What is not accomplished in the 

 selection of the soil, must be effected by a proper selection of 

 the kind of plant, and by regulating the growth of the young 

 wood, by cutting or harvesting the yearly produce at different 

 and suitable seasons of the year. 



The best willow, and the most profitable plantations of it, 

 are found where the land is well chosen, and properly prepared 

 by ploughing and the previous cultivation, for one or two years, 

 of a crop of potatoes. 



Some persons may think it a strange thing to plough and 

 plant land as a preparation for the culture of willow. But the 

 day is coming when the people of these United States- will see 

 hundreds and thousands of acres of this plant grown on such 

 land, and will wonder no more than we now do at those who 

 prepare by ploughing, their land for corn and potatoes. 



Men once thought that the grass field was a good place for 

 the apple tree. True, they saw that it flourished better in the 

 garden ; but men who were observing and wise enough to set 

 out good apple orchards, and keep them well ploughed, were 



