NORFOLK SOCIETY. 479 



learn what is the best willow used in the country, and what is 

 the prospect both for the cultivator and consumer of the article. 



For more than twenty years I have been engaged in cultivat- 

 ing willow, in preparing it for use, and in manufacturing it 

 into ware. Of this time, about eight years have been devoted 

 to improvements in the culture and manufacture of it in 

 America. Previously, I lived in my native country, England. 

 The results of my experiments there and here, and the knowl- 

 edge I have of the experience of my father and my grandfather, 

 in the same business, for at least fifty years, I consider sufficient 

 to justify me in saying that I fear no contradiction to the state- 

 ments I have now made, nor any taunting remarks from the 

 importers of foreign willow. 



The importer of foreign willow has said, repeatedly, that the 

 plant cannot be groivn here to perfection. But I can show him 

 the living willow, that is preferred by the best manufacturers 

 and the best workmen in this country, and which brings the 

 highest price paid in the market. 



The intelligent cultivator of the soil will know how to ac- 

 count for the spirit of opposition to the culture of willow in 

 this country, that is shown by importers of foreign willow. We 

 must expect that business men will do all they can to secure 

 their own interests ; and, in doing this, they cannot always 

 seek the well-being of others, — that is, in a pecuniary point of 

 view. But, since human society is so constituted and human 

 affairs are so regulated as to render it necessary that every one 

 should be thoughtful, diligent and prudently enterprising, in 

 order to provide for their own wants and necessities, the farmer 

 must be alive to his advantages and his interests, if he wishes 

 to enjoy the happiness of a home where there is peace and 

 plenty. 



In the United States, the people have many advantages and 

 many privileges which the European looks for, but, as yet, can- 

 not obtain. All those advantages and privileges are enjoyed, 

 chiefly, as the result of the enterprising spirit and the sound 

 judgment of the fathers of those who now occupy our farms. 

 Then let the sons imitate those fathers in spirit and in the 

 exercise of sound judgment, and let some willow plantations 

 be seen on our farms. If they be properly cultivated, and cared 

 for, they will be an ornament to the farm ; they will prove use- 



