434 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 



plantations, but of little value for osiers. When the crop is per- 

 mitted to grow two years before cutting, the roots make a much 

 more vigorous growth than they would have made if the shoots had 

 been all cut off the first year. As the quality of the osiers depends 

 on the size and vigor of the roots upon which they grow, it is not 

 wise to adopt any practice which will check their growth or make 

 them less vigorous. The roots being well established, the crop of 

 the third year, will be valuable for osiers ; the shoots should be cut 

 the following year a short time before the sap begins to flow, and 

 if they are to be peeled without steaming, they should be tied in 

 bundles of a convenient size with the osiers very even at the large 

 end, that they may be set upright in water, about 3 inches in 

 depth, where they should remain until the bark is in a condition 

 to slip easily from the wood, when the work of stripping the bark 

 from the osiers should begin and be continued, without inter- 

 ruption, until the work is completed. If the osiers are to be 

 steamed to loosen the bark, the work may commence as soon as 

 the osiers are cut, and when the bark has been stripped off the 

 steamed osiers, they should be dropped immediately into a long 

 trough of cold water, where they should lay a few hours, and then 

 be taken out and dried in a storehouse where there is a good cir- 

 culation of air. Dropping the osiers in cold water makes them 

 dry a lighter color whether they are steamed, or peeled without 

 steaming. When the osiers are well dried, they should be bound 

 in bundles of from 30 to 50 pounds each, according to size and 

 length, and sent to market. 



When willows are to be grown to be used for the hoops of nail 

 kegs or for the binders of boxes, shoots of nearly uniform thick- 

 ness can be obtained by the device of stripping off, in the spring, 

 all the lower leaves of those growing shoots which have already 

 made one year's growth. In the spring, at the time when the 

 leaves are about half an inch long, the top of the shoot is grasped 

 in one hand, and all the leaves except a few at the top, are stripped 

 off with the thumb and finger of the other hand. After a little 

 practice this stripping can be done very rapidly ; it prevents the 

 growth of lateral branches, and secures the production of hoop- 

 poles or box-binders which are entirely free from knots, and 

 almost as large at the upper end as at the lower. A good two 



