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BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 429 



No. 38. The Basket Willow. By EDMUND HERSEY, In- 

 structor in Agriculture at the Bussey Institution and 

 Superintendent of the Bussey Farm. 



Nearly half a century ago, on learning that a party in New York 

 had imported from Europe cuttings of the European Basket Willow, 

 I ordered several hundred cuttings for trial ; for I had long been 

 convinced that the introduction of any new tree, shrub, or vine that 

 can be cultivated with profit, tends to improve the condition of the 

 farmer, and to add wealth to the country. 



The cuttings came to hand in good order on the 20th of April, 

 1853, and were set out in Hingham, Mass., in a soil of sandy loam, 

 which had been prepared for a crop of potatoes. The slips were 

 12 inches long, and were set in rows 12 inches apart, and also 12 

 inches apart in the rows. Each cutting was set 9 inches below 

 the surface of the ground, leaving 3 inches above, and on an angle 

 of 45 degrees from the perpendicular ; for many years of experience 

 have proved to my own satisfaction that cuttings are more likely to 

 live when set in this way than if set in a perpendicular position. 

 Of the thousand cuttings set, every one lived and made a growth 

 of from 3 to 6 feet the first season. No more time was spent in 

 cultivation than would be required to cultivate a crop of potatoes. 

 Since the crop of the first year was wanted for cuttings to set the 

 following spring, it was gathered in November. Each shoot was 

 cut into slips 12 inches in length, and they were all buried in a 

 sand bank until the following April. 



After the crop was harvested, the stumps from which it was cut 

 were unprotected during the winter ; they were found to be in good 

 order in the following spring. During the summer the crop was 

 neither fertilized nor cultivated, but was permitted to grow in its 

 own free, natural, yet graceful way. When harvested in Novem- 

 ber, a measured rod of land produced 112 pounds of osiers, or 

 within 80 pounds of nine tons to the acre ; most of the osiers 

 measured 5 to 6 feet in length, and some of them were within a 

 few inches of 9 feet. A few of the osiers were sent to the editor 

 of the New England Farmer, who in some remarks printed in 

 1855, vol. 7, page 85, concludes as follows : " We have specimens 

 of his growth of willows now before us, very smooth and even, and 

 about 9 feet in length." 



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