554 PLANTATIONS OF OSIERS. \_ApP* / 



expense, it would be proper to have the interspaces 

 digged by the spade. Subsequent cleaning may be per- 

 formed by. the common draw-hoe, Or by the Dutch hoe, 

 with great propriety. 



The willows should not be cut till the second season 

 after planting. By being allowed to stand uncut for 

 such a length of time, the stools become stronger, and 

 more able to produce a good crop, than if cut at an 

 earlier period. Indeed, by the third autumn after 

 planting, under the above management, the crop will 

 be of very considerable value. 



In establishing a willow plantation for hoops, the 

 same care and attention to the preparation of the 

 ground is necessary, as well as to its quality. Such 

 plantations should never be attempted upon a thin, 

 poor gravelly moor soil, nor indeed in any which are 

 not evidently appropriate for the purpose. Hoop will- 

 lows, however, require to be planted thinner at the 

 first, than osiers for basket work. If the former be 

 planted two feet between the rows, and eighteen inches 

 between the plants in the rows, it will be thick enough. 



Like the others above noticed, they should not be cut 

 till the second year after planting ; by which time, they 

 will generally have formed one strong shoot, with pro- 

 bably some inferior twigs. In the first cutting, care 

 must be had not to allow any part of the small twigs, 

 or side shoots, to be left, but to cut them clean off. 

 Were a part of these allowed to remain, such might 

 produce a crop of twigs fit for wicker work ; but by no 

 means adapted for the purpose in view. It is better to 

 have a few good growths, than a profusion of others. 

 At no period should any one stool be allowed to bear 

 too many shoots, otherwise they will be small and 

 worthless. Every manager of willows has it in his 



power 



