OSIER WILLOWS. 249 



covered sheds until wanted. Rods thus treated will be of a 

 darker color than those peeled in the spring after the sap has 

 started, owing to the fact that the wood is stained by the color- 

 ing matter in the bark, which is dissolved and taken up by the 

 wood. These dark-colored rods, however, make the most valua- 

 ble baskets. Willows should never be cut when the sap is flow- 

 ing, as the material is poor, being too soft and turning black 

 when peeled. Besides, they injure the plants by robbing them 

 of their yearly supply of root nourishment. The cutting should 

 always be done carefully, and in such a manner as not to split 

 or mutilate the stocks. The peeling is done by pulling the rods 

 through a springy wooden fork, shaped like a clothespin, but 

 larger, and with blunt edges inside. This" presses against the rod 

 and loosens the bark in strands without injuring the wood. The 

 rod is afterwards dried in the open air and put up in bundles of 

 fifty pounds for the market. 



Peeled rods keep much better than those left with the bark 

 on, and this is said to be the most profitable way in which to 

 market the product. The willow is generally a healthy plant, 

 and rather free from insect enemies under ordinary conditions; 

 but when grown in large groups of pure willows, it is occasionally 

 attacked by rust and also by insects. The leaf-eating insects are 

 easily destroyed by Paris green, used in the same way as is com- 

 mon for the destruction of the potato bug. 



The Osier Willow, which has here proven most productive 

 of the long, slender shoots so desirable for basket-making, is the 

 Salix purpurea, and at the University Experiment Station this 

 has frequently made a growth of six feet long in the season. 

 It should be understood by anyone who undertakes this line of 

 work that long, slender rods are desirable, and that one rod six 

 feet long may be worth as much as several that are not over 

 three or four feet long. Almost any willow may be used for 

 making the common, coarse baskets, but for the better class of 

 willow goods the special osier willows should be grown. The 

 common White Willow and also the Golden Willow produce 

 rods of fairly good quality. 



Wisconsin Weeping Willow. 



A willow known among horticulturists as the Wisconsin 

 Weeping Willow (botanical name not known) has been grown 



