rt . AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
March, 1911 
Big Trees 
This place at Lawrence, L.I., was almost entirely 
planted with Hicks large trees, 20 to 45 feet high, 
that were selected direct from Hicks’ Nursery. 
Why wait years for small trees to grow 
up? You take no chances in buying Hicks’ big 
Maples, Pin Oaks, Catalpas, Lindens and Ever- 
greens. Hicks methods for moving and planting 
big trees are a success. We guarantee our trees 
to thrive. Trees 25 feet high, 15 feet spread can 
be safely shipped 1,500 miles at this time of the 
year. 
We have several thousand trees 15 to 40 years 
old, growing 15 to 30 feet apart in our nursery. 
They are 20 to 40 feet high, 10 to 25 feet spread. 
Besides the usual nursery stock, we have many 
new and rare species, especially valuable for 
those who wish more harmonious landscape 
compositions. 
Come and select your trees, or send for our cat- 
alogue and price list, which shows very accurately 
what our stock has accomplished and what we 
have to offer. The ground thaws here the first of 
March, and early orders are to your advantage. 
Isaac Hicks & Son, Westbury, L. I. 
Charles Barton Keen, Arch't. Philadelphia 
Sample and 
Circular 
Free 
give artistic and harmonious coloring effects of 
guaranteed durability, and the Creosote pene- 
trates aid thoroughly preserves the wood. The 
most economical and only appropriate coloring for 
Shingled residences, bungalow shingles, 
or siding, rough board camps or cottages, 
boat and club houses, shelters, etc. 
Send for stained wood samples and catalog 
SAMUEL CABOT, Inc., Sole Manufacturers 
131 Milk Street, Boston, Mass. 
AGENTS AT ALL CENTRAL POINTS 
A House Lined with 
Mineral Wool 
as shown in these sections, is Warm in Winter, 
Cool in Summer, and is thoroughly DEAFENED. 
The lining is vermin proof; neither rats, mice, 
nor insects can make their way through or live init. 
MINERAL WOOL checks the spread of fire and 
keeps out dampness. 
VERTICAL SECTION, 
CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED 
U. S. Mineral Wool Co. 
140 Cedar St.,. NEW YORK CITY 
Cabot’s Shingle Stains | 
BREEDING SUCCESSFUL STRAINS OF 
BASKET WILLOWS 
FARMER in one of the middle 
States grew a crop of basket wil- 
lows on sixty acres which brought 
him $10,000, a yield at the rate of $166 
an acre. The average crop in a region 
of best growth usually brings less than 
one-half this amount. The strain and 
manner of cultivation made this note- 
worthy difference. The excellent crop 
grown by this up-to-date farmer was 
raised from carefully selected cuttings 
obtained from the best stock of neigh- 
boring basket-willow plantations, where 
these strains are thoroughly adapted to 
the local soil and climate. The soil is among 
the best, though not any better than that 
of a good many other plantations which 
yield a much smaller crop of less valu- 
able rods. Willow growers often blame 
the soil for not producing a crop as large 
as it should, and as a matter of fact the 
soil selected is very often not suitable. 
Many farmers are under the impression 
that willows should be planted in un- 
drained soils, which is a serious mistake. 
Soil that yields a good crop of wheat also 
produces a good crop of willows under 
proper cultivation. The successful bas- 
ket-willow grower considers the selection 
of suitable soil as only one of the requi- 
sites for growing a profitable crop of 
rods. The proper selection and care of 
cuttings for planting will insure an 
enormously increased yield, and in many 
cases actually double it, provided the 
willows are properly cultivated so as to 
keep weeds down and the soil loose. Se- 
lected cuttings are of prime importance. 
The value of selection has long been 
recognized in the analogous case of seed 
in all our common agricultural crops. 
The willow is among the most plastic 
of all our woody plants, and is easily 
propagated by means of cuttings. The 
ancestry of a certain strain of basket- 
willow is as vital as it is in the higher 
animals. Its characteristic qualities are 
quite readily transmitted from year to 
year, and all varieties are susceptible to 
further improvement. The investigators 
have even more control over the success- 
ful propagation of selected varieties of 
willow than they do in cases of fruit 
trees or other farm crops, since a new 
crop of selected cuttings can be obtained 
every year from the preceding year’s 
planting. Carefully conducted experi- 
ments in selecting and breeding certain 
varieties of basket-willows will result in 
strains of entirely modified character- 
istics in less than ten years. Four strains 
have been developed out of the American 
green willow (Salix amygdalina L.), of 
which one is said to be entirely immune 
to the destructive willow rust. A num- 
ber of strains have been developed from 
the common purple willow, all of which 
have their particular virtues in certain 
soils. 
The basket-willow is a farm crop of in- 
creasing importance on both sides of the 
Atlantic, and the country that develops 
the most desirable strains is the one to 
control the supply of the market. At 
present European countries have a de- 
cided advantage over the United States. 
We cannot introduce strains developed 
in Europe and expect them at once to do 
as well here as they do in the locality 
where they originated. An lowa grower 
introduced the common white willow 
(Salix vinimalis L.), from Europe, with 
the hope of producing as fine a crop of 
rods as this willow is wont to yield in its 
native country. With considerable ex- 
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