i9i i.] Planting, Cleaning, and Cutting Willows. 211 



importance of this consideration when the willows are intended 

 for white is not less, owing to the great variation in the 

 time during which the sap rises, and owing to which the 

 early sorts peel well and the backward sorts require to be 

 scraped to remove the bark from the butt ends. This 

 again greatly reduces the market value. By planting several 

 sorts the requirements of the all-round trade will be met, and 

 the longest time possible be gained for harvesting the crop. 

 Between the earliest and the latest sorts there is sometimes 

 a period of three weeks. 



Whether any practical result is to be obtained from experi- 

 ments with sexual difference in willows is extremely doubtful, 

 although it opens up a field for botanical and scientific re- 

 search. We have not, in our experience, discovered any 

 marked difference between the crop from the stool of the 

 staminate form and that of the pistillate form. Consequently 

 it may be regarded as a matter of indifference from the stand- 

 point of the bulk or quality of material produced whether 

 one or the other, or both, are planted indiscriminately. 



Cleaning. — The ground being now planted it is most essen- 

 tial that all weeds should be kept down by hoeing. In the 

 case of maiden crops hoeing right up to August 1st is re- 

 sorted to, in order to maintain the surface of the soil in a 

 loose condition. If this is allowed to bake or crack many 

 heads will be found dead the following spring, and the 

 grower will be fortunate if failure to keep the top soil open 

 does not bring a blight on the crop. It should be remem- 

 bered that a heavy strain is imposed on the plants, which are 

 endeavouring to develop simultaneously a shoot growth 

 above ground, and a root growth below. For lack of suffi- 

 cient hoeing during the first year we have seen many acres 

 destroyed by green fly and honey dew, especially if the spring 

 had proved to be a dry one ; and this has not only resulted in' 

 a year's loss of growth, but also necessitated planting- again 

 the following season. In the case of older heads the hoeing 

 ought not to be discontinued whilst the men can move freely 

 in the crop, which they generally can do up to the middle of 

 June. By that time the willows begin to make such rapid 

 growth that they smother all the undergrowth, and only in 

 the outside rows will any further attention be required. 



