191 1.] Planting, Cleaning, and Cutting Willows. 213 



Cutting is usually done by men with the kind of knives 

 illustrated, both of which are excellent tools. In no cir- 

 cumstances must this part of the work be performed in a 

 slipshod or careless manner. The knife must be inserted on 

 the outer side of the rods, and cut inwards and upwards, 

 and quite close to the head, with a sharp and clear cut, free 

 from split wood or torn bark. When the cutters are careless 

 many small spurs will remain on the head, and since these 

 spurs form the butt end of the rod, much material is sacrificed, 

 and since the crop is sold by weight a needless financial loss 

 is the result. Moreover, these spurs invariably die off during 

 the next growing season, dead wood accumulates, and still 

 further and longer spurs are left when cutting time again 

 comes round, until in the course of a few years the head, 

 which should at no period be larger than a fair-sized orange, 

 is frequently found as big as a cabbage. Round this accumu- 

 late moss and various fungoid growths, and the bearing 

 capacity of the head is reduced in some instances quite 50 

 per cent. When some of the spurs live, as frequently hap- 

 pens, they throw off many small and half-developed rods, 

 tending to the earlier exhaustion of the head. Cutting 

 the maiden crop, over which too much care cannot be shown, 

 and on which the future compact head-formation depends, 

 should be done by day workers. Afterwards cutting is invari- 

 ably done on piece-work terms, from 2s. 3d. to 2s. 6d. being 

 the average price for twenty bundles, each a yard, or in some 

 counties, 42 inches in girth, the band being tight and fixed 

 10 inches from the butt. Another common way of letting 

 by the piece is to pay 6s. 6d. to js. 6d. per ton for a one-year- 

 old crop, including the carrying of the bundles to various 

 points for collection by the carters. The prices vary accord- 

 ing to the sizes of the rods, the larger varieties being the 

 cheaper. In this manner all dispute as to whether the bundles' 

 are tied up tightly or loosely is obviated. 



A willow ground cultivated as directed will last about twenty 

 years in a full-bearing condition, and still be a profitable 

 source of income for ten years longer. All sickly heads should 

 be removed each winter, and the vacant places filled by a well- 

 grown one-year-old of entire length, or a tall-grown two- 

 year-old cut off at the start of the two-years' growth. A 



