48 BULLETIN 316, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 
purchased for SI to $1.50 per thousand. Planting is best done by a 
man and a boy. If the man makes the holes with a sharpened iron 
bar and the boy drops in the cuttings and firms the soil, they should 
plant 2 to 3 acres per day with a spacing of 6 by 6 feet, or 1,210 sets 
per acre. Allowing $2 as wages for the man and SI for the boy, the 
cost of planting is from SI to SI. 50 per acre. Cultivation for the 
first two years consists in disengaging the willows in the planting 
spots on unplowed land and in horse cultivation on plowed land. 
This costs from $2 to S6. Table 18 gives the range in cost of estab- 
lishment of a willow plantation. 
Table 18. — Cost per acre of making a willow plantation. 
Minimum. Maximum. 
Preparation of soil: 
Brush clearing. 
Plowing or preparation of planting spots. 
Stock (cuttings' 
Planting (man and boy crew) 
Cultivation (first two years) . . 
SI. 50 
.50 
1.00 
2.00 
$3.00 
3.00 
1.50 
1.50 
6.00 
Total. 
5.00 
15.00 
CULTIVATION AND CARE. 
If the plantation is a haphazard one, planted among bowlders, 
stumps, or in uncleared land, it can not, of course, be systematically 
cultivated. However, a little care in such a place will probably pay 
better returns than anywhere else. The young plants are very likely 
to be crowded out the first year or two if they do not have a fair 
amount of room, and a little cutting back of other growth will often 
save many young trees. In regular plantations on cleared land the 
ground should be plowed between the rows about three times the 
first year, twice the second year, and perhaps once the third year. 
Subsequently the shade of the willows will be sufficient to kill most 
of the weeds' and to prevent excessive evaporation from the soil. 
Cuttings which fail to start should be replaced the same season if 
possible. In close plantations it will be necessary to plant longer 
cuttings than the original ones to prevent shading out. Allowing 
the fail places to remain unplanted reduces the productivity of the 
land. All diseased material should be removed as soon as noted. 
CUTTING. 
The best time for cutting is in late winter or early spring, but it 
should be finished before the buds start to swell. Fall cutting is next 
best, but it may result in the frost separating the bark from the wood 
at the stump, which injures its ability to sprout. Wood that is to 
be peeled should be cut in summer. Where sprout reproduction is 
desired, the bark should be cut through around the stump, so that 
when the tree is felled the bark will not be torn away. 
