willows: their growth, use, and importance. 31 
Excelsior is usually manufactured into three grades — coarse, 
medium, and fine, the latter being called wood wool. Willow goes 
into the first two grades, but not into the wood wool, largely on ac- 
count of its color. Pure willow excelsior is seldom seen, because the 
willow is usually worked in more or less as an adulterant. Candy 
manufacturers discriminate against willow excelsior on the ground 
that it taints their wares. 
Excelsior manufacturers in Indiana pay $7 to $7.50 per rank 
delivered at the mill for peeled willow cut in 4J-foot lengths. The 
pieces must be not more than 6 inches in diameter or split so that 
at least one side of a quartered log is not wider than 6 inches. 
CHARCOAL. 
Though most of the charcoal manufactured is a side product of 
wood-distillation plants, the making of willow charcoal has been a 
separate industry for years. Willow charcoal is especially suitable 
for certain grades of black powder, and is in demand for chemical and 
medicinal purposes because it produces a very pure carbon. Several 
powder mills in the Eastern States, after having used all the native 
willows within many miles of the mill, have induced farmers to plant 
willows. These people, following the example of the powder mills, 
have grown " pollard" willows by setting out long poles and then crop- 
ping at intervals the sprouts produced at the top. 
The general price paid for " powder willows" delivered at the mills 
has been $6 per cord, green, or $7.50 per cord, peeled. Peeling done 
in the winter has cost $1.50 per cord. The sticks are 4 feet long and 
range in size from 1 inch to 5 inches. Above this size sticks are 
split. Splitting costs about $1 per cord. Of late years willows have 
become so scarce in several of these localities that considerable material 
has been imported from a distance, and often the companies have 
paid the transportation charges, giving the mill prices for cordwood 
delivered at the nearest railroad point. No distinction is made be- 
tween the different species of willows, as any willows of the desirable 
size seem to produce a high grade of charcoal. 
PULP. 
Willow wood is used to a limited extent for paper pulp, although 
its short fiber makes it useful only as a filler for the longer fibered 
woods. In the North, where most of the paper mills are located, 
willow does not occur in sufficient quantities to be given any particular 
attention. In the South, however, along the lower Mississippi and 
its tributaries, there is a good deal of willow which is not large enough 
for saw timber but would be suitable for pulpwood. On many 
thousands of acres trees from 5 to 15 inches in diameter form dense 
stands. These could for the most part be logged and transported 
