242 
Willows and their Cultivation. 
will give three cuttings ; a two-year-old shoot may be cut up 
to the entire length of the first year’s growth. 
Planters have different ideas as to the distances which should 
separate the cuttings in the beds. For the ordinary basket- 
willows 18 inches or even less each way may be found best. 
Some calculate to put in about 20,000 cuttings to the acre, 
which would mean about 20 inches between the rows and 
nearly 1 6 inches between the cuttings in the rows ; others 
allow about 2 feet each way, that is, between the rows and 
between the sets in the rows; if so arranged, about 11,000 sets 
to the acre would be needed. For the smaller kinds for finer 
work 15 or 16 inches between the rows and 8 or 9 inches 
between the sets in the rows may be regarded as a safe distance. 
Pains should be taken to insure accuracy of line and regularity 
of space and distance, as unevenness and irregularity would be 
permanent disfigurement and also a waste of land and of growth ; 
the closest adherence to methodical arrangement insures the 
maximum yield of produce with the minimum expenditure of 
labour. 
The cuttings should be pushed carefully into place, the usual 
practice being to put, say, two-thirds of the cutting beneath the 
surface, thus allowing one-third to remain above ; but cuttings 
should not be so long as to require that they be pushed into the 
ground too deeply where there is moisture beneath the surface, 
or the ends rot. Mr. Scaling advocates, however, that the whole 
of the cutting should be pushed quite into the ground, so that 
no part of it should remain uncovered. Many advantages are 
claimed for this system, e.g., that the rods so planted send out 
straight shoots — that manure can be led on to the land and 
spread so much better, and that the holt can be much more 
readily cleaned. It is a fact, too, that cuttings thus pushed 
quite beneath the surface strike better than those which rise 
above the ground-level. In the latter case it not unfrequently 
happens that that portion of the cutting above the ground dies 
down to the ground-level. In such cases the decayed portions 
are simply pruned away. When the cuttings have been pushed 
into their proper position in line, the ground should be firmly 
trodden about them and, the work thus completed, root action 
and surface growth will very quickly commence. 
It is most important that the holt should be kept clean. 
Rank grasses and quick-growing weeds and under-scrub quickly 
establish themselves, and, if allowed to remain, choke the growth 
of the shoots and otherwise impair the success of the planting. 
It is desirable when cleaning to have the rubbish and debris 
removed at once — to compost heaps if to be rotted into manure, 
