Willows and their Cultivation. 
243 
or to the fire if to be burned. The weeding of the beds can be 
done at moderate cost, as the work is not arduous and can be 
accomplished by unskilled labour under supervision. In going 
through the beds care should be taken to see that there are no 
blanks allowed to remain. If through any cause a dead plant 
is found it should be removed and an unshortened rod (not a 
cutting) set in its place, as, if a cutting only is put in, the rank 
weeds will smother it and choke it, thus leaving the blank still 
unfilled, whereas a rod will bi’eak at once and can be cut to 
its proper level the succeeding season. 
In the cutting of the crop, a sharp hook, something like 
a short-bladed sickle, is to be used, as it is desirable to sever the 
rods with a clear, clean, sharp cut, avoiding split rods or torn 
bark. It is essential that this process should be so carefully 
carried out as to insure the rods being cut off close to the stools, 
not leaving spurs, as if spurs are left they throw out weakly 
shoots, and thus injure the crop of the succeeding season, and 
also tend to exhaust the stools. Cutting may commence in the 
later weeks of November or in December. The buds will then 
swell during the winter and will be more likely to put forth 
vigorous shoots than if the cutting is delayed until nearer the 
succeeding spring ; it is also better for the land that it should 
be opened up to the winter frost by being stirred up after the 
crop is taken and cultivation made possible by the removal of 
the rods from the stools. It may be safe to decide the time of 
cutting not by the calendar so much as by the conditions of 
season and of crop ; that is to say, the rods should not be cut 
until the leaves have fallen, or the stools will be weakened by 
the flow of sap which would follow the process if conducted at 
this period. On the other hand, the harvesting process must 
not be too long delayed, or it may encroach upon the period of 
the flow of sap for the coming season. During the early 
summer the spaces between the rows should be cleaned by hoe 
or fork or both. As a rule one cleaning will be found sufficient 
for the summer. The cost need not be much, but would neces- 
sarily vary. Estimates have been formed at from 10s. to 20s. 
per acre for this summer cleaning, but it is money well spent, 
and even if the weeds are not abundant the soil so stirred acts 
with quickly apparent benefit upon the health and growth of the 
plants. 
It may be thought desirable to let some part of the crop 
stand for the second year’s growth. Sometimes, when stakes 
and uprights for hampers and baskets are scarce, the second 
year’s shoots command a price in the market sufficient to 
warrant the decision that the crop shall stand for the second 
