Willows and their Cultivation. 
247 
from rent and taxes an outlay of 5 1. to 71. per acre would probably 
cover cost per annum. It has been estimated that it takes three 
years to cover the cost of preparation and planting ; after that 
period the profit upon a properly cultivated willow holt is well 
assured. 1 At certain intervals the beds would have to be man- 
ured. Under ordinary circumstances every fifth year might be 
regarded as the time for this attention, otherwise the stools 
would suffer and eventually exhaust themselves. 
The yield varies naturally, but as a rule in a fair season from 
6 to 8 tons of willows, weighed green, may be expected per 
acre, and a fair average price might be set down as from 21. 10s. 
to 3 1. per ton for the ordinary osiers. Exceptional seasons may 
give a greater or less yield, and exceptional years may also lead 
to variation in prices, but the figures here set down appear to 
be approximately correct. 
Timber. 
James Brown in his book upon Forestry 2 speaks of Salix 
alba , S. Russelliana, and S. fragilis as the best varieties to grow 
as timber trees. He remarks of Salix alba : — 
Its growth is very rapid, and it is thus well adapted to plant in any 
situation upon the park where it may he wished to hide any disagreeable 
object. Upon the estate of Arniston I have planted this tree rather exten- 
sively, and find it grows well in almost any soil provided it has a little 
1 The following estimate of the cost of cultivation has been furnished by 
a Lincolnshire grower : — 
First year's expenses, per acre. 
£ s. ci. 
Trenching and preparing land, 12 to 14 in. deep, say . 13 0 0 
Cuttings, 20,000 per acre at 10s. per 1,000 . . . 10 0 0 
Planting at 2s. 6 d. per 1,000 2 10 0 
Cleaning 10 0 
Total, first year £2tTTb 0 
Second year's expenses per acre. 
£ s. (/. 
Hoeing, first time, 21., second time, 1Z 3 0 0 
Cutting, tying, and carrying rods (2 years old) . . 2 10 0 
Carriage, loading, stacking 2 10 0 
Total, second year 8 o 6 
Return for crop, say 6 tons at 21. 10s. per ton . . . £15 0 0 
Thus the total working expenses for the first two years amount to 
34Z. 10s. 0 d., exclusive of rent, rates, and taxes, and the value of the crop to 
15Z., the adverse balance at the end of the second year being 19Z. 10s. 0 d. per acre. 
In a succession of favourable seasons, he adds, the return for the second and 
third years’ crops will just about balance the expenses incurred during the 
first three years, whilst should blight affect the crop in the first year of 
growth, as was the case in the summer of 1893. no profit can be expected 
under four or five years.— Ed. 
2 The Forester, By James Brown. Third Edition. 1861. Blackwood 
i % Son, 
