1912. 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
1177 
GROWING BASKET WILLOW. 
The most important center of the willow 
basket making industry in the United 
States is at and in the immediate vicinity 
of the village of Liverpool, about five miles 
northwest of Syracuse, N. Y. There are 
many fields in which the willows are 
grown. The largest single plantings are 
not more than about 15 acres each, but as 
the most approved methods are followed, 
and as all the processes of manufacturing 
are carried on there, it is a good point at 
which to study the basket willow industry. 
From setting the plants to finishing the 
baskets the work is done by hand. The 
number of baskets made is enormous. A 
few are made in the Summer, but the 
Winter is the busy season. Most of the 
shipments are made in the Spring. 
Soil.— The willow is a hardy plant and 
will grow in a great variety of soils, but 
it thrives best in those that are rich and 
moist. On very dry ground and in poor 
soils the growth is small, and in wet land 
that has not been drained it is uncertain. 
If the land is overflowed for any length of 
time the plants will perish. A clay soil 
is not desirable and if used for this crop 
it must be deeply plowed and well drained. 
Thoroughly drained swamp land gives ex¬ 
cellent returns. Any land that will yield 
a good crop of corn will grow willows. On 
rather poor land there should be a mod¬ 
erate dressing of stable manure just be¬ 
fore the harrow is used and an application 
of lime is useful in very sandy soils. 
Preparation of the Land.— Plowing 
should be done in the Fall. On average 
soils 10 inches is none too deep. Clay 
and other hard soils need deeper breaking. 
The best plow for this purpose is one that 
loosens the subsoil but does not bring it 
to the surface. 
Varieties.— The only varieties grown 
here to any extent are the common osier 
or White willow, and the Black willow, 
which is grown on a smaller scale. The 
black variety is larger than the white and 
is used for the bottoms of baskets, where 
extra strength is required. 
Propagation.— The basket willow is 
propagated by cuttings. These are taken 
from rods of one or two years’ growth. 
In a favorable season they do equally well, 
but if a drought comes soon after setting 
those which have grown two seasons, being 
larger and containing more sap, endure it 
better than the younger ones. The cuttings 
are usually made late in February or early 
in March, from the heaviest rods which 
were produced by the most vigorous stools 
and which were selected the previous Fall. 
The rods are usually cut into eight or 10- 
inch lengths, but for use in very loose soils 
they may be a foot or more in length. If 
this work is done long before they are 
to be used the cuttings should be buried 
in rather moist sand. Good cuttings are 
worth about $1.50 per thousand. Some are 
grown here, but most of those which are 
used in New York are grown in Wayne 
County. 
Planting.- —This is to be done as soon 
as the frost is out of the ground in the 
Spring. The cuttings should be placed in 
rows from two to three feet apart. On 
good land the individual plants seem to 
do just as well with the rows only two 
feet apart as they do when given more 
room and, of course, the total yield of an 
acre is much greater, but because it makes 
cultivation easier many growers prefer the 
wider spacing. The places for the rows 
should be marked with twine to insure 
their being perfectly straight. Holes, which 
as a safeguard against heaving by frost 
should slant a little, are made with a 
pointed stick or an iron rod. as deep as it 
is desired to place the cuttings in the 
ground. The cuttings, with the buds or 
eyes pointing up, are pushed into the holes 
until they are firm. The tops may be 
from one to six inches above the surface. 
The distance apart in the rows varies from 
six to 18 inches, but from 10 to 12 inches 
will probably give the best results. If the 
plants are too near together cultivation 
will be difficult and if they are too far 
apart the rods will be crooked at the butts, 
causing considerable waste when they are 
used. Not far from 20.000 cuttings will 
be needed to stock an acre properly. 
Cultivation. —During the first two years 
of their growth the willows should be kept 
free from weeds by frequent but shallow 
cultivation, hoeing, and, if necessary, pull¬ 
ing the intruders by hand. If this work is 
done thoroughly there will not be much 
trouble with weeds in later years, but if 
any appear they should be promptly re¬ 
moved. In cultivating and hoeing care 
must be taken not to injure the stools. To 
keep them from growing as bushes instead 
of as rods the shoots must be cut the 
first year, but there will be few or none 
that are of any value. The second year 
there should be a fair crop, and a still 
better one may be expected the third year. 
Harvesting.— The harvesting can be 
commenced as -soon as the leaves fall, 
usually about the middle of October, and 
may be continued through November. Some¬ 
times the willows arc left standing through 
the Winter, but if this is done they must 
be cut before the sap starts in the Spring. 
The shoots must be cut close to the ground. 
For this work curved knives or hooks, 
which are sharp and strong, and have short 
handles, are used. As they are cut the 
rods are laid in bundles of convenient size 
and weight to handle, generally from 25 
to 50 pounds in each. Later the bundles 
are tied with shoots near the butts and 
tips. Good cutters are paid $2 per day 
of eight hours. If they are not to be 
peeled soop the rods are piled up like cord- 
wood and left in the field. The lower tier 
is laid on boards to keep it from freezing 
to the ground. 
Treatment.— If the rods are to be sap- 
peeled the bundles are set, with the butts 
down, in a tank or pond in which the 
water is four or five inches deep, and left 
there until the buds begin to swell in the 
Spring. The bark will then slip easily 
and the peeling can be done at once. At 
Liverpool this method has been discarded 
for steam peeling. In this process the 
bundles are loaded on wagons made espe¬ 
cially for the purpose, and taken to one of 
the three steaming houses which are located 
here. When the house is reached a close- 
fitting cover is put on the wagon and by 
means of a hose the rods are steamed with¬ 
out unloading. In very cold weather they 
are exposed to live steam for a few minutes 
and then to exhaust steam until the bark 
loosens. This work requires about two 
hours. The steaming can be done at any 
time before Spring. The owner of the plant 
collects the rods in the field and immedi¬ 
ately after steaming he returns them, de¬ 
livers them to some basket maker in the 
vicinity who has purchased them, or un¬ 
loads them at* some place at which they 
are peeled. For all this work he is paid 
$2 per ton, and he takes from one to two 
tons for a load. 
Peeling. —This is done by means of -a 
simple iron instrument called a stripper 
or a brake. This is made of a small iron 
rod shaped like a letter V, with the sides 
near together and the upper ends curved 
a little outward. On one side is a spring 
which yields a little when the rods are 
drawn through. This gives sufficient pres¬ 
sure to insure the splitting of the bark on 
two sides, but not enough to make it diffi¬ 
cult to draw the rods between the up¬ 
rights. The bark is left like loose ribbons, 
and can be easily pulled off by a child. 
The instrument is fastened to a bench or 
table and the one who uses it stands at 
his work. Most of the peeling is done by 
families. As a rule both the father and 
mother work and the children who are old 
enough to do so help when they are not in 
school. The work is very far from being 
clean, but it is not difficult, and it is quite 
a help in Winter when there is but little 
other employment. The price for peeling 
is $13 per ton. An average family can 
peel from three-fourths of a ton- to a ton 
per week. This involves the handling over 
and over of from 45,000 to 60,000 rods. 
Some of the men work from five in the 
morning till 10 at night. The children 
have no holidays. Even at Christmas they 
work during the school vacation. As sooii 
as the peeling is done the rods are placed 
on racks to dry. In bad weather they must 
be covered. They can be used at once, 
but if they are kept dry they remain good 
for several years. 
Grading. —For convenience in packing, 
rods which are to be shipped are sorted 
into three or four lengths. This is done 
before they are peeled. When the rods 
are sold in a local market the basket- 
maker sorts them to suit himself. By plac¬ 
ing the bundles on end in a barrel the 
grading can be done quickly and easily. 
Marketing.— There are more than one 
hundred basket-makers in or near Liver¬ 
pool. Many of them work for larger manu¬ 
facturers and are paid by the piece, but 
others do business for themselves. Some 
of them have been both growing willows 
and making baskets for more than 40 years. 
Not only is there a steady demand for all 
the rods that are grown in this section, 
but large quantities are brought from other 
places, principally from points in New 
York State and from Canada. For some 
years past the price of green willows has 
been from $20 to $25 per ton, and, as 
this country imports from Europe great 
quantities of rods and of manufactured 
willow-ware, there is no probability that 
the demand for home-grown material will 
be lessened or the price decreased. 
Yield.— The shoots reach a height of 
from two to six or eight feet, the smaller 
ones are used for baskets of moderate size 
and the larger ones for those which are 
heavier and stronger. From good land in 
a favorable season a crop of from four to 
five tons of green willows can be obtained, 
and better soils will produce six tons or 
more per acre. Poor soils yield less, and 
very rich ground gives a considerably 
larger quantity. A crop that does not ex¬ 
ceed two tons per acre does not pay for 
its care and harvesting. Each ton of green 
willows should give about 700 pounds of 
peeled and dry rods. The bark adds much 
to the weight of the crop, but it is not 
good for fuel, and it decays too slowly 
to be valuable for manure. It is sometimes 
used for filling in low ground, but is more 
commonly dried, burned in a field, and 
the ashes used as fertilizer. 
Cost of Starting.— At Liverpool land 
suitable for growing willows sells for from 
$35 to $50 per acre. The cost per acre 
of starting a field is about $45, with the 
items divided as follows: Preparation of 
the land. $5 ; 20.000 cuttings. $30; setting 
the cuttings, $10. This will allow the 
rows to be a little less than three feet 
apart and the plants to stand 10 inches 
apart in the rows. The cost of thorough 
cultivation during the first season, in 
which there will not be any income, should 
not exceed $10. The second year the cost 
of cultivation will be about the same, but 
there will be substantial returns from the 
crop. If it is well established and is 
kept free from weeds a planting remains in 
good condition for 10 or 15 years. When 
it begins to decline it can be renewed by 
cutting the stems close to the ground. The 
first year after this is done there will be 
only about half a crop. Then there will 
be a long period in w'hich there will be a 
full yield every year. This process can 
be repeated indefinitely. There are very 
productive fields which have been kept 
along in this way. although the plants 
were set 50 years ago. 
Limitations and Possibilities. —The 
basket willow is not a crop for universal 
cultivation, and it is not a “get-rich-quick” 
crop anywhere. But with favorable condi¬ 
tions as to soil and a good market, either 
local or that can be reached at a moderate 
expense for freight, it can be grown as a 
side line on many farms with considerable 
profit. It is wise to start on a small 
scale. Then if the experiment fails there 
can be but little loss, while if results are 
encouraging operations can be quickly and 
easily enlarged. j. e. r. 
Sprouting Peach Pits. 
I have never failed in sprouting as fol¬ 
lows : Place a gunnysack on the ground a 
few inches beneath the surface, on which 
put pits to a depth of three inches or less; 
cover with five inches of soil. Early In 
the Spring take up and crack those not 
opened. All those carefully cracked will 
grow same as those cracked by nature. 
Taylorville, Ill. j. h. a. 
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