Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1866-10-05
Cultivation and Manufacture of
OSicPs,

y writer in the Boston 1drertiser says
that the osier, or basket willow, is very
profitable crop, and can be grown upon
lands too wet and cold for ordinary crops.
lie says it will yield from two to four tuns,
green. per acre-worth $40 per tun-and,
peeled, ii has been sold as high as $500 per
tun within two years.
Without indorsing entirely his statements,
il is an indisputable fact that the osier can
be made very profitable product of the
farm, even when the manufacture is distant
from tho place of production. After being
once fairly started it will almost take care
OF itself, requiring only the attention nee
essary to its cutting and preparation for the
manufacturer 1t is tenacious of life is not
frost killed, and, after the second year, con-
tlnues indefinitely to yield an over increas-
ing amount. 1t is easily cultivated from
cuttings, and keeping the soil mellow and
free from weeds and grasses the first two or
at most three years, it asserts its supremacy
and adheres as tenacously to the soil as the
Canada thistle.
The principal obstacle to its general cul-
tlvation is the labor of pceling it, a work
that must be performed at or near the local
ity of its growth. The shoots are cut after
the ground is frozen, to prevent to roots
from being pulled from the soil in the act of
and placed in a tank, or on a level piece of
grouud, supported in an upright position,
and water to the depth of two or three inches
is allowed to flow over the butts. After
standing until spring, the stem has absorb
ed water enough, by capillary attraction, to
render the removal of the bark easy This
is done by drawing the shoots through a
split sapling or between two upright pieces
of iron This is labor ofpatience and can
not be slovenly performed. Although ma
chimes have been devised Tor the work. they
have not, we believe, proved entirely salts
factory. The attention Of our mechanics
and inventors is directed to this tact.
The osier is largely used in the manufact-
ure OF chairs, settees, baskets, sleigh and
wagon bodies, and even tables, and is capa-
Bile Of being applied TO a diversity of pur-
poses. We have seen summer cottages
furnished almost entirely of willow ware
chairs, tables, sofas, lounges, etc. Large
amounts of the raw material and the manu-
lacture are imported into this country, prin-
cipally from Germany, but within few
years the manufacture has been successfully
prosecuted here on quite an extended scale.
One of the largest, if not the most extern
sive, manufactures of the osier, is at Hart
ford, Conn, 1t is one of the enterprises of
the late Col Samuel Colt, and consists of
several large buildings for the work and
village, the houses OF which are limitations
of Swiss cottages, giving a very picturesque
aspect to the locality. The osier is grown
upon the sloping sides of the dykes, built by
Col. Colt to resist the annual floods of the
Connecticut, upon the banks of which the
manufactory stands. The osiers were first
planted there principally as protection to
the carthwork, a service they admirably
perform, their roots forming a close net
work on the surface and penetrating the
soil several feet, binding the whole mass
completely together, For this property
osiers are largely cultivated on the Holland
dykes and subserve very useful design.
In England they are employed in the forma-
ton of hedges, the pliablity of the shoots
rendering the formation of an impenetrabe
waffle feasible.-Scientifc Americdn.