Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-01-10
An Ancient Art in Which the Britons and
Romans We're Adepts-The Process as 1t
Is Carried ON in Modern shop-Not a
Very Lucratfva CnIIiDs,


Very Lucrative Calling.
Wicker work is world wide and of an
cient date. The Romans found wicker
boats covered with skins in use among
the ancient natives of Britain. Round
boats of wicker work, covered with btu
men or skins, were used on the Tigris
and Euphrates in the time of Herodotus,
and similar boats are still used there. In
India boats of a similar form and con-
struction are still in use for crossing
rapid rivers; they are made of bamboo
and skins and require only few hours
labor.
The ancient Britons manufactured
wicker vessels with extraordinary skill
and ingenuity. Their costly and elegant
baskets are mentioned by Juvenal in
speaking Of the extravaganza of the
Romans in his time. The natives of
South America made baskets of rushes
SO closely woven as to hold liquids. The
natives of Tasmania wove similar water
tight vessels of leaves.
The Katfers and Hottentots are skilled
in weaving the roots of certain plants.
Shiel.ia, in ancient times, were con-
structed Of wicker work, plain or COW
cred 'vith hides, and are still in use
amor certain savage tribes. Wicker
woTN "a now largely used for the bodies
of light carriages. In different parts of
the world, houses, huts, gates, fences,
sledges and shoes are formed by this
ancient and universal art.
In the construction of the rudest kind
of basket the twigs or rods are assorted
according to their size and use and left
considerably longer than the work TO be
woven They are laid on the floor in
pairs parallel to each other and at small
intervals apart and in the direction of
the loA@ diameter of the basket. Two
large are laid across the parallel
rods "uH iIeir thick ends toward the
workman who is 30 put his foot on them
and Weave them one at a time alter
nately usrr aud under those first laid
down. combining them in their places.
This forIa lhe foundation of the basket
and is tecaa.cally called the slat or slate.
Then the long end of one of these two
rods is woven over and under the pairs
of short ends all round the bottom til
the whole is woven in. The same il
done with the other rod, and then addi
tional long ones are woven in till tn,
bottom of the basket is of sufficient size
The sides are formed by sharpening the
large ends of enough stout rods to form
the ribs, anl plating or forcing the
sharpen"d 'o,ds into the bottom of tn,
basket tl,'r the circumference towarC
the cea; ;.r, taen raising the rods in tn.
direction Ji- sides Of the basket are IL
have aiil weaving other rods between
them tit The basket is of the required
dep,h ~" brim is formed by bending
down 'NI fastening the perpendicular
sidcs 'r' ribs, whereby the whole il
tirn,. 3" mpactly united A handle
is tit ~ basket by forcing two OF
three rods of the right length
dow ing of the sides close u
each p;nning them fast about
two i.ir.> Hc!nw the brim, so that the
hands ts retain its position when COM
pleted. I lie ends of the rods are then
bound or plated in any way the work
men may choose.
There are twelve firms of basket max
ers in Detroit, employing about 100 per-
sons, mostly men and boys. 1t is seldom
that a girl is employed in this business,
and there are no women. The reason
assigned is that the only thing they
could 90 would be to plat, and there is
so much bending over in the work.
Besides this the cutting of splints
and bands is very heavy work. The
men AMI bows work ten hours day
when they do not work by the piece, and
the average wages are from IS to $40 per
week. Iece workers sometimes average
$1S per week, but that is when the bas-
ket maker is especially skillful.
The tasket principally manufactured
in the city is the splint, the splints being
shavings cut from Norway pine and in a
large variety of sizes, some covered and
some open, from quart to a bushel and
ahalf. The largest sized covered baskets
are used extensively by florists in which
to convey cut flowers, and are packed in
the delivery wagons. Travelling lunch
baskets are made of the Norway splints,
and are used generally for the festive
picnic and for travelling purposes where
a cold lunch is the comfortable and eco
nomical idea The splints are woven in
diamond s.!ape, and the market baskets
Of this material are called diamond bas-
kets.
Other market baskets are made of the
osier willow, the osiers coming from
various parts of Michigan. OF the willow
baskets, there is the clothes hamper, the
clothes basket and open and covered
market baskets varying in size, but all
having special form.
The willows are prepared by the boil
ing process for the purpose of peeling
them. They are then allowed to cool,
and are tied up in bundles for future use.
They are split as they are needed for use
by passing them through small knife,
set in block. A great many wild will
lows are used, but only in rough baskets,
such as open market baskets. Cultivated
willows are used for the finer qualities of
baskets and willow chairs and cradles,
and the tops of children's carriages. The
willows are grown in swampy places that
cannot be utilized for other purposes
without draining.
The fancy baskets are principally i'm
ported from Germany. The gaudily
stained Indian basket is made on Wal
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