Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-12-01
WILLOWS AS A CROP.
Interesting Experiment in Farming for
the Willow Ware Industry.

A new industry has been established
i'll st. Louis county near the little town
Of Attention, thirty-siX miles west Of
st. Louis, on the Missouri Pacific and
st. Louis and San Francisco railroads,
which, if successful, will furnish en-
ployment to thousands Of unemployed
, laborerS. The enterprise is for the cul-
tivation, on Il large scale, of willows
suitable for the manufacture of willow
, ware.
The site selected for this purpose,
, says the st. Louis Globe Democrat, is
the old County Poor Farm, which con-
, tains about 400 acres This property,
with the half-comp,eted buildings origi-
nally intended for county institutions,
was purchased last spring from the
county court by William Huke, who
has been engaged in the manufacture
OF wiIoWware in this city for the past
tweEty years. Mr.. Huke later trans
: ferred the property to the William
Huke Willow Culture and Manufacture
ing company, which was organized with
Il capital stock of 100000 to carry on
the business. Mechanics were set to
work upon the half-tinished buildin gs
Of the county farm, and they are now
being converted into an immense fac
tory, hot house, steaming house, ware
house, offices and residences. When
completed this will be the largest plant
. of the kind in the United States.
SIX months ago the company, under
of In.
100000 plants-an equal number each
from Belgium and France-which were
tranSplanted onto the Allerton farm on
the siXty-tiye acres that have been in
, cultivation for a number Of years. Not
withstanding the dryness of the season
very fair crop of willows of fine
quality is now nearly ready for har-
vesting. The willows, which now aver
age from + 70 I feet in height, will
continue to grow rapidly until the first
Eeayy fall of frost, which drives the
sap from the canes, strips them of
their leaves and toughens the bark
They will then be ready for harvest
ing. With the present indicat tons of an
early fall the harvesting viii probably
begin in few weeks
A description of the process through
which the willow goes in its various
stages Of cultivation, harvesting and
preparation for the factory is interest
ing. The willow plant is obtained by
cutting up live willow twigs twelve
inches long. These are sharpened at
one end and planted in rows by thrust
int %1on 70
of six or eight inches AS soon as the
plants begin to sprout the work Of
wedding and cultivating should begin
and be kept up until the crop is laid
by, the same as in the cultivation of
corn. The canes ripen in the fall when
the frost strips them Of the leaves and
tunS the bark glossy brown color.
When ripe the willows are, under IA
vorable circumstances, from ten to
twelve feet in length. They are then
cut and tied in bundles like rye, carted
to the hot houses, where they are sub
jected to a sweating process, which
softens Snd belaches the bark, which
is then easily peeled off by dragging
them through a little machine made
for that purpose. Another process is
that of steaming the willows, which
is much quicker, requiring only few
hours, while the former requires a
month, but it is not so desirable, as
the willows are discolored to some e1-
tent, and thus rendered less valuable
for fine work.
The willow plant lasts about twelve
years, after which they are gubbed up
and the ground replanted. The plant