The Globe-republican., 1899-06-01
Basket Willows.

icat-tAils and mosquitoes or tax receipts
but that might often be made to yield
profitable returns in various ways. One
s0 these is in the growing Of basket
willows. The first thing necessary for
this crop is to drain the land. Will
lows will do well upon almost any soil
and in almost any situation. They DO
best, however, upon deep sandy loans
in low situations where the air drain
age as well as the land drainage Is
good. Thus the banks Of stream or
the islands in it are superior to lano
hollows which, in their turn, II not SUD-
ject to late spring frosts, are better
than higher ground. The land In these
situations is generally well supplied
with plant food, is rich In humus and
naturally we'll supplied with moisture.
But this last must not be over-esti-
mated. The situation must be such
that the stems will ripen, otherwise
they will be useless for wickerwork or
hoop-poles Where the soil is abund-
antly supplied with water during the
latter part of the summer, particularly
in the north, maturity cannot be count
ed upon. AS a rule the colder the ell
mate the dryer should be the soil after
July In order that the growth may
ripen up well. In general, however,
moist soils and situations that cannot
otherwise be advantageously employed
should be selected for osier hollis, as
basket willow plantations are called.
The preparation of the soil differs
in no respect from the preparation for
q cereal crop, but fitted it must be II
any returns are to be obtained. II
planted primarily to check the wash
ing effect Of floods, however, no prep
aration will be necessary, in fact, such
Is often impossible. But for growing
ho0p-poles and basket wands the land
should be plowed and narrowed deep
~, as deeply as the soil will permit.
AS to fertilizers lime must be avoid
ed since it causes canker-like spots
upon the wands which are thus rem
dered more or less brittle at these
places. heterogeneous food is generally
In good supply upon low grounds such
as should be chosen for this crop SO
none need be applied. Occasionally.
however. applications Of stable manure
will be found of service more partic-
ularly after the ground has been crop
ped for some years. 1t Is as general
rule too expensive to apply this fer
tilizer after the land is once planted
because it must nearly always be car
ried upon the ground by hand il given
during the growing season. the plants
being so close together that the en-
ployment of wagons might injure the
:losely-set shallow-rooted plants. Pot
ash and phosphoric acid are very use
ful and must be used rather freely In
the older plantations.
The cuttings which vary in length
according to the soil from 1916 inches
and which are always taken from the
lower end of the switch on account OF
Its better quality may be set either in
the spring or in the autumn the land
being prepared for the former in the
fall and for the latter in late spring
or early summer, and in the latter
eases kept fallow. In autumn setting
the cuttings are planted at once; In
spring they should be taken some
weeks prior to the bursting Of the
buds and kept in cold water until the
land is ready for planting them. Plant
rs early in the spring as possible since
the chances of success in getting the
cuttings to start are the greater as the
spring growth is less advanced.
The cuttings should be planted full
depth in all ordinary soils but In
heavy and caky lands two or three
buds should be left above ground until
after they have grown an inch or two.
They should then be covered with
earth. Two methods are followed In
plantations. In one the cuttings are
set four inches asunder in rows TWEEN
ty inches apart and should the stand
become too thick each alternate plant
is grubbed out This plan gets rid OF
weeds and keeps the soil moist by the
dense shade it insures. Little or no
cultivation can be given after the first
few weeks undor this plan. By the
other method the distances are IL
inches in the row and rows Sc inches
between rows in which the cuttings
are buried an inch below the surface
20 that the wands shall rise straight
from the ground without any bend or
angle at the bottom. This plan allows
Of annual cultivation and the applica-
ton of manure from wagons. 1t de-
mands only about $4,000 plants to the
acre whereas the former requires sew
eral times as many. If a good variety
be not planted the enterprise will be
doomed to fail. OF the enormous num-
Der Of varieties of willows there are
only q few that are of value in wicker
work and these are practically all Of
European origin or selection. The re-
quirements for first-class willows for
wickerwork are that the rods shall be
slender, unbranched, soft. pliable. and,
when peeled, be white with closed eyes
and large pith. The stock must be
capable of producing for large num-
Der of years. The bitter purple osier,
one of the European sorts, is at pres