Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-09-11
PROFITS IN BASKET WILLOW
american Soil Well Adapted to the Plan and Wide
Opportunities for Articles Made From 1t.

A good basket willow possesses the
following characteristics: az Abil-
ity to yield an annual and uniformly
paying crop of rods; (2) flexibility; (3)
productiveness-i. e., many shoots to
each stool; (4) slender and branchless
rods; {5) smooth and white wood after
.peeling.
Cuttings for paintings should be
made from one-year-o shoots. The
length of the slips is regulated by the
condition of the soil. The richer the
soil is the shorter the cuttings may be.
Generally they are made eight inches
long for moist, rich soil, and twelve
inches for dry, sandy SOIL
Although it is generally advised to
prepare cuttings just before planting,
they may be made several weeks in
advance and partially buried in mod
erately moist sand and stored in a cold
barn until needed
Bury the cuttings in sand to within
one inch of the top. Care should be
taken to have the buds point upward
Plant early in the spring, as soon as
the frost is out of the ground. In
spacing the plants the following prin-
ciple holds for all willows and for all
soils: The closer the cuttings are
planted the more valuable. e., more
flexible, tough, slender and branchless
the rods become. On the other hand,
they must not be planted so close that
the soil in and between the rows can
not be cultivated.
AS general rule cuttings should be
spaced eight inches apart in the rows
and twenty inches between the rows.
Willows with small leaves should be
planted six, by eighteen inches or five
by fifteen inches apart. Otherwise
they are likely to branch too much.
The number of cuttings required to
plant an acre nine inches apart and
twenty inches between rows is $4,000.
Cultivate early in the spring and
as often as necessary to remove all
weeds and to keep the soil loose. If
this is done well for the first two or
three years there will be very little
trouble with weeds thereafter, because
the weeds are completely shaded out
by the dense leaf development. Bind
weeds and wild morning glories are
very troublesome in most hollis, and
must be removed. This holt cannot be
cultivated too often so long as the
stools and shoots are not injured by
the cultivator.
The best time for cutting the rods
is between Nov. 10 and Feb. 10. Rods
from one-year-old hollis should be cut
at the, end of the first year, preferably
when the ground is frozen.
During the first year the root system
is small and care must be taken in cut
ting not to pull up the stools. Keep
the knife sharp and make the cutting
strokes clean and decisive. Cut close
to the stools, but not into them.
Rods to be peeled are stood on end
in pit containing water from four to
six inches deep and kept there until
the sap rises (the buds open and leaves
appear), when the bark can be re-
moved.
The peeled rods are quickly bleached
and dried when exposed to the sun
after which they are sorted, tied In
bundles and stored in dark, dry place
Frequently willow rods are steamed
or boiled in water for three or fou1
hours as a means of preparing fol
peeling--a method which loosens the
bark and renders the peeling easy.
Boiling or steaming gives the rods
an undesirable dark buff color which
makes them less valuable
Rods are peeled by drawing then
through a springy wooden or stee
fork shaped like clothespin, bu'
larger. This loosens the bark in
strands SO that it can easily be re.
| moved by the hands.