Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-09-11
BY WILLIAM F. HUBBARD,
Forest Service, United States Department Of
Agriculture.

Willow growing gives an uncom-
monty high margin of profit. A large
demand for willow is now supplied by
import, and as American grown rods
are of good quality when proper care
is taken in their culture there is no
reason why the further development
of the industry should not be possible
II more American farmers can be con-
WINGED of its practicability.
OF late years willow furniture has
sprung into fashion and to-day no
minor industry is more prosperous
than that devoted to it's supply. The
wages are good and the manufacturers
demand a steady supply of superior
willow
This is now almost entirely received
from France at a price which will give
the entire trade to the American If he
can equal the quality.
Experience has proved that no stock
is equal to willow when durable bas-
kets are demanded. The high class
basket has made a place for itself in
the market even under present circun-
stances, and the entire decline in the
trade has been in the low-priced bas-
ket, which completes with the foreign
willow product or the American made
wooden basket.
To put a low priced basket on the
market with raw willow at its present
price the wages must be cut lower
than the normal standard in America.
For this reason the trade is almost
entirely in the hands of immigrant
basket makers, who know no other
trade and who are seldom or never
REINFORCED by native workmen.
The remedy lies in reduction in the
cost of the raw material. The cheaper
the willow (when good in quality the
better the wages which can be paid to
produce a low priced basket, and a
low priced basket of good quality will
find an almost unlimited market On
this point the entire trade agrees.
Great care should be taken in the
selection of the willow bed. Rich, per-
manently moist sandy loan gives best
returns, though ordinary moist sandy
land often yields profitable crops of
willows.
Poor soils produce paying crops
where there is a market for short rods.
Avoid land on which water is stagnant
during the summer. If by drainage the
water level on such land can be low
cred at least six feet below the surface
the situation may be considered ap-
'propriate.
Do not plant willows in localities
where early frosts occur. The tender
s shoots are easily injured by the cold.
Plow ten or twelve inches deep in
The fall, prior to planting the following
spring. This turns the top layer of
The soil so deep that weed. seeds can
not spring up.
If rain is insufficient, irrigate the
willow bed if possible, but thorough
drainage must be provided as water
must not stand on the surface. 1t is
best also to keep the land well drained
during the winter.
Returns depend very largely upon
the method of culture, but more upon
the variety of the willow planted. be-
cause the shoots of even the best va
rieties and in the most suitable soil
grow brittle after the stools become
old.
The American green and Welsh will
lows are most generally planted. The
rods of the former peel readily. sniff
easily, are snow white, hard, flexible
and heavy
They have a tendency to branch
however, and unless the stools are
planted close together a large percent
age of the rods branch SO much that
they are often unfit for peeled stock