The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-02-19

W uIOp Tue uuuui6 Ou the Gnu SofcI al
time before pitting in order to even
up the butts.
The location of the pit will de-
pend, of course, upon the available
supply of water, but an effort should
be made to have it where the willows
will be protected from the wind and
near spot where peeling can be
conveniently done. Provision should
be made against the pit filling up to
an undesirable depth during a
freshet. If there is no running water
near the holt, the surface run-off
can often be used.
A shallow pit fed by reservoir
or pond is better than a deep one
which fills up during rain. A
reservoir for pit can often be made
by merely throwing up a low bank
of earth across a depression located
somewhere above the pit. The water
can then be let into the pit as need
ed. Deep mud or slime at the bot
tom of the pit should be avoided,
since it discolors the base of the rods,
although these portions under water
are always somewhat discolored It
is seldom a good plan to pit rods in
running streams, since it is hard to
obtain a uniform dept of water, and
there is always danger of the rods
being carried away by freshets.
Drying, Drafting and Bundling
Peeled willow rods should be
thoroughly dried before bundling.
One or two days in the hot sun will
suffice for this, if the rods are we'll
spread out on racks. They should
be kept out of the rain, and covered
at night to protect them from the
dew. Otherwise they lose their white
ness.
Rods are often drafted, or sorted,
as soon as they are cut from the
holt, but it is better if they are fairly
uniform in size to sort them while
peeling. With little pratice a
peeler can divide the rods into sew
eral piles, according to size, without
the expenditure of extra time and
with very little additional labor.
Where there are large number
of rods, bundling should be done by
a machine. Willows well sorted and
bundled are much more salable than
those which have been poorly pre-
pared for the market. Rods which
have decided curve at the base, like
the Lemley, should be bound with
the ends pointing uniformly in one
direction. This results in a much
neater and more compact bundle, and
also permits of better stacking.
Returns From Willow Growing
The cost of establishing and pre-
pairing basket-willow holt varies
much more than in the case of the
ordinary farm crop; consequently
there is also wide variation in the
net returns per ace. The one thing
to keep in mind in willow gowisg
is that poorly managed holt, even
If we'll situated, will not pay, while a
well-managed holt, even under less
favorable conditions, will return a
good profit Willow growing re-
quires certain amount of exact
knowledge, and for this reason the
costs for the beginner are generally
higher than for the experienced
grower.
Markets and Manufacture
In Europe every grade of basket,
from the finest to the coarsest. is
made of willow. The heaviest farm
baskets and receptacles for handling
rough merchandise are made out Of
unpeeled rods, while peeled rods 60
into market, clothes, and fruit bas.
kets, furniture, hampers and trunks
In Europe, too, the finest examples
of split willow ware have been de.
veloped.
In America the market has a diff
ferent aspect. A large number Of
baskets are made of wood, some OF
woven pine, oak, ash, and elm strips;
others from broad veneers laid to-
gether at the bottom and fastened
at the rim by trip. Wood goes in.
to market, clothes, and laundry has
kets, and willow is forced to be con
tent with a limited share of the gen
eral trade. Reed and rattan, too
have a permanent place in the Ameri
can market.
Though willow is less easy to worl
than rattan, its durability, lightness
and beautiful color have brought i
into favor with manufacturers of fur
niture, several of whom have give1
up rattan entirely in favor of willow
Today there is steady demand fol
willow furniture, where's light, vt
tractive, and durable goods are de
sired.