File:American homes and gardens (1911) (18154971651).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar81911newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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March, 1911 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS in pectation he waited for the remarkable crop he was going to produce, but the harvest showed him the danger of using cuttings not suited to his soil and climatic conditions. There are about ninety dif- ferent varieties and hybrids of basket- willows that are successfully grown in Europe. In this country there are but four kinds that are yielding good returns, and only one of those is especially well suited to the lake States. Not a single variety has been found that can be grown successfully in the southern States. The desired improvement should be brought about by continually selecting certain rods from normal stools of a vari- ety that is most likely to yield to judi- cious treatment. To develop or to accen- tuate a specific quality which the bulk of rods are now lacking is the most impor- tant consideration for the American wil- low culturists. Slender, cylindrical, flex- ible, and tough rods are sought by the best basket makers, and so long as the American farmer is unable to raise a sufficient quantity of this sort, the manu- facturers will buy their raw material in Europe. Consequently, the domestic rods will sell at a very low figure. Better strains of willows for local use will have to be developed, just as certain strains of farm crops have come to be recognized as suitable for local use. Because of the future importance of the industry and the strength of foreign competition, a rapid development in the quality of American grown rods is essential. This much-de- sired improvement of the basket-willow in the United States can be brought about by continually selecting cuttings from the shoots having the desired qualities. Since such strains are not as a rule sus- ceptible to general adoption, it will be necessary to develop different ones for different localities. In certain portions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Kentucky, the American green willow is seriously af- fected with a willow rust which destroys the leaves prematurely, and consequently the shoots die. This disease was first dis- covered in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and later it appeared in Ohio, and now is reported from Kentucky. A wide- awake farmer in the last State ob- served that a certain strain of American green is very rarely affected by this rust. He concluded at once that this is an im- mune variety, which he is now success- fully raising. This rust seriously affects the character and value of the rods. If the rods are not killed outright, they usually become so brittle near the top that the basket maker is unable to use them. Farmers who wish to start a plantation of basket-willows should not buy a large number of cuttings by faith. There are nurseries springing up here and there, and the proprietors claim that they can furnish cuttings of all the best varieties known to willow culturists. The fact is that some of these nurserymen do not know the correct names of the willows they have for sale, nor do they know for what localties their varieties are best suited. Unless the farmer can buy se- lected cuttings from his neighbor, he is likely to be at the mercy of the dealer living at a distance, since he may not see the stock until it arrives on his farm. Al- though basket-willow breeding cannot be followed in the scientific sense by the farmer, selecting cuttings from the shoots on the stump and propagating them is a simple matter, and can be practiced by any farmer. Testing certain strains, con- tinuing the best kinds, and discarding the
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