CHAP. C1II.

salica'ce.®. sa'lix.

1475

ill

sulphur (Ijlb. is sufficient for a room 10 ft. on every side, and 10 ft. high)

,s then dropped into the iron vessel, and the operator instantly leaves thes h ut; ting it close, and leaving it for ten or twelve hours, generallyall night. The chemical explanation of the mode in which the sulphureousgas generated operates has not, we are informed by chemists, been yet sa-tisfactorily given. Some kinds of osiers whiten much better than others.One of the best for this purpose is S. amygdalina; next, S. triandra, and, uecfpiens ; and the worst is S. Forby ana, the rods of which cannot bewhitened at all.

■PnjSf of a Plantation of Osiers for Wickerwork or Basketwork. — Much hasteen said of the great profit to be obtained from a plantation of willows fornoops or basket-making; on which, as in all similar cases, it may be observed,mat extraordinary care, in the case of any crop whatever, will be attendedToo extraordinary produce; and that, wherever there is extraordinary profitwithout extraordinary care, there must be extraordinary risk. This last ise case with willow plantations, in common with those of the hop, of rapeor seed, and of various other crops. Mitchell quaintly remarks that, where^quantity of land is planted with basket willows, “ a man will do well to,'ake ® n . et profit of 104 per acre; for the plants are very subject to thepredations of insects.” In the Transactions of the Society for the Encourage -ien ofArts, vo 1. xxiii., for 1805, an account is given of a plantation of sevendet^? ma ^ e ’ n f en lands of Ely, from which we extract the followingtha^th ^ anc ^ waS cast ' nto k e< ^ s 12 ft. w ’ c * e > and raised 18 in. higher

p 0 n f ae 8^ era l surface, by the earth taken out of the intervening open drains,offfi 6611 [° usa nd sets were planted per acre, and the following is an account

5 i) 3