The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1893. The Osier

Feilding Star, 20 June 1893, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1893. The Osier

There are few trees wbich are so ornamental as the willow, and atnoug I the infinite varieties of the specie* | the osier holds a prominent position 1 Of course we all recognise that the , willow when shaped and moulded I into the cricket bat stands a bead and \ shoulders, we use the phrase ad- . visedly, above all the known woodi ; of the world, jet its cousin, the osier, 1 as a useful plant giving employment to thousands of men, women, and 1 children, and the conservator of valu- > able lands when used for river bank ! protection also holds a respected and ! honorable position in the vegetable • kingdom. As we have river banks ' here which need protection, and the i osier when used for that purpose can • be made a revenue producer, when I acting in its dual capacity, we will ; endeavour to give a resume of its j mode of cultivation and manufacture. ' The osier is the popular name oi those species of widow which are chiefly used for basket making, and other willow work. They are of low bushy growth, few of them ever becoming trees, their branches long and slender, and they are the more valuable in proportion to the length, slenderness, suppleness, and toughness of their branches. The common osier (salix rimituilis), a common na- . tive of wet alluvial ground in Britain ' and many parts of Europe, is one oi those which sometime become trees, although when cultivated for basket ; work it is not permitted to do so. , It is often planted to prevent the i banks of rivers from being washed ■ away. There are several varieties in cultivation, nut easily distinguished except by a very practised eye, but ' much more useful than the original or wild kind, which is apt to break, and is therefore of little value. More suitable for the finer kinds of basket making are, sah'jr furbyttmt, sometimes called the fine basket osier, and ' the »aUx rubra t known as the greenleaved osier ; sittix tri<m<h<t, known to English babket makers as the Spanish rod ; whilst salix viteUtim, a pr*ndautrous species, sometimes becoming a tree, is the golden osier, or golden willow, remarkable for the bright color of its branches, as well as their pliancy and toughness. Osiers grow particularly well on ground flooded ' by the tide. Much depends on the closeness of planting of osier ground, > as when apace is too abundant the shoota do not grow up so long, slender, and unbrancbed as is desirable. The French cultivators, when they wish osiers for the finest kinds of basket work cut branches into little bits with a bud or eye in eacb, ana plant theee close together, so as to obtain weak but fine shoota ; but generally, cuttings of 15 or 16 inches in length are used, and of tolerably thick branches, and these are placed in rows from 1 8 to 24 inches apart, and at distances of 15 to 18 inches in the row. Osier plantations in light soils continue productive for 13 or 20 years, and much longer in rich alluvial soils, they do not succeed in clays. No cultivation is required after planting, but the shoots are cut once a year, at anytime between the fall of the leaf and the rising of the Bap in spring. In several parts of England and Scot laud great attention is now paid to the cultivation of the osier, and judging from the statements of some of the cultivators, the returns yielded are very satisfactary. We are aware that the industry of basket aud chairmaking has already been successfully establibhed iv Wellington, and

if osier growing were undertaken in this distil ct, where the rirer bed* afford such ample facilities, it would not only be directly profitable, but indirectly so, by saving much valueable land which is now in danger of being washed away, owing to the river banks being denuded of the native forest growth.

The following interesting extract is made ; from an English journal entitled Modern Society, dated May 6ib, and was, the editor informs us, contributed by ' A Clergyman ' : — " Referring to your para- I graph in Modern Society concerning the ) Maori Chief, Te Keoti, at the time of writing I have before me his photo and one of his wife, also a rug he constantly wore. A kinder-hearted man never lived. He and I were travelling together for four mouths, and he was a most agreeable companion. He is supposed to have killed | thirty-two Europeans in one night near I Napier, commonly called the White Cliff , Massacre ; but, as a matter of fact, it was only when his followers knew that the said European settlers were about to deprive him of his land that his faithful follower, Tahau, perpetrated the murders, ' but without his chiefs knowiedge. To [ Keoti was founder of the Hau Hau religion. Several of his relics have found a home at Bournemouth." What pleases us is the sentence "A kinder-hearted man never lived." We are reminded by it of Byron's famous lines, " He was the mildest manner 'd man 'that ever scuttled ship , or cut a throat.' " However, the historical ' information conveyed in 'A Clergyman's' I letter will surprise old New Zoalanders who know the truth about the bloodthirsty ruffian, "Te Kooti." Yet we have | not the slightest doubt but that thrf English readers of Modern Society will accept as solid facts every statement made by ' A Clergyman.'