Osier 1The plant and its uses
Osier
Original title: Vimeiro
The Madeiran osier or willow, a probable hybrid of Salix alba and S. fragilis, whose flexible shoots supply the island's wickerwork industry. The entry describes its cultivation, the export trade in raw and worked wicker, and the causes of the industry's decline around 1921.
1The plant and its uses
The Madeiran osier appears to be the product of a cross between Salix alba and S. fragilis. It is a shrub or small tree with long, flexible branches and lanceolate leaves; the mature leaves are glabrous, while the young ones are somewhat satiny. Only female plants exist in Madeira, but these are extremely abundant and are propagated from cuttings with the greatest ease.
The longer shoots of the osier are used to make a great number of pieces of furniture and utensils, such as settees, chairs, tables, carts, baskets, etc., and the shorter ones for ties and straw bands, as well as for some of the small articles made on the island.
In 1912, 265,919 kilograms of worked wicker were exported abroad and to Lisbon, and 255,390 kilograms of raw wicker were exported abroad alone. England, the Canary Islands and the Cape of Good Hope were the chief importers of the unmanufactured wicker.
2Industry, trade and harvesting
The wickerwork industry, which appears to have begun in the parish (freguesia) of Camacha around 1850, is in decline in Madeira today, according to the intelligent manufacturer Mr José Maria Teixeira. Meanwhile it is growing in other countries, above all in South Africa, to which the island exports its wicker. In the view of this well-informed manufacturer, the main causes of the industry’s loss of much of its former importance are several. The rising cost of the raw material prevents some manufacturers who are short of capital from buying it at the proper season. Many of the workers once employed in the industry have gone abroad, while others on the island have taken up more profitable work. Freight charges on finished wicker are heavier, because it takes up more space in ships’ holds. Finally, duties and local taxes weigh more heavily on wickerwork than on the raw material.
Madeira produces 700 to 800 tonnes of wicker a year, and perhaps half of this output leaves the island. At the Cape of Good Hope, once an important market for Madeiran wickerwork, many of the same articles are now made with wicker imported from our island, and the same is happening in Brazil. England is the country that at present imports large quantities of the wickerwork made in Madeira, and, we are told, it also receives large amounts of raw wicker (1921).
The osier is pruned from January to March. The wicker intended for working is gathered into bundles straight after cutting, and it is then customary to leave the lower ends of the bundles standing in water until the shoots begin to sprout. Once sprouting has begun, the wicker is peeled, taking care to cut off the part that has been under water.
Much of the wickerwork produced on the island is distinguished by the ingenuity, care and solidity of its workmanship. These qualities make it highly valued by Portuguese and foreigners alike, and at the same time show great skill and taste on the part of Madeiran craftsmen. Boaventura (‘good fortune’) and Camacha are the chief places where osier is produced, and it is from Camacha that most of the wickerwork exported or sold in Funchal comes.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 03Place
Places mentioned · 09
Abroad
- Boaventura
São Vicente. One of the main osier-producing localities.
North-coast parish in the municipality of São Vicente, one of the three parishes forming its julgado and concelho. Its serras are a habitat of the pau branco, and it suffered damage in the floods of 1895. Off its coast lie the Boaventura islets, also called ilhéu Porco and ilhéu Vermelho.
- Brazil
Makes wickerwork from Madeiran osiers.
Brazil is recorded in the Elucidário as a chief destination of Madeiran emigrants, including several clergy and writers. It was also a market for Madeira wine and brandy and a maker of wickerwork from Madeiran osiers. It was linked to Madeira by the 1874 telegraph cable and is the native country of the araçá.
- Camacha
Santa Cruz. Parish where wickerwork began around 1850 and main source of exported wicker.
Camacha is an upland parish above Caniço in Santa Cruz municipality, founded in 1676 with its seat in the São Lourenço chapel. The Elucidário covers its church, role in the 1828 Miguelist invasion, quintas, levadas, the Poiso shelter house, its Pentecost pilgrimage, women's padded skirts, its plants and gardens, and its famous wickerwork industry started by Hinton.
- Canary Islands
Spain. Importer of raw osiers in 1912.
The Canary Islands are the archipelago neighbouring Madeira, with disputed accounts of their discovery. Tradition holds that their Béthencourt king sold them to Prince Henry in exchange for lands in Madeira. The Elucidário notes many contacts between the two archipelagos, including scientific visits, the Orfeão Madeirense's tour in May 1922 and the massacre of forty Jesuits in their waters.
- Cape of Good Hope
South Africa. Former market for Madeiran wickerwork, now making its own from imported osiers.
The Cape of Good Hope is the region of origin of several plants found in Madeira, such as Agapanthus umbellatus. It was formerly a market for Madeiran wickerwork but now makes its own from imported osiers. It was also the destination of several notable voyages that called at Madeira.
- England
United Kingdom. Main importer of Madeiran wicker, raw and worked.
England appears in the Elucidário as the first main market for Madeira embroidery and the main importer of Madeiran wicker. It was also the source of most butter consumed in Funchal in the early nineteenth century. It was a chief refuge for liberal emigrants fleeing Miguelist persecution, and several Madeirans studied or served as diplomats there.
- Funchal
Where much Camacha wickerwork is sold.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Lisbon
Portugal. Destination of worked wicker exports in 1912.
The Portuguese capital, seat of the Relação court and of the Misericórdia whose privileges and statutes were extended to Funchal. Henrique Franco de Sousa studied at its Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and Luiz José Baiardo moved there in 1821.
- South Africa
Growing wickerwork industry supplied with Madeiran osiers.
South Africa is recorded as the place where Prince Eugène Napoléon died in the Zulu War. It was the terminus of the Eastern Telegraph Company cable. It imported Madeiran wicker and osiers before developing its own wickerwork industry, and emigrants living there gave the Estreito da Calheta clock.
People
People mentioned · 01-
Madeiran wickerwork industrialist who informed the Elucidário about the causes of the industry's decline.