It proved of excellent advantage to me now, that when I was a boy, I used to take great delight in standing at a basket-maker’s, in the town where my father lived, to see them make their wicker-ware; and being, as boys usually are, very officious to help, and a great observer of the manner in which they worked those things, and sometimes lending a hand, I had by these means full knowledge of the methods of it, and I wanted nothing but the materials, when it came into my mind that the twigs of that tree from whence I cut my stakes that grew might possibly be as tough as the sallows, willows, and osiers in England, and I resolved to try.
A módszerrel tehát teljesen tisztában voltam, csak jó anyagban szenvedtem hiányt. Ekkor jutott eszembe, hogy az élő sövénynek ültetett fák hajtásai nyeséskor olyan hajlékonynak tűntek, mint az angol fűzfa, ezért gondoltam, próbát teszek velük.