December i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



403 



ground, and this figure, it must be remembered, is merely 

 that calculated from the space (obtained by survey) which 

 the trees now occupy, leaving out of account the lire- 

 vious heavy thinnings, which cannot be estimated and of 

 which uo record has been kept. 



Ou the Marlimund plantation, at 7,500 feet high, but 

 in a sheltered situation on good soil, with sub-foil 

 moisture from a swamp, the gradient being about 

 1 ill 5, the black-wood trees were felled because 

 they had suffered so much from loranthus. Here, as at 

 Brooklands, the black wattle failed to reshoot, so 

 that it seems settled that this tree will not coppice, 

 which the blue gum does readily. In the case of 

 forests, however, as in plantations of cinchona, the 

 best mode seems to be to plant closely, and, then (if 

 the trees do not die out), to thin periodically by 

 uprooting the trees. Regarding Eucalyptus globulus 

 planted on Norwood plantation 9x9, it is reported 

 that the stems were more or less crooked from being 

 planted too far apart. As they grew up, however, 

 they recovered the erect position, and now leave 

 nothing to be desired, the number of trees to the acre 

 being 416, instead of 537 originally. 



At the present moment, the increment of the growing 

 stock is 12'4 tons per acre per annum, or, in other words, 

 over a ton an acre of dry wood per month. 

 Some trees failed and about 60 trees per acre w'ere thinned 

 out under the personal superintendence of the Duke 

 of Buckingham. This plantation is taken to prove 

 that Acacia mt lanoxijlun will grow under a covert 

 where Eucalyptus ylolnilus would not. We quote as 

 follows regarding the Ralia plantation of mixed 

 Australian woods, from which our readers will see that 

 Euccdyptus calophyia is to be avoided in ordering 

 seeds : — 



In June 1876, Colonel Beddome writes with regard to Italia 

 plantation : " Sixty acres planted in 1872, 9' k 9' with Jiii- 

 caly2>tut> ylol'ultfS and Acacia }nclanoxyloi>,iii alternate broad 

 strips, 'the growths of the Etccalyptvs is not straight, having 

 been planted too far apart : this plantation may be treated 

 as a coppice fuel plantation and felled over every five or six 

 years." Agaiu in 1881: '' This plantation is now fit lor the 

 axe, and as soon as increased sales are obtained for firewood 

 it wUl be carefully cut down and the stools trimmed to en- 

 sure good coppice ; the present growth is not straight enough 

 for timber." 



The intermixture of two kinds of trees in this plantatiou — 

 Eucalyptus with a light shade, and Acacia melano.ri/ion with 

 a dense shade — is iutcrestieg. Under the latter, there is a 

 nearly clean soil : under the gum trees there is the usual un- 

 dergrowth of Ruhhs and succulent plants. Fire entered the 

 plantation and did .'ome damage three years ago ; and here 

 it may be remarked that had tht' Acacia rttelanoxyloH been 

 planted in a band entirely round the plantation.it would prob- 

 ably have constituted an efficient bar to the entrance oi fire. 

 A peimauent fire-line, composed of a band of any species of 

 tree throwing a dense shade, would seem to be desirable 

 generally round plantations of blue-gum or other Eucalypts. 

 Acacia viclanudylon would, in addition, be some barrier against 

 the wind. Acacia decurrens or Acacia pycnantlta throw a good 

 shade and atford valuable tanning barks. These species can 

 be seen apparently thriving at the Government Gardens,Ooty, 

 but there is some doubt whether they are hardly enough 

 for planting on a large scale. 



An interesting feature in the Ralia plantation is the fair 

 show of stringy barks, Evca/ypatm: oUqtta. Some of these 

 are of very good girth (after allowing for the thick bark), but 

 both here and at Aimidi, where there are a few trees, the 

 average height rareiy eq\-\a,\s thutoi {.he Eucalyptus y/obulus. 

 In the same baud with the Stringy-barks there are some 

 trees of Eucalyptus caloyhylla presenting a meagre .appear- 

 ance similar to those ot the same age in Ao/icoi/rf plantatiou. 

 In regard to tlie Old Ftrest plantation of 2C0 acres 

 blue gums, it is stated :— 



As at Xiirwouit, the general conclusion to be drawn from 

 the growth at ten years from planting Q'k'J' is, that the 

 forebodings of a bad growth from planting at this dis- 

 tance are not borne out by later experience. Tho cost of 



planting 9' x9' is about one-half that of planting 6' k6', and, 

 though a plantation planted 9'k9' may, for some years, 

 look patchy and uueven (as is, in fact, the case with all but 

 the best natural reproduction), at ten years or as soon as the 

 plantation has closed overhead, there will be no less in the 

 acre-increment and a far better individual-increment for 

 the planting done 9' K 9'. Writing a year ago. Colonel Bed- 

 dome .says : '• This plantation looks remarkably well. It is 

 now being cut down for fuel-supply. The stools have 

 been carefully trimmed and have thrown up good coppice." 

 The coppice growth at this plantation Mr. Dickinson thought 

 was remarkable ; the portion stated to have been cut over 

 four years ago looks to me double that age. 

 And now comes the notice of Black Bridge plant- 

 ation, from which the conclusion seems deducible that 

 even 6,000 feet in Siuth India is tco low an elev- 

 ation for the Australian blue gums : — 

 ■ This is, of the Eucalypt plantations measured, that at 

 the lowest elevation. The sample area had an elevation 

 of 6,025 feet : the elevation of the plantation generally is 

 not above that of Coonocr church, or only 5,954 feet. The 

 giowth in this plantation, whether from differences in 

 soil, elevation, or rainfall, is markedly inferior to that at 

 Bathri. They were both planted in the years of diought — 

 1876 and 1877. There appeared to me in this plantation to 

 be symptoms of that tendency to struggle— to send 

 up long thin stems bearing only a tuft of the early sessile 

 leaves — which is noticable in the Blue-gum as it ap- 

 proaches its lower limit of elevation in the latitude of South- 

 ern India. 

 Bleak House plantation was 



Composed mainly of Acacia, mdanoxylon with Acacia, 

 deallata (AVattle) ill parts, and a few Blue-gums and 

 Casuarinas. Colonel Beddome writes in 18T6 : " About 

 235 acres ; 150 of this was planted nearly twenty years 

 ago chiefly with Acacia inclaiioi-ylon ; this must stand for 

 High-timber, but requures a good deal of thinning : there 

 is some Acacia dealhala which has mostly been felled 

 over for fuel, and it must regidarly be cut over for this 

 purpose on its attainmg sufficient size. Seventy-five acres 

 are young, having been planted during the last few years, 

 and are composed almost entirely ot Acacia dcalhata (the 

 AVattle), and must be treated as a coppice fuel plant- 

 ation." In bis report, dated 1878, Colonel Beddome says 

 that " 150 acres were planted about 1856-57 at 4' y. 4' and 

 75 acres between 1864 and 1S73 at 6' x G'. All the Wattle 

 has been cut out for fuel, and the Aaicia mdanoxylon 

 has been thinned, all the trees suffering from parasites 

 being taken out. The growth here is very poor for its 

 age and this plantation proves how very inferior the 

 Acacia melano.rylon is to Eucalyptus ylobulus either as 

 timber or firewood ; the older portions were originally 

 planted too close, and for many years little or no atten- 

 tion was paid to thinning: hut besides this nearly all 

 the Melanoxylon trees suft'er terribly from the lorauth 

 parasite, which snon renders them sickly and retards 

 their growth, and unless they are cut down tiiey even- 

 tually die ; the largest tree that I could find was 

 only 5' 8" in circumference at 6 feet from the 

 ground, which is very poor growth for twenty- 

 one or twenty-two years, compared to Eucalyptus. 

 The average girth in the older portion ot this plantation, 

 taken from the measurement of SO trees as they came, 

 is 2' 11". It is no use attempting to keep this plant- 

 ation for timber, as the trees will coutinuc to suffer from 

 parasites and must be felled when badly attacked; it 

 should therefore all come down .shor;.;, and when cleared 

 must be replanted with Eucalyptus y,uhulus." Agaiu, in 

 a report written last year ; " A portion of this contains 

 the oldest and largest Acacia mclanoxylvn trees we have 

 on the hiUs, but unfortunately they are so subject to 

 attacks of the parasite (Loranthus) that I fear eventually 

 the whole plantation will have to be cut down. As this 

 site is a suitable one for a plantatiou it should be re- 

 planted with Blue-gum when cleared." 

 But Mr. Hutchins has a very different tale to tell: -7 

 At the present date the Acacia mclaiwxyloii m this 

 plantation presents a far more encouraging appearance 

 than when the above was written. There are now but 

 few trees suffering from loranths: three attacked and 

 tluce dead out of 2S9 trees in the sample area, or 2-07 



