20 



prevent their sticking together, and planted in drills, as is usual in 

 nursery practice, the seedlings to be transplanted when one year old 

 to their permanent places; or, where only a few are grown, the seed 

 may be planted in short section of cane, open at both ends, and the 

 seedlings set in their permanent places without removing the cane. In 

 India and Australia both bamboo and Arundo donax are used for this 

 purpose. The cane decays during the first season in the ground, and 

 the young plant receives no check in transplanting. The principal 

 advantage of this method is that it admits of planting out the young 

 acacia plants at any convenient time, while if grown in nursery rows 

 the seedlings can only be safely set while dormant. 



In Australia the trees succeed well under an annual rainfall of from 

 1C to 20 inches, and it is thought that an unlimited supply of water 

 makes the bark deficient in tannic acid. They grow rapidly, increasing 

 in diameter at the rate of an inch per year. The practice is to have 

 the trees stand about 4 by G feet when the first bark is removed. 

 When the seed is sown broadcast the proper distance is secured by two 

 or three thinnings; and when planted in place the greater amount of 

 cultivation required probably offsets the cost of thinning, making the 

 expense of the two methods approximately the same. Doubtless the 

 method recommended for general planting of forest trees in the prairies 

 would be most satisfactory; that is, plant the seedlings 3 by 3 feet, 

 with a view to shading the ground quickly, and thin as required. 



The first harvest is gathered in from five to seven years from plant- 

 ing, when the trees are from I to 5 inches in diameter. The bark of the 

 trunk is somewhat richer in tannin than that of the branches, but in 

 stripping all of the larger limbs should be bared. The amount of 

 tannin contained in the bark varies considerably during the time when 

 the bark will peel, and Australian experiments indicate that the best 

 season is when the bark will first peel readily, as when the buds are 

 swelling. 



When the trees are stripped they should be removed, and seedlings 

 set in their place, or the sprouts permitted to grow. By this means a 

 succession is obtained. The trees are at their best in Australia about 

 the tenth year. Thereafter they are much more subject to injury from 

 fungi and insects. The harvest is usually arranged on a system of 

 thinnings, and covers a period sufficiently long to permit the stripping 

 of the first trees of the second planting when the initial planting is 

 exhausted, making a rotation of about ten years. 



Of the two species the seeds of which were disseminated by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture several years ago, Acacia decurrens, the black 

 wattle, is the more rapid grower in Australia, but A. pycnantha is con- 

 sidered hardier, will endure on drier soils, and is richer in tannin. 

 From the standpoint of the producer, however, in regions where the 

 temperature will permit the cultivation of both species, the black wat- 

 tle will probably be the more profitable, as it attains larger size and 



