Auor5T I, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



129 



roots rapidly developing, fill up the entire pot with n 

 contorted and interlaced mass, and the taproot, twisting 

 round like a corkscrew, often assumes an upward direction, 

 with usually causes lingering the death, roots being unable 

 to disentangle themselves and assume their natural direction 

 and relative position ; the suiriving plants obtain merely 

 a rachitical existence, and very rarely become healthy, 

 and never really fine trees. In large operations any unfore- 

 seen delay in carrying on the planting with sufficient 

 rapidity may compel the use of " pot-bound " plants, with 

 all the explained disach'autages, and I therefore declare 

 myself hostile to the jiots, anil iu favour of the direct 

 removal of the seedlings to their plantatiou^ from a series 

 of beds prepared as related in the first section, so as to 

 secure by their softness the cert-ain germination of the 

 seed, while assuming, when thoroughly dried, the tenacity 

 of sun-dried brick, thus facilitating the removal of the 

 seedlings without disturbance of their roots. In cutting 

 out the seedlings from the beds, the severance of many 

 ends of roots is unavoidable, but occasions no injury vvhat- 

 ever, since their general relative disposition aud direction 

 (especially important iu the tap-root) are preserved, and 

 they have to undergo bo struggle to rectify distortions 

 such aa they sutfer in the pots. Many large plans have 

 failed complet-ely, from the plants having been pot-bound, 

 and the failure is attributed to every cause but the true 

 one. I know, for instance, of a municipality having ex- 

 pended a large sum on the formation of miles of avenues 

 of Eucalyptus, all of which have turned out small, un- 

 healthy, and distorted trees, and which will never be any 

 better. The people themselves blame the trees, and 

 denounce them aa unsuitable to the climate and ugly in 

 themselves ; but an expert can see evidently that the 

 cause lies iu their having been grown in sand and pots, 

 according to the instructions of the local sages. 



3. Sl-iKi.NG THE Thees. — It ia generally recommended 

 that seedlings should on transplantation be tied to a stake, 

 to prevent their being overthrown by the wind. I think 

 this practice generally mischievous. 



The Gum tree, when healthy— i.e., in favourable soil, 

 and starting with sound and contorted roots — is quite 

 as able to resist wind as any other tree, in spite of its 

 slender superficial roots, since, armed with the whiles of 

 Nature, they immediately build up a mass of filamentous 

 root", extending Uke a net in every direction, and throw 

 out numerous boughs, heavily loaded with foliage of 

 graduated length, from the ground upwards ; thus present- 

 ing the aspect of a broad-based cone with its centre 

 of gravity in the lower third of its height, so that when 

 agitated by wind they not only hold on by their reticulated 

 surface-roots but are also sustained by "the actual contact 

 of their lower boughs with the soil. Kelieved by the 

 props of the necessity of those precautions, they develope 

 fewer roots and lower boughs, and running too soon to 

 height, and shifting upwards their centre of weight, become 

 top-heavy, and can only be saved hv substituting longer 

 and longer props, from frctiun with wLich they often 

 sustain damage, and rarely turn out quite satisfactory, in 

 spite of the trouble they cause. At the same time it is 

 doubtless necessary to continually examine the young trees, 

 and to prop those partially uprooteJ, or which, having failed 

 to protect themselves by proper boughs and foliage, have 

 a spindly growth. I may mention that in plantations 

 the trees jrreitly protect ne another by ii\tercepting the 

 wiad. 



4. DiarwcE at AVhich the ThEe;^ Should he Planted. 

 —Influenced by the analogy of European plantations many 

 persons have wasted large sums in planting these trees in 

 thick clumps, thinking that as their growth progresses 

 they may be thinned out advantageously, and that those 

 spared will attain the same development as if originally 

 planted at suitable distances, only suffering the usual 

 retardation, Conrinced of the necessity of testing this 

 before undertaking an industrial plantation. I planted half 

 an acre favourably situated at distances of 2 metres apart 

 (that often recommended), and a part even closer together, 

 with the bad result which immediately became apparent. 

 Unable to obtain sufficient air and sun, they entered into 

 tt frantic struggle to overtop one another; tlio.^e which were 

 distanced in the race were completely deprived of leaves 

 and eventually died, the remainder could only maintain 

 a ecanty foliage at the top, and when already 60 feet 



17 



high (their growth was rapid enough iu height) were not 

 more than 8 iuches iu diameter, ami their wood was nearly 

 worthless. Ky thinniug they were not restored to pro- 

 sperity; as they had formed uo matted surface roots they 

 were most of them blown down, and those which escaped 

 this fate showed no sign, when 1 last saw them, of any 

 serious increase of girth. 



The planter should never loso sight of the main 

 peculiarity of the Blue Gum, viz., that its whole future 

 is irrevocably fixed in early youth, i. «., before it exchanges 

 (at from two to three years old) its abundant boughs, 

 loaded with luxuriant dark blue foliage, for the eparso 

 ramifications, aud dark, narrow, and almost shadeless 

 leaf, of its second stage of vegetation. Should its early 

 roots have been unhealthy ; if on transplantation it has 

 failed to devt'lope a large crop of inferior boughs and of 

 healthy leaves; if these inferior boughs have been stripped 

 of folifige,* or have been only clothed at their extremities 

 with leaves; or should the leaves, instead of presenting 

 their healthy tint of glossy dark blue, become clouded with 

 greyish bloom, be rt'd or yellowish, a perfect development 

 will rarely bt; realized, and I should recommend removal 

 and replacement as a saving of time. I may remark iu 

 this connection that a premature change of leaf is a sure 

 indication of ill-health. 



I ultimately made the large plantation at the distance 

 of 5 metres, or with 25 square metres to each tree, but 

 on their arriving at four years old, I was convinced 

 that even this distance was not sufficient; as, however, 

 they would not have incommoded one another till long 

 after the change of leaf thej' might perhaps have been 

 thinned at about ten years old without damage, i.e., 

 obtaining useful timber from those alternately cut down 

 before any appreciable injury would have been incurred 

 by those remaining. I think, however that the best plan 

 is to plant them at 7 metres apart (if not a little more), 

 utilising the enclosures after a few years where possible 

 for pasturage, since the matured Gum at this distance 

 with its comparatively scanty crown aud obliquely st t 

 foliage would not prevent the growth of coarse herbage, 

 if soil and moisture were suitable. 



The whole beauty and much of the success of the 

 plantation depends on the exact collocation of each tree 

 in its place, so as to form to the eye avenues in every 

 direction; the ground should, therefore, lie previously laid 

 out with a theodolite, or it may even be done by a 

 skilful and careful operator witli a large compass by the 

 well-known methods employed in such cases. AVhen the 

 inestimable advantage of artificial irrigation exists, the 

 gutters should be equidistant and parallel, and the trees 

 placed in them, or at their edge. I must not forget to 

 mention that the young trees at the moment of planting 

 must be watered, as they are always quite dry when 

 planted, whether from pots, or according to my plan, 

 in little bricks, in order to avoid detachment of the 

 soil from their roots; when there is no irrigation, and 

 rain should be inconveniently delayed, they would doubt- 

 less again shortly require to be watered by hand, which 

 is a costly aud iroublesome pro<eeding on a large scale. 

 When once rooted they can exist an ahnobt indefinite 

 time without rain, tiiough they will not thrive until iliuy 

 get access to subsoil moisture. 



5. Planting in Mawsii Land.— The stranpest peculiarity 

 of the Gum is its combination of the greatest avidity for 

 water, which it contains in the form of sap, ancl throwH 

 off from its leaves in almost incredible quantities, with 

 the capacity of surviving prolongod drought, and of thriving 

 fairly iu very dry places when once developed to a cei tain 

 point by a sufficient supply of moisture. It is, howevCT't 

 my opinion that the customary statement, that the Gum 

 tree will grow iu rank marshes, /,r., in land completely 

 saturated to the surface with stagnant water, is verv 

 extravagant; and I may boldly state that this tree will 

 not grow in waterlog^^ed soil, altlinugh it feels much 

 less aversion to running than to stagnant water ; enduring, 

 for instance, for a long time complete immersion of itfl 

 roots in the flood water of a river, while dying rapid'y 

 under the infltience of the casual elevation of the level 



• I neod only mention the nindnms of those p(>r,'*onji who 

 rpcoramend the removal of th« lowfT branches to slu-ufthen IUr 

 growtl). 



