1896. r "-'- [Pepper. 



" as useless to attempt to grow tliem in the Tropics as it would be in the 

 north of Scotland." 



For species suitable to special soils see preceding chapter. Generally 

 speaking, eucalypti should be grown throughout Algeria and Tunisia, pref- 

 erably in swampy localities, on the shores of lakes, arovind ponds either 

 shallow or brackish and partly dry in summer, in damp bottom lands, on 

 the banks of water courses which are sluggish or frequently changing 

 their beds (as are most north African rivers, which often ruin whole valleys 

 that might be fertile under other conditions), in places exposed to land- 

 slides or slips, for they are generally not on a large scale, although fre- 

 quent on account of the abundant clay of the coast region. We have 

 seen also that they aid in protecting villages and farms against noxious 

 winds, sun and the malaria, whether bred in locis or in the neighborhood. 

 Finally eucalypti are advantageously grown in any appropriate soil of 

 little value for other purposes, if a judicious choice be made among the 

 species. Whatever be the locality chosen, the surface soil must be perme- 

 able and otherwise suitable ; the subsoils, if compact, force the roots to 

 spread out mesh-like to considerable distances, sixty metres as we have 

 measured, in the direction of water or of deeper and better or damper 

 soil. 



Without a ditch of a couple of metres in depth be- 



wiiere not to ing dug as a separation between eucalypti and the 

 grow them, other more valuable plant, no eucalypti, particularly 



not Eu. globulus, should be grown near these plants 

 (orange or other fruit trees, vines, flowerbeds, etc.), nor too close to a 

 spring (always most precious in these colonies), a well, a reservoir, a 

 building or any useful wall, as eucalypti send out roots which absorb the 

 nourishment of other plants, and sometimes ruin constructions even of 

 cement. 



Eucalypti are grown from seed, either sown in loco, 



Three modes of in the open field where the trees are to remain, or, pref- 

 propagation. erabl}' in Algeria and Tunisia, the seed should be 



sown in pans, the young trees being planted out prop- 

 erly and at the proper time ; or they are grown from young trees. 



The seeds take from fifteen to twenty days to germinate, according to 

 soil and season. They are small, light and generally fertile. They 

 should nowhere be covered by more than a centimetre of finely divided 

 earth. 



Water is generally scarce in Algeria and Tunisia, and artificial irriga- 

 tion being expensive, cannot be attempted, if the plants are to be grown 

 on a large scale. 



For both sowing and planting, the ground should 



Preparation of ^^ prepared several months before the seeds or the 



the ground for trees are consigned to it. The soil should be broken up 



sowing and by a subsoil plough to a depth of 0.05 metre or more, 



planting. when possible, and all foreign growths removed. 



