( 219 ) 



of eschewing sites tenacious of wet. It must be borne in mind 

 that in this instance, as in all others where vitality is exhausted, 

 excesses have an injurious effect ; external appliances must there- 

 fore be resorted to in moderation. I extract from the Magazine of 

 Botany, volume VIII., page 205, Sir J. Paxton's views regarding the 

 character of plants produced from cuttings. Certainly he refers to 

 shrubs and garden-plants, but his views are equally applicable to 

 tree life in general : — 



" In plants where there are two kinds bf branches, one sort 

 " ascending and another branching along the ground like runners 

 " of strawberries, the difference is much the same as that between 

 " common shoots and suckers in ordinary shrubs and trees. 



" The lower trailing shoots employed for propagation, form 

 " plants very like those from suckers, healthy, vigorous, and dis- 

 " posed to occupy a large space, without blooming. 



" Cuttings of the upper shoots produce flowering laterals in a 

 " very short time; and a fine blooming specimen may even be 

 11 raised in one season, by taking off the extremities of the longest 

 " shoots as cuttings. Indeed, the dimensions and early blooming 

 " of the plant may be regulated by the distance at which the cut- 

 " ting is taken from the main stem. 



" Cuttings from the extremity flower speedily, and in a dwarf 

 " condition. 



" Cuttings from a shoot in an early stage of its growth will 

 " constitute larger specimens, and be longer in bearing flowers." 



369. I have had no experience in propagating by seed, and there- 

 fore give, in an epitomised form, the system advocated by Mr. 

 Officiating Deputy Conservator Mann, in his interesting report on 

 the caoutchouc plantation in Assam from where seed might be ob- 

 tained, and cultivated in this province. Seeds are sown in nursery 

 beds prepared with either broken brick, broken charcoal, or with 

 earth only ; although those on the broken brick germinated most 

 freely, those on the charcoal succeeded best in the end ; the plants 

 which germinated on the earth all died, but as this was the result 

 of excess of shade, it cannot be said that the seed if sown on earth 

 only would not produce good plants. The fruit was sown with the 

 same results, except that the young plants came up much thicker. 

 The seedlings form thick tuberous roots which probably enable 

 them to stand the drought better than cuttings. 



370. Nursery beds four feet wide and one foot high were made 

 and covered with broken charcoal (about one hundred and ninety 

 maunds to the acre). The germination was satisfactory. 



