12 



MANAGEMENT OF TEAK FORESTS. 



Seed-beds. 



Treatment of seed. 

 See Forest Keport, 

 1871-72, page 9. 



Climate, Wynaad 

 and Neilumbore. 



that squirrels and rats have already attacked them. When 

 the seed is gathered, it is tied up in bundles of grass, 

 and kept in a dry place free from rats. In April your seed- 

 beds having been made close to water, and slightly raised 

 some four inches with raised edges to retain water. The seed 

 is soaked for twenty-four hours in warm water, it may then 

 be kept for ten days in a heap mixed with damp sand, it is 

 then planted in beds in lines six inches apart in the rows. 

 The beds are then covered over with grass to keep in the 

 moisture, and are saturated with water of an evening daily, 

 directly one or two seeds show above ground, it is time to 

 remove the grass. In Nellumbore by June the plants are 

 six inches high, they are then carefully lifted out of the 

 bed line by line, their tap roots cut back to four inches, 

 and then they are put out in the pits. In Wynaad where 

 the climate is much colder, the seeds sometimes do not 

 show above ground for six weeks, and are not fit to be put 

 out before August, hence it is necessary to germinate them 

 in heaps. The difference of elevation some three thousand feet 

 makes the weather 10 degrees colder than Neilumbore, at 

 Growth of trees, this place the growth of young plants is very rapid, the 

 leaves are soon so large, that they shade the ground, and 

 keep the roots cool in the hot weather. I may say that in 

 the first year the trees at Neilumbore grow twice as fast as 

 those in the Wyuaad. It is a good plan to dip the roots 

 of the young plants in a mixture of clay and cow-dung 

 made into a thin paste. When the young plants are estab- 

 lished, little remains to be done, beyond keeping them 

 fairly clean and reducing two stems to one. Pruning is 

 never required until the first thinning of the plantation, so 

 to save this expensive business, the trees have purposely 

 been planted six by six. Thus they cover the ground, pre- 

 vent weeds, and do not throw out lateral branches. In tlio 

 twelfth year, if the trees require room, as a rule, about one- 

 halE are taken <>ut, ^i-c.-tt care being used to select the weakest, 

 trees of course, if in one place, you find three or four strong 

 trees together, some must COHIM out, but thinning really 

 requires some knowledge, and it is not to be left to unskil- 



Tninning out. 



