ESSAY ON FUEL PLANTATIONS. 97 



inches cube, or be doubled up. If the season is a hot one, 

 the beds in the nursery ought to be carefully shaded. 

 Forked uprights 7 feet high should be put into the ground 

 8 feet apart and a paudal covered with a bamboo or woday 

 coochy (Bheesa Travancorica) or auy of the lesser bamboos 

 tatty constructed. This tempers the noon-day heat, and 

 provides a sufficiency of light. The Casuariua seed is very 

 light, and will not bear being too thickly covered with 

 mould, one-eighth of an inch is sufficient, just enough to 

 prevent its being blown away by wind. Any heavy rush 

 of water, such as that from a watering pot, will drown the 

 seed and wash it to the surface. What I have already said 

 about the fine spray, from a garden engine, must be remem- 

 bered. If the beds are made of compost, no percolation 

 worth anything will take place, if the channel system of 

 watering is adopted, as described earlier. If the soil is 

 constantly kept damp, and this is a sine qua non, the seeds 

 will germinate in from ten days to a fortnight. If water 

 is close to the surface of your soil, pursue the method 

 pointed out for E. Globulus of transplanting once, previous 

 to planting out. The Casuarina ought to have its tap-root 

 cut, this is to be done, when it is 3 4 inches high to 

 make it produce lateral roots. No plant should be put out 

 less than 9 inches high, and not over 1J feet. Plants can. 

 be reared in bamboo pots, where these are large, abundant 

 and cheap. The joint should be 2 inches from the bottom of 

 the pot, to allow of drainage, and should have a few pieces 

 of broken brick, or tile, placed over a hole ^ inch in diameter 

 drilled through the diaphragm, also for that purpose. The 

 mouth of the pot should be the larger end of the bamboo 

 joint. With bamboo pots, the plants can be put down, pot 

 and all, as whiteants quickly eat up the bamboo, and free the 

 roots, and if this does not happen, the bamboo rots from 

 combined heat and moisture, and the roots pass through the 

 sides ; the tap-root generally makes its way through the 

 bottom of the pot at once, when the bamboo is put into the 

 ground. 



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