EUCALYPTUS 



EUCALYPTUS 



1149 



the seedlings are: seed-boxes or flats, a good soil, seed 

 true to name, plenty of convenient water, and in most 

 localities shade for the young plants. The seeds of 

 most species may be gathered at all times of the year, 

 although the greater amount mature during the sum- 

 mer and fall. The seed-cases should be gathered from 

 the trees when the valves begin to open and placed on 

 sheets of canvas in the direct rays of the sun, which will 

 open the valves, allowing the seed and chaff to fall out. 

 The number of fertile seed to the pound is very high; 

 the average number of transplanted plants raised to 

 the pound is 12,000. Eucalyptus seed will germinate and 

 grow in nearly any soil but the best results are secured 

 when the seeds are sown in a light loam, while a medium 

 loam mixed with about one-quarter well-rotted horse- 

 manure should be used in the transplanting flats. 



The time to sow the seed varies somewhat with the 

 locality, but as a general rule the seed should be sown 

 in May or June and the seedlings from these sowings 

 will be large enough to be set out in the field the follow- 

 ing spring, if they receive proper care while young. 

 The seed is usually sown broadcast in the seed-flats 



1424. Eucalpytus ficifolia (XX). No. 2. 



and the young plants transplanted once before being 

 set in the field. Some persons take the trouble to sow- 

 one seed in a place and space them in the flats; by this 

 method transplanting is unnecessary. Others sow the 

 seeds in hills and practise thinning, instead of trans- 

 planting before setting out in the field. This last 

 method is used in the warmer districts with good suc- 

 cess, because of the great trouble experienced in trans- 

 planting during the hot summer months. Whichever 

 method is used, fill the flats to a depth of 3 or 4 inches 

 with the prepared soil, pressing it down firmly in the 

 boxes, then sow the seeds and cover them to a depth of 

 about Y% inch with the same soil, sand, or sawdust, 

 pressing this covering firmly over them. The seed- 

 flats should be kept damp through the heat of the day, 

 until the young plants break the ground, then care must 

 be taken not to use too much water and that there is 

 a good circulation of air over the flats, or damping- 

 off is liable to occur. This disease can be prevented 

 by using practically no water on cloudy days and only 

 in the mornings on clear days. If the seeds are sown 

 broadcast in the flats, when the young plants have 

 reached a height of 2 to 3 inches, they can be trans- 

 planted to other flats of prepared soil and spaced from 

 1 J to 2 inches apart. The best results in transplanting 

 are secured if the plants are hardened -off for a few 

 days beforehand by checking the water supply, allow- 

 ing them to become quite dry. The soil into which the 

 young plants are tranplanted should be kept damp, 

 and the plants should be protected from the direct 

 rays of the sun for a few days. The lath-house or the 

 screens are necessary to supply shade for the young 



plants and will also protect the seeds in flats from the 

 ravages of birds and the young plants from the frosts 

 during winter months, before the time for setting in 

 the field. 



The time to set the plants in the field varies with the 

 climatic conditions or localities and whether the plants 

 are to receive irrigation or not. In localities in which 

 frosts are common through the winter months, it is 

 advisable to set the trees out as early in the spring as 

 possible without endangering them to a late frost and 

 still have them receive the benefit of the late rains, 

 so that they will have a full season's growth to with- 

 stand the frosts of the following winter. If the trees are 

 to be irrigated, they may be set out later in the season 

 without danger of loss from want of moisture. To 

 insure a good stand, the plants should not be under 6 or 

 over 20 inches in height when set in the field; to a cer- 

 tain extent, the smaller the plants when set out, the 

 better the results afterward, although the size varies 

 somewhat with the species and the locality. In many 

 species the roots are as long if not longer than the 

 plant's own height above ground. This is a family of 

 plants that will not stand a large amount of mutila- 

 tion to the root-system; consequently better results 

 are secured from setting out small plants. 



If the soil is heavy rich loam, the trees may be 

 planted as close as 6 by 6 feet apart unless irrigation is 

 to be practised. In the latter case, 4 by 8 feet would 

 be the right distance, thus leaving an 8-foot space for 

 plowing out the irrigating-ditches each year. If it is 

 a lighter soil on which the planting is to be made, 8 by 8 

 feet is the proper distance, or 6 by 10 feet, if irrigation 

 is to be practised. The close planting has a tendency 

 to sacrifice the diameter growth in favor of the height, 

 also making more erect trees and forming a perfect 

 canopy with their crowns that will shade the soil, 

 nearly preventing evaporation, as well as any vege- 

 table growth on the forest floor. Close planting matures 

 a greater number of perfect trees, and is especially 

 recommended when straight poles are desired. The 

 plants should be blocked out in the flats before being 

 brought into the field, by drawing a sharp knife between 

 the rows. If care is taken to set out the young plants 

 with this small amount of soil around the rootlets, the 

 shock caused in transplanting is reduced to a minimum. 

 Each planter should carry a trowel, to make the holes 

 that are to receive the young plants at the intersec- 

 tion of the marked lines. These holes should be of such 

 a depth that the plants can be set from J^ to 1 inch 

 lower in the soil than they originally were in the flats. 

 Each plant should have the soil pressed firmly about it 

 and receive a small amount of water, unless the soil 

 is moist from recent rains. 



In order to provide a mulch, thus checking evapora- 

 tion and also to kill the weeds, cultivation should be 

 conducted in the new plantation as long as possible 

 without danger of injuring the young trees by driving 

 a horse between them. The plantings generally may be 

 cultivated for the first season and part of the second 

 before the limbs of the trees spread out and interlap 

 so that it is impossible to drive between the rows. It is 

 an acknowledged fact that the only way to secure a 

 good stand, and give the trees a start, is to cultivate and 

 take care of the plantings from the time of setting out. 

 However, a number of groves have been set out on 

 land that is too hilly or rocky to cultivate and the 

 trees have made fair growths. 



Thinning of the young trees is an important practice, 

 as it is not good management to set out just the num- 

 ber of trees that one expects to mature. A planting 

 upon any good soil may with advantage be set out 

 6 by 6 feet apart (1,210 trees to the acre), and at the 

 end of the first year a rigid thinning should be started, 

 removing with a grub-hoe all weak, inferior, or injured 

 trees. This thinning should be conducted until only 

 the strong and healthy trees, or a certain number, 



