348 XXIII. LEGUMINOSAE 



in March. The young leaves were reddish in sunny situations, and usually 

 green in shady situations. 



Damp. At Dehra Dun seedlings proved to be very sensitive to damp, 

 numbers rotting off during the first season even in open nursery beds where 

 watering was done too freely ; in the shade hardly a single seedling survived 

 the damp of the rainy season. This corroborates the statement of 'Old 

 Ranger V who writes : ' So sensitive are the very young seedlings to excessive 

 moisture that, if seed be sown in a, pot containing leaf mould or rich soil, and 

 this be allowed to get a little too damp, the thick fleshy cotyledons of the young 

 seedlings are immediately attacked by rot, which extends downwards to the 

 roots, and a whole pot of young seedlings may thus be destroyed in a single 

 night.' 



Effect of grass and iveeds. Various opinions have been recorded from time 

 to time as to the effect of a soil-covering of grass on the development of the 

 seedling. According to one theory, the extensive mortality among natural 

 seedlings is due to the inability of the taproots to penetrate the matted roots 

 of the grass. This explanation can hardly be accepted universally, as the 

 degree of obstruction caused by the grass roots must vary, while the roots 

 of Hardwickia seedlings have considerable power of penetrating obstructions. 

 The effect of a matted growth of grass roots in preventing soil-aeration, how- 

 ever, may be of importance, and will be considered below under ' natural 

 reproduction '. There is little reason to doubt that the development of the 

 seedlings may be hindered or even entirely prevented from this cause, but on 

 the other hand Mr. Witt - has proved by means of experimental plots that 

 the very existence of the seedlings in their natural habitat may depend largely 

 on the protection from the heat of the sun which is afforded them by a soil- 

 covering of grass. His conclusions are summarized as follows : 



(1) Grass, as such, does not hinder germination ; (2) seedlings may fail 

 to survive on soil quite free of grass ; (3) the taproot is quite capable of 

 penetrating through any obstruction of grass roots ; (4) the first season 

 of growth is the crucial one in the life-history of the seedling, the mortality 

 being then heaviest ; (5) seedlings on soil clothed with grass retain their 

 leaves for a longer period than those on soil not so clothed ; (6) the shoots 

 of seedlings protected by a long growth of grass do not dry up so early as' 

 those from around which (though on precisely similar soil) the protecting 

 grass covering has been cut away ; (7) seedlings up to an age of 3| years are 

 not smothered and killed by a dense growth of grass weighing down on them ; 

 (8) the removal of a covering of grass, from seedlings which have developed 

 under its protection, may be distinctly harmful. 



In the damper climate of Dehra Dun, on richer soil with a more luxuriant 

 covering of grass and weeds, experimental plots demonstrated that such 

 a soil-covering not only has a very deleterious effect on the development of 

 the seedling, but is the cause of much mortality through suppression and 

 through the damping off of the seedlings in the rains. These plots also showed 

 clearly that regular weeding has a most beneficial effect on the development 

 and survival of seedlings provided the weeding is carried out from the com- 

 mencement ; on the other hand, the sudden removal of grass and weeds from 

 ' Ind. Forester, xxxi (1905), p. 697. " Iqc, cit., pp. 121-6. 



