438 XXIII. LEGUMINOSAE 



the normal rainfall varies from 30 to 40 in. The sowing of babul, chiefly on 

 an experimental scale, has been carried out both on ravine land and on fiat 

 or gentlv undulating ground. The principal examples of the former are the 

 Kalpi plantation and the Fisher forest at Etawah. The Piprayan plantation, 

 about 4| miles south-east of the Ata railway station, furnishes a none too 

 successful example of sowings on uncultivated but irrigable land. This land, 

 162 acres in extent, was acquired in 1905, with the view mainly of providing 

 bark for the Cawnpore tanneries. The plantation has suffered from insufficient 

 irrigation, combined with the effects of abnormal frost and -drought. 



More recent experiments have been carried out on black cotton soil in 

 the Hamirpur district in localities where the normal rainfall varies from 33 to 

 38 in. These experiments are interesting as showing the excellent results 

 attainable by sowing on raised ridges both on water-logged and on over-drained 

 ground. Under this method trenches 1| ft. by 1| ft. in section and 10 ft. 

 apart are dug, and the loose earth is heaped up in a ridge alongside the trench. 

 The seed is sown along the top of the ridge in June, before the rains com- 

 mence ; w^eeding is carried out throughout the rains, and after the rains, when 

 the soil dries and tends to cake, it is kept loose, cracks being filled up. The 

 seedlings are thinned out from the earliest stage ; at first they are pulled up 

 by hand, and afterwards superfluous plants are cut down with pruning shears, 

 the rule being to thin out to such an extent as to prevent the plants from 

 touching each other. The weeding, loosening of the soil, and thinning promote 

 vigorous development, and by the end of the first season the young plants 

 reach a height of 1| to 2 ft. or more with long thick taproots and stout stems 

 and branches. As a rule it is found that unless the plants have strongly 

 developed side branches they are liable to dry up in the hot weather. In order 

 to guard against frost the grass which springs up between the lines, and which 

 intensifies the risk, is cut and sold after the end of the rains. Fig. 162 shows 

 these ridge sowings during the cutting of the grass. The main objection to 

 this form of sowing on continuous ridges is its high cost, which in the experi- 

 mental stages amounted to Rs. 15 to Rs. 20 per acre with an additional Re. 1 

 for each weeding, or Rs. 6 for six weedings in the first year. It is believed, 

 however, that the cost will be considerably reduced after further experience, 

 and by making the ridges non-continuous, say 5 ft. lengths of ridge alternating 

 with breaks of 5 ft. Ridge sowings have given good results in the Fisher forest 

 at Etawah (see Fig. 163). 



Other methods which have been tried in the same locality are sowing in 

 mounds, broadcast, and in ploughed lines, pits, and patches : these have 

 proved far less successful than ridge sowings. Mound sowings were fomid to 

 be fairly successful, provided the mounds were high : they are cheaper than 

 ridge sowings, costing Rs. 9 per 100 mounds, but when failures occur large 

 gaps are the result. Broadcast sowings have been successful only on the 

 higher ground, and the results are therefore patchy. The ground requires to 

 be kept loose and the plants to be weeded and thinned, operations which are 

 difficult under the bxoadcast system. Sowings in ploughed lines were likewise 

 successful only on the higher ground, not on low ground. The lines tend to 

 crack longitudinally after the rairis, causing the death of some of the plants. 

 Thorough weeding and thinning of the plants and loosening of the soil are 



