ACACIA 455 



duction change. The ground becomes harder and a dense undergrowth of 

 Adhatoda Vasica or other plants frequently makes its appearance. Under 

 such conditions natural reproduction is no longer possible, and although it 

 continues to take place where new alluvium is thrown up it ceases under the 

 old crops. 



Artificial reproduction. Numerous experiments in the artificial repro- 

 duction of Acacia Catechu have been carried out at Dehra Dun. These have 

 shown that transplanting cannot be relied on, but that direct sowing, if carried 

 out properly, is highly successful. Transplanting was tried under different 

 conditions, both in the first and in the^ second season, and moderate success 

 was attained only by transplantiiig young plants early in the first rainy season, 

 care being taken to avoid any injury to the root-sj'-stem. This, however, does 

 not appear to be the experience everywhere, for Mr. Pearson ^ says regarding 

 this species in Bombay : ' The only results at all favourable with kfiair are 

 those when carried out with large plants.' In the Dehra Dun experiments 

 pruning of the roots and stem invariably resulted in the death of the 

 seedling. 



The success of direct sowings depends on : (1) the degree to which the soil 

 is kept loose for the first two years or so after sowing; (2) thorough weeding; 

 (3) abundance of light from the commencement. In addition the thinning 

 out of the young plants has a marked effect on their development. Irrigation 

 undoubtedly stimulates the growth of the plants, but is not essential provided 

 regular loosening of the soil is carried out. 



In the Dehra Dun experiments the greatest success was attained by line 

 sowings, particularly in combination with the raising of field crops. A distance 

 of 8 to 10 ft. between the lines should be sufficient. It was found necessary 

 to sow the khair seed along the lines in clear strips 2 to 3 ft. wide, the field 

 crops being sown in the intervening spaces (see Fig. 171). Where the crops 

 were sown continuously over the area many of the seedlings were killed by 

 suppression, the development of the survivors was poor and the stocking was 

 incomplete, while the sudden exposure when the crops were reaped caused 

 the leaves of the seedlings to fall prematurely and many of the seedlings to 

 die down partially. The field crop employed was the lesser millet or mandwa 

 {Eleusine coracana), which was sown in May or June and reaped in October : 

 the land was cleared forest land, and the millet crop was dense and heavy 

 and up to 3J ft. in height. The khair seed was sown at the same time as the 

 millet, and the lines were kept weeded both when the crops were on the ground 

 and after they were reaped. The results along the weeded lines were admirable, 

 the seedlings being plentiful and vigorous and attaining a maximum height 

 of 2 ft. 3 in. by the end of the first season and 6 ft. 3 in., with an average of 

 4 ft. 3 in., by the end of the second season. Regular thinning of plants, com- 

 mencing from the end of the first season, stimulated their development greatly. 

 The necessity for regular weeding may be realized from the fact that one line 

 was left unweeded after the reaping of the crop, with the result that by the 

 end of the next season every seedling had been killed by weeds. 



In the Dehra Dun experiments, weeded line sowings without field crops 

 also proved highlj'- successful where the soil was thoroughly loosened before 



^ Ind. Forester, xxxi (1905), p. 638. 



