472 XXIII. LEGUMINOSAE 



For direct sowings the Dehra Dun experiments showed that line sowings 

 on well-loosened soil, the lines being kept weeded from the commencement, 

 gave the best results. Irrigation stimulates the growth, the seed being sown 

 along the base of the ridge of loose earth thrown up alongside an irrigation 

 channel 1| ft. by 1| ft. in section. In line sowings the seedlings require, to be 

 thinned out regularly. 



Mr. L. S. Osmaston ^ has described some experiments carried out in 1905 

 and 1906, in raising Alhizzia Lehbek artificially on shallow soil overlying trap 

 in the Nasik district of Bombay, where the rainfall is about 24 in. The experi- 

 ments and their results were briefly as follows : 



1. Broadcasting without previous preparation of the soil. Seedlings of 

 1905 died ; those which failed to germinate in 1905 germinated in 1906, but 

 the results in the latter case have not been recorded. 



2. Dibbling : results similar. 



3. Sowing on circular moimds : 



(a) Large mounds 2| ft. high, 2 ft. diameter at top, and 7 ft. at base ; 

 percentage of successful mounds, 100. 



(b) Medium mounds 1 ft. to IJ ft. high, 2 ft. at top and 4 ft. at base ; 

 percentage of successful mounds, 89-4. 



(c) Small mounds 9 in. high, 3 ft. diameter at base ; percentage of success- 

 ful mounds, 100. 



4. Sowings in pits : 



(a) All soil returned to pit ; percentage of successful pits, 37. 

 (6) Pits half filled with soil ; percentage of successful pits, 68. 

 (c) No soil returned to pit ; percentage of successful pits, 43. 



5. Planting one-year-old transplants ; only 300 survived out of 7,000, or 

 4-3 per cent. 



Mr. Osmaston further describes the conduct of line sowings in conjunction 

 with the raising of field crops in the same locality : - this system, wliich is 

 explained under Acacia arabica (p. 437), proved quite successful, the plants in 

 3| years reaching a maximum height and girth of 18 ft. and 1 ft. 5| in. re- 

 spectively. The Berar system, described under Acacia arabica (p. 435), should 

 also prove suitable for the raising of Albizzia Lebbek. 



Mound sowings have proved successful in the Bellary district, Madras. 

 The tree grows readily from cuttings. 



SiLVicuLTURAL TREATMENT. As the tree occurs scattered in mixed forests 

 it is in actual practice treated along with other species, usually either as coppice- 

 with-standards or under selection fellings. In the Andaman forests it is 

 regarded as one of the more valuable species ; under the existing working 

 plan these forests are worked by selection fellings, the minimum girth limit 

 for the felling of sound Albizzia Lebbek being fixed at 6 ft. 



As a general rule natural reproduction is so scanty that the only means 

 of ensuring a plentiful and regular supply of this timber would appear to be 

 by artificial cultivation. 



Rate of growth. The growth is fast. The rapid development of young 

 plants under favourable conditions has already been alluded to under ' the 

 1 Ind. Forester, xxxiii (1!H>7), ]>. 177. ^ /^jVf^ p 265. 



