WEED COVERINGS 



233 



is no doubt, however, that much the best method is to plant in 

 belts. This allows coolies to walk up and down the rows of 

 trees, which the thorns of the mimosa would otherwise prevent. 

 As the mimosa is apt to grow high if not hindered, it is usually 

 beaten down from time to time by means of flat planks attached 

 to a short pole. 



The plants are usually about 6 feet long by i foot broad, and 

 the poles to which they are attached are usually about 4 feet 

 long. As the thorns of the mimosa are all there and mean 



FIG. 61. View on Tamiang Estate, North Sumatra, showing Mimosa Covering 

 between Rows of Trees. 



business, the coolies have to be provided with shoes, and wrap 

 strips of old garments round their legs to preserve them from 

 being severely scratched as they walk over the mimosa while 

 beating it down. This, of course, is more necessary when the 

 mimosa is allowed to overrun the ground than when it is 

 planted in belts. Some managers have claimed that lalang 

 cannot grow where mimosa is planted, as the mimosa clings 

 with its thorns to everything, overruns and smothers it. The 

 writer was shown lalang to which the mimosa was clinging and 

 bending down; but, while willing to admit that most weeds 



