142 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS . 



the plants are being put in again, and are then ready to 

 be used again for other plants. 



The soil should be watered a sufficient length of 

 time before lifting the seedlings, so that it should be of 

 the proper consistency, not too moist and not too dry, 

 for getting the plants up without damage to the roots. 

 Especially with a dry soil the root-hairs get easily 

 torn, and that is particularly the case with seedlings 

 lifted without balls of earth. When the soil is too 

 moist the balls of earth are apt to drop away unless 

 they are strongly compressed, in which case access of air 

 to the roots is rendered more difficult and the plants are 

 apt to rot. 



The sooner the transplants are put in again after 

 being lifted, the less likelihood will there be of their 

 suffering from shock due to the transplanting. They 

 should be kept cool until they are put in. Seedlings 

 without balls of earth may be put into a basket with 

 damp moss or grass and covered over with twigs or 

 pieces of banana leaf. Those having balls of earth 

 should be shaded over if they are likely to remain un- 

 planted for any length of time. 



The amount of space allowed to the transplants in 

 the nursery-lines will depend on their size at 

 the time of transplanting, on the size which 

 they will be allowed to attain before they are 

 again lifted, and on whether they are to be 

 lifted with or without a ball of earth. If 

 they are small, holes can be pricked out with 

 the finger, or with a stake (Fig. 42), or with 

 a garden-trowel, knotted lines with knots at 

 the required distances being used to guide the 

 Pia 42 nurseryman. For larger transplants pits or 

 furrows may be made with the spade or hoe. 

 In putting in the transplants care should be taken 

 to put the taproot straight down, as a twisted or bent 

 root affects the future growth of the plants. The seed- 

 ling should be held vertically with one hand, the root- 

 system hanging straight down into the orifice made for 



