CH. V 



PRELIMINARY OPERATIONS 151 



both trap and hunter ; or, if the animals show a pre- 

 dilection for certain kinds of plants, these may be 

 smeared or sprayed with a substance which renders 

 them unpalatable. This has to be repeated at frequent 

 intervals, otherwise the young shoots which have sprung 

 since the last spraying will soon be nibbled off. In 

 some places live fences made of aloes or cacti are 

 popular, but it must be remembered that the strength 

 of a fence is that of its weakest spot, and that the 

 individual plants constituting a hedge do not all grow 

 with the same vigour. A gap is soon made at the 

 spot where the plants are weakest, and this, once made, 

 is difficult to close again. The plantations made along 

 the Ganges Canal were fenced with aloes ; there was 

 succulent grass under the trees when the outside country 

 was parched up, and herds of cattle, probably assisted 

 by herdsmen, soon managed to find various points of 



ingress. 



In all cases where the plantations are left unfenced 

 they should be clearly demarcated, and, where there is 

 any danger from fire, fire-lines should be cleared round 

 them and kept clean. The width of the fire-lines will 

 vary very much according to locality ; in dry places 

 with abundant brushwood and grass, which will readily 

 burn and fragments of which are blown to a considerable 

 distance, it will be necessary to burn away from the 

 cut fire-line to a safe distance. 



Clearing means the partial or complete removal 

 of brushwood and herbaceous plants growing on the 

 area to be afforested. 



In certain places, as e.g. in Ceylon plantations, it 

 is usual to clear the whole ground before it is planted, 

 whether with tea, coffee, or with forest trees ; but this 

 is a system which has many drawbacks as -well as 

 advantages, and which is by no means universal else- 

 where, the clearing being more usually limited to the 

 weeding of strips or patches, or even occasionally 

 dispensed with. 



In flat countries, or in such as have only a very 



