176 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS 



PT. II 



there be complete contact between the roots and the 

 surrounding soil. 



(1) Planting with Balls of Earth. The methods 

 of lifting transplants from the nursery have already 

 been described in Chapter IV. There is, however, this 

 difference that whereas when lifting seedlings from 

 nursery beds and putting them into nursery lines the 

 transport is short and the transplants are out of the 

 ground for a comparatively short time, the transport from 

 the nursery to the plantation may be long, especially 

 if the transplants come from a permanent central 

 nursery. Particular care should therefore be taken, in 

 lifting the transplants and during transport, to prevent 

 the earth from breaking away. With small transplants 

 having small balls of earth, these may be pressed 

 together slightly with the hand if the soil is loose ; but 

 this should not be done to excess, especially if the soil 

 is clayey, as this will prevent air from reaching the 

 roots and will cause them to rot. I have known 

 of considerable areas of plantation having failed 

 owing to the balls of earth having been squeezed too 

 hard. In the year following the planting nothing re- 

 mained in the holes but hard balls of clay ; the plants 

 had died. 



Large transplants should be taken out with particular 

 care ; cheap matting or sacking can then be tied round 

 the balls of earth to prevent them from breaking. 



When the transport is likely to be long and the 

 plants to be exposed to the sun and heat, it will often 

 be advisable to do a certain amount of pruning in order 

 to reduce the transpiration. This pruning may be 

 confined to the tender herbaceous shoots, or it may 

 consist in removing a greater portion of the crown, and 

 it may even be desirable to cut them back to a short 

 distance above the root-collum, or, in planting parlance, 

 to stump the transplants. Stumping is more often 

 necessary for large than for small transplants. It 

 should be done with a sharp pruning-knife, the cut 

 being made upwards in a slanting direction. No 



