SOWING AND PLANTING 177 



stumping can be done with species which do not 

 coppice readily, as e.g. most Conifers, but a few of the 

 side branches may be trimmed. 



The cost of transport is a heavy item in the ex- 

 penditure on plantations, and it should be done in the 

 cheapest way possible. The cheapest and smoothest of 

 all, where it is available, is transport by boat, but if this is 

 not possible it may pay for large works to have portable 

 tramways, or, where the nursery is above or below the 

 plantation, to set up aerial ropeways. Failing these, 

 carts should be used along the larger roads and handcarts 

 along narrower ones, and even wheelbarrows may go along 

 still narrower roads, but natives often seem to have an 

 objection to using them. On steep paths the transport 

 will ordinarily be by man, the transplants being carried 

 in baskets or boxes, either by head loads or slung from 

 a pole between two men ; or, where the men are used 

 to it, slung at either end of an elastic pole and carried 

 by one man. This is the " bhangi " or " pingo " of the 

 East. 



In packing the transplants for transport they should 

 be put in tightly to prevent the jar and motion shaking 

 the balls to pieces, and good soil should be poured into 

 the interstices to make the mass as homogeneous as 

 possible. When packed into baskets these should be stiff, 

 as the play on the baskets during transport will also 

 be liable to break the balls of earth. 



Before starting, a slight watering may be given 

 with a watering-rose to keep the transplant fresh, and 

 a light shading of ferns or light leafy twigs may be laid 

 over them. 



The plants having been transported to the field, 

 they are taken out of their baskets or crates, and put 

 into the planting holes which have been previously 

 prepared. In Europe, in the case of plants lifted with 

 the circular transplanter (Fig. 40), the holing may be 

 confined to taking out a ball of earth at the planting 

 spot with the transplanter, the hole being filled again 

 with the ball of earth bearing the transplant. As the 



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