114 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



The seed is sown either in autumn, immediately after harvest, 

 or not until spring. In the latter case their reproductive power, 

 which is easily lost, is best preserved by keeping them in a cool 

 place, in a mixture of sand and other earth, as is done with cherry- 

 stones and other seeds of stone-fruit. The garden. is partly planted 

 by seeds, and part by seedlings from the nursery, as can often be 

 observed in Japan, where the nursery serves, too, as a welcome 

 reserve from which to replace trees that have died, or to substi- 

 tute one individual for another. 



In direct sowing, rows i-i'S m. apart are dug in the ground, 

 which has been well prepared and, in particular, manured and 

 deeply worked. Through these rows, at equal distances, circles 

 are drawn, 30-50 cm. in diameter. Each of these receives 20- 

 30 seeds, distributed in such manner that in a few years, with 

 proper pruning, there is formed from the plants a fine, dense bush, 

 40-120 cm. high, and almost half-spherical in shape. Covered 

 with about 5 cm. of earth, the seeds planted in spring sprout in 

 about fifty days. In the first summer the young plants reach 

 a length of only 6-10 cm. In the second, they show their first 

 side-shoots, and become about 25 cm. high. In three years they 

 attain a height of about 50 cm. The nursery-raised sprouts are 

 now transplanted, unless this was done in the spring after the 

 second period of vegetation. In this case, the mode of procedure 

 is similar to that already described, except that, as a rule, only 

 ten to twelve plants are united for one bush, and the quincunx 

 order common with us is maintained, so that single bushes in 

 neighbouring rows may stand apart at the greatest possible in- 

 terval. 



The distance between^ rows and between individual bushes in 

 rows, which are by no means the same in all plantations, are 

 usually in the following numerical proportions, the unit being a 

 foot,— 3 : 3 ; 3i : 3 ; 4 : 3 ; 4 : 4 ; 5 : 4 ; 5 : 5- It has been dis- 

 covered that production is greater when the plants are set close 

 together, and certainly the ground is thus most easily kept clear 

 of weeds ; but, on the other hand, it is in this case very difficult 

 to work the soil and manure it, and to gather the leaves. All re- 

 quirements, however, are met when they are planted in the 4 : 4 

 or 4i : 4 order, especially where, as in Japan, the bushes are kept 

 low. They have free play in all directions, and for the roots too, 

 which is just as important as air and light are for the health of the 

 parts above ground. 



Where the rows are set at a greater interval, leguminous plants, 

 vegetables, tobacco, or even mulberry bushes are, in China and 

 Japan, planted between them. On the way from Nara to Fushimi, 

 in Japan, I observed rows of tea-trees at intervals of about 4 to 

 5 m. interchanged with rows of fruit-trees {Diospyi'os Kaki). The 

 plantation, at some distance, reminded me of those in my own 

 German home, where rows of berry-bushes alternate with cherry- 



