282 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



and in fact this species has been used pre- 

 dominantly in all of the operations. 

 Planting in place is far more economical 

 than the nursery method , because it saves 

 the nursery expenses, the transfer of 

 the young trees to the place of planting, 

 and the labor of setting them out. In 

 addition to the fact that it was the 

 cheaper method of the two, the seeds 

 planted in place seemed to succeed better 

 than did the two-year old plants, for the 

 reason that the roots of the latter were 

 so long that when they were moved 

 from their nursery bed sufficient soil 

 did not adhere to give them a start in 

 their new situation. 



The cost of this planting is but one- 

 fifth of that by the nursery plan. The 

 losses are perhaps one-third of the 

 whole number of seeds put in. At the 

 end of the first year the plants reached 

 a height of from three to six inches. 

 The gaps left by the plants which fail 

 to come up are filled in about two years 

 after the other plants show themselves 

 above the surrounding vegetation . Un- 

 der the most favorable conditions, in 

 sheltered ravines and on southern as- 

 pects, success has attended this kind of 

 planting ; the trees on the hilltops, 

 however, as has been the case with 

 those planted by other methods, are 

 failures, although they will sometimes 

 grow for a few years. 



In 1883 twenty-five varieties of bam- 

 boo were tried. These were very gen- 

 erally successful, and several years later 

 more were put in. 



The great difficulty was to get trees 

 to grow at the higher elevations, both 

 because of the exposed situation and 

 because of the scantiness of the soil. 

 At a monastery near Hongkong, at an 

 altitude of about eight hundred feet, 

 were observed some fine large Sweet 

 Gum trees (Liquidambar formosana.") 

 The wood of this tree is in great demand 

 in the manufacture of tea chests, because 

 it has absolutely no odor. A few years 

 later a number of trees of that species 

 were put in and succeeded fairly well. 

 The Japanese Pine (Pim/s thumbcrgii) 

 was also tried at the higher levels and 

 did well, as did the Camphor tree up to 

 five hundred feet, under good soil con- 

 ditions. This latter tree grows to an 



enormous height, and is exceedingly 

 valuable for the making of clothes 

 cabinets and chests. A large number 

 of them were also set out along the 

 road, where they have grown vigor- 

 ousty. 



This road planting has been a very 

 important feature of ihe Hongkong 

 work, and it was begun in almost the 

 first year of which any record has been 

 kept. Bamboos, Pines, Banyans, and 

 indigenous Oaks were the principal 

 species used. In connection with this 

 work of beautifying the roads, some in- 

 teresting results have been obtained by 

 transplanting. Banyan trees one hun- 

 dred feet in height were lopped down 

 to fifteen or twenty feet, bound around 

 with straw, and transplanted to the 

 edges of the roads with almost perfect 

 success. 



The adaptability of these trees and 

 their persistence in the face of adverse 

 circumstances are very striking to one 

 walking along the hillside streets. In 

 many cases where they are planted on 

 the downhill side the drop is very ab- 

 rupt and the soil covering correspond- 

 ingly scanty. In these cases the tree, 

 instead of giving up in despair, bur- 

 rows with what roots it can, sending the 

 others out along the top of the ground, 

 and continues to grow and flourish as 

 though the conditions were favorable. 



In 1888 broadcast sowing was begun, 

 both on the slopes and along the roads. 

 A bulletin of 1901 says, after com- 

 paring results for three years, that 

 broadcast sowing is as good as the ex- 

 pensive methods. The fact that the 

 latter cost $54 an acre and the former 

 but $5 makes this a rather startling 

 statement. 



Although Chinese White Pine has al- 

 ways been by far the most prominent 

 species in the planting, in later years 

 others have been increasingly used. 

 Cunninghamia sincnsis, Tristania con- 

 ferta, Masson's Pine(/ ? /;/<v,s- massoniana) j 

 and the Gums are the best of the newer 

 species, the two latter succeeding fairly 

 well even at the high elevations. Jap- 

 anese Cedar {Cryptomeria japonica\ 

 Japanese Pine, Camphor, and Eucalyp- 

 tus are also good trees for this locality. 

 The foresters here add their testimony 



