PREPARATION OF NURSERY LINES. 199 



weather, and will he then ready to make a full start at the begin- 

 ning of the following rains. In many parts of India where frosts 

 are unknown, a considerable quantity of rain falls in the period 

 from October to December. This fact is an additional justification 

 for autumn transplanting in such places. 



Another obvious exception to the general rule enunciated at the 

 beginning of this article is that of species which, like sal, sissu and 

 most of the hill trees, start into vegetative activity in spring. In 

 their case it is evident that transplanting in that season is not to 

 be recommended, since in the plains the hot weather immediately 

 follows, while in the hills May and June are certainly not favour- 

 able months for the recovery of seedlings that have received any 

 injury to their roots, the soil being then too cold for root activity, 

 while the sun and air are sufficiently warm for rapid transpiration. 

 Hence for transplanting such species also the beginning of the 

 rains seems to be the most suitable time. 



C. Distance of transplanting. 



While the plants should be given sufficient room to expand and 

 form a full crown and root-apparatus, they should also be kept close 

 enough together to shelter the soil, to afford each other mutual 

 protection, and to prevent their roots from spreading out unduly. 

 The best way to reconcile these several, some of them conflicting, 

 requirements is to arrange the plants in parallel lines and, except 

 they exceed four feet or so in height, to keep them closer together 

 in the lines than the lines are to each other. A rich well-manured 

 soil, to check the tendency of the roots, to spread is a sine qua. non. 



The actual distance between the lines, as well as between the 

 plants in each line, will necessarily depend on the size of the 

 transplants required, on their size when pricked out, on the rapidity 

 of their growth, on the time they are to remain there and on the 

 special habits and requirements ot the species. With our hundreds 

 of species and the great variety of conditions of climate, soil and 

 locality prevailing in India, it is evident that no hard and fast 

 rule can be laid down on the subject, either for all species in 

 general or for any one species in particular. 



D. Preparation of the soil. 



If the seedlings required are not large, then a group of nursery 

 lines may, and usually does, assume simply the form of a seed-bed 

 and is prepared like this latter, the only difference being that in 

 the one case we sow seeds, in the other we put down seedlings. 

 Indeed the seed-beds themselves may be directly converted into 



