PREPARATION OF THE SOIL AND SOWING IN GENERAL. 243 



the bright strong sun of September-October, the cold nights of 

 October-February, or the following hot weather, as the case may 

 be. Nevertheless when the area to be operated upon is large, or 

 when sufficient labour is not available at the exact moment, a part 

 of the sowing must necessarily be executed before the rains. 

 No lamentable results need, however, follow this violation of the 

 general rule, for, protected inside the soil, the seeds would suffer 

 little or no harm from the dry heat prevailing at that time of the 

 year ; and actually the seeds of many valuable species, such as 

 sissu, the Terrntnalias, &c., sustain no injury whatsoever if sown 

 several weeks or even months before the setting in of the summer 

 rains, provided of course no continuous wet weather intervenes. 

 Indeed, in the case of teak, the germination of the seeds of that 

 species is, on most occasions, so protracted, that it is advisable to 

 sow immediately after the close of the summer rains or as soon as 

 the cold weather has begun : continued contact with the wet soil, 

 followed by the drought of the hot season will exercise a forcing 

 effect on the seeds. The seeds of species, which, like sal and some 

 others, ripen at rhe beginning of the summer rains and cannot be 

 preserved, obviously give no room for choice or delay, and must be 

 sown as soon as they are ripe. 



Where s immer rains are very weak, there the seeds must perforce 

 be sown in time tor the N. E. monsoon. In the localities in 

 question there is fortunately no frost, and the seedlings can go on 

 growing and establishing themselves during the immediately en- 

 tuiug cool dewy season. 



SECTION III. 

 Preparation of the soil and sowing in general, 



The better prepared the soil is, the greater are the chances of 

 succt-ss. The seeds should find a clean, loose, warm bed and the 

 seedlings should be protected against invasion by noxious species 

 and be able to strike their roots deep and push up vigorously. 

 The stiffer, richer, moister, or more abundantly traversed by roots 

 and rhizomes the soil is, the deeper and more completely must it 

 be worked up and cleaned. But a naturally free soil should not 

 generally be turned up deeper than the seeds are to lie, so as to 

 minimise the evaporation from it and to prevent water of atmos- 

 pheric precipitation from sinking down too rapidly and deep. If 

 there is a thick covering of undecomposed or only partially decom- 

 posed dead leaves over the surface, this should be removed from the 

 points where the seed is to be sown, or it should at any rate, if not 



