262 DIRECT SOWING. 



1. Preparation of the ridges. 



The length and direction of the ridges are regulated by the same 

 considerations as the corresponding points in the strip system, 

 except when, as described lower down, they immediately flank 

 trenches, in which case they must necessarily follow horizontal 

 lines. The height of the ridges must be between the minimum 

 figure that would secure the necessary amount of aeration for the 

 roots of the seedlings and that at which danger from drought would 

 begin. Their width cannot be less than what, having due regard 

 to their height, is necessary for their stability. Actually the ridges 

 will seldom be more than 18 inches across at the base, the height 

 being not more than half the width. 



The ridges may be made either (1) by drawing together the top- 

 soil in lines or (2) by digging a trench and piling up the excavated 

 earth along one edge of it. In the second case, the dimensions of 

 the ridges may be diminished in consequence of the adjoining 

 trench, which can also serve as a drain or as an irrigation channel 

 or as a depression to hold water if any rain should fall during the 

 dry season. When the trenches serve as drains, they should be 

 made on the side of their sister ridges towards which the ground 

 slopes. Otherwise they should be excavated on the upper side so 

 as to give to the seeds and seedlings on the ridges the full benefit 

 of the water they contain, to enable them to catch as much of the 

 surface drainage as possible and to prevent the ridges from being 

 breached or washed away by that drainage. Whether trenches are 

 made or not, the earth forming the ridges should be carefully con- 

 solidated by beating it firm, and, if practicable, also by turfing 

 their sides. In the great irrigated Changa Manga plantation the 

 ridges were made with earth excavated from trenches 1' x 1' 

 in section and doing duty as distribution channels. Inf the re- 

 boisement ('now abandoned) of the Pabbi, in the Gujrat District 

 of the Panjab, the trenches served to catch the surface drainage 

 and were given a section of 1' x 1' on merely inclined ground and 

 of 2' x 2' on slopes of 25 and upwards. 



On very swampy land each ridge may occupy the whole width 

 between two consecutive drainage cuts, and be formed with soil 

 taken equally from each of the two cuts. The ridges will in that 

 case be necessarily more or less flat-topped. 



2. Sowing the ridges. 



The seeds may be dibbled in along the top or along the sides or 

 along both the top and sides, according to the nature of the seed 



