276 DIBEC1 1 SOWING. 



of, or just before, the hot weather, such as, for example, sal, sissil, 

 tun, &c., that excessive insolation is to be feared in exposed places 

 and must be provided against. Timely watering is always the best 

 precautionary measure. During the season of dormant vegetation 

 the seedlings require no help ; either the air is then too cold for 

 drought to occur or the young plants are leafless and cannot suffer 

 from over-transpiration. Again during the summer rains watering 

 is rarely colled for, except perhaps in the dry zone receiving a 

 rainfall of less than 20 inches. It is only during the October- 

 November heats which prevail outside the area subject to the influ- 

 ence of the JS". E. monsoon, that yearlings generally begin to sicken 

 and may require to have the soil kept moist round them. After these 

 five or six weeks of danger, the activity of the young plants sinks to 

 a minimum and the nightly dews caught and retained in a loose soil 

 generally suffice, especially in Northen and Central India. But dur- 

 ing those five or six weeks of extremely bright sunshine and a very 

 clear atmosphere, it is often the over-active transpiration of the 

 green parts, far in excess of the amount of moisture taken up by the 

 roots from a cold soil, that hurts the yonng plants* rather than the 

 absence of sufficient moisture in the soil ; and the best safeguard 

 then is to shade the plants. From December to February inclusive, 

 the activity of the young plants sinks to a minimum or entirely 

 ceases, and so it is only where there is no true cold season that the 

 nightly dews may not suffice and may require to be supplemented 

 by one or two waterings, such a contingency being, however, ex- 

 tremely rare. After February most of our trees outside the Hima- 

 layas begin to be leafless and remain so until the burst of the S. W. 

 monsoon. Seedlings of such species will hardly need to be watered 

 then, and it is only young plants of species that come into leaf in. 

 spring that may have to kept alive by one, or at the outside two, 

 good waterings, while the new leaves are still tender and wanting in 

 firmness. One of the most effective means for avoiding, or at least 

 minimising, the labour and expense of watering is to get the seeds 

 to germinate early in the summer rains (or in the Himalayas, if 

 late frosts are not to be feared, as early in the spring as possible), 

 so that, by the time the beneficial influence of that season has 

 passed away, the seedlings may be strong and deep-rooted 

 enough to have little or nothing to fear from drought or over- 

 transpiration. 



PROTECTION AGAINST DANGEROUS WINDS. The only really 

 dangerous winds are the hot winds, the sole safeguard against 

 which is watering. 



