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PREPARING GROUND. Having selected your spot, which you. 

 wish to prepare for either sowing crops or making a plantation, the 

 first thing to be done is to clear it of weeds by drying or ploughing 

 the whole up well, exposing the earth to the action of the sun and 

 air, then breaking up the clods of earth and removing the weeds, 

 which should be burnt on the spot, as the ashes form an excellent 

 manure, and you are certain that the weeds are destroyed. If your 

 ground is of a clayish soil, which is seldom found in the Deccan, 

 the best thing you can add to it is brick dust or ashes ; if of a light 

 nature, the common manure, procurable in almost all situations in 

 the neighbourhood of towns and villages, mixed with mud from 

 the dry beds of tanks. If common manure is scarce, see the 

 artificial compost recommended under the head Manure. 



PROPAGATING BY CUTTINGS. The choice of cuttings should be 

 made from the side shoots of plants, rather than from their sum- 

 mits or main stems, as the strength and health of side shoots being 

 equal to those nearest the ground should be preferred. The pro- 

 per time of taking cuttings from the mother plant is when the sap 

 is in full motion, in order that when returning by the bark it may 

 form a callus, or protruding ring of granular substance, between 

 the bark and wood, whence the roots proceed. As this callus, or 

 ring of spongy matter, is generally best formed in ripened wood, 

 the cuttings, when taken from the mother plants, should contain 

 a part of the former year ; or in plants which grow twice a year, 

 of the wood of the former growth ; or in the case of plants which 

 are continually growing, such wood as has begun to ripen, or as- 

 sume a brownish colour. The cuttings will vary in length, accord- 

 ing to their strength and manner of growth, from six inches to a 

 foot ; they should be planted in a shady situation, or else protected 

 from the sun by mats or otherwise. The distance of each should 

 be from six to twelve inches apart, or even more where they grow 

 quick and are likely to form large plants ; great care is also re- 

 quisite that, in laying down the cuttings, they are put clear into 

 the ground without injury to the bark. 



PROPAGATING BY LAYERS. The work of laying the branches of 

 trees, or shrubs, is easily performed, though it is not every tree 

 that can be propagated in this manner. The first thing necessary 



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