io 



Rough rule of cost per tree planted where the ground 

 cannot be plowed and transplants are used. 



Preparation of the ground, 3 trees per penny. 

 Nursery charges ( ave tS s f P Tan? s rious ) do. do. do. 

 Planting out, weeding, &c. ... do. do. do. 

 or ; 1 penny per tree planted. 



This equals 11 6s. lOd. per acre for 4 ft. x 4ft. 

 planting. [It may be useful here to note that the cost of 

 good fencing wire runs about three yards per penny.] 



Mulching. 



Every gardener knows that the ground about the roots 

 of plants must not be allowed to become hard and caked. 

 Watered trees in clayey soil are often killed by the hard 

 crust that forms over the roots. To keep the soil open, 

 porous, cool, and sheltered, there is no plan so good as 

 " mulching," i.e., making a little rubbish heap round the 

 roots of each tree. Dead weeds, scrapings, sweepings, 

 sawdust, or anything of a porous, open nature may be 

 used. 



Amongst fruit growers the dust mulch has come much, 

 into vogue during the last few years. The dust mulch, 

 except with the most valuable trees, such as Cedars, is too 

 expensive for Foresters. The dust mulch can not be 

 employed with advantage where there are Summer rains, 

 nor in windy localities. This necessarily limits its 

 application in 8. Africa, 



Distance apart io Plant. 



Inexperienced persons usually plant fruit trees too close, 

 and forest trees too far apart. The standard distance for 

 forest trees in Europe is one yard apart, the trees being 

 put in square, one yard apart between the lines, and one 

 yard apart in the lines. This gives 4,840 trees to the 

 acre. This distance, within narrow limits, is the custom 

 in all those countries in Europe where Forestry is under- 

 stood and practised as an exact science. Vide my 

 *" Journal of a Forest Tour." It is doubtless surprising 



* "Journal of a Forest Tour," by D. E. Hutchins. Miller, Cape Town. 



