For hand watering, it is convenient to make a hollow 

 round each planted tree ; but, if there is any danger of 

 water standing in this hollow from irrigation or rain, as on 

 the Cape Flats in Winter, then instead of making a hollow 

 let each plant be on a small mound or ridge. Water 

 standing over the roots will soon kill any tree, especially 

 a freshly planted tree where the roots are more or less 

 broken, injured, and delicate. 



SIZE OF TRANSPLANTS. The best sizes for transplants 

 are : 



Pines ... ... ... 3 ins. to 5 ins. 



Gums 8 to 1 ft. 



Oaks and other leaf-shedders 6 ft. to 8 ,, 



Sapling Oaks from a forest nursery are superior in every 

 way to pollards dug out of old plantations. Their heads 

 need not be cut off, and they have a well developed fibrous 

 root system. 



As long as trees remain in the nursery beds, transplanting 

 must go on to keep the roots in a fibrous condition. A 

 tap-rooted nursery tree is of little use. This is the reason 

 why natural seedlings dug up from the forest and planted 

 straight out are usually failures. The natural seedling has 

 a long tap-root which is necessarily broken in getting it 

 out. 



The season for transplanting Oaks and other leaf-shedders 

 is during Winter, before the buds show signs of opening. 



PRUNING FOR TRANSPLANTING. In transplanting Gums 

 and other evergreens, it is a good plan to remove all 

 exuberant branches and reduce the leaf surface by about 

 one-half, or even more, if hot winds are to be feared, as is 

 the case with the berg winds at Knysna. The side branches 

 may be removed from bushy young Pines, but that is all. 

 No harm is done to Gums and most evergreens by pruning 

 them back to a convenient size, but Pines cannot be so 

 treated. 



COST OF PLANTING OUT. The cost of planting will vary 

 in every case, according to circumstances, but as a rough 

 average the following figures may be taken for guidance : 



