166 SPICES 



CHAP. 



9 in. or 1 ft. above the level, to allow for sinking of the 

 loose earth. 



Buee describes and figures a planting machine in 

 the form of a split cylinder with two handles which is 

 put round the little plant and pushed into the ground 

 as deep as it will go, the cylinder being closed round 

 the plant and its soil. The earth outside the cylinder 

 is dug away with a trowel till the bottom of the 

 cylinder is reached, and the trowel being pushed beneath 

 the base of the cylinder the whole is lifted. The cylinders 

 are carried to the place where the plants are to be set 

 and pushed into the plan ting -hole, the wire which 

 closes the hinge of the cylinder withdrawn so that it 

 partly opens, and it is then pulled out, leaving the 

 plant in its place. 



The objection to this system of plant shifting lies in 

 its rather unnecessary complication. It would be con- 

 sidered too slow nowadays by the modern planter, who 

 finds that by due care the small plants can be lifted 

 from the bed, especially if not too closely planted, with 

 a trowel only, with perfect success. 



Tile pots made of two half cylinders of baked clay, 

 or joints of bamboo split in two lengthways, may be 

 used if the nursery is too far from the plantation. In 

 using these, the half cylinders of tile or bamboo are tied 

 round at the top and bottom with a piece of split rattan 

 and filled with soil, in which a seed is inserted. The 

 pots are stood in rows till the seed has germinated and 

 grown to the required height, when it is transferred to 

 the planting-hole, into which the cylinder is inserted, 

 the rattans cut and the half cylinders drawn out, leaving 

 the plant with its soil in its place. 



Another method is to use sections of common tin 

 piping cut in halves, lengthways, and fastened as before 

 with split rattan. The plants grown in piping or tile 

 pots are sunk in the ground, so as to keep them cool, or 

 loose soil is banked up round them. Grown in this way 

 they are very portable for planting out. 



Cylindric or cone shaped baskets of split rattan or 



