1 6 Gardening in Egypt. 



March, so that the trees may become well established 

 before the rains have finished, though the work may 

 be carried on still later if the season is favourable. 

 If possible, transplant with a ball of earth at the roots, 

 and press the soil firmly round them. In the case 

 of the Poinciana, water and soil should be thrown in 

 together. In all cases make the soil firm by having 

 it well trodden about the roots, leaving a place to 

 hold the water ; and have the stems securely staked, 

 to prevent them being broken by the wind. Large 

 specimens on lawns, &c., may often be improved by 

 having their branches cut back, so as to form a 

 compact head ; this will also lessen the danger of 

 them being broken by the wind, and, in the case of 

 large strong-growing trees, as Fici, &c., they will be 

 greatly benefited by a trench being dug round their 

 roots, about a metre in depth and width, and three 

 or four metres from the trunk, at the same time cutting 

 back all thick roots, after which the trench should be 

 half filled with strong manure, night soil being pre- 

 ferred and mixed with the ordinary earth. The 

 trench should be filled up with water for two days, 

 and then level with the soil. This work, which can 

 be carried out during the summer months, not only 

 enables the tree to form fibrous feeding roots, but it 

 prevents the larger ones from impoverishing parts of 

 the garden with which they come in contact. 



Acacia arabica, var. nilotica. A native of Upper 

 Egypt. It is a large, bushy, deciduous tree with 

 delicate pinnate foliage which clothes the tree in April, 

 and it blooms in June and July with numbers of small 

 yellow flowers which smell like new mowed hay. The 

 tree which is closely allied to the species producing "gum 

 arabic," is known under the Arabic name of " Sunt." 

 It is grown from seed in large quantities at The 

 Barrage for planting on the sides of canals, but will 

 not grow in Alexandria. Although the tree is admirably 

 suited for binding the sand, it should never be planted 

 so as to overhang, as the falling leaves and flowers, 



