SOWING. I/ 



five or six inches there will not only be no seed 

 of indigenous plants on the new surface, but the 

 sown seed coming up on an elevation of a few 

 inches above the surrounding soil, the seedling 

 plants have no foes to contend with in their first 

 stages. 



In irrigated plantations, or where operations are 

 on such a large scale as to necessitate preparing 

 the ground before the rains commence, the best way 

 to give effect to this principle is to trench the land 

 in lines at distances proportioned to the rapidity of 

 growth and the market value of saplings, and with 

 the earth thrown out from the trenches, forming a 

 compact bank sloping back from the edge of the 

 trench, and about six inches high. The irrigation 

 water flowing through these channels, or the rain 

 lodging in them, concentrates all the moisture in 

 the subsoil at the lines, which guards the plants 

 against the evils of a long drought, while their 

 elevation guards them from all danger of being 

 flooded; moreover, the bank preserves for a long 

 period that looseness of structure which facilitates 

 the passage of the young roots. 



If the plantation is irrigated, the chief point 

 demanding attention is that the first watering be 

 sufficiently liberal, and maintained long enough for 

 the ridge to be saturated by upward percolation. 



If the watering be by rainfall, throw the ridge 



r 



