26 NOTES ON FORESTRY. 



Planting is usually conducted during the rains ; 

 and if the soil is liable to be submerged for any 

 period, the soil from the trenches should be thrown 

 up, and a compact bank formed at the edge of 

 the trench. In the strips, the soil can either be 

 thrown up from the outer edges on to the centre, 

 or, in the wider strips, from both the outer edges 

 and the centre, so as to form a double ridge. 



In planting in spots, which is the most economi- 

 cal method, holes 10 to 12 in. deep are made at the 

 intervals at which it is determined to plant: 5 to 

 8ft. is a convenient distance for the Plains. Mak- 

 ing these holes with native implements is generally 

 a costly one compared with the quantity of earth 

 removed. There is no room for the hoe to reach 

 the bottom, and resort is generally had to the 

 rumba to finish the holes a method involving a 

 ridiculously large outlay, a coolie being employed 

 the whole day in making twenty or 

 thirty holes. If the soil be first well 

 soaked, a good man will make 250 holes 

 a day with the semi-cylindrical-shaped 

 spade figured in the margin a rate 

 which admits of holes being made at 

 time of planting. This is made wholly 

 of iron, the blade being about 8 in. in the 

 curve, and being inserted into the soil 

 to the required depth, a twist is given which 



