168 horticulture 



Bamboo Topes. 



(This note embodies the practice at Ayyampet, Tanjore District.) 

 The seeds are sown in the nursery in July- August. One 

 Madras measure of seed, which costs from Re. 1 to Rs 5, is 

 sown in one cent divided into 25 beds. Seeds keep their 

 vitality only for one year. Seeds germinate in six or seven 

 days. Until then the nursery is shaded. Beds are watered 

 once a day for a week and are kept free from weeds. About 

 four months after sowing, i.e., in December- January, the 

 seedlings are removed and planted in bunches of four plants 

 at 8 inches apart. Agathi qrandiflora or Sesbania aculeata is 

 sown here and there for shade. In this condition the seed- 

 lings remain for about two years. Afterwards they are 

 removed and planted in padugai lands (in pits) in bunches 

 containing from four to ten tillers at 8 feet apart. While 

 planting the plants are topped from 4 feet to 2£ feet high. 

 Seedlings in 100 kulis or 33 cents are sold for Rs. 200. These 

 are sufficient for planting A\ acres. There is a class of 

 Muhammadans (Ravuttars) who grow seedlings for sale and 

 •have made this their business. No manure is applied to 

 bamboos and no other particular operation is given except 

 pruning from the third or fourth year. The cost of pruning 

 will be realized by the sale of loppings, besides getting the 

 area fenced round. The bamboos will be fit for cutting 

 from about the fifth year after the final planting or about 

 seven and a half years from the date of sowing the seed. 'In 

 some places they are cut when they are about ten years old. 

 The cutting is clone in alternate years and the value of the 

 yield amounts to Rs. 400 or 500 every other year or from 

 Its. 200 to 250 per acre annually. The bamboos are sorted 

 into four classes' according to different sizes : — 



I Class Rs. 40 per 100. 



IT „ 30 „ 



HI „ „ 20 „ 



IV , , 10 „ 



Mother branches ... „ 2 „ 

 It is said that bamboos flower once in sixty years, when 

 they all die. Some say that they flower in thirty years. 



Pruning. 



The proper pruning of trees is often much neglected 

 and the loss in timber, foliage and fruit thereby caused is 

 very considerable. The matter receives very careful atten- 

 tion among horticulturists in temperate climates, but it is 



