20 STATE HOARD OF FORESTRY. 



Too great stress can not be laid on the benefits derivable from cultiva- 

 tion. Not only is the weed growth, detrimental to plantations, destroyed, 

 but the surface soil is loosened and evaporation is checked. The planter 

 who attends carefully to the cultivation of his grove will be rewarded 

 by the greater number of trees which withstand the drought and by 

 the more rapid growth of his plantation. 



COST OF PLANTATIONS. 



The total cost of establishing and caring for plantations during the 

 first two years has varied from $15 to over $50 per acre. An expense 

 of $25 per acre is generally considered a fair figure. However, this 

 cost is the result of setting out small groves, for which seedlings have 

 generally been purchased from nurserymen. When stock is grown in 

 a home nursery the cost of planting large areas should not exceed $15 

 or $20 per acre. Small groves for which plant material is purchased 

 will generally entail a higher expense. 



PROTECTION. 



Once the plantation is well established its protection from fire and 

 roving stock is the chief feature of management to demand attention. 

 Eucalypts are particularly inflammable, because of the oil contained 

 in their foliage and bark, hence even a slow fire causes serious injury. 



Plantations established in open country should have a strip fully a 

 rod wide plowed around them every spring, particularly if they are 

 situated near a railroad or in a locality frequented by hunters. In 

 addition, the owner or caretaker of the plantation should secure an 

 appointment as fire warden from the State Forester, and obtain a supply 

 of fire-warning notices to post conspicuously in the vicinity of the plan- 

 tation. Although the danger from fire is great in many portions of the 

 State, planters should not be deterred by it, for they have full redress 

 for damages through a civil action, whenever sufficient evidence of the 

 careless or malicious origin of the fire can be collected. 



Roving stock of all kinds should be strictly excluded from the planta- 

 tions. The need for this is particularly great while the trees are small 

 enough to be trampled upon. 



Gophers, squirrels, rabbits and other rodents which infest and damage 

 young plantations should be destroyed by firearms or poison. 



CUTTING, THINNING AND PRUNING. 



All operations which curtail the foliage of the tree should be per- 

 formed during the late fall or winter, when its functioning processes 

 are suspended or least active. If this is done the surface cut will heal 



