A HANDBOOK FOR EUCALYPTUS PLANTERS. 



15 



On the other hand, if but $8 per thousand is demanded, generally, it 

 will be more advisable to purchase them outright than to assume the 

 initial expense of preparation and the subsequent work of propagating' 

 the plants, although they can be raised for $2.50 to $3.50 per thousand. 

 Cheapness is not the only quality which commends home-grown seed- 

 lings. The certainty of having them when they are wanted is assured, 

 and generally higher-grade stock can be raised than nurserymen supply. 

 The risk entailed in transporting seedlings from the nursery to the 

 planting site is also avoided. 



PLATE 4. 



Sugar gum plantation. 1 year old, in 

 Los Angeles Valley. Trees now 7 

 feet tall. 



Blue gum plantation, l year old. in Los 

 Angeles Valley. Trees now ll feel 

 tall. 



XTRSERY PRACTK i:. 



Lath House. As stated under the heading "Tolerance," Eucalyptus 

 seedlings are naturally shade-dema inline and succeed best under partial 

 cover. This condition is created artificially by the construction of a 

 lath house, within which the seedlings are raised to planting size. The 

 amount of light admitted is determined by the width of the spaces 

 hehveen the laths. In practice it has been found thai half Lighl and 

 half shade, secured by spacing the laths a distance equal to their width, 

 is about right. 



It sometimes happens thai the seedlings are attacked by a fungous 

 disease called "damping off," which really amounts to the rotting of 

 the stems just at the surface of the soil. This disease is particularly 

 liable to appear if the seedlings are watered too much, or in the late 



