172 PLANTATION OF AUSTRALIAN TREES. 



" Memorandum of the Condition and Prospects of the new 

 new forest of Konagati, near Wellington, Nilgiris, com- 

 menced March 1856, under sanction of E. M. C, 7th 

 February 1856. 



" 1. Site and Physical Features. — The valley selected for experi- 

 ment, partly on account of its vicinity to works under my charge, 

 extends in an easterly direction from the saddle of Billi K/urnbi 

 (where the public road from Kunur to Kotagiri, distant 3J miles 

 from Wellington, bounds it for a few yards) till it joins the great 

 " Kota-shola," from which the Public Works have, during the 

 last five years, drawn 15,000 tons of wood. The valley, which 

 attains a mean elevation of 6400 feet, is well sheltered by high 

 ranges of hills from the dry, cutting northerly winds and the 

 sweeping easterly blasts, and is intersected by a small stream of 

 water which reveals a variety of soils from rich black mould to a 

 thin red oxide of iron, mixed with siliceous masses resembling 

 laterite, all reposing on a stiff felspathic clay, in which very faint 

 traces of lime may occasionally be detected. 



•' 2. Establishment. — No regular establishment has been kept 

 up ; working parties, European or native, chiefly the latter, as they 

 could be spared from other duties, have received orders direct 

 from myself, the funds at my disposal not admitting the enter- 

 tainment of a qualified overseer. During the last six months, 

 however, I derived much assistance from Corporal Hall,* H.M.'s 

 84th Eoot (whose services have been partially available). He 

 has some acquaintance with forestry, and is a steady, zealous 

 workman, in whom I place confidence. 



" 3. Number of Trees Planted and Method of Procedure. — At 

 intervals of 4 feet on four acres of grass land, 14,400 seedlings 

 of Acacia robusta were planted out this year, the ground being 

 previously well trenched at a cost of Es. 90 per acre. 3300 run- 

 ning yards of ditch, 4 feet deep and 7 feet wide at top, have been 

 dug, and 1200 yards of paling put up. The trees are planted in 

 long lines of mathematical accuracy, so that one cannot be cut 

 without detection. No manure has been used ; close planting 

 and trenching have produced vigorous plants from seedlings 



* "Placed under orders of Conservator of Forests, M. ofC, 6th Jan. 1858." 



