204 PEHMA]<fENT NUnSEEIES. 



Hares may nibble off the tender shoots of transplants up to more 

 than a foot high, whilst against porcupines the size of the seedlings 

 is never any protection. Both animals must be kept out in the 

 way suggested on page 190. 



Rats, monkeys, and insects are as much to be dreaded here as in 

 seed-beds. The measures to be taken against them are the same as 

 those described on p. 191. 



Against fkost. — For the smaller transplants the same precau- 

 tions must be taken as for plants in seed-beds {vide pp. 192-193.) 

 But when the plants are large, and therefore stand far apart and 

 occupy a large area of ground, covering with thatch, &c., is out of 

 the question. Next to selecting ground not exposed to severe 

 frosts, the only plan is to shelter them with tall growth of some 

 hardy agrioutural plant that requires little from the soil and at 

 least covers the cost of cultivating it. If the frost is not severe, it 

 will suffice to bind the stems and branches loosely with dry grass 

 or straw. 



Against excessive insolation and hot winds. — Immediately 

 after the seedlings have been transplanted and until they have 

 begun to strike new roots, they should be shaded from the sun to 

 prevent transpiration in excess of the limited supply of moisture 

 absorbed by their diminished root-apparatus. If the plants are too 

 large to be shaded at a reasonable cost, a part of their foliage or 

 transpiring surface should be removed, as already recommended 

 on p. 202. 



After the plants have struck, they have nothing to fear from the 

 sun's light and but little from its heat so long as they are suffici- 

 ently watered. The larger the transplants, the less can they be in- 

 jured by heat. As a rule, the portion of a transplant most sensi- 

 tive to the sun's rays and hot dry winds is the region of the root- 

 collum : this may be protected by drawing earth over it. Stems 

 with tender bark may be protected by tying grass or straw loosely 

 round them, or enclosing them in a loose tube of bamboo matting. 

 I. Weeding and maintenance of a loose rich soil. 



Nursery lines forming groups resembling seed-beds should be 

 weeded in the same way as the latter (see p. 194). Otherwise 

 the same constant careful tending should be given only to the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the seedlings, the intermediate space being 

 simply hoed up from time to time, the interval between one 

 hoeing and the next being only just short enough to prevent the 

 Boil from becoming caked or weeds difficult to kill from gaining 

 pojssession of the soil. 



