246 DIEECT SOWING. 



ARTICLE 1. 



Bkoadcast sowing without tilth.. 



As the name of the system implies, the seeds are sown broadcast 

 without any previous preparation of the soil. In order that the 

 system may succeed, all or the majority of the following conditions 

 must co-exist ; — 



(1) The soil must be free from all rank growth of weeds or low 

 bushy shrubs. 



(2) It must be naturally more or less free. 



(3) It must ordinarily retain moisture at or near the surface 

 ■during a considerable part of the year, since, owing to the un- 

 loosened soil, the taproot of the yearlings must generally be shoi-t. 



(4) The seeds used must be possessed of great vitality, or, at 

 least, germinate readily. 



(5) Seed must be extremely abundant and cheap, since, owing 

 to their lying completely unprotected on the surface of the ground, 

 many and even the majority of them necessarily fail to germinate, 

 and on this account the sowing must be very profuse. 



(6) There must be no danger from cKmatic extremes. 



(7) The young seedlings must be extremely vigorous and 

 hardy and able to develop a long, strong tap-root. 



(8) The ground must not be too sloping, particularly if heavy 

 showers occur. 



In short, this method may be successfully adopted only where 

 the conditions for germination and for the subsequent struggle 

 for existence are unusually favourable. It may be employed with 

 jgopd results to introduce or increase, more rapidly than natural 

 regeneration would do, the proportion of a tenacious species in an 

 already existing forest, especially if that species is more shade- 

 enduring than its companions. Where frosts and drought do not 

 prevail or are mild enough not to be dg.ngerous, a hardy and 

 quick-growing species, like Pinus longifolia, teak, &c., for in- 

 stance, may be sown on more or less open land that is not too 

 jhard or too thickly overgrown with tall and strong weeds. 



Two great points in favour of this method are its cheapness, and 

 the rapidity and ease with which the sowing is executed, requi- 

 ring next to no supervision and no skilled or specially trained 

 labour. Where the prevailing conditions are favourable for its 

 employment and time is of little or no consequence, it should be 

 preferred without any hesitation to every other. 



