SEASON FOB PLANTING OTTT. 283 



to the generally inferior condition of the soil there, the root- 

 apparatus will be far from bushy and compendious and will neces- 

 sarily suSer heavy mutilation in being taken out ; and, in the next 

 place, as such seedlings cannot generally be removed except from 

 those points where their number is in excess of the requirements 

 of the local natural regeneration, they will have generally develop- 

 ed too close together to be strong. Nevertheless if only germ 

 plants are required, unschooled ones from the forest wiU be quite 

 as good as those obtained from a nursery. 



SECTION III. 

 Season for planting out. 



The best time of year to plant out is when the follovnng con- 

 ditions exist together : — 



(i) The soil and air moist and warm ; 



(ii) The planting material possessed of its maximimi recuper- 

 ative power and in full vegetative activity ; and 



(iii) A sufficiently long period of warm moist weather before 

 the advent of the next trying season for vegetation. 



All three conditions are satisfied in every part of India under 

 the influence of the S. W. Monsoon by the few weeks succeeding 

 the setting in of the summer rains ; and for those species which 

 come into activity only then, planting at this time is especially 

 favourable for the simple reason that the plants still contain a large 

 quantity of reserve material and have not yet expended all their 

 pent-up energy of the hot dry months, during which they were 

 reposing. In those districts where no frosts occur and October- 

 November rains, not preceded by a break of hot bright steamy 

 weather, also prevail, the planting season may extend right up to 

 the last heavy showers that fall in September ; but it is always 

 better to plant as early in the summer rains as possible, i.e., as 

 soon as the soil has been saturated and continuous showers have 

 begun to fall. This period will be different in different pai-ts of 

 India. Thus, for instance, to speak in a general manner, it will 

 be the beginning of June for Assam, Bengal, Burma and the 

 Coromandel Coast, the latter half of June for the Malabar Coast, 

 the beginning of July for the interior of the Peninsula, the end of 

 July or beginning of August for Berar, the Central Provinces, 

 Oudh, the North Western Provinces and the western and hill dis- 

 tricts of the Punjab ; some time late in August for Rajputana and 

 the eastern districts of the Punjab ; and so on. 



