320 DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED. 



view of (i) soil and locaKty, Cii) absence or presence and abundance 

 and size of advance growth, fiii) amount of shade and shelter 

 available, (iv) the nature of the species to be used, (v) special 

 prevailing extraneous causes of injury or destruction, (vi) quantity 

 and quality of labour at one's command, (vii) mode of develop- 

 ment of the crop, (viii) early reaUsation of marketable produce, 

 (ix) early formation of the desired type of forest, (x) object to be 

 fulfilled, and (xi) cost. 



I. Soil and locality. 



In very moist or wet soils, in those which are stifp, cold and 

 e?:posed to frost, as well as in those which are very free, easily 

 dried up or poor at the surface, also in all soils that are liable to be 

 overrun with a tall rank growth of grass and other weeds, planting 

 must be the rule. And similarly, where extremes of climate pre- 

 vail and endanger the existence of the tender young seedlings or 

 the rainfall is very irregular or limited to only a short period of 

 the year, planting will in most cases give better results. 



On the other hand, if the soil and locality are of an average 

 character, i.e., neither too wet nor too dry, neither too stiflf nor 

 too free, neither too warm nor too cold, neither entirely devoid 

 of vegetation nor yet thickly overgrown with weeds, and so on, 

 sowing may prove as successful as planting, and being cheaper, 

 would be preferable. Again, the soil may be so changeable, that if 

 we planted, large seedlings would have to be put down at one'point, 

 middle-sized ones at another, small ones at a third, pit planting 

 would be required here, ball planting there, and so on, the condi- 

 tions varying to such an extent as to confound the most experienced 

 and careful judgment. Out of such a dilemma there is only one 

 ijiode of escape, and that is to sow. Lastly, the ground may be 

 rocky or so covered with boulders that planting would be a physi- 

 cal impossibility. Even if pits could be excavated in the rock, 

 they would fill with water in the rains and cause the roots of the 

 transplants to damp off ; while amongst the boulders no room 

 could be found for their numerous spreading roots or their single 

 long tap-root, as the case may be. On the other hand, the young 

 seedlings sprung from direct sowiogs will develop in proportion to 

 the suitability of their surroundings ; where there is hard rock, 

 there they will send down a few slender roots that will insinuate 

 themselves into the most minute crevices they may meet, while 

 amongst the boulders those roots, into which the entire energy of 

 the plants is conqentrated, will soon force their way between the 



