TREE CULTURE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 31 



hole prepared, put fine well-pulverised soil round it, pressing this 

 gently down once or twice, as lie puts the soil in the hole. As a rule, it 

 will be found that a trowel answers all practical purposes, and while one 

 man is planting the tree, the other can be preparing the next hole, and so 

 the work goes on smoothly and without waste of time. 



Care must always be taken to sinlv the top of the bamboo about an 

 inch or so helow the surface of the ground, and to gently press the soil 

 above its top, and round the stem of the young tree. Where the 

 planting is extensive, and proper protection cannot be given to the 

 young plants, a couple of turfs, or a plough furrow should be thrown up 

 about a foot from the plants, on the side towards the prevailing winds. 

 These different points are shewn in Figs. 75 and 76, to which reference 

 is dii-ected. 



If the tubes are properly prepared before being used, they can be 

 planted whole as they come from the nursery beds ; but if they have 

 not been so treated, and the wood is hard and tough, it is as well to 

 gently split them on one side before they are planted out. This can be 

 done by the man just as they are about to be put in the ground. 



I now come to describe the operation of planting trees which have 

 been reared in pots. 



The plants should be conveyed to the plantation in the pots, and dis- 

 tributed at the holes as they are required. The ground having been 

 prepared as already directed, and the holes opened, the work of planting 

 may now proceed. One man attends to the plant, and the other stands 

 by with a spade ready to piit the soil into the hole as it is required by 

 the other. In removing the plant from the pot, this should be done by 

 spreading the left hand over the top of the pot, with th'e stem of the 

 plant between the two middle fingers, and with the right hand grasping 

 the bottom of the pot, turning it upside down, and then gently strildng 

 its edge upon the handle of the spade, or by tapping the bottom with 

 the other hand, as shown in Fig. 5. The plant will now come out with 

 the earth and roots in a solid mass. The planter wiU then gently 

 agitate and knock off all the soil about the roots with the exception of 

 about an inch or so at the top, which must be kept intact, and the 

 liberated roots should now be unwound from their circular or spiral 

 form to their full length, all as shown in Fig. 6. The tree is now 

 ready to be planted. This operation must be carefully done, and may be 

 described as follows: — Getting down upon his knees, the planter, holding 

 the plant carefully in his left hand, with the right one will place the end of 

 the taproot of the plant at the bottom of the hole, and then, getting soil 

 from the man with the spade, will pack it loosely round the roots, spreading 

 these out to their full length, and taking up each layer carefully as he 

 comes to it, all as described for such operations in connection with open- 

 root planting. This is work which cannot be done hurriedly, as every 

 care must be taken to avoid breaking any of the fine fibrous roots with 

 which a plant of this kind is generally well supplied. 



Regarding the sowing of the tree seeds in the plantations on the sites 

 ■which the plants are intended to occvipy, a few remarks wiU suffice. 

 The ground all ploughed and subsoiled, as advised, spaces should be 



