304 



FOREST TREES. 



quick grovring kinds may not be too large for potting when the 

 monsoon sets in. The nursery plots should he laid out on the 

 native method for irrigation, as nothing can beat the latter 

 ■whether for efiBciency or economy. But greater care is neces- 

 sary than the native gardener usually exercises in watering 

 seed-beds, as many valuable seeds are easily rotted when the 

 soil about them is always wet and cold. But the latter condi- 

 tion Tvill rarely occar if the soil is porous, and otherwise well 

 placed in reg-ard to position and drainage. Very little manure 

 is required, and it should never be fresh or crude. Burnt soil 

 is useful, and the burning of combustible rubbish over the 

 trenched site has the additional effect of killing weeds and 

 insect life with their seeds and ova. The contact with fire 

 cures also the raw, soapy condition of the subsoil, and renders 

 the inert plant-food soluble and assimilable. 



6. A few words about the collection of Casuarina seeds 

 may be added. The trees do not all of them, come into bearing 

 at the same time. Some bear fruit as early as May or June, 

 and others progressively until October and November, while 

 matured trees yield two crops of fruit yearly at the above dates. 



The best time for sowing is in the month succeeding each 

 harvest, or say, in August and January. The fruit is ripe for 

 gathering when it attains an orange yellow tinge, and begins to 

 drop from the base of the cluster. 



When whole clusters are gathered, the unripe fruits near 

 the apex should be discarded. The remainder is then daily 

 exposed to the sun on date or other mats. After three days' 

 exposure, the ripened fruit will have shed the whole of its 

 seed, which latter should be sifted and bottled, or placed in 

 covered chatties, if not required for immediate sowing. The 

 fruit receptacles may be burnt over the nursery plots, as they 

 contain potash and other manurial ingredients. 



In the harvesting season, the daily collection of fruit 

 should be exposed and treated independently, and the date of 

 storage in any vessel should be marked upon the latter. To 

 carry out this routine, three to four separate mats must be in 

 use, the fourth one is to provide against rainy weather. Casua- 

 rina seeds are greedily devoured by ants, sparrows, rats, and 

 other vermin, care should therefore be taken to preserve them 

 from these pests. 



The seed should be rather thickly sown in small square 

 beds, (pategalu) the surface of which has been levelled 

 and slightly pressed down. They are then covered by a thin 

 layer of sifted soil, and the bed is thoroughly watered by means 

 of a water pot and fine rose. If any seeds appear on the surface 

 after this watering, they should be slightly pressed down, and 

 an additional coveiing of sifted soil may be dusted over the 

 exposed and uneven parts, After sowing and watering, cover 



