20 
prevent their sticking together, and planted in drills, as is usual in 
nursery practice, the seedlings to be transplanted when one year old 
to their permanent places; or, where only a few are grown, the seed 
may be planted in short section of cane, open at both ends, and the 
seedlings set in their permanent places without removing the cane. In 
India and Australia both bamboo and Arundo donax are used for this 
purpose. The cane decays during the first season in the ground, and 
the young plant receives no check in transplanting. The principal 
advantage of this method is that it admits of planting out the young 
acacia plants at any convenient time, while if grown in nursery rows 
the seedlings can oniy be safely set while dormant. 
In Australia the trees succeed well under an annual rainfall of from 
16 to 20 inches, and it is thought that an unlimited supply of water 
makes the bark deficient in tannic acid. They grow rapidly, increasing 
in diameter at the rate of an inch per year. The practice is to have 
the trees stand about + by 6 feet when the first bark is removed. 
When the seed is sown broadcast the proper distance is secured by two 
or three thinnings; and when planted in place the greater amount of 
cultivation required probably oftsets the cost of thinning, making the 
expense of the two methods approximately the same. Doubtless the 
method recommended for general planting of forest trees in the prairies 
would be most satisfactory; that is, plant the seedlings 3 by 3 feet, 
with a view to shading the ground quickly, and thin as required. 
The first harvest is gathered in from five to seven years from plant- 
ing, when the trees are from 4 to 5inches indiameter. The bark of the 
trunk is somewhat richer in tannin than that of the branches, but in 
stripping all of the larger limbs should be bared. The amount of 
tannin contained in the bark varies considerably during the time when 
the bark will peel, and Australian experiments indicate that the best 
season is when the bark will first peel readily, as when the buds dre 
swelling. 
When the trees are stripped they should be removed, and seedlings 
set in their place, or the sprouts permitted to grow. By this means a 
succession is obtained. The trees are at their best in Australia about 
the tenth year. Thereafter they are much more subject to injury from 
fungi and insects. The harvest is usually arranged on a system of 
thinnings, and covers a period sufficiently long to permit the stripping 
of the first trees of the second planting when the initial planting is 
exhausted, making a rotation of about ten years. - 
Of the two species the seeds of which were disseminated by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture several years ago, Acacia decurrens, the black 
wattle, is the more rapid grower in Australia, but A. pyenantha is con- 
sidered hardier, will endure on drier soils, and is richer in tannin. 
From the standpoint of the producer, however, in regions where the 
temperature will permit the cultivation of both species, the black wat- 
tle will probably be the more profitable, as it attains larger size and 
