132 



[August, 1909. 



TIMBERS 



TREE PLANTING- 



By Guy S. Baker. 



(From the Agricultural Journal of 

 British East Africa, Vol. 1., Pt. Ill,, 

 October, 1908.) 



With the exception of a few species, 

 tree planting with the object of pro- 

 ducing timber does not pay the private 

 individual unless he is a rich man who 

 can afford to wait years for his profits, 

 and it is even then a doubtful invest- 

 ment, as the money can usually be more 

 profitably invested in some sound finan- 

 cial securities than in tree growing. 



Forestry at its best yields small profits ; 

 to calculate these it is necessary to con- 

 sider the compound interest upon the 

 sum expended on the plantation from 

 the age of one year until the crop is cut, 

 or in the case of a permanent high forest 

 the value of the land and the amount of 

 capital the forest represents, the annual 

 yield, then being the interest produced 

 from the capital. Intermediate expenses 

 have also to be included, and it is found 

 that when all has been taken into account 

 the interest on the invested capital rarely 

 exceeds 3%. The above remarks apply 

 sololy to tree growing with the object of 

 producing timber not to minor products 

 yielded by forests such as rubber, bark, 

 gum, fibre, peat, turpentine, bamboos, 

 etc. 



From 20 to 200 years are necessary to 

 produce timber of any size according to 

 the species grown. This period is termed 

 the rotation, and if mistakes are made 

 in the management of the crop they 

 cannot be corrected until the end of the 

 rotation. Moreover, forests are subject 

 to many dangers, and it is not usually 

 possible to sell them for their value in 

 times of need or to borrow much money 

 upon them. Forests, however, provide 

 employment for a large number of work- 

 men ; it is estimated that 12% of the 

 population is engaged in actual forest 

 work. 



Formation and Plantations. — To ob- 

 tain plants for the formation of the 

 plantation it is necessary to either dig 

 up the seedlings from places in the 

 forest where they are abundant, to 

 raise them iu nurseries, or to purchase 

 them. The latter will be found most 

 satisfactory when they can be procured 

 at reasonable prices, and the cost of 

 transport to the area to be planted is 

 not too great. Digging up trees direct 

 from the forest is usually attended with 



poor results, as the seedlings hare grow 

 under conditions which do not fit them 

 for removal, and which are changed 

 when they are in a plantation. 



Nurseries— A suitable piece of ground 

 must be chosen for the nursery. This 

 should be as near to the area to be 

 planted as possible in order to avoid 

 transport, and close to water. The soil 

 should be light friable and well drained ; 

 soil which is apt to cake and crack makes 

 a bad seed bed. The ground should be 

 broken up fine, the finer the better in 

 order to allow the roots of the young 

 plants to penetrate. The beds may be 

 made about 3 ft. wide, so that a man 

 can reach to the centre to weed, and as 

 long as is found convenient. Before 

 sowing, the bed must be raked over and 

 all lumps of unbroken soil removed. 

 Should the beds be made on a hill side 

 they must be made along the contour of 

 the bank in order to prevent floods 

 washing them away. The paths or 

 trenches between the beds may be 4" to 6 " 

 deep. Before the seed is put in, the earth 

 should be carefully worked in the beds 

 and pressed down slightly, so that seeds 

 may not be exposed to the washing away 

 of the soil. The soil must be moderate- 

 ly moist but not wet enough to stick 

 to the fingers ; some seeds require the 

 soil carefully mixed with charcoal, sand, 

 or other substance before good germin- 

 ation can be assured, but it is not neces- 

 sary to deal with such elaborate methods 

 here. The seed should be sown in 

 parallel drills or furrows 4 " or 6" apart, 

 as it will be found easier to afterwards 

 weed the beds and to remove the 

 seedlings ; the sowing must be done care- 

 fully ; the seed must not be thrown down 

 in handfuls. It must be covered with 

 earth to prevent it being washed away, 

 it should usually be covered with its own 

 thickness of soil. Large seeds are gener- 

 ally put in separately by hand, but 

 small seed can best be sown from a paper 

 packet or bottle. The season for sowing 

 seed in this country depends upon the 

 rate of growth of the seedling, it should 

 be sown in time for the seedling to have 

 reached a sufficiently large size to enable 

 them to be planted out during the rains. 



After sowing until the time of picking 

 out the seedlings, the seed beds must be 

 kept continually moist, not soaked with 

 water one day and let dry the next. 

 After germination the seedlings are 

 liable to be attacked by a number of 

 enemies. Many preparations have been 

 invented for keeping off insects, but no 

 simple remedy has so far as I know 



