August, 1909.] 



183 



Timbers. 



proved quite satisfactory. Wood ashes 

 sprinkled over the beds has often a good 

 effect. 



It will usually be found necessary to 

 protect the beds from the hot midday 

 sun by erecting a shade ovei them. As 

 the seedlings develop the shading should 

 be thinned out so as to accustom the 

 seedliugs gradually to the sun. After 

 germination the seed beds require con- 

 stant care or must be kept weeded. It 

 not infrequently happens that the 

 ground is allowed to cake and the seed- 

 ling becomes yellow in consequence ; the 

 soil should then be loosened between the 

 plants and be well-watered or irrigated. 



Pricking out Plants. — As it is more 

 satisfactory for several reasons to put 

 large plants into plantations than seed- 

 lings, the seedlings are first pricked out 

 some distance apart and allowed a height 

 of usually not less than 9". In Europe 

 they are pricked out about one foot apart 

 into beds, but it is here found better to 

 employ the more expensive but surer 

 method of potting them singly in pots or 

 to plant them into shallow boxes about 

 4" deep. They can then easily be moved 

 to the plantation. Plants should be 

 lifted from the seed beds as soon as they 

 are a convenient size to handle. The 

 larger the plant the more care it requires. 

 The best way to lift the plant where the 

 seed has been sown in lines is to dig a 

 small trench parallel to the line and to 

 push the seedlings in the trench by 

 inserting a spade or trowel behind. The 

 soil used for potting must be of the best ; 

 leaf mould mixed with an equal quantity 

 of soil into which a slight admixture of 

 ashes has been put will be found most 

 suitable. The soil used must be taken 

 from the surface when the air has acted 

 upon it. 



After potting, the transplants must be 

 kept well-watered and put in the shade 

 for a few days until rooted. It is a good 

 plan to put the potted transplants under 

 shades and to thin them gradually in the 

 same way as is done in the case of the 

 seed beds. 



The size of the pot should not be less 

 than 4" diam. at the top and 4" deep. 

 They may be made of banana leaves or 

 any similar material which will last 

 sufficiently long to keep the soil together 

 until the plants are ready to put out 

 into the plantation. 



Planting.— The size which plants 

 should attain before being planted into 

 places where it is intended they should 

 grow is generally 9" to 12". The ages at 

 which young trees reach the height de- 

 pends upon the kind of trees. 



The plantations should be selected in 

 a place where the trees have a fair depth 



of soil, if possible, although trees are 

 usually content with much poorer soil 

 than farm crops, and for this reason are 

 planted upon land unfit for agriculture 

 they thrive best upon deep well-drained 

 soils. Having chosen the site for the 

 plantation the uudergrowth must be 

 cleared away, if dense it should be cut 

 and burnt, the ground hoed or ploughed 

 in order to root out noxious weeds. 



In plantations the closer the trees are 

 planted at the outset the better ; 

 although there is an additional expense 

 in close planting it is more satisfactory 

 because the closer together young trees 

 are placed the better they shelter one 

 another, and the soil close planting also 

 serves the purpose of keeping down 

 jungle weeds ; the branches of the young 

 plants soon meet across and exclude 

 light without which weeds cannot grow. 

 It will be seen, therefore, that by close 

 planting there is a considerable after 

 saving in the cost of cleaning the plant- 

 ation, as instead of the weeds smothering 

 the trees the latter are able to hold 

 their owu and eventually kill the weeds. 

 Many kinds of trees unless grown in 

 numbers close together never develop 

 well. Fast growing trees such as 

 Eucalyptus and wattle may be planted 

 1' x 4', slower growing trees should be 

 planted 3' x 3' or even 2' x 2'. The best 

 season for planting is of course at the 

 beginning of the rains. 



Only healthy plants should betaken 

 for planting out, all sickly or weak 

 plants should be thrown away or left 

 until another season when they may 

 have recovered, 



In cases where plants have been pricked 

 out into banana leaf pots or trays there 

 will be no difficulty in transport or in 

 planting. If in banana leaf pots the pot 

 may be planted with the plant, but it is 

 better taken off. If in trays the plants 

 should be carefully lifted from the tray 

 with a ball of earth ; a trowel will be 

 found best for this purpose. 



Should it be found necessary to trans- 

 plant trees which have not been pre- 

 viously put into pots or trays, great care 

 must be exercised in their removal. The 

 most important point is to see that the 

 roots are not injured. They may be 

 dug with a ball of earth, but this is my 

 experience especially when plants have 

 to be transported any distance ; it is 

 difficult to keep the earth from falling 

 away from the roots of the plant, and 

 when the soil is light and friable almost 

 impossible. Planting with bare roots 

 has given poor results in this country. 



The larger the holes dug for the plants 

 the better, as the roots can then pene- 

 trate more easily into loosened soil, 



