64 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
AFFORESTATION IN CHINA. 
The question of afforestation in China is at the 
present time attracting a great deal of attention. 
China is a treeless country, and to this, perhaps, 
are due the devastating floods which work such ruin 
there, and the fearful seasons of drought which are 
almost as destructive as the floods. The timber used 
in various wajs is all imported — chiefly from the 
United States of America, and from Hainan and For- 
mosa. Till the overflow of the Yellow River some 
time ago, no one paid the least attention to this 
question; but now a proclamation of the liberal 
Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, to the people of his thickly, 
populated provinces, shows that the subject will receive 
the attention it deserves. His Excellency says that 
one of the first principles in governing a State is 
to watch over the agriculture of the State, so that 
it may benefit both the individuals who till it and 
the State. In one of the provinces over which he 
mles— namely, that of Chili— arboriculture is rendered 
especially easy by the softDess and fertility of 
its alluvial plains. If we omit the various species 
of fruit-trees, such as the apple, pear, and apricot, 
other kinds of trees are very rarely seen, and in con- 
sequence vast tracts of fertile plains are left barren. 
Some slight attempts have been made to plaut these 
extensive tracts with forest trees; but the strong 
northerly winds which prevail soon uprooted trees 
which had not been planted to a sufficient depth nor in 
well-chosen places. Amongst the peasants, the Viceroy 
says, the principles of arboriculture are unknown, and 
therefore their previous efforts have only resulted in 
labour and money uselessly expended. In recent years 
the Viceroy has ordered the planting of willow-trees 
along the banks of the steams and rivers in Ohili, 
with the object of protecting and strengthening the 
embankments. 
If successful methods. His Excellency asks, have 
been found for cultivating trees in salt lands, how 
much more easy ought they to be found in the 
rich level plaius of Chihli ? Accordingly, the authori- 
ties of the various prefectures and sub-prefectures 
ol Chihli are instructed to procure the necessary seed 
trees, and to inform the people iu their respective 
districts of the eight directions for tree-planting and 
the ten benefits to be derived from the same. Steps 
are to be taken by the authorities to encourage the 
people in their efforts at planting, but official agents, 
who might oppress the people, are not to be sent 
among them. At the end of each year a statement 
is to be submitted to the authorities, by every per- 
son who has tried planting, of the number of trees 
he has received, the number successful, the species 
which have thriven best, &c, so that the Govern- 
ment may reward those who are most successful in 
these experiments i» arboriculture, as well as gather 
information to guide them in the future. Instructions 
are given to the local authorities to deal severely 
with any person who steals or cuts down the trees 
of others. The Viceroy says that his intentions in 
issuing this proclamation are to afford another source 
of livelihood to the peasants, to help in preventing 
droughts and checking floods, to regulate the rainfall, 
and to beautify the country. 
The eight directions and the ten benefits are 
worth recording. The directions are as follows: — (1) 
To fortify the roots against injury from cold, which, 
on account of the loose nature of the soil near the 
surface, readily injures the roots, a fertilizer, made 
by burning a mixture of dung and grass, should be used 
when planting trees, and when the fertilizer is put 
in, the roots should be carefully covered. (2) When 
a tree has been securely planted, a small cumulus 
of <ar'h should be p'aeed around it, 6 or 7 inches 
high, and should be renewod before winter sets iu 
everv vear till the close of the third year. By this 
means 'the wind and cold cannot reach the roots, 
m.r will the necessary natural nourishment in the 
earth escape. (S) In places exposed to high winds 
the trees should be planted to a depth of at least 
a* feet ; at this depth the rich part of the soil is 
reached. In case of willows and other such trees, 
[July i, 1889. 
the outspreading and dependent branches are to be 
carefully pruned. (4) Rich earth, with a suitable 
fertilizer, is to be added to poorer soils. (5) To 
prepare the ground the reception of the seeds 
of such trees as the oak, elm, poplar, cypress, &c, 
which are shed every year, a trough is to be dug 
round each tree and filled with water to keep the 
soil moist. (6) Willow and mulberry trees should be 
planted in the spring, when there is rain. Before 
planting the young shoots, the soil should be well 
loosened and fertilizd, and grafting should always 
take place after rain, and the grait-trees should be 
well watered every alternate day. (7) Iu transplanting 
trees, the greatest care should be taken to preserve 
the three vertically-projecting roots, which every 
tree has, from the wind and sun. When there is 
rain, a small hole is to be dug by the side of the 
tree, cutting away one of these roots ; this oper- 
ation is to be repeated in a fortnight if there 
is rain ; if not, a month must elapse before 
the second root is cut, and similarly in the case of 
the third root. When the roots are cut away, in- 
numerable little roots will be thrown out. If there 
is no rain, the ground must be well wittered before 
any transplanting is attempted. (8) In raising trees 
from the seeds of the oak, mulberry, &c, some fer- 
tile spot should be prepared just as it would be for 
a crop of grain, and the seeds are planted in the 
same way as grain is planted. Spring time is the 
best, and while there is rain. When the young 
trees spring up and grow to the height of one or 
two feet, they can easily be transplanted as directed 
above. 
The ten benefits of planting trees are thus enum- 
erated by His Excellency: — (1) By planting trees 
at the river-banks the loose and sandy soil is 
strengthened by the roots, and the banks increase 
in height. (2) a large and profitable industry will 
spring up if pine, elm, willow, &c, are planted in 
the mountains on the borders. (3) The planting of 
trees around fields and farms will do away with 
the superfluous moisture and preserve a fair 
equilibrium of wind and fluid influences. (4) Where 
trees are in abundance, droughts will be unknown. 
(5) Abundance of trees also help to ward off epid- 
emics, and in thickly-populated districts trees 
should be especially planted for this purpose. (6) 
Where there is abundance of trees, travellers and 
families can find rest and shelter in the summer. 
(7) The operations of highwaymen and banditti are 
hindered where trees and forests are plantiful. (8) 
The snows on the mountains of the border will be 
absorbed by forests. (9) The poorer peasants will 
have sufficient fuel from the branches, which are 
pruned every year. ( 10) Many of these trees, as the 
Quercus mongolica, afford food to the silk-worm, which, 
in the mountainous regions, weaves a cocoon which 
makes much cheaper and more durable silk than 
that of the mulberry silk-worm. — Nature. 
Swietenia Mackophylla.' — Attention was directed 
to a reference in the Indian Forester of the current 
month to this species of mahogany, of which beautiful 
avenues have been formed in the Royal Botanic 
Gardens in Calcutta. The seeds were sent to Calcutta 
by the India Office in 1872, and were said to have 
been collected in Honduras; but as soon as the 
seedlings were a few inches high it was seen th it 
they were different from those of the true maho- 
gany. In their twelfth yeat many of them had reached 
a height of 20 feet, and had begun to flower freely; 
and in 1885, their thirteenth year, they yielded cap- 
sules containing good seed, thus presenting a marked 
contrast to the true mahogany, which does not seed 
until it is forty or fifty years old, and then but spar- 
ingly. It is believed that the wood has a rather higher 
colour than that of Swietenia Maliagoni " but the 
quick growth of the new species, and its habit of 
producing good seed in quantity, make it a desirable 
species to cultivate," — Proceedings of A.-H. Society of 
Madras. 
