636 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[January 2, 1882 
14. No. XIII Plot, 1866, A.— 4 f 10 acres, shola soil, 
nearly all officinalis, growth good hut planted originally 
too far apart, harked three times. 
15. No. XIV Plot, 1866, B.— 14-34 acres, shola soil, 
all succiruhra of very fine growth, harked six times ; 
there was a good deal of calisaya in this plot, hut it 
all died out some years ago. 
16. No. XV Plot, 1866, C— 12-45 acres, shola soil, 
succiruhra except a small quantity of very fine old officin- 
alis and some young Calisaya and Puhescens, growth of 
succiruhra very fine, harked six times. About one acre 
formerly planted with calisaya, all dying or dead, was 
uprooted, yield of bark 730 lb., sale proceeds unknown. 
This block has been replanted with 2,000 young Calisaya 
and 600 young Pul.escens. 
17. No. XVI Plot, 1868, A.— 3-71 acres, all shola, 
planted chiefly with succiruhra, has been burnt over 
more than once, now poor and very thin, only about 300 
trees remaining, soil poor and scarcely worth replanting. 
18. No. XVII Plot, 1868, B. — 8-13 acres, aU shola, 
about one-third facing west very much blown, planted 
with succiruhra, condition bad ; about two-thirds facing 
east, succiruhra and officinalis, about alternate trees very 
fair growth, all barked twice. 
19. No. XVIII Plot, 1869, J.--9-96 acres, grass land, 
nearly all succiruhra, growth fair, particularly in lower 
portion, trees not barked ; 400 officinalis barked twice. 
20. No. XIX Plot, 1869, B. — 11-83 acres, grass land, 
all succiruhra, upper portion exposed and growth very 
poor and thin, and should be uprooted and replaced by 
officinalis, lower portion fair growth of Red harks for 
grass land, trees not barked. 
21. No. XX Plot, 1869, C— 13-69 acres, grass land, 
2 acres officinalis, good growth, all barked, balance succi- 
ruhra not barked, fair growth for the soil, but should 
all he uprooted and replaced by officinalis which may 
be 1 said of all grass land planted with succiruhra in these 
plantations. 
22. - No. XXI Plot, 1869, D. — 13-26 acres, grass land, 
except a small patch of shola land, all succiruhra ex- 
cept a few supplies of officinalis, not barked, except the 
small bit of shola soil, all poor growth and very thin 
in the upper portions, should be uprooted and planted 
with Officinalis. 
23. No. XXII Plot, 1869, B.— 12-18 acres, aU shola 
land except a small corner of grass laud (about 50 trees), 
all succirubra except supplies of officinalis, growth very 
good, not barked. 
24. No. XXIII Plot, 1869, £.—11-54 acres, two-thirds 
shola, one-third grass land, all succirubra except sup- 
plies of officinalis, growth very good on the shola soil, 
fair on the grass land, trees not barked, 5 acres cop- 
piced in 1879, balance scraped in 1880, 5 acres succi- 
rubra coppiced in July 1879 (in the same manner as in 
Plot No. VII), 2,628 unbarked trees cut, all stools bled 
terribly, 973 dead and uprooted, 1,655 growth healthy, 
shoo is 1 to 3 to each stool, 3 to 4 feet high, blanks 
from the uprootals to be planted with Puhescens. Six 
acres, '..723 succirubra trees scraped in September 1880 
on the in".'. Java principle. None were mossed or covered 
in any way as it was not supposed to be necessary. 
1,978 trees have failed to renew their bark, and the 
bark and cambium being apparently all dead, it is sup- 
posed the trees must die, and some have already died ; 
the remainder arc renewing their bark satisfactorily, and 
might probably be scraped again in 1882, but not before. 
25. No. XXIV Plot, 1869, G.— 20-19 acres, all shola 
land, all Buccirubrn and Puhescens except supplies of 
officinalii , not barked, splendid growth, Puhescens about 
20 per cent. 
26. No. XX V Plot, 1869, II.— 9-20 acres, all shola 
(•xce,.t a small bit "f gBWB hind; shola soil planted 
with Buccirubra, not harked, growth very good; grass 
land planted with officinalis, all barked. 
27. No. XXI 1 Plot, I— 2-25 acres, shola land, 
all succirubra of very good growth, barked four times. 
28. No. XXVII Plot, 1870, A.— 11-52 acres, grass 
land, now two-thirds officinalis and one-third suceirubra, 
originally planted entirely with succirubra which mostly 
died out and was replanted in 1872-73. The remainder 
of the succirubra should be uprooted and replaced by 
Officinalis or Puhescens. The officinalis growth is not 
good owing to exposure and poverty of soil, but it 
will pay, not barked. 
29. No. XXWII Plot, 1870, I). — 16-37 acres, grass 
land, au entire failure, uprooted and abandoned, and 
now pitted for planting Australian acacias for fuel. 
30. No. XXIX Plot, 1870, C— 4 30 acres in three 
separate blocks : — 
First block. — Grass land, officinalis, growth good, but 
too widely planted, barked twice. 
Second block. — All shola land, mixture of Succirubra, 
Officinalis, Calisaya, Javanica and Anglica, not barked, 
growth good, except the calisaya. The Anglica and 
shrubby Javanica of no value. 
Third block. — All shola, chiefly succirubra with a few 
officinalis, growth good, not barked. 
32. State of Naduvatam Plantations. 
The Naduvatam plantations certainly show very line 
growth, and though I inspected them at the beginning 
of May, after an unusually dry April, ami at the end of 
a long season of drought when all the grass hills were 
as brown as the roads, they were in splendid condition 
and healthy foliage. Taking into consideration the mis- 
take of too wide planting, I think they are all that 
could possibly be expected and in every way satisfactory. 
In planting up a large area like this site, it is of course 
impossible always to avoid too great exposure to wind, 
bad soil, bad drainage, &c, and there are here and 
there failures from these causes ; but this could not be 
otherwise, and even in many places where the growth 
is poor it pays well at the prices bark is now realizing. 
33. Fencing. — A considerable expenditure is necessaiy 
in fencing in several of the plots, if they are to be 
properly kept up, as the sambur are most troublesome ; 
it will well pay. 
34. Wide planting. — The great mistake, here as else- 
where has been the wide planting. It was probably 
supposed that the trees would grow to a far larger size 
than they now promise ; but even supposing that this 
had occurred, there was the established fact that such 
large trees as Teak and Eucalyptus had to be planted 
6' x 6' and afterwards gradually thinned out, otherwise 
good growth could not be secured : wide planting causes 
crooked growth and often no fair boll and gives the 
wind an unfair advantage. The planting was originally 
12' x 12', but reduced gradually afterwards down to 8' x 8 
and 7' x 7'. I am of opinion that the planting of " Suc- 
cirubra " should always be 5' x 5' or certainly not more 
than 6' x 6', and that the first thinning (alternate lines 
leaving the trees 10' x 5' or 12' x 6') need not take 
place till there would be some yield from the bark, and 
that at the final thinning the trees may stand 10' x 10' 
or 12' x 12'. " Officinalis " should be planted 4' x 4' or 
perhaps even closer ; intermediate planting is always very 
precarious owing to the shade and chip of existing trees, 
and 25 or even 50 per cent very often appear to fail. 
Tlnoughout the plantations one sees evidence of the 
great mistake wide planting has been. 
35. Is barking injurious or not to the trees?— Theto 
is certainly no proof that barking in any way affects the 
health of the trees. I was formerly of opinion that 
it did, and fancied I detected it in the appearance of 
the trees, so I was prejudiced in a way, but I made 
most careful inspection of both barked and unbarked 
trees both from a distance and close, and could detect 
no difference in foliage or any way else, and it is a 
fact that the trees barked seven to eight times are 
some of the healthiest and finest hi growth, foliage 
and every way, in the plantation, and that they are 
now flowering and seeding less prolifically, and that the 
barked trees have grown (uiito as well, if not better 
