Magazihe  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
65 
ROADSIDE  ABORICULTURE. 
The  planting  of  trees  on  roadsides,  where  the 
width  of  the  reservation  admits  of  such  procedure 
is  greatly  to  be  commended  for  various  reasons. 
Among  other  advantages  it  provides  shade  for 
pedestrians,  besides  shading  the  centre  of  the  road 
itself,  and  thus  making  it  a cool  drive,  while  it 
also  keeps  off  the  direct  glare  of  the  sun  and  the 
reflected  glare  from  the  road.  Further,  trees  orna- 
ment roads  by  their  foliage  and  blossoms.  Who 
that  has  driven  along  Skinner’s  Road  on  a hot  day 
has  not  felt  thankful  for  the  grateful  shade 
provided  by  the  avenue  of  Inga  dulcis,  or  along 
Flower  Road  and  the  neighbourhood  where  Cassias, 
Pitheeolobium,  Lawsonia,  Erythrina,  Pterocarpus 
and  Poinciaha  were  in  bloom,  and  not  felt 
gladdened  by  the  colour  and  fragrance  of  the 
blossoms  that  clothed  the  trees  ? The  late  Mr. 
William  Ferguson’s  botanical  instincts  and  his 
love  for  the  beautiful  in  nature  it  was  that 
helped  to  give  Colombo  the  beauty  that  visitors 
to  our  shores  attribute  to  it ; but  there  has  been 
no  one  to  carry  on  the  work  of  roadside  abori- 
culture  that  he  initiated,  with  the  same  enthu- 
siasm. 
We  now  read  in  the  Indian  Agriculturist  that 
the  Magistrate  of  Monghyr  (Mr.  C.  F.  Worsley)  has 
issued  a report  on  a system  of  planting  trees  which 
hsa  been  adopted  successfully  by  him,  and  that 
the  Government  has  directed  the  circulation  of 
the  report  among  all  district  officers  and  Local 
Boards.  We  believe  that  nurseries  arelkeptup  in 
the  Victoria  Park  for  supplying  trees  for  roadside 
planting,  but  on  the  whole  the  system  of  tree 
planting  as  at  present  adopted  in  Ceylon  would 
be  the  better  for  some  reform,  and  it  is  for  that 
reason  that  we  take  over  Mr.  Worsley’s  report  as 
given  in  the  Indian  Agriculturist : — 
When  I first  commenced  the  system  of  planting 
trees  along  the  sides  of  roads  in  Mozufferpore 
district  in  the  year  1877,  I adopted  the  plan 
which,  I believe,  is  usually  followed  by  inexpe- 
rienced amateur  planters,  of  working  through 
contractors,  and  allowing  them  to  plant  very 
young  trees  or  to  raise  them  from  seed  in  the 
spots  where  the  trees  were  intended  to  grow 
up.  Each  of  these  young  trees  or  seedlings 
required  to  be  protected  by  a gabion  or  bamboo 
fence,  and  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  ex- 
penses of  repairing  or  renewing  the  fences  and 
of  supplying  water  to  the  young  trees  in  the 
hot  season  were  more  than  the  District  Road 
Fund  could  conveniently  bear.  I accordingly 
tried  the  experiment  of  raising  young  trees  in 
nurseries  from  seed  sown  either  in  pots  or  in 
the  open  ground,  and  of  planting  them  out 
along  the  sides  of  roads  when  five  or  six  feet 
high.  It  having  been  found  in  practice  that 
the  young  trees  so  raised  in  pots  succeeded  best, 
this  system  was  generally  adopted  in  Mozuffer- 
pore from  the  year  1880. 
In  my  report  No.  99,  dated  6th  February 
1880,  for  the  Road  Cess  year  1878-79  (published 
in  pages  1471—1479  of  Part  II.  of  the  Calcutta 
Gazette,  dated  29th  September  1880,)  I described 
at  some  length  the  operations  of  the  Mozuffer- 
pore Road  Committee  in  connection  with  the 
planting,  and  the  subjoined  extracts  will  explain 
the  advantages  of  their  system: — 
“ On  all  other  roads  the  trees  are  fenced  with 
strong  bamboo  gabions,  six  feet  in  height  and 
two  feet  six  inches  in  diameter,  made  on  one 
uniform  plan,  and  built  round  the  tree  when 
planted  in  the  following  manner: — 
“Five  whole,  not  split,  bamboo  posts  eight 
feet  in  length  and  not  less  than  one  and-a-half 
inch  diameter,  are  sunk  in  the  ground  to  a 
depth  of  two  feet  at  equal  distances  from  each 
other,  and  a radius  of  fifteen  inches  from  the 
stem  of  the  tree.  Four  pieces  of  split  bamboos 
are  then  placed  between  the  posts,  and  split 
bamboos  are  woven  in  basket  fashion  to  a height 
of  six  feet,  the  last  six  inches  being  passed 
through  loops  in  the  bamboo  posts  to  prevent 
travellers  removing  and  untwisting  the  basket- 
work,  which  was  a common  and  very  mischievous 
practice,  and  one  that  caused  continual  labour 
and  considerable  expense  in  repairs.  I may 
add  that  the  system  now  adopted  has  been 
absolutely  successful  in  preventing  such  mischief 
and  injury;  as,  although  easy  to  twist  the  split 
bamboos  through  the  loops  when  green,  it  is 
most  difficult  to  remove  them  when  they  have 
become  dried  and  set. 
“ Nursery  Gardens.— Two  nursery  gardens  have 
been  established  during  the  last  Road  Cess  year 
1878-79 — one  at  the  dak  bungalow  in  Mozuffer* 
pore,  the  other  in  the  District  Engineer’s  grounds. 
The  formation  of  nursery  gardens  was  rendered 
necessary  for  several  reasons,  amongst  them  the 
following: — 
“(1)  The  difficulty  experienced  in  obtaining 
young  fruit  trees  of  even  inferior  description. 
“(2)  The  policy  of  planting  none  but  good 
varieties  and  descriptions  of  fruit  trees,  so  as 
to  ensure  eventually  from  the  sale  of  the  fruit 
a handsome  return  for  the  outlay  and  expenditure 
incurred  in  planting  and  maintaining  them. 
“ (3)  To  prevent  injury  in  transplanting  trees 
with  tap  roots  such  as  artocarpus  integrifolia, 
bassia  latifolia,  and  dalbergict  sissu  by  raising 
them  in  pots,  it  having  been  found  by  practical 
experience  most  difficult  to  transplant  such  trees 
satisfactorily.  Experience  has  impressed  the 
necessity  of  using  pots  for  all  future  nursery 
operations  as  being  eventually  a safer  and  more 
economical  way  of  raising  and  transplanting 
young  trees  than  in  and  from  the  open  ground. 
After  much  care,  time,  and  expense  have  been 
laid  out  and  incurred  on  the  young  trees  in 
the  nurseries,  it  is  very  disappointing  to  find 
them  dying  a few  days  after  being  transplanted, 
in  consequence  of  injury  to  tap  roots,  and  here 
1 would  observe  that  it  is  very  inadvisable  to 
plant  out  any  trees  less  than  two  years  old. 
The  cost  of  tending,  watering,  and  maintaining 
them  is  much  less  in  the  nurseries  than  when 
they  are  scattered  over  many  miles  of  roads,  and 
as  the  existence  of  a bamboo  fence  such  as  is 
used  in  this  district  is  three  to  four  years,  by 
the  time  it  is  worn  out  its  need  is  no  longer 
required,  the  trees  being  five  to  six  years  old, 
and  strong  enough  to  do  without  such  protection. 
We  have  now  in  the  nurseries  14,112  well-grown 
young  trees,  which  will  suffice  for  about  80  miles 
of  road,  which  is  about  the  annual  average 
length  of  avenue  planted  in  this  district.” 
1 may  mention  that  the  pots  in  which  yohng 
trees  are  raised  -should  be  buried  in  shallow 
trenches,  each  trench  being  long  and  broad  enough 
to  hold  400  or  500  pots  placed  as  close  together 
as  they  will  stand  in  parallel  rows,  The  ri®5 
