36 BULLETIN 9, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ever subject to depredations by rodents, and that gophers will not 
enaw their roots. 
After a plantation is established the natural way to secure repro- 
duction is to depend upon seli-sown seedlings. It is likely, however, 
that these may come up irregularly, and that the use of the drill or 
transplants may be necessary to secure a uniform stand. The 
mere fact that acacias become naturalized and spread over waste 
places in parts of India, Africa, Algeria, California, and the South- 
west does not necessarily imply that well-stocked groves can be 
produced invariably without aiding nature. 
The method of planting known in the Forest Service as seed 
spotting, equivalent to planting in hills, has several advantages over 
broadcasting. It saves a great deal of seed; it enables the planter 
to pick out the best spots and to prepare them with some care; and 
it greatly reduces the cost of subsequent thinnings. In many cases 
land may be so well prepared that seed could be drilled in or sown | 
by hand in rows. Thorough cultivation of the ground 1s of course 
desirable, yet excellent plantations have been established with less 
cost of time and labor. For example, at Mount Benson, South 
Australia, where the soil is very poor—the mere white sand of the 
“fern hills’—double furrows 8 feet apart were struck out. Seed 
which had been soaked in boilmg water was drilled in and covered 
with a harrow, 1 pound to the acre.. In some places it would be 
practicable to attach drill and harrow to the plow and complete the 
whole planting operation at one time. One man and a team can 
plant 8 acres a day. 
Ust or NuRSERY STOCK. 
Nursery methods are too expensive for the forester except to sup- 
plement field sowing. They involve skilled labor and the use of 
considerable material such as seed boxes and-flats and pots, either of 
paper or clay. In India sections of bamboo are used for the plants, 
which are set in the ground as soon as the seedling is ready for the 
field. In Australia stems of the reed Arundo donax have been used 
at a cost of $1.25 a thousand tubes, this price including the cutting 
of the reeds, fillmg the sections with earth, and setting out the plants. 
California nurserymen sow their acacia seed beds in June, July, 
and August, and the plants are ready to be transplanted to pots or 
to be set out the following spring. The seed-bed method entails a 
heavy loss, and boxes, flats, or trays are usually preferable and 
cheaper. These flats are generally 4 inches deep and contain 2 or 3 
square feet. Each one will hold from 100 to 200 plants of transplant 
size. Generally they are sheltered from sun and wind by lath houses, 
by brush, or by being placed under large trees. One laborer can 
care for many thousand of these small acacias in the flats, which 
