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and after being steeped in water for a short time can be 
sown in the nursery beds. 
Some persons recommend mixing them with ashes 
before sowing, as they are so small, and this enables 
them to be more evenly distributed over the seed beds. 
Nursery Beds . — The beds for the seed require careful 
preparation. The soil must be well tilled until it is loose 
and friable, and should be well manured. The manure 
should be old and well decayed, so that it can be readily 
crumbled into a fine powder. Mollison recommends 
leaf manure as the best, and it is indeed the most 
natural manure for a plant whose habitat is the leaf-soil 
of the forest, but cow-dung, if finely mixed with the soil, 
is also a very suitable manure. The nursery beds are 
about 8 ft. long by 4 ft. wide, and about 2 tolas of seed 
are required for a bed of this size. The seed is 
sprinkled loosely over the bed and a small quantity of 
soil thrown over them. 
The beds then require protection from sun and rain. 
Fronds of ferns stuck in the ground may be used to 
shade them, and have been found to form an effective 
shade in Ceylon, but it is better to shelter them by a 
water-tight roof about 3 or 4 ft. high, composed of 
thatch or Kadjangs or attaps, a roofing made locally of 
the leaves of screw pines [Pandani) or palms. In 
Kanara a platform is made over the beds and covered 
with branches, or the branches are simply laid over the 
nursery beds, and this is the only protection given if 
the seed bed is otherwise well protected from rain and 
wind. This, however, I would not recommend, as it 
often occurs in cases where the branches are laid directly 
on the bed that they form hiding-places for snails 
and other vermin. It is better to raise them on the 
platform. 
In Kanara, Mollison says that the branches of the 
tree Pliyllanthus emhlica are considered the best for 
laying over the beds. The cultivators allege that the 
leaves and branches of this and certain other trees 
prevent insect attack. The trees preferred are all rich in 
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