2 
April being now over io feet high. The percentage of failures 
varies from about^o per cent, in the dryest places, to io per cent, 
in places where more moisture was retained in the soil. 
As regards planting seed at stake, this method was tried on a 
io acre field, 1,936 seeds being planted singly, 15 feet apart. This 
was not by any means a success, as the seeds suffered heavily 
from the depredations of rats, ants, etc., as soon as germination 
had begun. I found in many cases that the young shoot had been 
bitten off, and carried some distance from the seed, the inside or 
the seed shell being in every case full of small red ants. In some 
cases, whe’-e the young shoot had begun to root itself, the shoot 
was left in position, and the seed itself carried away. I11 these 
cases the plants survived for several days, sometimes developing 
a few very small and sickly looking leaves, but eventually died. 
In other cases the tops of the plants were eaten away as soon as 
they appeared above ground. I noticed that when this occurred, 
the plant usually sent up two shoots in place of the one destroyed, 
neither of which would show good growth. In some parts, I believe, 
it is usual to plant the seeds in bamboo pots filled with earth, the 
pots consisting of a section of bamboo, a few inches in length open 
at each end, the pot containing one or more seeds, to be planted 
at stake, but of this, method I have had no experience. Out of the 
1 936 seeds planted at stake, 1,489 had to be replaced the follow- 
ing month. This was done with seedlings, from a month to six 
weeks old, transplanted from the nursery. This, so far as I have 
seen, appears to he the most satisfactory method when possible. 
The plants are taken out when about 9 to 12 high, and when 
the first leaves are fully developed, but before new leaves have 
started. The tool in use here is a cylinder of brass, 5 high and 
> diameter sharpened at the bottom edge, with two side supports 
about 2' 6" high, to which is fixed a cross handle at the top. 1 his 
is placed over" the plant and pressed into the soil and twisted, and 
the plant lifted out, with a circular block of earth attached. I his 
is disevio’aged from the transplanter by means of a small slab ot 
wood, to which a circular wooden block is attached, corresponding 
with the inner diameter of the transplanter. The transplanter, con- 
taining the soil and plant is placed over this block and pressed 
down." By this method a coolie can easily take out 400 to 500 
plants a day. This appears to me to be the ideal method of plant- 
ing out, for manv reasons. First, any failures in germination o 
seeds will occur in the nursery. Second, failures after planting out 
are reduced to a minimum (in the present instance being only about 
one per cent). Third, no large holes need be dug to receive the plant. 
Fourth, there is absolutely no check to the growth of the plant, as 
is bound to be the case when planting stumps even under the most 
favourable conditions. Many plants that were taken out in Octo- 
ber when less than one foot high are now over three feet. It may ot 
course be argued that the stumps, when they start, make a stronger 
and stouter plant, but it appears to me that the growth of the 
young plant could, if necessary, be checked quite as easily by 
