12 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. VIII 
Globulus) I believe holds the high-level record for rapid growth, in the 
early stages at any rate, some plants having reached 10 to 14 feet in 
height in 20 months at 6,000 feet elevation. Twenty-three species of 
Eucalyptus are being tried at various elevations this year. Above 7,000 
feet taungya becomes difficult owing to the damage done by hail to the 
field-crops. 
11. Nursery and planting practice as carried out by the Forest Depart¬ 
ment has changed very considerably in the last few years, following the 
example of the Cinchona Department which owes the success of its plant¬ 
ations largely to the excellence of its work in the early stages. Until 
recently Forest nurseries were roughly made of the ordinary local soil 
and not shaded and the plants were left in them until they were two 
feet or more in height and then put out, generally too late in the season, 
in recently cleared forest where they had to contend with vigorous coppice 
shoots and climbers from the start. Now seed is germinated in shaded 
beds of leaf-mould or a rich mixture of this with the local soil, and the 
plants are pricked out three inches apart in similar beds as soon as they 
are big enough to handle—say three inches long including the root. 
The result of this is to produce plants with relatively large and very 
fibrous and compact root-systems the whole of which can be picked up 
and planted with a handful of mould. This is done when they are only 
a few inches high and a few months old in large, well-loosened planting 
holes which do not bind the roots under which conditions plants will 
establish themselves with a minimum of tending, the most expensive 
item in plantation work. The above is the procedure in the case of an 
average species ; very vigorous plants like Gomari can be grown with 
far less attention, especially on a light soil, but, in the main, experience 
has shown that it is more economical to spend labour in forcing plants 
along in their early stages than to spend it in keeping them alive under 
unfavourable conditions later. In the case of upper hill species it is 
best to make the nursery at the lowest elevation at which the tree is 
found, or even lower, so as to get rapid growth. 
12. Plants larger than those just described are put out in the case of 
species the seed of which ripens late in the season (say anything after April) 
and will not stand storing until the following year. Such plants have 
to be kept in the nursery through the cold weather and put out at the 
beginning of the following rains when, being large, they have either to 
be root-and-shoot pruned or stripped of their leaves. Some species 
such as Tun and Chikrassi can be transplanted successfully in the cold 
weather. At high elevations the oaks are sometimes kept in the nursery 
for three or four years before being pruned and put out; this is partly 
owing to their slow growth and partly to the absence of seed in some 
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