20 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. VIII 
Area. —Twelve running feet of bed six feet wide, locally known as a 
“ kamra,” is taken as the unit of area for nursery work. For six-foot- 
by-six-foot planting it may be taken that two suck “ kcxmras ” will be 
required for each acre of planting area. Ihis allows for both seed and 
pricking-out beds as well as some margin for contingencies. On this 
assumption one acre of nursery will serve for about 200 acres of planting 
unless the plants have to be kept for more than a year in the beds as is 
the case with some species above 5,000 ft. 
Preparation oj seed-beds. —The beds must be hoed one foot deep, 
all roots removed and the surface levelled. Leaf mould should be collec¬ 
ted in the cold weather and spread out to sweeten. Beds should, if 
possible, be made up before the rains break. They consist of a six 
inch layer of leaf mould mixed with the local soil, screened and spread 
over the hoed-up surface of the land. By varying the proportion of 
leaf mould to soil it is possible to force on or retard growth, an import¬ 
ant point with some species. Poles or planks round the edges of the beds 
to prevent the mould from falling are often employed though condem¬ 
ned by some as being likely to cause water logging. 
Shading. —Except in the case of the larger seeds it is necessary to 
shade the seed beds and, at low elevations and in the case of slow 
growing seedlings, pricking-out beds require shading also. Trees bearing 
small seeds are Alnus nepalensis, Cryptomeria and others, especially Betula 
cylindrostachys and Duabanga sonneratioides . Cover from the drying 
sun of the hot weather and the heavy downpours of the monsoon is most 
essential for raising seedlings of such species successfully. 
In all cases shades should be removed from the pricking-out beds 
some time before the plants are to be taken up so that the shock of being 
transplanted and the shock of being exposed to full sunlight for the first 
time do not come simultaneously. This hardening process can be made 
still more gradual by removing the mat 5 one at a time, where two thick¬ 
nesses are used. 
In unshaded beds, thatch grass is sometimes spread on the surface 
and removed after germination to keep the soil moist. Shades should 
slope from six feet on one side of the bed to three feet on the other, the 
higher side being to the north in the plains and usually towards the hill¬ 
side in the hills, though in certain circumstances it may be better to face 
them outwards. They are made of thatch grass, wherever this is available, 
as it is cheaper and better than bamboo mats which, however, possess 
the advantage of being easily removed and replaced. A suggestion to 
use one of the several makes of flexible roofing material has not yet been 
tested. To the posts supporting the shades horizontal poles are lashed 
a few inches above the level of the bed to support a plank from which 
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