91 
SEED BEDS. BOXING. 
unloosened eaith. Ihe surer method will take more time; but in view of the great 
piospective value of the trees, every available plant should be used and each given 
its best chance. 
( b ) PROPAGATING FROM SEED BEDS. 
Surplus plants from a sown area will be but rarely available. In general 
practice transplanting must be done from seed-beds in the nursery. Where there 
are propagating bouses or frames the plants may be started therein; but such 
conveniences, though desirable, are not indispensable. We have seen that extensive 
sowings may be successfully made where the trees are to grow. In a similar 
manner sowings may be made on small areas for the exclusive purpose of removal. 
The preparation of the soil will be exactly the same but on a smaller scale. If 
sand and vegetable mould are available to mix with the soil, they will make 
germination of the seed more rapid and certain. A patch worked out of a clean 
grass paddock will, of course, give better results than a weedy old garden. The 
seed may be sown in bands six inches wide and covered by sprinkling earth over 
it; or it may be sown in very shallow drills and covered by raking and treading, 
just as we sow onion seed. For planting out early in the following winter or in 
the succeeding spring the plants should be started in September, October, or 
November. The risk with early sowing is that the plants may become too large 
before we can handle them; with late sowing, that dry weather may set in and 
either prevent the germination of the seed or kill the plants as soon as they come 
up. In a very wet season young plants may be lost through “damping off”, which 
means that they succumb to some form of cryptogamic parasite. The remedy 
then is to rework the ground and sow again. A reasonable amount of skill and 
perseverance will soon provide as many hundreds or thousands of plants as may 
be desired. There will then be the option of several different methods of treating 
and preparing them for transference to the permanent planting ground. 
( 1 ) Boxing. 
While the plants are still only two or three inches high they may be pricked 
out into shallow boxes or trays filled with vegetable mould or humus. The plants 
should be evenly spaced in straight rows about 2 inches apart each way, with 
their tender roots as little bruised or broken as possible. As each box is completed, 
it must be lightly sprayed with water and placed in a position where it will be 
sheltered from harsh winds and at the same time partly shaded from the 
direct rays of the sun. In dry weather further sprayings must follow 
frequently. Within a month the plants will have formed new rootlets and 
made some additional leaf growth. They must then be placed in more exposed 
positions and gradually hardened. Two or three weeks before the early winter 
planting season, say, in the first or second week of April, a sharp knife is to be run 
between the rows of plants in the boxes both ways so as to cut all long roots, this 
operation to be immediately followed by a good spraying with water. By the 
middle of May the plants will have again formed new rootlets. Thereafter at any 
convenient time during the early winter or in the spring the planting out may be 
done with assured certainty of success. The plants are carried to the permanent 
ground and passed along the lines in the boxes. Each unit, with its little square 
