le eee Se ee 
_ more growth than bed plants, but they need a little more attention. In a § 
124 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [i Es., 1900: 
uncertain, and when ordinary bed plants would probably droop considerablf 
before they had time to strike well; when they have to be transport’ 
long distances since no earth need be carried with them; when nursene 
are late or no nursery plants available. Plants from one to two Y ir) 
old make the best stumps; older than that, unless they can be Jel 
to grow where they stand, generally it will pay better not to atte 
stumping, though a stunted three-year-old may make a good _ stuml) 
It is always better to pencil plants once they have made primaries, howe 
small. This does not necessarily mean that any planting out of old i 
without stumping is doomed to failure. Old trees, even 10 or 15 years 
may be transplanted with perfect safety, and even a standing crop cat || 
ripened on a tree after transplantation, if only sufficient care is exercised 2 3 
work. Much work of this nature can be carried out with safety when 00© 
100 or even several hundred plants are to be tended; but when thousands ™ 
to be planted out, the labour, cost of transport, time, and attention to 
become important factors. In these articles it must be borne in mind that 
estate worked to pay is what I have in mind, and not the experiment@!™ 
pleasure garden. 7 
In “pencilling” plants, if the ground is soft they may be pulled up i 
hand; if not, a fork or a spade is put in near them to loosen the soil sufficie™ 
for the plant to be pulled out and the earth taken away. ‘Then the top) | 
head of the plant should be cut away. It is the proper thing to leave thre@)} 
four eyes above ground, but as it is often difficult to see the eyes, and) 
would take time, the plant is cut off with some 6 inches or so of stem over 
root. This, from frequent experience, being found to be sufficient, next ") 
taproot is cut away at about the same length, or in older and thicker plant 
inches, leaying the “pencil” or stump from 1 foot to 1 foot 3 inches in leD 
according to its age. | 
The lateral roots are then cut away to within 1 inch or so from the st) 
and in this state the now “pencilled” plants will stand a considerable amoW! 
of knocking about, and after being planted out will send up shoots or suck, 
in four weeks and sometimes less. (See Fig. B., Plate 2.) In an une 
season, when hot spells alternate with heavy rain, they will frequently an 
continuously cloudy, light showery, planting season, however, they will not cat] 
up to the bed plants that have had no check whatever in their growth. Fy 
Let me give a word of warning about stumps. In a good season ith 
been found that they are apt to outgrow their strength. A sucker on a, i 
tree will bear heavier crops, and sooner than the original main head, but it 
always at the expense of the tree. In the same way the growth on a stump ¥ 
as will a good bed plant, frequently show a bean or two of crop in the 
year, and more in the second; and from this fact has arisen a fallacy that 
getting a two-year-old stump a maiden crop can be obtained one year fall 
planting. A small scattering of crop may appear on stump plants, but 4 * ) 
maiden crop will not be obtained any earlier from stumped than from nuts)) 
or new bed plants. Should a sprinkling of crop appear on such in the) 
year, it is not a matter for congratulation, but rather extra caution, or disé® 
will follow. A large percentage die back or die out, and very probably 2 e 
case turn yellow and sickly, and lose in the second year as much, if not mt 
advantage than was gained in the first. A subsequent chapter will deal W | 
the treatment of young trees in the field, and recur to this matter. ‘i 
Basket Plants.—A word about the most usual method now in vogue ant 
modern growers. Small baskets made of loosely plaited split bamboo abel") 
inches deep, and 3 to 4 inches wide, are obtainable or easily made W” 4) 
bamboo is plentiful. In South India they cost about 5s. per 1,000. Thes® i F 
filled with mould, and set 10 in a row across in long beds, and seeds are eit fl 
set singly in them or, as is more often the case, young plants are pricked 
them from the germinating bed. On being planted out there is no fear of 6” 4) 
breaking away, or of damage to plants, and the basket rots away ina moe") 
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