Pert es: ‘. Sere ES pence = ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY a vig ROUGH DRAFT A MANUAL INDIAN SYLVICULTURE E. E, FERNANDEZ, Iypian Forest Services, LATE DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND PROFESSOR OF FORESTRY, IMPERIAL FOREST SCHOOL, DEHRA DUN. eee ae GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 128 ILLUSTRATIONS. SECOND EDITION. Printed by Madan Singh at the Jubilee Press, Dehra Dun, 1891. & PREFACE To THE First Epirion. This book is no more than what it professes to be, viz., a Rough Draft of a Manual embodying especially for the use of Indian stu- dents the general principles of sylviculture.. It originated in this wise. In 1881, when instruction was given for the first time at the Forest School, Mr. Fisher and I were asked to prepare a Manual of Forestry to.take the place of the lectures. The task of bringing out the Sylviculture portion of the book fell to me. As the undertaking. wasa very large one and required more experience thana single man possessed, Mr. R. Thompson joined usin 1882, and 1 was relieved of that portion of the work which relates to the special application of general principles in the cultivation and treatment of our forests and trees. Thus my allotted task has now been completed. fn carrying it out-I have never had the time or the opportunity to complete the entire book in manuscript before publishing it. As each section, indeed often each Article, was written, it was sent to press, and so when. the later parts came to be written in the same piece-meal fashion, I constantly felt the necessity of suppress- ing, modifying or adding to was already in print.. Nay. more than this. Owing to special duties which absorbed all my time, I have frequently, for months, been campelled.to lay the work aside until I had once more leisure to. resume it. Indeed on one occasion not a word was added to the manuscript for more than a year. Even when able to prosecute the work, I could make for myself time only at nights in the solitude of our forest camps. Such being the case, it is not surprising that the first page was printed in November 1885, while the last one is only just leaving the press after a lapse of three years. During this time I have also been. pre- paring in Urdu a course of forestry and the allied sciences for the use of candidates for the Forester’s certificate, part of which course has already been published. It will thus be readily conceded that the circumstances in which this Draft has been written and pub- lished have been conducive neither to unity of ideas, plan or arrangement, nor even to the little amount of literary polish that is generally held to be sufficient in an educational work ona scienti-. fic subject. When I adopted the plan of publication just described, I was of course aware of the enormous disadvantages under which I would (a) have to labour. But I had to consider before everything the in- terests of our students, who have quite enough to do without having to write out voluminous notes, which, always much less readable than the worst description of type, very few of them are sufficiently well educated to take down accurately. Hence, as form after form of the draft was received from the press, it was put into the hands of the men, with very great advantage both to the teacher and the taught. Tlven if the entire book was not available, still the pro- verbial half loaf was better than none at all. I have Mr. Smythies’ permission to say that when last year he took my place at the School, he found his work very much facilitated by the 488 pages that were then in print. I must now say a few words regarding the plan and scope of ‘the work. In the present inchoate condition of Indian forestry, the very imperfect knowledge we possess of the habits and requirements of our species in their various surroundings, and the impossibility or impracticability of applying any advanced system of culture in the regeneration and treatment of all but an infinitesimal portion of our forests, systems of regeneration and treatment have for us much less importance than the accurate observation of natural phenomena and correct deduction of principles therefrom. For this reason I have laid particular stress on the struggle for existence that is constantly going on between the component individuals of a forest crop, and have made a special study of the conditions which decide -the survival of the fittest. This, it seems to me, is an entirely new departure in the teaching of sylviculture and was forced on me from the moment [ found myself placed in the m‘dst of a bewilder- ing variety of species and conditions, of which the European forester, with his half dozen or so of species having any general distribution in one and the same forest, his stereotyped seasons and his moist climate, has no conception. In India we want to turn out men who can use their eyes and will constantly endeavour to ascribe tg their true cause or causes whatever comes under their observation. As to systems of regeneration and treatment we can at present rarely do little more than borrow from our conjréres in Europe. It is only when we have studied thoroughly the habits and requirements of our numerous forest species and the peculiari- ties of the Indian climate as it affects the growth of forests, that we shall know how and with what modifications to apply those systems in this country and what entirely new methods it will be necessary to introduce. ( iti) For the very same reasons that I have assigned the first place to a close and extended study of the conditions which determine the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence in a forest crop, I havo, in describing the methods of regeneration and treatment, attempted in every instance to give, even at the risk of laying my- self open tothe charge diffuseness and needless prolixity, de- tailed reasons for the measures and expedients recommended in each case. : One more point remains, on which some explanation is called for, viz. the size of the book. It will often be urged that a Manual written for the use of candidates for rangerships should contain only the broad outlines of sylviculture and that a work of 200 pages would have been sufficient for the purpose. Indeed I have some- times been told that the instruction given in this book should have been conveyed in the form of dogmatic rules that must be followed without question. With this last dictum I am sure very few will agree, and I know that no one who has had any experience of teaching or of the management of an educational establishment of a technical character will ever assent to such a proposition. The forester’s art is, perhaps, the one least capable of all of being reduced to rule of thumb, and least so in India, where for many years to come, until the conditions under which we have to labour have been thoroughly studied and mastered, our work must still be chiefly of an experimental nature. Although the Forest School at present grants nothing higher than the Ranger’s Certificate, it must not be forgotten that the better from among the certificated students will some day be in charge of subdivisions, and some of them even of small divisions, and whether as subdivisional or divisional officers, will have to carry out on their own responsibility the most difficult cultural operations. And then it must not be forgotten that rangers hold in the Indian forest hierarchy the same administrative position as gardes génér- aux and oberforsters in France and Germany respectively, although these latter ultimately supply the personnel for the controlling staff. Such being the case, I need hardly add that the highest authority in India has laid it down that we cannot teach too much sylvicul- ture at our School. I owe my sincere acknowledgments to several gentlemen for criticism and advice received through the medium of the Inpian Forester, and hope that I shall continue to be favoured with the results of their long and varied experience as well as of that of my other colleagues. My own observations have necessarily been con- Car) fined to a very limited part of the Empire, and the examples which I have been able to adduce in illustration of definitions and prin- ciples are, I know, often not only not the most appropriate, but frequently also misleading, owing to the same species assuming a totally different habit or requiring totally different conditions to thrive in other surroundings. And not only this, but I fear that an insufficient study of species and their habits and require- ment has often led me into important errors. But besides this, many experiments in forest culture have no doubt been carried out, of which no available record exists, but which would, if re- corded, contribute in no small degree to the immediate establish- ment of definite methods of regeneration or treatment specially applicable to the peculiar conditions of India. Some of these methods may be entirely new to the domain of sylviculture! To those who can help me in any way in increasing the value of the Manual when it comes to be published in its final form, I address an earnest prayer for their kindly co-operation. Relying on re- ceiving this assistance, I have printed only a limited number of copies of this Draft in the hope that it may be possible to bring out the new edition early in 1890. I have of course taken full advantage of the published works of European foresters ; but I have derived most assistance from the admirable Waldbau of Dr. Karl Gayer, a work which, for philoso- phic treatment of every subject discussed in it, stands pre-eminent amongst the crowd of excellent works on European sylviculture. As regards the technical terms employed, most of them have already received currency either here or in Great Britain. Some of them, such as ‘exploit’ and its derivatives, were hotly contested in the Inpian Forester six years ago; but they have since re- ceived the sanction of the Forest Conference held at Dekra Dun in October 1886. At that Conference discussion was limited to terms expressive of ideas and operations connected with every day work. Latitude was, therefore, left me to use my own terminology where the Conference had not already settled the point. I am not satisfied with many of the terms employed, and if I had to write the draft over again, they would have to give place to others that now seem to me more appropriate. I would be the last person in the world to advocate the adoption ofa stereotyped terminology ; nevertheless it is both convenient and necessary that all fore<: operations and ideas connected therewith should be known by pames understood by every one. The pages of the [npian FormstEr are open to every one and Ce¥9 offer the best field we can have for discussing and settling disputed questions whether of terminology or forest work. Hitherto they have not been sufficiently utilised in this respect, the reason no doubt being the natural reluctance one feels to deal as well as to receive hard blows. Butin the interests of science and of our own special profession we must cease to be too thin-skinned. How men of science in Great Britain can put up with, and do not mind receiving, hard knocks will be seen at once on reference to any number of the Journal “ Nature.” In conclusion I must apologise for the innumerable trpographi- cal errors with which this Draft bristles. Publishing it in the manner already described, I could obviously avail myself only of small local presses, possessing neither reader nor efficient foreman. With the slender means at their command, they have nevertheless performed their work extremely well, and I owe them my best thanks for the patience with which they waited for “copy” when my hands were full of other work. Dzura Dex, E. E. FERNANDEZ. The 19th November 1888. } PREFACE TO THE SEconD Epirion. In publishing the First Edition of this Rough Draft, I had in- dulged the hope of being able to revise and recast the book suffici- ently to bring it out in 1891 in its final form. Vain hope, alas ! In a first Rough Draft intended solely to fulfil the temporary pur- pose of mere class notes, it was impossible to avoid prolixity of statement and explanation and to steer clear of details that would more strictly find their proper place in a work devoted exclusively to the special cultivation and treatment of particular species. To have recast such a work in the form it must assume in order to become a text-book of the subject of which it proposses to treat, would have necessitated the labour of rewriting it from beginning to end. So vast a task it was impossible for me to undertake with the small amount of leisure at my command. The First Edition was exhausted in less than six months and orders for two hundred more copies had already come in. J had, therefore, no alternative left but to reprint the original Draft, giving to it what slight revi- sion and correction I could effect as the pages were passing through the press. Begun in 1889, the reprint is at last, after many un- avoidable delays, complete, and I trust that I may receive the same measure of indulgence at the hands of the Indian Forest World that was so generously accorded to me when the Original Draft appeared. The pages devoted to jardinage and the exploitation of bamboo forest have been entirely rewritten in the light of more recent in- formation and ideas. It was my intention to rewrite also the Chapter on Improvement Fellings ; but, besides that the required leisure would have been wanting to deal with so large and import- ant a branch of indigenous Indian Forestry, I had to fix a limit to the already swollen proportions of the book. Navsari, Baropa STATE, E. E. FERNANDEZ, The 16th September 1891. k TABLE OF CONTENTS. BOOK I. First Principles. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS... sie wa ‘1-10 CHAPTER II. Ton STRUGGLE FOR Existence In A Forest Crop. Section I. Pure Crop of Uuiform Age als 11-24 » 1. Pure Crop of Mixed Ages a 24-32 », LII. Mixed Crop of Uniform Ages a 32-84 », [V. Mixed Crop of Various Ages ois 84-94. CHAPTER III. - GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES es 95-108 CHAPTER IV. Sprcrric ComMposiIrion oF Forzst Crops. Section I. Pure and Mixed Crops compared ee 109-117 » 11. Composition of Forests grown exclusively for the Market .. 117-119 », LII. Composition of Forests grown for Protection 120 » LV. Composition of Forests grown in conjunction with Field Crops we = 120-121 5 V. Composition of forest growth on Pasture Lands and in Deer Preserves pha 122 » WI. Composition of Forests grown for Ornament 122-123 » WII. When forests may be grown pure ws 123-124 CHAPTER V. CULTIVATION oF Mixep Crops. Section I. Conditions necessary for a Mixture of Species ide 125-127 » LI. General Rules for growing Mixed Crops... 128-130 » IIL. Characteristics of an Auxiliary Species’... 130-132 BOOK II. The Creation and Regeneration of Forests. CHAPTER 1. PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS ... . 188-184 ( viii) CHAPTER IL. NURSERIES. Szotion I. Properties of Good Transplants «» 136-138 » II. Permanent and Temporary Nurseries com- pared or 138-140 » III. Collecting, Testing and Storage of peed Article 1. Collection «- 140-148 » 2 Preliminary Manipulation we» 148-145 » 8& Testing we = 145-151 » 4 Storage ee «151-154 Section 1V. Manures sw» 154-162 55 V. Permanent Nurseries— Article 1. Choice of Site «ee 162-165 » 2 Area -» 165-166 » 98 Shape of Perimeter 3 166 » 4 Fencing --» 166-167 » 5» General Preparation of the Soil wee = 167-174 » 6. Watering eee 174-177 » 1 Laying out of Interior 177-180 » 8. Preparation and Management of Seni ti. § 1. Germination and Methods of forcing it -» 180-181 §2. Season for sowing the Beds --- 181-182 §3. Preparation of the Beds .. «182-184 §4. Manner of sowing os 184-189 §5. Watering the Beds «» 189-190 §6. Protection of the Beds ee 190-194 §7. Weeding, Hoeing and Manuring see 194. §8. Ampitation of the Tap-root tee 195 §9. Training of the plants see 195 Article 9. Preparation and Management of Nursery Lines— § 1. Nursery-lines and Seed-beds compared eee =196-197 §2. The Schooling of Seedlings A, Age for first transplanting and number of times to transplant «+» 197-198 B. Season for transplanting es» 198-199 C. Distance of transplanting sey 199 D. Preparation of the Soil in the Lines «.- 199-200 E. Lifting up of the Seedlings vee =200-201L F. Transplanting into the Lines see 201-203 G. Watering the Lines aie 203 H. Protection of the Seedlings in the Lines «s+ 208-204 ( ix ) I. Weeding, Hoeing and Manuring oee 204 J. Training of the Transplants we 205-206 §3. The Schooling of Root-suckers «» 206-207 §4. a » _Rhizome-shoots ase 207 §5. i ‘i » Cuttings «. 207-210 § 6. Layering a we = =210-211 §7. Grafting » we = 211-217 Szction VI. Temporary Nurseries wee 217-222 CHAPTER III. TREATMENT OF LAND PRELIMINARY TO STOCKING OPERATIONS. Szction I, Treatment of Swampy or Waterlogged Land 223 Article 1. Swampiness, its Causes and Cure eae 224 » 2 Draining exe 225-228 Section II. Fixation of Soils wanting in Cohesion— Article 1. Sands uninfluenced by winds ane 229 5 2. Drifting Sands— §1. Coast Dunes ve = 229-232 §2. Inland Dunes os 232-233 Section III. Consolidation of Unstable Slopes Article 1. Causes of Denudation of Hilisides ... 233-236 » 2 Protective Works ew. 236-239 Section IV. Irrigation Works «+. 239-240 CHAPTER IV. Direcr Sowa. Section I. Selection of the Species to Sow ew 241-249 55 II. Season for Sowing vee 249-243 os IIL. Preparation of the Soil, and Bowie in m General cise se. 248-244 » Different Methods of Sowing— Article 1. Broadcast Sowing without Tilth tes 246 » 2 Dibbling aes 247 » 8. Notch Sowing ve 247-248 » 4 Complete Sowing with Tilth— §1. Preparation of the Soil ee 248-250 §2. Sowing the Seeds w» = =250-251 §3. Covering ,, _,, eee 252 §4. Value and Employment of the Method eee ©2252-2538 Article 5. Strip Sowing— §1. Direction of the Strips oe» 258-255 §2. Length of the Strips ens 255 §3. Distance between the Strips eee 255-257 §4. Width of the Strips §5. Preparation of the Strips §6. Sowing the Strips §7. Covering the Seed §8. Value and Employment of the Method Article 6. Trench or Furrow Sowing— § 1. Width and Depth of the Furrows and Trenches §2. Preparation of the Furrows and Trenches §3. Sowing the Trenches or Furrows §4. Value and Employment of the Method Article 7. Ridge Sowing— §1. Preparation of the Ridges §2. Sowing the Ridges §3. Value and Employment of the Method Article 8. Combination of Stripe, Ridge and Rene § 1. Combined Ridge and Trench Sowing § 2. » Strip 15 ” 2” §3. es Ridge and Trench Sowing ,,, Article 9. "Patch Sowing— §1. Distance between the Patches. §2. Size of the Patches §3. Direction of the Lines of Patches §4. Preparation of the Patches §5. Sowing of the Patches §6. Value and Employment of the Method Article 10. Plot Sowing 11. Pit or Hollow Sowing 12. Sowing in Holes 13. Mound Sowing 5 14. Combined Patch, Pit and Mound Section V. Quantity of Seed to sow VI. Maintenance Operations Article 1. Protection of the Seeds sown 2. ” » Seedlings ss 3. Special fostering of the Seedlings— § I. Watering §2. Weeding, Hoeing and Manuring §3. Repairs Suction VII. Execution of mixed sowings CHAPTER V. PLANTING. Secrion I. Choice of Species 29 2 ” 29 29 257 257-258 258 258-259 259 260 260-261 261 261 262 262-263 263 263-264 264 264-265 265-266 266 266-267 267 267-268 268-269 269 269-270 270-271 271-272 272 272-273 274 274-276 277-278 278 278-279 279 280 ( xi) Srction II. The various Kinds of Planting Material ... 280-283 JII. Season for planting out wee 283-284 » IV. Arrangement of the planted Material— Article 1. Regular and Irregular Planting compared 284-285 2. The more common Forms of Regular Planting site 286 §1. Determination of the Number of Planting Spots ++» 286-289 §2. ‘The three Elementary Forms of Regular Planting oid ” compared «. 290-291 Szcriov V. Closeness of Planting ee 291-293 » VI. Marking out the Planting Spots wee 293-295 » VII. Lifting of Transplants se 295-296 », VILL. Pruning of Transplants before Transport Article 1. When and to what Extent to prune ... 296-298 5 2. How to prune 298-299 Section [X. Packing and Export of Planting Material 299 Article 1. Packing and Transport of Seedlings ... 300-304 3 2, a “ $5 Suckers... 804-305 ss 3. 3 a9 Cuttings ... 305 * 4, $3 ss 5, Rhizome-shoots 305-306 Section X. Care of transported Material before Use ... 306. 35 XI. Methods of Planting oh 307 Article 1. Ball Planting --- 808-310 5 2. Pit Planting without Manure ee =©810-311 ie 3. ss with Manure «- 9811-312 43 4. Plaine? in Holes se 812-313 3 5. Notch Planting ais 314 $3 6. Trench Planting is 315 rs 7. Mound Planting «ee 815-317 7 ss 8. Ridge Planting ar 317 9. Planting on Trees on 317 Suenion XII. Maintenance Operations ws. 317-318 CHAPTER VI. Direct sOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED ose 819-327 CHAPTER VII. NatTuRAL REGENERATION BY SEED, GENERALITIES ... 828-329 Sscrion I. The Uniform Method, Generalities «. 829-330 Article 1. The Preparatory Fellings— §1. Their Object -» 830-281 §2. The Number of Times to repeat them -- 3831-333 §3. When to bogin them «-- 8338-334 Asaéis ei, §2. Sb Abe’ ‘Article Article ” 2 be) (mi) What they ought to remove Selection and Marking of the Trees to be felled Execution of the Fellings 2. The Seed-Felling— Its Object When to make it Severity of the Felling What to remove in the Felling Selection and Marking of the Trees to be felled Execution of the Felling Repetition of the Felling 3. The After-fellings— Their Object Their Number and Periodicity When to begin them When to make the last one What the Fellings should remove Selection and Marking of the Trees to be felled Execution of the Fellings— Actual felling and lopping of the trees ... Removal of Epicorms Removal or Reduction of low injurious Growth Restoration of Injured Seedlings Completion of Crop artificially 4. Value and Employment of the Method Szction II. The Group Method, Generalities 1. The Preparatory Fellings 2. 4, Seed-Felling 3. 4, After-fellings 4. Value and Employment of the Iie’ .. Section IIT. The Strip Method lV. Vv. VI. Jardinage The Method of Clearings ” ” ” Cleared Lines VIL. ,, Well Method CHAPTER VIII. REGENERATION BY COPPICE. Section I. Regeneration by Stool-Shoots ” Il. 5 » Root-Suckers oe 334-336 336-337 337-338 338-339 339-341 841-343 844-345 345 345-346 346 346 347 347-349 349-350 350-351 351-352 352-353 358-354 354-355 355 355-356 356-359 359-360 360-361 361-362 362-363 363-364 365-366 367-372 372-374 374-376 376-377 378-386 386-388 ( xiii) Sxction II]. Stool-shoots and Root-Suckers compared as Coppice Material +» 888-389 5s IV. Regeneration by means of Culms «-» 889-399 $5 V. Pollarding 399-401 » WI. Maintenance of a Sufficiency of Conn eing Stock . 401-403 CHAPTER IX. AgtirictaL Sowine, PLantring anp Natural REGENE- RATION BY SEED COMPARED «-. 404-410 BOOK III. Maintenance and Treatment of Forests. Intropuctory REMARKS wwe 413-414 CHAPTER I. Fire ConsERVANCY. Section I. Necessity for keeping out Fire see 415-417 4 II. Intensity and Fierceness of Forest Fires 417-421 a Ill. Means of Prevention, Generalities ... 421-422 Article 1. Prevention of fire entering from outside 422-424 » 2 Localisation of Internal Fires o =424-426 » 98. Fire-tracing §1. Direction of the traces ee. 426-427 §2. Width of the traces eee 427-428 §3. Preparation of the traces A. Guide-lines 428-431 B. Should Traces be cleared of all Vegetation? 431-432 C. Season for firing and Number of Time to os 432-435 D. Time of Day for firing 435-436 E, Actual firing of the Traces ov 4836-447 §4, Fire Police we» = 447-451 §5. General Remarks ow. 451-459 CHAPTER II. ATTENTIONS TO GIVE TO THE SOIL ow 458-456 CHAPTER III. REARING TO THE ESTABLISHED CROP. GeveRAL REMARKS wwe 457-459 Sszcrion I. Fostering operations in a Young Crop. Article 1. Care of Advance Growth wwe = 459-461 ( xiv ) Article 2. Protection against extraneous Causes of Injury 461-463 » 8 Directly fostering the Growth of ihe Crop o 463-465 Section II. Cleanings we 465-468 » LIL. Execution of preceding Operations 468-469 » IV. Fostering Operations in anadvanced crop, Generalities 469 Article 1. Ordinary Thinnings— §1. Their Advantages 470-472 §2. Principles on which they should be conducted 472-477 §3. When to make the First Thinning 477-478 §4. How frequently they should be repeated +478 §5. Season for making them 478-479 §6. Their Execution 479-480 §7. Concluding Remarks eee 480 Szotion II]. Plenary Thinnings «+ 480-484 7 IV. The Pruning of Trees -» 484-486 - V. Improvement Fellings 487-491 Aprenpix A. Results of difierent degrees of Ordinary Thinnings in Forests in Saxony ... 492-496 Appenpix B, Alphabetical Index of Technical Terms used «+» 497-500 BOOK I. FIRST PRINCIPLES. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS. 1. A TREE is any woody plant which carries up a single stem to a certain height above the ground, and which is besides capable of attaining a minimum height of 25 feet. ‘The term “tree” includes arborescent palms and bamboos. 2. Trees, according to their size, may be classed as follows :-— i, SMALL trees, those which attain a height of from 25 to 50 feet, eg. Ougeinia dalbergioides, khair, Anogeissus pendula, Butea frondosa, Prosopis spicigera, §¢. ii. MIDDLE-SIZED trees, those which attain a height of from 50 to 80 feet, ¢.9., sissu, Dalbergia latifolia, Lagerstremia par- viflora, tun, Anogeissus latifolia, babul, Quercus ineana, &e. ili, LARGE trees, those which can attain a height of over 80 feet, e.g. teak, sal, deodar, the spruce and silver firs, cypress, Ter- minalia tomentosa, Adina cordifolia, Antiaris innoxia, Sc, 3. A SHRUB is a woody plant which is incapable of attaining a height of 25 feet, and is generally branched from near the base, e.g. the custard apple, Bauhinia racemosa, citron, Randiq dumetorum, Murraya Kenigii, the tea plant, Mimosa rubicaulis, Celastrus senegalensis, Grewia populifolia, Indigofera spp., §c. 4, A shrub that assumes the habit of a tree, that is to say, has a certain clear length of stem, issaid to be ARBORESCENT, ¢.g. Bau- hinia racemosa, Murraya Kenigii, Randia dumetorum, Gardenia turgida, &c. 5. A woody plant, which never rises very much above the ground, is called an UNDERSHRUB, e.g. Adhatoda Vasica, the paper daphne, Desmodium gangeticum, Sarcococca saligna, §c. With reference to the preceding definitions it should be observed (a) that one and the same species may be a large tree in one locality, a middle-sized tree in another and even a small tree in a third, according to the size it attained in the geveral loca- lities ; (6) that what may be a tree inone place may be only a shrub or even an un- dershrub in another; and (c) tbat a species which ig usually only an undershrub, may, under more favourable conditions, become a shrub, and vice versd, a PEELIMINARY DEFINITIONS. 6. The term BUSH includes undershrubs and every degraded condition of shrubs and trees, in which the plants consist of numerous low spreading branches or fork out into a number of thin stems, such as deodar, various species of Zizyphus, oaks, &c., when kept down and mutilated by fires, grazing, constant lopping, &c. 7, The word sHrvB denotes a collection of bushes, shrubs, and dwarfed trees. 8. Under the collective name of BRUSHWOOD we include all inferior shrubs, undershrubs, and other bush-like growth, such as Mimosa rubicaulis, Indigoferas, Blumea, Buddleia, honeysuck- les, Viburnums, degraded forms of Zizyphus, &c. The term brushwood is also often used to denote the twigs and smaller branches and stems of felled trees, shrubs and under- shrubs. To avoid ambiguity, such small stuff may be called faggot or fascine wood. 9, The term HERBAGE includes all the growth in a forest which is not, or can never become, woody. 10. Plants which, from not being sufficiently rigid, cannot rise to any height above the ground without the support of some ex- traneous object, such as a tree, shrubs, post, &c., are called CLIMBERS, e.g., Bauhinia Vahliz, Spatholobus Roxburghii, Millettia auri- culata, Celastrus paniculata, Butea superba, the cane palms, &c. 11. The portion of the stem of a tree under its branches is called its BOLE, and the mass of branches with their branchlets and leaves, 4.¢., the whole of the tree above the bole, is termed its CROWN. 12. The aérial stems of bamboos are called CULMS, the under- ground portion being the RHIZOME, 13. That portion of the stem which is left in the ground after a tree, whatever its age, has been felled by its base, is called a STOOL. In popular language the word stump, besides including stools, also denotes the entire remaining portion of the bole of a tree that has been cut or broken off high above the ground. 14, The term EPICORM is used to denote the twigs and branch- lets that develop on the boles of trees. 15, Dicotyledons, as distinguished from the Conifers, which usually bear needles, may be termed BROAD-LEAVED species, PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS. : 3 Two unimportant coniferous genera, Dammara and Podocarpus, have more or jess broad leaves, while some dicotyledons, like Casuarina, Capparis aphylla, &c., produce no leaves at all, or, like the tamarisks, possess only scale-like or inconspicuous leaves- 16. HaRD-woopED trees, or simply HARDWOODS, comprise ina general manner all trees with tough and heavy wood, as, for exam- ple, sal, teak, the Terminalias, &c. Similarly the terms sort- WOODED trees or SOFTWOODS include all trees, the wood of which is more or less soft or spongy, such as Bombax malaburicum, the Sterculias, the horse radish-tree, &c. 17. EVERGREEN trees are those, the leaves of which persist for at least one year, while those, the leaves of which persist for a shorter time, are termed DECIDUOUS. Evergreen trees, since they bring out a new flush of leaves before the old one is shed, are hence never leafless, e.g. deodar, pines and firs, mango, &c; whereas deciduous trees may either be leafless during a part of the year, as teak Terminalia tomentosa, Adina cordifolia, or be never quite bare owing to the new leaves coming out while the old ones are being shed, as sal, Schleichera trijuga, babul, &. generally, and sissu, Hardwickia binata, &c. frequently. Some species may be evergreen in one locality and deciduous elsewhere, and vice versd according to the humidity of the climate and moisture in the soil, e.g. Quercus incana, Pinus longifolia, &e. 18. A shoot springing up from a stool is termed a sTooL-sHooT. 19, A ROOT SUCKER, or more simply SUCKER, is an aérial shoot given out from a root. 20. 57. A BLANK is any area inside a forest which is bare of trees. 58. A GLADE is a portion of forest in which the trees are scat- tered. 59. The term WINDFALL is applied to trees broken off or up- rooted by-any cause whatsoever, generally by the wind. 60. Harpy species are those which can at all ages survive un- der exposure to drought and injurious weather influences, ¢.g. Zizyphus, khair, sissu, Prosopis spicigera, &c. Those which require to be sheltered against one or more of these influences during their early years are termed DELICATE PLANTS, as, for example, teak, deo- dar, Terminalia tomentosa, Sc. 61. All woody plants are light-demanding, though in different degrees, and the seedlings of all of them agree in tolerating more or less dense shade during their first two, three or even four years, while they are still small and strongly herbaceous and not yet advanced enough to be able to push up rapidly in height. After this period, those species which can continue alive and vigorous for some time without receiving any more illumination are said to be SHADE-ENDURING, @. g., deodar, sal, silver fir, Mesua ferrea, Hard- wickia binata, Dendrocalamus strictus, &§c.; while those which can live only on condition that they receive a rapidly increasing allowance of light are said to be SHADE-AVOIDING, e. 9, teak, Boswellia serrata, Anogeissus latifolia, Pinus longifolia, Pinus excelsa, &c. Shade-enduring plants may be hardy, like Mesua ferrea, Hardwickia binata, D drocalamus strictus, Acacia Catechu, éc., or they may be ‘delicate, like ihe Sa ae ee tun, tia cae tosa, &c. Shade-avoiding plants are not necessarily ardy because they require free exposure to light; for inst - tremely shade-avoiding, is very sensitive to feneks Urey een teecncee tae ene 62. A plant is said to be growing UNDER covER, as opposed to its growing OUT IN THE OPEN, when it is vertically under the crown of another plant. Accordingly the cover ofa tree means the ac- tion exercised by its crown within the space under it included in its vertical projection. The influence of cover is very complex and d Fe the cover are in or out of leat, ‘anid aa the ea ee oz iether Whe tates alforting Gea ht of thei Considering the matter from a general point of view, rae rowad Shorey sa ground. PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS. 9 (i) Interception of the sun’s rays for ailonger or shorter period during the day, The result is that in a warm climate and during the prevalence of warm weather, if the trees are in leaf, more or less protection is afforded to the overtopped plants against excessive insolation and to the soil against loss of moisture and overheating; while in a cold climate the period of vegetative activity each day as well as during the whole year is more or Jess shortened. The beneficent influence of cover in the former case, however, disappears to a greater or lesa extent if the trees are out of leaf and even if they are in leaf, provided they are long-boled and standing aolitary, for the oblique rays of the sun, after striking on the bole and on the bare branches, if any, are then reflected downwards and addfenormously to the effects of direct insolation. Ther- mometric observations in the Dehra Dun forests have proved that when the trees are out of leaf, the shade maximum is higher under the trees than out in the open. A second result of the interception of the sun’s rays is that assimilation is checked or at least retarded, but this effect is the slighter, the higher the crowns of the trees are above the ground. (ii) Impeded radiation. This delays and diminishes the deposition of dew; but on the other hand, the deposited dew, ifany, is evaporated more slowly, and frosts, particularly night-frosts, are mitigated and may even be entirely prevented. Never- theless, where heavy dews occur, the soil under the crowns receives a large quantity of moisture every night and morning by means of the drip from the leaves.’ (iti) Rain prevented from falling directly, This is beneficial for the preservation of the soil on steep slopes, but it acts unfavourably on the overtopped plants, which require the direct impact and even distribution of the rain-drops to wash off the dust and other extraneous matters that cover and clog the surfaces of the leaves. Moreover the heavy drip from the crowns, falling constantly at afew points, may not only shake severely and thereby injure young seedlings, but also scoop out hollows in the soil and expose their roots. Jt must also be noted that a portion of the rain caught by the crowns never reaches the soil but is evaporated back into the atmos- phere ; but, on the other hand, a very much larger proportion of the rain that falls is retained by the soil to benefit ultimately the roots ofthe trees. Moreover the soil is protected from the direct impact of the rain and from heavy surface drainage. (iv) Protection from hail. (v) Exclusion or at least tempering of violent or hot on cold winds. An indirect effect of this action is to enrich the soil by preventing the covering of dead leaves from being blown away. All the effects just enumerated are very much more marked in the case of canopied forest than in that of isolated trees, From what precedes it is evident that shade is not synonomous with cover, since it is only one of the effects of cover and moreover moves with the sun, whereas cover is always Stationary. Similarly the terms cover and shelter must not be confounded together, for shelter is partially an effect of cover and sums up all the desirable eflects ef cover. Moreover it extends far beyond the area of projection of the crowns of the trees. 63. A plant is said to be SUPPRESSED or UNDER SUPPRESSION when its growth has been or is being injured by cover, and, con- versely, one plant is said To supPRESS another when itaffects in- juriously the growth of the latter by its cover. 64. A NURSE is a tree or shrub intended to protect against tae jurious weather influences young plants until they are sufficiently established to no longer require such protection. Hence To NURSE signifies to perform the office of a nurse. 65. Dormant or Latent buds are those buds which, without losing the power of sprouting, remain quiescent and burst forth into leaf only under specially stimulating conditions, as when, for instance, owing to the natural or artificial curtailing of the existing foliage, there is a determination of the developmental energy of the plant to those buds. 10 PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS. Dormant buds consist of a woody stalk, which runs radially between the woody fibres of the axis that bears them, and of a herbaceous portion, the true bud itself, which in young shoots without a rhytidome protrudes beyond the bark, but in older shoots is generally concealed immediately under the rhytidome or the outer layers of the living bark, whence the synonymy of lutent. These buds remain alive as long as their stalk is able to elongate and keep pace with the continually advancing concen; tric woody layers of the axis bearing them; but sometimes the herbaceous portion continues alive even after the stalk has ceased’ growing, being able'to draw nourish- ment from the living ‘bark in which they are embedded. Dormant buds not untre- quently multiply, ofteri to a Very great extent, by division of the growing point. — 66. ADVENTITIOUS BUDS are those buds which take their rise at any place other than the axils of the leaves, and independently of the buds (termed NorMAL) which develop at those points. Adventitious buds may be produced from the margins of leaves, as in Bryophyllum, or on a cut or broken section of any of the larger veins of the leaves, as in Begonia and Gesnera ; but leaving out of consideration all such exceptional cases, which more- over do not concern the purposes of this book, adventitious buds may be said always to be produced by the’cambium covering woody tissue. — Mt i, ' Above ground théy form only on wounds on the ¢allua or awelling prod: ced by the eambium, and, being there under the fnll influence of light, they can became dor- mant only under exceptional circumstances, such ag extremely rapid development of the bark, great vitality of the cambiym, very numerous neighbouring buds, &c. Below ground wounds are not at all necessary for the formation of these buds, al- though they still continue to ‘be an exciting cause. Adventitious buds on roots are the sole-origin of sugkers, and are produced most abundantly on or near swellings, which prove the greater activity of the cambium there. Yearling seedlings of most of our broad-leaved trees and shrubs outside the higher regions of the Himalayas produce at the base of the stem, or immediately belay it on the' taproot, adventitous buds which we may for convenient’ reference term’ COLLUM BUDS. It is these collum buds which enable young seedlings to throw up new and generally stronger shouts ag often as the portion above graund dies down or is cut back by fire, frost, &. The habit of producing collum' buds is no doubt a consequence of the séverely adverse circumstances through which every seedling has to pass in most parts of India : none but those species which have heen able to produce such buds have been able to sur- vive. To this habit must be attributed the preculiarity exhibited by the majority of our trees of dying down year after year only to shoot up again at the beginning of the next season of vegetation, until finally’ the roots have taken so firm a hold of the soil that the shoot produced is strong enough to’ live through the long and trying inter- vening period until the next outburst of vegetation. ; : No conifer produces adventitious buds below ground, and amongst our Indian species the silver fir alone perhaps produces them very occasionally above ground, Even amongst our broad-leaved species only a limited number develop them on the roots and above ground, but, as alréady said, the majority of them below the re zion, of the oaks form collum buds, , “y 4 5 67. Accessory Bubs are those buds which in many species form close to the base of the regular axillary (normal) buds. 68. Masor forest produce comprises all timber and wood, in- clusive of bamboos, while the term minor forest produce includes, all other products obtained from a forest. Major produce is termed PRINCIPAL or INTERMEDIATE according as it is obtained from fellings made for regeneration or from fellings made for other purposes. _ CHAPTER I. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE IN A FOREST CROP. Of the plants produced in a forest only a comparatively small number can live the full possible term of their individual longevity. As they develop, besides extending vertically upwards into the air and downwards into the soil, they spread out laterally against each other. Thus each one struggles to push out its neighbour. In this mutual struggle for existence various extraneous circumstan- ces, such as insects, the action of man, grazing, &c., also intervene and exercise each its own influence on the longevity of the indivi- dual plants. The result of these various causes operating together is that some of the plants are continually dying off and disappear- ing, only the fittest surviving until either natural decay and death overtakes them or the exigencies of forest economy require their ex+ ploitation. In order to illustrate the preceding statement, we will, in the absence of Indian examples, cite one from Germany, as given by Theodor Hartig and quoted by Karl Gayer. The crop experimented upon was a full canopied one of the European spruce (Abies excelsa DC.) : At age 20 years there were per acre 9373 stems, of which 49 ofo under suppression, 9 ” ” ” ” ” 264 ” ” ” 42 ” 0 ” ” ” 60 ” » ? ” ” 611 » ” ” 32 ” ” ” ” ” 80 ” ” ” ” ” 393 ” ” ” 21 ” v ” ” ” 100 ” 4 ” ” ” 285 oa o ” il ” ” ” oo» 120 ” ” ” ” ” 241 ” » cL 4 ” ” ” A study of the conditions which determine the result of the strug- gle for existence is thus extremely complicated by the variety of the inducing causes and by the different ways in which they may act independently and conjointly one with another. Nevertheless it may be very greatly simplified by examining separately the princi- pal aspects under which the struggle may take place. In the first place, a forest crop may be either pure or mixed, and in the second place the crop, whether pure or mixed, may consist either of plants of one and the same age, or of plants of different ages. In the last case, the difference of ages may he slight, or it-may be so marked that the component plants include every age from the individual just emerging from the seed to that fit for felling or on the point of attaining the natural term of its longevity. Between these two, 12 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. extremes there is of course an infinitude of intermediate stages, but for the purpose of this Manual it will be sufficient to assume that where the difference of ages is only very slight, we have practically the case of a crop composed of individuals of one and the same age, and where it is at all appreciable, the consideration of the instance in question falls under the consideration of the larger case in which the component plants are of every possible age. Hence it will be sufficient to consider separately the four follow- ing cases, taking them in the order of their increasing complexity :— First case.—That of a pure crop composed of individuals of one and the same age. SEconp case—That of a pure crop composed of individuals of all ages. - Turrp casz.—That of a mixed crop composed of individuals of one and the same age. Fourta case.—That of a mixed crop composed of individuals of all ages. SECTION I. FIRST CASE.—Pure crop composed of indiviuals of one and. the same age. In this case the crop may consist either entirely of seedlings, or en-— tirely of coppice-shoots, or of seedlings.and coppice-shoots combined. ‘When the crop is composed exclusively of seedlings, as long as these are small and stand apart, or possess only or chiefly the tap- root, they do not impede the free development of their neighbours either under or above ground, and the mutual struggle for existence begins only when their crowns or roots have ramified and attained sufficient lateral development to meet. But if coppice-shoots are present, the struggle obviously begins with the very appearance of the crop. In the first place, the several shoots of the same clump struggle with one another both for air and light and for the reserve materials stored up in the pa- rent stools, roots or rhizomes ; and, in the second place, as the coppice-shoots begin to draw at once, from the moment they emerge into the light, crude nutrient materials through a more or less- extended root-apparatus, which is at first a portion of the root- apparatus of the parent stool or plant itself, and afterwords an PURE CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 18 independent formation from the shoots themselves, plants, whose crowns do not yet meet, nevertheless engage in a struggle for room and for sustenance in the soil. The conditions which, in the case under consideration, influence and finally decide the struggle for existence are— J. Re.ative wate vicour.—As far as seedlings alone are concerned, why some should possess more innate vigour than others, cannot always be explained. The larger heavier seed does not in- variably produce the stronger plant. In the same seed-bed, some plants will be found to be larger, more vigorous and more hardy than others. Again, the larger plant is not necessarily the stronger one or the one more tenacious of life. As regards coppice-shoots, their size and vigour do not always correspond with the apparent vigour and fitness of the parent stool or plant ; nor, just as in the case of seedlings, are their size and apparent strength always a proof of their innate vigour. As com- pared with seedlings of their own age, stool-shoots and suckers are, up to a certain age, much larger and stronger; but such of the latter as survive now catch up the former and in the end attain a higher stature and greater spread of crown. Coppice-shoots deve- lop, soon after they come up, a large ramified root-system of their own. This enables them not only to draw sustenance from soil situated at some distance from their stems, but also to invade the thin, weak, scarcely-branched roots of young seedlings, which they starve by appropriating, thanks to their greater vigour of assimila- tion and transpiration, most of the nourishment present in the soil. In this last respect root-suckers are the most to be feared by the seedlings. II. GREATER SUITABILITY OF SOIL AND suBSOIL.—In the case under consideration, as long as two neighbouring plants are quite young and small, the influence of soil and subsoil on their relative development is of only slight importance ; since it is seldom, except in extremely rocky, stony, or uneven ground, that these factors of growth vary from point to point to a sufficient extent to influence them differently. Nevertheless, if there is, owing to any other cause, a very marked disparity between the plants, and the soil is shallow and the subsoil unfavourable, the more vigourous one by pushing down its roots too rapidly and too deep into the ground, may receive a sudden check in its growth as soon as the subsoil has been reached. Again, if young seedlings and coppice-shoots are growing up side by side, an unfavourable soil and subsoil will give 14 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. the victory all the more easily to the latter, since these will have numerous lateral roots traversing the soil in every direction and drawing nourishment from an extended area. In this respect suckers will be the best of of all, for they will necessarily obtain a part of their nourishment from’ their parent-root, the tree producing which may be situated a certain distance off, where the conditions of soil and subsoil are better. Moreover suckers have another ad- vantage over stool-shoots in that they stand singly on their parent roots, instead of forming a clump and having to share the reserve materials with their sister shoots. When the crop is old enough for the’ component stems to stand far apart, then, of course, variations in the soil and subsoil will always exercise a powerful influence on the struggle for existence. Ill. Dears, Disease, UNHEALTHY STATE, OR RETARDATION OF GROWTH DUE TO CAUSES EXTRANEOUS TO THE FOREST, viz ;— (a) Attacks of insects and other animals.—Some insects, especi~ ally the lignivorous kinds, attack chiefly or solely the weaker plants, particularly those that have already begun to decay, while others, like certain caterpillars, notably the various silkworms, and the larva of saw-flies and gall-flies and of certain Coleoptera, attack all indifferently, and even rather affect plants possessing abundant well-developed succulent twigs and foliage. Again, the lac insect prefers the strong juicy shoots of vigorous plants to the more or less dry, more or less hide-bound twigs of less vigor- ous individuals. Insects which attack the roots of plants will usually exercise no choice as between the strong and the weak, but mere accident might lead to their killing or keeping back the stronger individuals and enabling the weaker to survive. Cattle and deer, in rubbing their bodies or their horns against trees, often peel off the bark and thus throw them back. During the rains buffaloes, to escape from flies, bury their heads in thick masses of foliage and, in agitating their heads, wrench and break off branches and even stems with their long horns, Elephants not unfrequently knock down trees and thus uncover overtopped plants or give lateral room for development to trees which had been pressed in before. Monkeys not only eat leaves and Juicy twigs, but break off much more than they can eat, and in Jumping from branch to branch do great damage, especially when the species forming, the crop replaces a broken leader with difficulty. Cattle, goats, and other ruminants while they do not spare weakly plants, still fall more greedily on strong ones possessing abundant, well-deye- PURE CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 15 loped, succulent twigs and foliage or roots; but weak plants, grow- ing in the midst of, or closely surrotinded by, stronger individuals, are often left untouched. The goat will often overlook small plants and stand up to one bearing leaves as high as it can reach. Be- sides the injuries already described, herbivorous quadrupeds may hurt or kill plants also by trampling them down, or by treading the soil into a hard pan, or by digging up or loosening with their feet the soil round them and thus injuring or, as often happens on steep ground, -completely exposing their roots. Birds may peck off leaves, buds and young shoots, besides breaking them by perching on them: And soon. Hence it is not invariably, nor generally, the weaker plants that succumb to the attacks of animals. (b) Attacks of parasitic and epiphytic plants. Some parasitic plants will, as a rule, attack only unhealthy individuals. Certain fungi, if they can only obtain a lodgement in some unhealthy or diseased part, will overrun an entire tree, however healthy it might otherwise be. Other fungi again, especially those that spread by way of the soil or enter through the stomata, will di- rectly attack the most healthy trees. Purely epiphyllous fungi, and those caulicolous species which do not overrun an entire tree but cause only local injuries, will obviously influence the mutual struggle for existence more than those species which spread through every portion of the tree attacked and are thereby able at once to invade its immediate neighbours and thus rapidly involve them in the same doom. Woody parasites, like the mistletoe family, frequent weak and strong plants indifferently. The damage they dois usually con- fined to starving and killing the portion of the branch above the point at which they have fixed themselves. Some parasites, like the Cuscutu, overspread the entire crown of their host, sucking out the elaborated sap through their countless haustoria, and in this manner not only rob it of its nourishment but also suppress a more or less considerable part of its foliage. Epiphytic plants make no distinction between weak and strong. The smaller epiphytes can, of course, do no damage, while the larger ones, like the figs, hurt their temporary hosts by over- topping them and thus suppressing their crowns and encks:ng their stems within their numerous coalescing aérial roots. (c) Injurious climatic influences—frost, drought, sunstroke, hail, rain, wind, snow, lightning, Se.—Other conditions being the same, all plants will suffer equally from these causes, especially from frost, drought and hail. But as some plants will necessarily be taller or stronger or better lignified or more deep-rooted or in any other- 16 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. wise more tenacious of life than others, the various climatic factors will affect different plants differently. Nevertheless the victory will not always be for the stronger plant, for the weaker and lower plant may be sheltered by its more vigorous and taller neighbour, which, as often as not, may be so injured, especially during a sea- son of exceptional frost or in an exceptionally heavy hailstorm, as to allow the former to get ahead of it. Hail, according to the size of the stones and the force with which these fall, may (i) destroy flowers and fruit, while at the same time injuring to a greater or less extent the foliage, or (ii) destroy the entire foliage as well, or (iii) also break off twigs and even the smaller branches, or (iv) in addition to (iii) bruise and even gash the bark of the trees. The wind might uproot or break off an important limb of the strong tree, under the weight of superincumbent snow one or more large boughs might snap off, lightning might select the tallest or largest tree, and so on; thus allowing the weaker to conquer in the strug- gle for existence. (d) Conflagrations—Fire may kill a plant-part either (i) by charring its vital portions, or (ii) by suddenly converting the mois- ture contained in it into steam and thus causing rupture of the tissues and disorganisation of the protoplasm and cell-sap, or (iii) by mere over-transpiration and formation of substances other than what would result if the life-functions of the part were not disturb- ed. The resistance offered to damage caused by fire will depend on the size and vigour and lignification of the plants, the number of dormant buds they possess, the size and height of their crown and the not too forward condition of the current year’s buds when the fire occurs. But, as often happens, trees more favoured than others in the above respect may, from being situated near a mass of inflammable material or from any other accidental cause, be so injured as to throw them hopelessly back in the race of life. In the case of conifers, which species produce very few or no dormant buds, and of broad-leaved species which coppice badly, the smaller plants will stand comparatively little chance of recovery. In the case of evergreen species, all other things being equal, the importance of forest conflagrations as an effective factor in the struggle for existence will be very considerably diminished, while, in that of deciduous kinds, it will be slighter, the more nearly they approach the character of an evergreen. (e) Floods.—Floods may injure plants in nine different ways:— (i) by bending or breaking them, (ii) by straining or breaking PURE CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 17 their roots, (iii) by eroding the soil round their roots and thus leav- ing these exposed, (iv) by partially or completely submerging their crowns, (v) by rendering the soil too wet, (vi) by depositing round their roots soluble saline matters in quantities large enough to thicken the moisture in the soil to such an extent as not only to prevent any further absorption by the roots, but even to set in movement a contrary current of endosmose from the plants into the soil, (vii) by introducing or increasing the quantity of poisonous matters in the soil, (viii) by leaving behind a deposit of silt, which may raise the level of the soil too suddenly, thereby injuring the roots owing to insufficient aération; and (ix) by clogging the assi- milating surfaces of the plants with a thick opaque layer of mud. In the present case we are concerned chiefly with the first five modes of injury, as the rest must affect more or less equally all plants of the crop. Moreover the fourth and fifth modes of action have little or no effect on certain species, such as sissu, tamarisk> sundri, &. The stronger and larger and better-rooted plants will of course generally have the advantage, but a violent rush of water might lay down the large and vigorous tree or at least strain and injure its roots, while its weaker neighbour, owing to the very fact that it opposes slighter resistance, might be merely bent down for the moment, to rise up again as soon as the flood has subsid- ed and then shoot up ahead of it. Besides affecting the growth and stability of plants, floods may also wash away or bring in seeds, as well as influence, favourably or unfavourably according to the species concerned, their germina- tion. (f) Action of man.—The action of man is all powerful in the struggle for existence. If he is simply bent on satisfying his own immediate wants, he cuts out only what suits him, and he takes it out in the easiest and least expensive manner for himself. The relative size and vigour of the trees does not concern him in the least; he will often climb up into a tree to cut out only the portion of it that suits his pur- pose. The effect of his action on the growth of the surrounding or overtopping trees is no business of his. If he is interested in working out the trees with the greatest ad- vantage to himself as well as to the forest, his action will be direct- ed to modifying in the most favourablemanner thenatural struggle for existence. Here he will remove or keep back the larger plant to encourage its weaker neighbours; there he will fell the smaller one in order to give more growing room to the larger and more 18 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. vigorous, and, therefore, more promising individuals ; and so on. ‘However great the care or skill exercised in felling, conversion and export operations, a certain amount of damage tothe standing plants cannot be avoided. The smaller and weaker individuals will of course, on the whole, suffer most, but the fall of a heavy tree is more likely to break and throw back for ever the larger or more vigorous plants possessing a rigid, more or less unyielding stem than the weaker and therefore more flexible individuals. (9) Climbers—Climbers kill or at least unfit trees for the strug gle for existence in six different ways— (i) They may strangle the stems of their supports, narrowing year after year the channel through which alone the sap, taken up from the soil, can ascend. If the tree attacked forms a heartwood, it must ultimately die of sheer starva- tion. (ii) As the climber and its victim grow in diameter, the increas- ing pressure on the bark of the latter necessarily forces the elaborated sap to descend obliquely and spirally instead of vertically, and thus gradually diminishes the amount of nour- ishment conveyed to the under portion of the tree. The roots thereby suffer most, and their consequent debilitation and contraction obviously reacts with increasing effect on the crown above. (iii) Climbers also bend down by their sheer weight the stems and branches of their victims. (iv) When they get up into the crowns of: their supports, they invade and overspread those crowns, which cannot, therefore, bear their full quantum of foliage, and are also thereby im- peded both in their lateral and upward development, espe- cially in the latter. (v) They distort the boles of their supports, and thus necessi- tate the removal of these latter by the forester. (vi) When the same climber attacks two trees, the fall of one of aia might bring down the other or at least severely strain it. These various injuries will of course be greater in proportion to the weakness and low stature of the individual attacked and the size and weight of the climber. Iv. COMPLETENESS OF THE LEAF-CANOPY.—It is obvious that those individuals, whatever their ageand size may be, which have free space around and over them, will have every chance of growing on and surviving, while others, taller and stronger than they, but PURE CROP OF UNIFCRM AGE. 19 jess xo than their immediate neighbours, will succumb under cover, The struggle will evidently be severest on the side where the leat- canopy is closest. Individuals of every species whatsoever, even the most shade- avoiding, can grow very much closer together when young than at a later age, their need for light increasing with advancing years ; for the smaller the amount of nourishment to be elaborated is, the small- er will be the sum total of light required, and wice versd. In a cano- pied crop, as long as a tree is still growing in height, light reaching it from above suffices, if not to enable it to grow luxuriantly, at least to keep it alive and to draw it up rapidly. But when the phase of upward growth is practically over, that is to say, when the upper and sole illuminated portion of the crown has lost its excep- tional vigour and can no longer either extend itself and thus replace by new organs the lower branches which have hitherto died and fal- len off without any constitutional injury to the tree, or assimilate sufficient nourishment for the parts below, the tree can continue to live only on the condition that the lower portions of the crown are able to spread out and develop a large leaf-surface and thus contribute their share towards its nutrition. Thenceforth a keen struggle for lateral development ensues with its neighbours, and the tree gains er loses the victory according as it is stronger or weaker than they, that is to say, according as it can or cannot press in their crowns and ultimately kill out one or more of them. Thus the leaf-canopy becomes gradually sparer, until, at a very advanced age, varying with the species concerned, the individual trees stand completely isolated. The more favourable the soil and locality are, the closer together ean the trees stand at any age and the more tolerant will they be of cover; for the spread of their roots will be in inverse proportion to the abundance and concentration of food in the soil. And, in general, the presence of sufficient moisture in the soil and in the at- mosphere, combined with the requisite temperature, increases in a very conspicuous degree the ability of a species to form a dense leaf- canopy at all stages of growth, not only by encouraging the develop- ment of foliage, but also by enabling the trees to absorb all the water they need with a proportionately restricted root-apparatus. All species form a denser leaf-canopy the longer the period of vegetation in each year is, for the total effect of light being propor- tionate to the length of exposure of the trees to its action, the outspread of the crowns will be greater and the foliage fuller; hence, converse- ly, the total effect being the same, the shorter the time of its ac- 20 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. tion, 2. e. the shorter the season of vegetation, the more contracted will the crowns be and the further must the trees stand apart, as near the Polar Regions and at the upper limit of tree vegetation. Lastly, the greater the intensity of sunlight at any place is, the better can a given species tolerate cover overhead ; but as increasing brightness of the sun’s rays necessarily means a corresponding in- crease of heat, whichin its turn means, in most parts of the empire, a dry soil and a dry atmosphere, the beneficial effect of the inten- sity of light is nearly everywhere more than counteracted by the un- favourable influence of drought. We hence see the apparent contra- diction of a closer leaf-canopy and a denser ground-vegetation on the northern slopes of hills than on their southern slopes. The denser growth at high elevations, although in a very large measure due also to the presence of more moisture in the soil and air during the dry season of the year, is to a great extent the result of the brighter light in the clear and rare atmosphere there. If the species composing the crop is shade-enduring, like the deodar, silver fir, Quercus incana, Terminalia tomentosa, &c., or one which at all ages interlaces branches, like the khair, species of Zizy- phus, Anogeissus pendula, A. latifolia, &e., the struggle for existence is a long and severe one. On the other hand, when the constituent species is like Pinus longifolia or Hardwickia binata, the first shade- avoiding from its earliest years, and both shrinking from the interla- cing of branches, the struggle is a brief one, and the weaker and over- topped plants are soon thrown out of the race. And, in general, the severity and duration of the struggle for existence is in direct proportion to the tendency of the trees to grow close together, what- ever the cause or causes that tendency may be due to. V. SPREAD OF ROOTS (INCLUDING THE RHIZOME).—Some species, such as sal and Prosopis spicigera, develop a main root which works its way vertically down to a considerable depth ; while others, after sending down a short taproot that ultimately dies, produce only lateral roots, which start from just below the base of the stem and run along close and more or less parallel to the surface of the ground. These latter, as distinguished from all other plants, may be called surface-feeders, since they depend for their sustenance entirely on the upper layers of the soil. Between these two extremes come all the remaining plants, the main roots of which diverge at different angles from the vertical or horizontal. It is evident that the more nearly a species assumes the character of a surface-feeder, the earlier will the struggle for existence begin, for in the contrary case a plant can go down to lower depths for its food, if it has to yield to lateral PURE CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 21 pressure from its more powerful neighbours, and can thus draw its nourishment from within a smaller area of ground. The richer and moister the soil is, the more limited will be the area from which a given plant can obtain all the nourishment it requires, and hence the less tendency will the plant have to spread out its roots, and, for one and the same density of the crop, the less intense will be the struggle for existence. The depth to which the roots of any species can penetrate depends on the depth and stiffness of the soil and the character of the sub- soil. When downward extension is limited by a shallow or stiff soil and an impenetrable subsoil, the plants compensate themselves by spreading out their roots laterally. Generally speaking, for indivi- duals of one and the same species, depth and narrowness of crown bespeak deep rooting, while breadth of crown without much depth means a lateral spread of roots. Hence the shallower and stiffer the soil and the more impenetrable the subsoil is, the severer will be the struggle for existence and the earlier will it be decided. But whatever the system of root-development peculiar to any spe- cies may be, for several years at first, the number of years varying with the species, the seedling consists of only a single main root and a small crown composed of a few leaves and hardly any or no branches. During this phase of development the young plant can do nothing more than merely push down this main root beyond the reach of ordinary drought, being unable to absorb and, therefore, also to elaborate more nourishment than what suffices for this purpose. In this way the taproot gradually elongates and strengthens itself by throwing out a few small branches until, having taken a sufficient hold of the soil, itis able at once to meet a much larger demand from the crown above, which itself also has inthe meantime been growing fuller and stronger. This is the meaning of the phrase of “ a plant establishing itself” and a seedling at this stage is said be established. The seedling is now able to make arapid start up- wards, and the roots, better nourished than before by the very much stronger and constantly expanding crown, take a vigorous lateral extension. With stool-shoots and root-suckers it is otherwise ; their roots are, for a time at least, the roots of the parent tree itself. In the case of stool-shoots most of these roots soon die, since the shoots cannot obviously elaborate enough nourishment for them ; so that a great abundance at the outset is followed by a rapid shrinkage, and this in turn by a gradual expansion as the shoots continue to develop their own roots, the rapidity of expansion being directly proportional 22 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. to the rapidity of growth of the shoots. Under any circumstances, unless the crop is very open, the mutual contact between the root- systems of the various individuals is always maintained. In the case of root-suckers identical results follow if the parent tree has been removed or broken off near the ground; otherwise there is never a contraction but, on the contrary, a continual expansion of the root-system. VI. Acs or crop. As already mentioned in the opening of this Section, although every plant individually has from the very beginning to contend against causes of injury extraneous to the forest or arising out of location in an unfavourable soil, the mutual strug- gle for existence in a crop composed entirely of seedlings does not commence for some years, until the plants are old enough to have spread out their roots and crowns and attained mutual contact. On the other hand, when coppice-shoots form a portion of the crop, the commencement of the mutual struggle is contemporaneous with the appearance of the crop itself. But whensoever this struggle be- gins, it is always at first of a comparatively mild character, but becomes rapidly keener and keener while the trees are going through the most active period of the phase of longitudinal growth, during which certain individuals so outstrip their neighbours as to completely suppress them. As the activity of longitudinal develop- ment slackens, so does the mutual struggle for existence become, for a limited time at least, less severe, the combined result mainly of the diminishing number of stems and the more equal race between the survivors. But as soon as the phase of active lateral develop- ment sets in, the struggle, in spite of the absolutely small number of trees left, again increases in intensity, although its nature is now considerably changed. In the former case there was a very marked disparity in the heights of the competing trees, which, being more- over very restricted in their lateral development, had a comparatively weak hold of the ground, the consequence being that those over- topped were so hopelessly beaten, that they easily succumbed under the victors. But in this second phase the struggle is between mostly large masterful trees, possessing great powers of resistance, and none of them able to gain the easy victory attainable, as in the first phase, by loftier stature ; hence the smaller percentage of casualties during this time, notwithstanding the extreme severity of the struggle. To- wards the close of the period of active lateral development, the num- ber of stems having so diminished that each tree has nearly all the room it requires, the mutual struggle rapidly becomes less keen until- it ceases altogether, when with advancing years the vitality of the PURE CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 23 ultimate survivors gradually failing, the crowns no longer develop their original wealth of foliage, but on the other hand contract (consequent on the drying up and disappearance of, at first, the smaller branches and then the larger limbs), and the trees die one by one from sheer old age. The natural process here described, of the gradual disappearance of the majority of the individuals origi- nally composing a crop, is well illustrated by Th. Hartig’s example cited on page 11. VII. RELATIVE LONGEVITY ACCORDING TO ORIGIN OF INDIVIDUALS. Here we have obviously no concern withthe relative longevity of individuals as influenced by the separate or joint action of all the various causes discussed under the other heads of the present Case. What we have to do is only to distinguish between the relative lon- gevities of seedling trees, trees on stools, and suckers. Culms may be left out of account altogether, for they are no better than mere branches. Stool-shoots and suckers indeed are also brariches by origin, but they ultimately enjoy a separate individual existence. Although accurate observations are wanting, it is certain that seed- ling trees are the longest lived, and that the younger the parent stool or tree is, the more nearly do stool-shoots and suckers approach seedling trees in longevity. Owing to their origin stool-shoots are generally not so long-lived as suckers, and the disparity is always greater the older the parent stool is, for in proportion to the size of the stool will always be the risk of unsoundness in the butt, and, after a certain age, also the want of vigour of the shoot. VITI. Rewative Rapipiry or gRowrH.—As already explained in several places above, seedlings always go through a longer or shorter period of waiting, during which they are establishing them~- selves ; while, on the other hand, stool-shoots and suckers push up rapidly as soon as they are produced, attaining in their very first year the same size as seedlings from 5 to 20 years and upwards old. This, so to say, exaggerated development they owe to the large amount of reserve matter stored up in the parent stool or tree. Suckers, if the tree which produced them is still standing, main- tain this rapid growth at the expense of the parent until they have developed a complete root-system of their own; but stool-shoots soon exhaust the reserve matter of the parent stool, and then, being left entirely dependent on themselves, their growth generally falls off and in a few years they are overtaken by the seedlings and even passed by them. It is obvious that the younger the stool is, the more nearly will the mode of growth of the daughter-shoots resem- ble that of a seedling. Culms differ from all the rest in that they 24 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. complete the whole of their development in height as well as in thickness within a few weeks of a single season. Examples of the First Case. Natural instances of the First Case may be found in bamboo forests, in the tamarisk forests and some of the babul forests of Sindh, and in most of the stretches of pure sissu or of pure khair found on islands and reaches of streams issuing from the Himalayas. An- other striking instance is offered by copses of a single species that are clear-felled, in which practically all the stool-shoots spring up the very first season following the exploitation. With them must of course be included the forest standing on land at one time sub- jected to the barbarous system of cultivation known under the vari- ous names of jhiim (Assam-Bengal), taungya (Burma), son, hdi (Shan country), kdl, khil, kardi (N. W. Himalayas), dhaya, bewa (Central India), kutwkdér (Tamil), punokar (Canarese), kumri (South- ern Maratha Country, Mysore, Coorg), Tekal (Mysore) China (Singhalese) &., which consists in clearing and burning off all the vegetation on the ground, raising one or two crops on the ashes, and then taking up fresh areas, not to return until the forest is again old enough to yield a sufficient supply of ashes. Such are many of the pure teak copses of the Sathpuras, &c. As artificial examples of this Case we may quote plantations formed of a single species, BECTION IT: SECOND CASE.—Pure crop composed of individuals of all ages. In this Case there is never, as we have seen frequently occur in the one just treated, any lull or relaxation in the mutual struggle for existence between the various plants composing the crop, for new individuals are every moment being produced under or in im- mediate contact with those already on the ground, and every stage and phase of growth is constantly represented. The sole point of dif- ference between the present and preceding Cases is the practically unlimited disparity between the ages and dimensions of the various _ individuals of the crop, but this disparity is by itself a sufficiently powerful factor to modify considerably the action of all the other causes influencing the progressive growth of the crop. The deter- mining conditions for the survival of the fittest are, therefore— PURE CROP OF MIXED AGES. 25 J. RELATIVE INNATE VIGOUR.—The importance of this condition here is not so great as in the First Case, since a difference of ages may quite nullify it. Nevertheless greater age is not necessarily a criterion either of greater vigour or of greater debility, for the cop- pice yearling shoot will, as a rule, be always very much more vigorous than a seedling several years old, and an aged tree may not unfre- quently be more tenacious of existence than another in the prime of life. II. GREATER SUITABILITY OF SOIL AND suBsoIL.—lIn the re- marks made under this head in the preceding Case, it was explain- ed that in unfavourable soils resting ona bad subsoil disparity of size may give the victory to the less advanced individuals. That remark may be repeated here with greater emphasis, since, in the present Case, the disparity between a plant and its neighbours may have no practical limit. When the subsoil is impenetrable sheet-rock or clay, or is impermeable to water, or, on the other hand, is so permeable as to be entirely waterless for the purpose of vegetation, the younger plants may be able to live on, while the older wither, decay, or die off as soon as their roots reach this unfavourable subsoil, having it may be, in the meantime, while struggling to establish themselves, improved and prepared it for the younger growth. So also when the soil and subsoil are very poor, the older and larger plants, requiring a larger sum of nourishment than the soil can supply, may become stag-headed and thus open out the leaf-canopy for the younger individuals. Where, the subsoil not being utterly bad, the soil above is very stiff or very wet, the older plants will generally possess the advantage, since with theirmore woody and stronger roots they will the better resist breaking and ejection during the successive contraction and expansion of the soil under the influence of alternations of drought, moisture and frost, and with their larger root and leaf-systems, guaranteeing a suffici- ently rapid absorption and transpiration, alsa escape wet feet. ILI. Dears, DISEASE, UNHEALTHY STATE OR RETARDATION OF GROWTH DUE TO CAUSES EXTRANEOUS TO THE FOREST, viz.— (a) Attacks of insects and other animals,—Insects attack young and old alike, but unless these pests are very numerous or very voracious, the older plants, provided they are not yet in their decline, will obviously possess greater powers of resistance than those that are younger, especially if the insects.in question are phyllophagous. As against other animals hurtful to vegetation, greater age gives a very marked advantage, so much so that plants above a certain 26 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. size are in general perfectly safe against most of them. (b) Attacks of parasitic and epiphytic plants.—These plants are no respecters of age; but itis evident that the older a tree is, the more likely is it to survive the attacks of all such plants other than (c) Injurious climatic influences—frost, drought, sunstroke, hail, rain, wind, snow, lightning, §c.—The extent of difference between neighbouring plants as regards size and vigour being, in the present Case, practically unlimited, the remarks made in the First Case un- der this head apply here with greater force. Young plants coming up under lofty trees, will be perfectly safe against frost, hot and cold winds, and snow, and, to a great extent, also against drought and hail; on the other hand, the drip from the trees above might prove hurtful or even fatal to very young seedlings. Again, the older individuals, with their large and long roots, extending every where in the direction of moisture, will in general be secure against the severest and most protracted drought. (d) Conjflagrations—The remarks made under this head in the First Case apply here in their fullest force. Even in the severest fire very few large trees are killed outright, and the majority of them suf- fer only a relatively slight retardation of growth due to the scorch- ing of the foliage, the death of some of the buds and of the more her- baceous twigs and shoots, and perhaps the charring of some portion of the bark as far as the cambium. Indeed, in Pinus longifolia forest ‘the flames seldom attain the height of the crowns, so that it is not uncommon in tracts of that species to see, after a fire has passed through, the poles and larger individuals merely blackened for a few feet up their boles, but otherwise apparently uninjured, On the other hand, the smaller individuals suffer severely, and the extent of the injury increases in geometrical progression as their size dimi- nishes, being greatest in the case of species that cannot coppice. What has been said in the preceding paragraph refers exclusively to the vitality and growth of the plants, not to their soundness. Forest fires never fail to produce unsoundness; but unsoundness by nomeans necessarily implies want of vitality, for a tree may be in the full vi- gour of growth and yet be completely hollow or otherwise unsound. (e) Floods.—There is not much to add to what has been said under this head in the preceding Case. The extent to which floods may injure the various plants of'a crop will be directly proportional to the difference between their respective sizes, the advantage being PURE CROP OF MIXED AGES. 27 in nearly every case on the side of the larger individual. This state- ment requires no explanation as regards the effect produced by the mere violence of the rushing flood-waters and the covering of silt brought in by them. As regards the injury which plants may sustain from submersion, itis evident that the younger and, there- fore, the smaller from among them will be completely submerged during the most ordinary floods, and that the extent of damage will increase in geometrical ratio with the length of time the floods last. Thus is accounted for, to a very great extent, the small proportion of young individuals, even of species inhabiting only flooded lands, in tracts subject to frequent inundations. As regards the excess of moisture in the soil accompanying a flood, it is evident that the younger individuals, if the species is a denizen of marshy land, will suffer more than their older neighbours, from being unable to trans- pire as rapidly, and also from having ‘their root-system comprised within the upper layers of the soil, 7. e, the layers most affected by the flood-waters. This latter reason also explains why the larger trees resist the effects of saline deposits longest. (f) Action of man.—Here also little can be added to the re- marks made under this head in the First’ Case. It is during the period preceding the sapling stage that plants possess their maxi- mum power of recovering from injuries caused by felling, conver- sion and export operations, because it is during this time that they are most flexible and elastic, and shoot up in the most vigorous man- ner from below any point at which they may be broken or badly damaged. After this period they rapidly lose their flexibility, and, but in a less degree, also their elasticity, and, if they get broken, they have a tendency to develop a tuft or brush of shoots instead of at once throwing out a strong leader. Moreover, the larger the size of the injured tree is, the larger will be the wound and the quick- er will be the progress, and the more weakening the nature, of the consequent decomposition, (9) Climbers——The action of climbers has been pretty fully explained in the First Case. In the present Case attention need be drawn only to one additional point. Asa rule, climbers can get up much more easily into young trees owing to their thin stems and low branches than into the lofty crowns of their older thick-boled well-grown neighbours, and once a young tree has been invaded, itis hopelessly doomed, not only as a potential piece of timber, but also as one of the strugglers in the race for life. Nevertheless, if a climber can, by means of neighbouring small individuals, get up into the crown of a large overtopping tree, it will maintain all or nearly all 28 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. its foliage on the same level as the crown of that tree, and thus leave some of the overtopped stems unmolested, while keeping back their overtopping rival. In this way may be explained the freedom from climbers of many young individuals in dense forests, although the climbers may be almost as numerous as the trees themselves. IV. CoMpPLETENESS OF THE LEAF-CANOPY.—Light is not neces- sary for germination, for the young seedling develops, and can even make a certain amount of growth, by means of the reserve matter stored up in the seed. But once that reserve matter has been uti- lised by the seedling, this latter must die if it is unable to assimilate food for itself ; in other words, it cannot do without light. While the seedling is still small and makes but little progress, and, on that account, wants but little food, illumination more or less feeble suffices; but, as with increasing size and increasing rapidity of growth its wants increase, the requisite amount and intensity of illumination necessarily increases in proportion. As regards cop- pice shoots they must, because of their very much more rapid early growthand much larger size at first, obviously receive a considerable amount of light almost from the very moment that they make their appearance. The requisite degree of illumination will depend on the size of the parent stools, roots or rhizomes. Thus, whereas small seedling-shoots scarcely require more light than true seedlings of their own size, the strong shoots that come up on well-nourished stools of middle age will be almost as exacting as saplings and poles nearly three times as large again as themselves. But while both seedlings and coppice shoots require an ever increasing amount of light as they push up, they can survive for a certain time on very much less than this, the length of time varying with the degree of endurance of shade of the species in question and with the age of the plants. Thus deodar and silver fir, both remarkably shade-enduring species, may survive under a very dense leaf-canopy until they are 40 years and upwards old, whereas seedlings of Pinus longifolia and teak, which are very partial to light, cannot persist under fairly dense cover for more than 10 to 15 years, and teak stool-shoots for barely 5 years. But because young plants can survive under cover: up to a certain age, it does not follow that they will also retain as long the full power of recovery on being admitted to the influence of light. After a cer- tain time the cambium becomes weakened owing both to insufficient transpiration and assimilation, and to the increasing pressure to which it is subjected between the growing woody layers on the inside and the hard, dry bark on the outside, and the result is that the plants become, to use a popular term, hidebound. If they are broad-leaved, PURE CROP OF MIXED AGES. 29 they may gain new vigour by being cut back, otherwise, although they may continue to live, they will never, under the most favour- able circumstances afterwards, attain any development. The injuriousness of cover is directly proportional to the combined lowness and depth of the crowns of the trees constituting it, since more abundant light can filter through a high and thin leaf-canopy, under which moreover there can never be any deep shadows. Hence vigorous overtopped individuals may have a very good chance of surviving, and perhaps even of ultimately catching up, their overtopping neighbours, if these have high narrow crowns. Due weight being given to the important considerations developed in the preceding paragraphs, all the remarks made under this head in the First Case are to be accepted as holding good here also, and as even applying with greater force. Only a single additional obser- vation need be made in this place as a pendant to the proposition that young plants of every species whatsoever are more shade- enduring than their older fellows. It is that this difference is more marked in proportion to the partiality of the species in ques- tion for light. V. SPREAD OF ROOTS (INCLUDING THE RHIZOME).—This is a much more important condition than is very generally supposed, its most striking effects being erroneously attributed to other causes, notably to sufficiency or insufficiency of light. On the ground immediately surrounding a large sal tree, although many sal seeds germinate every year, hardly any of the numerous plants produced are observed to survive. This result is at once ascribed to deficient illumination due to the cover of the large tree, notwithstanding that the tree in question may be quite isolated, unbranched up to more than 40 feet, and narrow-crowned. The true reason is to be sought for in the dense and thick mass of roots, root-fibres and root-hairs of the large tree, which form a close network occupying the soil to a very considerable depth, defying penetration by the thin weak roots of the seedlings, and monopolising, thanks to its very much greater absorptive power, all the nourishment that the soil can yield.* The same phenomenon may be observed with all species, more markedly with some than with others. We can now understand why the in- “If further proof were required to show the utter groundlessness of the reason generally ascribed, we have only to look at the frequently flourishing young sal under the really dense cover of trees of other species possessing very much heavier crowns than the sal, but which, having a different root-system and different requirements, do not prevent the roots of the young sal from getting through intw soil not completely monopolised by other plants, : 30 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. jury sustained by seedlings under overtopping trees is greater in di- rect proportion to the depth, spread and density of the crowns of these trees, since a deep, broad and dense crown means a proportion- ately deep, close and wide spread of the roots and a proportionately great absorptive power. (See also 2nd. paragraph of page 29). The preceding special remarks should be read in connection with all the observations of a more general character made under this head in the First Case. VI. Inpivipvat aczs.—In the preceding Case, as it was essen- tially based on the assumption that the crop was one consisting of individuals of more or less one and the same age, we could consider only the effects of the advancing age of the entire crop. Here, al- though no doubt each individual advances in age and the remarks made in the First Case apply to it with little or no modification, yet the age of the entire crop considered as an individual body is a term that is excluded by the very hypothesis of the case, and we havé as an effective substitute the condition which heads this paragraph. In the preceding paragraphs of this Case we have necessarily al- ready considered trom most aspects the effect: produced by a differ- ence of individual ages. These it would be entirely superfluous to repeat here. Only one principal point, and that of a totally general nature, remains tobe noticed. From the time that a seedling or coppice-shoot makes its appearance, its vigour and tenacity increase in geometrical ratio until a few years after it has passed the phase of maximum lateral development. Then a stationary period of more or less short duration follows, succeeded by a decline, at first very gradual and afterwards increasing in geometrical ratio until death supervenes. In this last phase, as already described on page 23, the crown contracts and becomes spare, letting light pass through at va- rious points, and the root-system contracts in proportion. Progres- sively with this process the younger surviving neighbours, hitherto overtopped or prexsed in laterally, now make headway, and finally, having acquired sufficient vigour, push up against and even into and through their old rival, forcing it to contract still further its diminished foliage and roots and ultimately hastening its death. VII. ReLATIVE LONGEVITY ACCORDING TO ORIGIN OF INDIVI- DuALS.—AIl the remarks made under this head in the First Case are to be accepted here in their fullest sense. It is thence evident that seedling trees may be able to outlive much younger coppice- shoots, especially if these stand on stools. Hence seedlings, once they have attained a sufficiently large size, have nothing to-fear PURE CROP OF MIXED AGES. 31 from companions of their own species differently derived from them- selves. VII1. ReLative RAPIDITY oF GROWTH.—Whatever has been said under this head in the First Case applies here without any re- servation or modification. It hence follows that seedlings are, as long as they have not yet entered the phase of rapid upward growth and are still small enough to be caught up by coppice-shoots, liable at any time to be thrown back or completely suppressed by these latter. Suckers are of course very much more dangerous than stool-shoots by reason of their continuously rapid growth, which suffers no relaxation almost until they attain their full height, es- pecially if the parent tree is still standing. For this reason also suckers may get the better of stool-shoots older than them- selves. But it is evident that culms enjoy the greatest advan- tage of all in this respect, for, since they complete the whole of their upward development within a few weeks, other individuals, to be-quite safe from them, must necessarily have attained a con- siderable or even very great height, varying from a few feet to 100 feet and more, according to the species of bamboo concerned. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. From the considerations developed in the discussion of the two preceding cases it results that, other circumstances being the same, the leaf-canopy will always be more complete and the soil better protected when the individual ages of the trees composing a pure crop are different than when they are uniform or very nearly uniform ; for should a tree from any cause whatsoever disappear or get broken, there are always smaller ones of various sizes under it ready to take its place or fill up any gap it leaves. Thus witha noticeable difference of individual ages, the production of the soil will be greater, the trees will be straighter and taller, the fertility of the soil better maintained and improved to a higher degree, and the preservation, amelioration and regeneration of the crop more easily and more certainly secured. Examples of the Second Case. Instances of the Second Case are abundantly offered by large tracts of Pinus longifolia forest in the North-West Provinces and the Punjab; of babul in Northern India, in Sindh, and in the Northern Deccan ; of khair and of sal in Northern and Central In- dia ; of Hardwickia binata in Central and Southern India; of Mesua ferrea in Assam ; of Acacia rupestris and of Anogeissus pendula in 82 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. Rajputana ; of Acacia modesta in the Punjab ; of teak in Central India and Bombay ; &c., &c. SECTION III. THIRD CASE.—Mixed crop composed of individuals of one and the same age. In the two preceding Cases we had to deal with pure crops, the individuals of which necessarily differed from each other only in respect of comparative vigour, size and age. In this, the Third Case, a very complicated element enters, for no two species, how- ever similar to each other they may be, can possess exactly the same habit of growth, or the same requirements as to soil, climatic influences and locality, or the same longevity or vitality, or the game liability to damage from various causes, or equal facility of reproduction, &. Here we have to consider not merely the strug- gle between individual and individual, but also that between species and species. The conditions which determine the survival of the fittest plants of the crop are hence much more numerous and astudy of them is extremely complicated by their acting simultaneously, and. often more or less nullifying each other or producing joint effects that sometimes defy analysis. Their consideration is also all the more difficult, as a thorough examination into the working of any one of them is seldom possible without some consideration of some one or more of the rest. In the immediately following pages, therefore, many points will often be anticipated before they are fully discussed in their proper place. Moreover minor details will be omitted as being foreign to the purpose of an elementary Manual. The various conditions bearing on the struggle for existence in the present Case will be studied under the following seventeen main heads :— I. Innate vicour.—Though not absolutely less important here than in the two preceding Cases, this condition has not so far-reach- ing an effect as those which follow, for these latter may, much more so even than a marked difference of individual ages, totally nullify any advantage possessed by a plant in respect of innate vigour alone. This will become rapidly evident with the progress of the present discussion. II. GREATER SUITABILITY OF SOIL AND suBSOIL.—The influence of this condition is extremely great, and is sometimes the sole effec- tive cause of a forest being more or less pure. Thus, for instance, MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 33 in the eng (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus) forests of Burma the late~ rite keeps out, or restricts very considerably the distribution of, other species. So in India where teak and Terminalia tomentosa are companions, the proportion of teak increases as the amount of clay in the soil diminishes, and vice versd, so that in strongly clayey soils the latter species remains almost pure. Again, in the very few instances in which sal and teak can grow side by side, sal, possessing many conspicuous advantages, usually drives out teak ; but generally there is a clear line of demarcation between the two species, marked by an increase in the proportion of clay beyond the point up to which sal can thrive. Then again, in the Boswellia serrata forests of Central India that species becomes pure in fer- ruginous soils. The more or less pure growth of sissu is also due to the special nature of the soil. Andsoon. Even in a limited area the soil may vary from point to point in respect of one or more of its principal properties—physical and chemical composition, depth, hygroscopicity, compactness—all these various differences favouring one species at the expense of another, besides producing marked differences in the vigour of plants of one and the same species. On shallow soils resting on a compact subsoil, surface-feeders will thrive better than trees that send their roots deep into the ground ; and, similarly, species that throw up suckers than others not possessing that faculty, which, indeed, is incréased in such soils. The soil also influences reproduction to a very considerable extent. Ifitis dry or hard or caked at the surface, species pro- ducing seeds which germinate with difficulty (e.g., teak, &e.), or are so large that they are either washed away or insufficiently covered (teak, the Terminalias), stand little chance against such of their companions as produce smaller seeds that are caught in little crevices or depressions (Anogeissus, Rhododendron, Pieris, &c.), or seeds that germinate more readily (sal, &c.). Moreover in such soils, species, the young seedlings of which develop a strong taproot, capable of forcing itself tnto the ground (e.g. sal, teak, Buchanania latifolia, §c.), are bound to prevail over their less favoured companions. In loose, free, moist soil, ready germination will not be a very great advantage, and the victory will depend still less on the smallness of the seed. Lastly, we know that in the case of all deciduous hot-weather leaf-shedders the persistence of the leaves depends on the quantity of moisture in the soil, and it is evident that the longer a tree conti- 34 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. nues in leaf, the greater is the chance of its being able to push out its immediate neighbours and of thus surviving. In every respect in which the character of the soil influences the relative growth of different species, this influence increases in geometrical ratio with the extent to which any one or more of the qualities of the soil in question departs from the average type. III. Dears, DISEASE, UNHEALTHY STATE, OR RETARDATION OF GROWTH, BROUGHT ON BY OAUSES EXTRANEOUS To THE FOREST, viz.— (a.) Attacks of insects and other animals.—The remarks made under this head for the first two Cases are equally applicable here. Besides this, we know that many insect pests are characteristic of, and limited to, certain kinds of trees, while some others, although they have a decided preference for certain kinds, are still found on other species when these latter are not abundant enough; that cattle and deer will greedily devour the foliage of some kinds and leave others untouched ; and so forth. Thus, for instance, it is not uncommon to see every teak leaf over large tracts of the Central Provinces eaten up by a Noctwid caterpillar in the space of a few days, while the foliage of the various companion species is entirely free from the pest. Similarly, the foliage of sal is attacked and more or less completely devoured over large areas by the larva of a Tineid moth. Again, Cerambyx and Hepialid borers often attack young teak shoots, piercing the wood up to the pith, where they lodge, and thus either kill the portion of the shoot above the wound, or {stop or retard its growth, or allow it to be easily snapped off by the wind, In some of the forests in Saugor, in the Central-Provinces, young Stephegyne parvifolia have no chance of getting up, as the tender annual shoots are devoured by deer as fast as they come up. So in the Himalayas, Quercus incana, dilatata, and semecarpifolia can never rise above a mere bush where grazing and lopping for fodder are unrestricted. For many miles on both banks of the Ganges near Hardwar Odina Wodier is kept back by elephants, which eat the young wood ; and bamboo would suffer still more from their depredations, were it not for its production of new culms every year. In some places in the outer Himalayas near the Ganges, where sal is not abundant, that species is rapidly losing ground owing to numerous individuals of it being knocked down by elephants, which eat its bark medicinally. As regards cattle generally, there are some plants for the leaves and young twigs of which they show a strong partiality, so that when these are abundant they will seldom take even a single bite MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 35 off other intermixed species. Thus, for instance, in tracts of Hard- wickia binata that species, bringing out, as it does, its new flush of leaves in April, is the only plant that yields green fodder in the parched hot season and its leaves are then greedily devoured by cattle; but during the rains, when there is an abundance of other and more congenial food, cattle, as they graze along, will generally care- fully avoid Hardwickia seedlings. This also explains the general immunity of sal from injury by cattle. On the other hand, cattle may acquire a tutored taste for certain kinds of fodder, which they would under ordinary circumstances eschew. Thus calvesin Nimar in Central India are often taught to feed by having bunches of teak leaves, conspicuous by their size, hung up in front of them; and when they grow up, they continue to relish teak leaves, buffaloes having often been known to bend down with their bodies saplings and small poles of that species in order to get at the leaves. A few words may be said here regarding the relative destructive- ness of our common domestic herbivorous quadrupeds. The least harmful of all are those of the equine class (horses, asses and mules); they possess incisors in both jaws and hence bite off clean, and their undivided hoof rather treads the soil hard than cuts it up. The rest, the pig excepted, have incisors only in one jaw, so that they do not bite, but tear and wrench off; seedlings possessing short roots or growing in soft soil are liable to be plucked out bodily by the roots. All of them, except camels, have cloven hoofs, the sharp moveable segments of which cut up the soil on slopes. In this respect goats and sheep are most to be feared, since they can frequent the steep- est ground, and of the two goats are the more dangerous on account of their very much more active habits, their marked bark- eating propensities and their standing up to leaves and shoots several feet high, which they pull or bend down to themselves. The weight of the buffalo and his innate sluggishness, which leads him to prefer crashing through a bush to moving to one side in order to avoid it, renders him more objectionable than the cow. Pigs, being grub- bing animals, besides killing outright young plants of species they eat, break and expose the roots of a great many others; but they are also useful in that they loosen the soil, triturate and mix up with the mineral soil the undecomposed upper layer of vegetable detritus, and destroy rats and insects. Camels are dangerous on account of their great reach and the manner in which, besides biting off the ends of branches, they strip them of their leaves by seizing them low down and with a continuous tug drawing their whole length through, their mouths. Arranged in descending order of destructiveness we 36 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. have (1) the goat, (2) the sheep, (3) the camel, (4) the pig, (5) the buffalo, (6) the cow and (7) horses, mules, and donkeys. (b) Attacks of parasitic and epiphytic plants.—All the remarks made under this head for the First Case apply also here. Here we need only add that parasites are nearly always selective, preferring some species and genera to others, or living exclusively on a single species, or on plants belonging to a single genus or family; and so also, although toa much less extent, with many epiphytes. Thus the Arceuthobium Ozxycedri, as far as is known, grows in India only on Juniperus excelsa and Pinus excelsa, gradually overspreading the plant on which it has once taken root, and often killing the branch or the entire tree. The fungus Peridermium Pini attacks at one stage of its existence only various species of pines. Another fungus, Trametes radiciperda, infests only conifers. And so on* (c) Damage caused by climatic influences—Under this title we will include only the injury suffered from the causes in question by individual piants irrespective of whatever general influence they may exercise on the vegetation of each species considered collectively, The consideration of that influence would introduce a much larger question, whcih on account of its extreme importance will be treated under a separate major head (see Condition X below). This reser- vation being borne in mind, the remarks already made on the subject of climatic influences under the first two Cases should be read over again here. (d) Conjflagrations—In what way fires injure trees and forests and on what general circumstances their degree of destructiveness depends are questions which will be more appropriately treated when we come to consider the subject of the preservation of forests from fire. The student will, however, do well, before he proceeds further, to study Sections I and II of Chapter I, Book III. The various degrees of resistance offered to the effects of forest fires by the different species composing the crop will depend on a great many circumstances, the principal of which are the following:— (i) The evergreen or deciduous nature of their foliage —The more constant the leaf-canopy at any point is, the smaller will be the quantity of combustible undergrowth, especially grass, on the ground, the moister will be the soil, and the longer in consequence will the undergrowth remain green and uninflammable. So that in * Precise information under this head is wanting in India, and more careful and ex- tended observations are urgently called for. At the present m t with reference thereto is extremely meagre, £ Pace Se Sa eae MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 37 proportion to the persistence of the leaves of any of the component species will be the lightness of a conflagration under individuals, and especially groups of individuals, of that species. Thus, other circumstances being the same, the more nearly evergreen a species is, the less will it be injured by forest fires. Moreover, if the trees are completely evergreen, the quantity of dead inflammable matter under them at any time will always be less than under decidous trees. All the preceding remarks apply in their fullest force when the trees in question form groups; but even isolated individuals, by the advantage they enjoy over their neighbours belonging to less favoured species, will, soon after they become fertile, surround them- selves with their own progeny, which will act asa further check to the violence of conflagrations; and in this way groups must form and go on extending themselves. The facts recounted above are forcibly illustrated by the numerous natural belts of the Bauhinia climber found in so many of our forests which oppose an almost in- surmountable barrier to the progress of a conflagration. Foresters in Central India, in fire-tracing operations, know how to turn to account masses of Ougeinia dalbergioides flanking their fire-lines, for that species is in full leaf at the time of those operations and no guide or check line need be cleared along their edge, as the fire from the trace cannot spread into them. Many sal forests are also to a great extent thus self-protected, the sal being very nearly an ‘evergreen. Gi) The season of leaf-fall—Some trees shed their leaves in the cold weather, so that by the time the season of forest fires arrives, the dead leaves have scattered and, owing to the winter rains, have settled into a close mass, which naturally cannot flare up as high as loosely packed leaves that have just fallen. On the other hand, if fire sweeps through a crop before all the trees have shed their leaves for the year, those still retaining them will generally have less com- bustible matter under themselves than all the rest, the difference be- ing most marked if those are evergreen and these deciduous. Fires are generally least harmful before a tree has begun to lose its old foliage. (iii) The season of appearance of a new flush of leaves.—It is obvious that if a fire occurs when a new flush is in process of coming out, the tender succulent leaves must, as a rule, be entirely destroyed, unless the quantity or nature of the fallen leaves does not allow the flames to rise up into the crowns. The trees that thus lose their first flush of leaves, can evidently put forth only a com- paratively poor second flush, and, if this destruction of the first flush 38 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. is repeated often enough, they must, other circumstances being si- milar, be easily beaten in the strugle for existence by their more favoured neighbours. The same result must follow, but of course in not so marked a manner, even if the new flush of foliage has completely come out. On the other hand, if a fire occurred before the buds of a tree had begun to swell up preliminary to bursting forth into leaf, their vitality, owing to their containing a compara- tively small quantity of moisture, would be less affected than if they had already begun to swell up and were full of moisture. Forest conflagrations, occuring while any species is in a state of vegetative repose, are always followed by a sudden outburst of activity which is more marked in proportion to the nearness of the normal season of activity for that species. The premature activity thus resulting, provided excessive injury has not been sustained, may be advantageous for the species in question as compared with its equally injured but less favoured rivals. (iv) Thickness and vitality of the bark—Some species, like sal, Pinus longifolia, Diospyros Melanoxylon, &c., form early a thick bark, which may be fibrous and corky, as in sal, or principally corky, as in the two other species just named. This thick bark is obvious- ly a very great protection to the larger individuals and a still greater one to seedlings and saplings, whose small diameter exposes them to be easily killed as far as the pith itself. The advantage of possess- ing a bark that reforms readily over burns, cracks, &ic. is too evi- dent to require proof. Pinus longifolia and Boswellia serrata are endowed with this characteristic in a very remarkable degree, large wounds being completely closed up in a very short time. It is the possession of this quality and of a thick corky bark that to a great extent enables the pine in question, although a conifer, to resist the effects of forest fires almost as well as broad-leaves trees. It is un- questionable that the presence of a glutinous secretion, by covering up wounded surfaces, increases the vitality of the bark. (v) The number and vitality of dormant buds—Dormant buds enable plants to bring out a new flush of leaves, or to renew any damaged portion of their crowns, or even to shoot up again when they have been burned down to the ground. The larger their num- ber is and the greater their vitality, the larger will be the number that will survive and be able to repair the injuries suffered in a con- flagration. All the broad-leaved species possess dormant buds right down to the collum of the root in the soil, and these buds continue alive for a very long period: longer in the case of some species than in that of others, but always for a great many years. On the other MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 89 hand, dormant buds in conifers are the exception not the rule, and amongst Indian conifers the Pinus longifolia and yew are perhaps the only species which possess true dormant buds; but even these are situated at a comparatively few irregular points on young wood, being soon overtaken by, and disappearing under, the advancing concentric layers of wood, and being really numerous and possess ing much vitality only until the young pine has formed its first true verticel. Very young deodar and larch, before they begin to shoot up rapidly, apparently possess dermant buds, but the side shoots they produce, by which they are sé often enabled to replace the in- jured upper end of the niain axis, are simply due to an abnormal development of the tufts of needles, these tufts being abortive bran- ches, (vi) Ability to form adventitious buds.—Few species possess this faculty to a sufficient extent to give them any appreciable prepon- derance over their neighbours,-but the few which do enjoy it ina marked manner, like Boswillia serrata, are of course placed ata great advantage. (vii) Vitality of the root-collum.—This property is intimately connected with, and is toa great extent a resultant of, properties (iv), (v) and (vi), but its action is of a sufficiently special kind to be separately discussed. Thus, for instance, both sal and Termi- nalia tomentosa coppice as freely as teak until an advanced age, but the last only is able, up to 40 or 50 years of age, to throw up shoots from the collum of the root several inches below the surface of the ground. Nearly all broad-leaved species in India are capable cf shooting up again from this region during the first few years, owin:: to the buds produced therein ; but they do so with various degrees of vigour, and it is evident that such of them as retain this faculty longest are pre-eminently the best adaptad to resist the effects of fire. (viii) Ability to throw up suckers——Species which possess this faculty, rather benefit than otherwise by forest fires, for, although recurring corflagrations prevent or retard the upward growth of individuals, the number of individuals is thereby con~ stantly augmented. This result follows not only when an existins individual is burnt, but even when it is simply weakened, sines the tendency to throw up suckers is directly proportional to the extent of injury suffered by the aérial portion of the parent plant. Witness the numerous large patches of almost pure Ougeinia dalbergioides in the dry forests of the Sathpuras. The remarkable gregariousness of Boswellia serrata is also, in a great measure, due to its being able ta produce suckers. 40 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. (ix) Density of foliage——The denser the crown of a tree is, the smaller will be the quantity of undergrowth under it to feed the flames and draw them up into the overhanging crown. Thus Hard- wickia binata, owing to its open foliage, encourages a close under- growth in the immediate vicinity of its trunk, the consequence being that, when fire comes in, the heat below is so intense that the highest crowns, notwithstanding that they may be quite green, take fire and blaze up like tinder. (x) Spread and depth of crown.—Amplitude and depth of crown will have the same effect as density of foliage and will more- over be a great protection to the leading shoot, i.e. the most sensitive and important portion of the crown. (xi) Height of crown above the ground.—The advantage of greater height of crown is too obvious to require explanation. (xii) Ability to form at once a strong new leader on the death of the original one.—Greater facility in this respectis a very conspicuous advantage, for it means little or no retardation in upward development, a matter of the first importance during the most critical phase in the life of a tree forming part of a leaf- canopy- (xiii) Season of flowering and fructification.—The fatal effects of a conflagration occurring during the process of flowering and fructification are self-evident. Most of the gregarious trees of those parts of India, where forest fires are a regular annual scourge except when special precautions are taken, flower after fires have passed through, and complete their fructification before the next fire season arrives, e. g., teak, Pterocarpus Marsuptum, Boswellia serrata, khair, Hardwickia binata, Terminalia tomentosa, Anogeissus latifolia and pendula, Dendrocalamus strictus, &e. (xiv) Season of fall of seed.—It is a truism to say that if fire cemes in after the seed has fallen, there is very little chance of any of it escaping. (xv) Ability of seeds or fruit to escape complete destruction by fire. —F ruit witha hard orthick pericarp, like that of teak, Terminalia Chebula and belerica, Zizyphus eylopyra, &., can stand a good deal of scorching without losing their germinative .power. Hard dry fruit, even without a thick pericarp, like that of Terminalia tomentosa and Anjuna, also resist well. On the other hand, moist or oily seeds with a thin protective covering, like those of Bassia latifolia, sal, Pinus longifolia, &c., are killed most easily ofall. Very small seeds like those of Celastrus senegalensis, most of the grasses, &c., often escape by being able to get into small crevices or cracks, &. MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 41 (xvi) Slope of ground.—A tree on a steep bank or slope will naturally suffer more than others on less inclined ground, not only from the flames mounting higher as the fire rushes uphill, but also by reason of the mass of dry twigs and other inflammable matter caught by the trunk on the upper side. (xvii) Size and consistence ot leaves and quantity shed.—The needle-shaped leaves of conifers naturally settle and form a closer mass than the large, flat leaves of broad-leaved species, which therefore flare up higher and quicker, and give out a more intense, if not os prolonged and steady a heat. Moreover, these leaves, owing to the broad surface they offer with a minimum of weight, are easily carried high up in a burning state, often to more than a hundred feet, by the uprush of hot air, and thus increase the risk of the green crowns catching fire. Conifers have, in almost every case, also another advantage, and that is that, as their leaves persist for two years and upwards, they shed at any one time only a portion of their foliage. The thicker and more woody leaves are, the greater and more prolonged will be the heat they will give out in burning. (xviii) Imflammability of the bark and dead leaves and wood due to presence of oil or resin.—In this respect conifers stand at a very great disadvantage. It is a notorious fact that ina forest fire more green standing individuals of some species are burnt down than of others. (xix) The quantity of moss and ferns growing on the trunk and branches. If the quantity of such epiphytic vegetation is sa large as to form a complete loose envelope round the trunk and branches, it must, when dry, enable fire to mount up into the crowns, killing the cambium and all buds and leaves, in the other words, the entire tree, Such a catastrophe is very common when conflagrations occur in the moist temperate forests of the eastern _ Himalayas. (xx) The time when any fire in question occurs.—On this will depend the quantity and dryness of the combustible matter present and consequently also the absolute severity of the fire. (xxi) Exacting nature of the various species as regards rich- ness of the soil—Fires consume all the fallen leaves and other vegetable detritus. It is true thatin the ashes they leave behind they render af once available the entire mineral constituents of plant-food present in that detiitus ; but that is no compensation at all for their inevitable dissipation of the organic elements, the con- tinued presence and transformation of which into new compounds would, besides ultimately returning to the soil all the mineral and 43 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. organic constituents taken up fromit, have enriched it directly with the carbon of the decomposing plant-parts and indirectly with a fresh supply of nitrogen compounds from the atmosphere. Forest soils (un less indeed the dead leaves and other disjecta are swept away and removed as soon as they fall) are never wanting in the mineral consti- tuents of plant food, but nothing save actual special manuring can restore to them what fires deprive them of. Besidesconsuming all organic matter in the upper layers of the soil and in its'dead vegeta- ble covering, forest fires also bake its surface into a hard crust and not seldom even glaze the surface of silicious stones and rocks, thereby delaying very considerably their disintegration under weather influences. Itis thus evident that species that can thrive, or at least maintain ‘a vigorous growth, in poor soils are favoured by the occurrence of firestin their struggle with their more exact- ing neighbours. See also conclusion of second paragraph under * Floods” on next page. (xxii) Exacting nature of the species in respect of moisture in the soil.—It is obvious that this cireumstance can affect only such species as bring out their new flush of leaves or are in leaf during the season of forest fires. The extent to which individuals of such*species will be influenced by fires sweeping through the crop will depend on the relative mass of their roots spreading with- in the layers of soil affected by the heat of the fire. (xxiti) Size and shape and easy germination of their seed.— Whatever low growth exists on the ground at the beginning of the rains, checks, in proportion to its closeness, the washing away of the seeds that are shed by the trees overhead. The more fre- quent and severe forest fires are, the sparser will be this growth, and hence the greater will be the advantage possessed by species producing seeds, which, being small or flat, are at once caught in erevices in the ground or do not easily roll or slip away, or which, germinating readily, anchor themselves forthwith; and this adyan- tage will be the greater, the more sloping and smoother the surface of the ground is. (e) Floods.—All the remarks made under this head in the First Case have a more extended application here than in the Second Case, since the difference between plant and plant in the present Case may be practically unlimited in every respect except age. It will be perceived that ability to produce suckers increases in a very remarkable degree the resistance any given species can offer to the destructive effects of floods. Whether floods bend, preak or strain the aérial or subterranean portions of a tree, or MIXED CROP OF UNIFCRM AGE. 43 erode the soil, or bring in a deposit of silt, species producing suck- ers will ordinarily not only maintain themselves, but even increase their own proportion in the crop, and this the more easily, the more destructive, within certain limits, the floods, are. In the conditions of the First Case the saturation of the soil by floods with saline substances was of slight or no importance in the mutual struggle for existence. Here this circumstance acquires its fullest sigificance, for whereas some species may be killed out- right by the introduction of such substances, others may thrive as as well as before, while a third class will suffer various degrees of check in their growth. Thus babul is almost the only species that can flourish in reh soil. Inthe Kheri Trans-Sarda forests in Oudh, floods of the adjoining Soheli river have recently killed out all the khair in the fire-protected low-lying black near Dudhua, while young sissu are coming up in the newly deposited silt. Be- fore fire-conservancy was introduced, the grass was all burnt in the hot weather, and, in the absence of any obstacles, the annual inundations quickly subsided without impregnating it with salts to a sufficient extent to kill out the khair, (f) Action of man.—All previous remarks on this head, except what is purely referable to a mere difference of ages, have a much wider application here, for there is much more room for selection in a mixed than in a pure forest, and the action of man in the for- mer must, on that account, have a considerably more far-reaching as well as intensive influence. Before the introduction of canser- vaney, teak was cut in the Central Provinces for the megnest uses, and, except for fuel and for a few other special purposes, there was no demand for any other species. In the interior of the Himala-~ yas, deodar is, up to the present, the only tree removed on any con- siderable scale. Centuries of dhaya have given an easy predomi- nance to teak over large areas in Central India. In fact the action of man, steadily directed with a single unswerving purpose, may controvert the laws of nature ta the utmost point to which they may be defied. Indirect consequences of his action are also manifest in forests, as for instance, ‘the injurious effects of sulphur- ous fumes emitted from neighbouring smelting furnaces. The extent to which a species can resist injuries resulting from felling, conversion and export operations will depend— (i) On its faculty of shooting up again from the collum of the root, or of throwing up suckers ; (ii) On the firmness and strength of its roots ; (iii) On the strength and elasticity of the trunk and branches ; 44 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. (iv) On its ability to re-form at once a strong leader, when the orginal one has been broken or killed ; {v) On its ability to replace sufficiently early a lost important limb ; and (vi) On the vitality of the bark, z.c., its readiness to form and close ever wounds and bruises. All these points are self-evident, and require no explanation. (g) Climbers——The remarks made under this head in the two preceding Cases apply with equal force here. Besides this, it may be added that climbers aré in no sense selective as regards the species of tree along which they rise above}the ground, except that those which climb only by means of tendrils or adventitious roots will seldom be found on trees with smooth or exfoliating bark, such as Homalium tomentosum, Boswellia serrata, &e. Usually climbers are confined to rich or at least moist soils and the edge of slopes, and are hence peculiarly destructive to species that affect such soils and localities. IV. CoMPLETENESS OF THE LEAF-CANOPY ; RELATIVE DENSITY AND SHAPE OF CROWN, AND RELATIVE CAPABILITY OF PERSISTING UNDER OR PUSHING UP THROUGH COVER.—It will be noticed that the second elause of this heading is additional to what ap- peared in the two previous cases. Its necessity is evident. With only a single species in the crop, all the plants are necessarily equally able or equally unable to persist under or push up through cover overhead ; but the moment a second species enters the crop, the relative ability of the two in this respect becomes a most im- portant element in the natural struggle for existence and has hence to be considered. Moreover, the relative density and shape of the crown of any species in question regulates, to a considerable extent, its proportion and distribution in a mixed crop. As a rule, the denser the foliage of a species is, the more shade- enduring will young individuals of it be ; for greater density of foliage generally, if not always, means that, owing to the superior shade-enduring nature of the species in question, more of the buds produced at the axils of the leaves have sprouted than could have continued their development if the species had been less shade- enduring. Instances of the rule are deodar, silver fir, mango Buchanania latifolia, Eugenias, laurels, Terminalia iovmiats. Diospyros Melanoxylon, Stephegyne parvifolia, Mimusops dba Pongamia glabra, bamboos, the holly, Quercus incana, &c. be Such species have obviously, irrespective of any other Gomdition:- MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 45 a great advantage over such of their companions as are more shade- avoiding, the crowns of which would in consequence be generally more open. Whereas young individuals of the former class could always ultimately get up into the leaf-canopy above, a result that would be rather facilitated than otherwise by the more open over- hanging trees of the other class acting as nurses, the young of these latter would not only be subject to suppression by the leaf- canopy above, but would also be elbowed out by their more shade- enduring companions in the undergrowth. Thus where sal and Pinus longifolia meet, although pine seedings are produced in a- bundance, they are very soon choked up and overtopped by young sal, which gives them no chance of existence except where the soil is too poor and dry for it. Similarly, although deodar and the silver fir are both pre-eminently shade-enduring species, still the superiority which the latter possesses in this respect, gives it a complete mastery over the other in those localities where the two species are equally at home. Some trees there are, which, although after a certain age they cannot flourish except with their crowns free on every side, yet, during their early years, are able to stand a great deal of shade. A very remarkable example of.this is the Hardwickia binata, seed- lings of which will persist under dense and even low cover for ten years and upwards. Again, young Pinus longifolia seedlings are not unfrequently to be found, if not absolutely vigorous, still full of vitality, under low, bushy Quercus incana. Nay teak itself will live for years as undergrowth in forests of medium density, consisting of bamboos, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Terminalia tomen~ tosa, Cochlospermum Gossypium, Boswellia thurifera, Hardwichia binata, Anogeissus latifolia, &c. In this way a young plant that is overtopped by a larger individual of another and more shade- enduring species may survive long enough to see the latter disap- pear from one cause or another, and then be able to push on un- checked. Again, a tree standing in immediate contact with, and on the same level as, another belonging to a more shade-enduring species may, if it is still in the phase of active lateral development while the other has passed it, be able to elbow it out of the crop or at least maintain an equal struggle with it. Since every species can stand more shade, the brighter the sun is, or the longer the season of vegetation, or, within certain limits, the higher the elevation, it naturally follows that the vigour with which it can struggle with other associated species will vary with 46 THE STHUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. latitude, distance from the sea, aspect, altitude, configuration of the earth’s surface, clearness of the atmosphere, &c.; so that while it may succumb in one place, it may hold its own in another, and even conquer in a third, its rivals being in all three places the same. Thus in southern latitudes Anogeissus latifolia is a very strong spe- cies in low situations, on level ground, on northerly aspects and even at the bottom of valleys, while in Northern India it is con- fined chiefly to southerly slopes and comparatively high elevations. Again, young sal in the Nandaor valley in Eastern Kumaon is re- markably more shade-enduring on southerly than on northerly slopes. When the season of vegetatién is very short, as at very high altitudes, all species become extremely light-demanding and the forest growth at those elevations is always very open. The more rapidly a species completes its annual quantum of growth, that is to say, the greater its vigour of assimilation is, the better is it adapted to compete successfully with other species equally or more shade-erduring : e. g., the teak, which in many parts of Central India develops its entire annual shoot in three months ; the bamboos, culms of which attain their full length in a few weeks ; and so on. Species become more shade-enduring also with increasing humi- dity and richness of the soil within the limits special to each. The reason of this is of course the fact that the more favourable a soil is, the more vigorously will plants nourished in it assimilate ; and the result is manifest by an increasing fulness of crown which completely changes the habit of the species in question. Thus Terminalia tomentosa, Bombax malabaricum, &e., present quite dif- ferent aspects in Northern, Central and Southern India. Trees grow noticeably closer together on low river banks and on nor- therly slopes. The effect just indicated is irrespective of the fact that in good soil plants can feed within less space and, therefore, have a more restricted ramification of roots. The remarks in the preceding paragraphs should be read in connection with what has been said under Condition IV in the first two Cases. The shape of the crown also exercises a considerable influence on the struggle for existence. Sal, with its long narrow crown, is able to push up through any small gap it mav find in the leaf- canopy above it. The long tapering crown of the deodar adds very considerably to its ability to grow up under cover. Shade- enduring trees will at once spread out a branch here and a branch there into the smallest openings ‘through which light enters. Of MIXED CKOf# OF UNIFORM AGE. 47 two species growing side by side and possessing similarly shaped crowns, but one of which tolerates shade better than the other, the second will ultimately disappear } whereas a third species, although still less shade-enduring than either, but possessing a differently shaped crown, may be able to occupy a permanent place in the leaf-canopy: Lastly, the relative ability of trees to push up through cover has to be considered. Facility for so doing, added to the faculty of persisting under cover, gives a tree possessing it an irresistible superiority over its neighbours. The manner in which young deodar makes its way up through the dense crowns of overhang- ing oaks and rhododendrons is an excellent instance in point. There are certain, by their original nature, shade-avoiding trees, which nevertheless, owing to this facility, assume the character of true shade-endurers and are then able to force themselves not only into, but through, the leaf-canopy above. Such species are either comparatively very rapid growers, or, from being in leaf and putting forth new shoots while their companions are entirely out of leaf, are able to spread out, both laterally and upwards, in spite of being over- topped or pressed up against by the crowns of these latter. The most remarkable instance of the first case is that already cited of the Dendrocalamus strictus and other bamboos generally, which, al- though extremely partial to light, will shoot up through the lofti- est and deepest cover. Again, the strong leader of the teak will, provided it has not far to go to reach direct sunlight, pierce through the thickest tangled mass of foliage overhead. The second case is best illustrated by the Hardwickia binata, young plants of which gradually insinuate themselves through the crowns of the trees immediately above them, especiaily of khair and, a fortiori, of Boswellia also. Indeed the finest saplings are often those which have grown up in this manner through khair (see Condition XVI infra.) V. RELATIVE MASS AND SPREAD OF THE ROOTS (INCLUDING THE RHIZOME).—In the heading here a new term has been introduced, viz., “relative mass of the roots.” In the two preceding Cases, the species in any instance considered being one and the same, al-~ though the spread of the roots of the various component individuals might differ, still the relative mass or density of the root-systent would be the same for all the plants and would he that peculiar to the single species to which they belonged. It is evident that the relative degree of closeness of the roots of a species must influence very considerably its behaviour in the struggle for existence. Thus 48 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. some species develop a close matted mass of roots and rootlets, which strangle the roots of associated species growing with them. Others again also possess abundant spreading underground stems, which render them all the more invasive. Thus the roots and rhizomes of species of Carex, Andropogon, and many other grasses form a felt-like mass, often several feet thick, which strangles out all other growth. Once bamboo has taken possession of the soil, few indivi- duals of other species can force their own roots through the dense tangled mass of its fibrils and root-hairs; and, conversely, when both the’soil and locality are suited to the growth ef bamboos, no individuals of other species which keep their roots within the same depth of soil can co-exist with them, only such trees as can spread out their roots below the layer monopolised by the bamboos having a chance of maintaining a permanent footing in the crop. Hence the frequent inability of teak, Terminalia tomentosa, and other spe- cies possessing more or less horizontally spreading roots to cope with bamboos, which cannot, however, keep out sal and other trees with deeper-seated roots. This last example introduces us to, and also illustrates, another point, viz., the relative depth to which the roots of the various asso- ciated species can penetrate—a circumstance that has a most import- ant bearing on the distribution of some of our most valuable species. To cite further instances, teak, the Terminalias, &c., as we know, spread out their roots within only six feet and often less of the sur- face, so that in shallow soils resting directly on a dry subsoil, they yield the place to Boswellia, Anogeissus, khair, Prosopis spicigera, &e. The Prosopis spicigera has been known to force its main roots down to 60 feet and more below the surface of the soil, and is, ac- cordingly, able to flourish in the dry plains of the Punjab, whither hardly any of its companions of moister regions can follow it. Again the sal is one of the few trees that can grow on the waterless bould- er deposit at the foot of the Himalayas, the tap root of that species being able to penetrate down to a depth of 60 feet and even more 5 and this fact accounts for its generally forming much purer forests there than inside the hills. Many of the trees of the dry tracts of India, which bring out their leaves in the height of the hot weather, like the Bassta latifolia, Buchanania latifolia, &e., have been known to send down their dense network of fibrous rootlets to 20 feet below the surface in order to attain the stratum of permanent moisture. Confining ourselves to the consideration of young seedlings alone, it may be laid down as a gencral rule that the longer the taproo} developed by the yearlings of a given species is, the better will they MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 49 be able, other things being equal, to resist both frost and drought, and, therefore, the more likely is that species to predominate over less favoured associates. Instances in point are such gregarious species as sal, Hardwickia, &ce. The deeper situated any layer of the soil is, the larger will be the quantity of moisture in it and the less exposed will it be to wide fluctuations of temperature due to subaérial variations. Hence the deeper a taproot goes down, the more likely is it to find sufficient moisture, and the higher will be the temperature of the moisture passing through it into the plant- portion above during frosty weather—the one circumstance tend- ing to protect the plant against drought, the other against frost~ bite. Thus, in spite of their extreme sensitiveness to frost, young Terminalia tomentosa are often able to survive in low open frosty situations, even though they may never be able to grow up owing to the annual shoot being killed down each winter. A long tap- root gives yet another advantage. Since, during heavy frost, the water contained in a certain thickness of the soil (which thickness will of course vary with the severity of the frost and the character of the soil) freezes and expands, causing the soil to swell up with itself, seedlings with a short taproot, after rising with the soil as this latter expands, must inevitably be left ejected when, on thaw occurring, the now soft and muddy soil settles down again. On the other hand, seedlings with a long and strong taproot would be generally safe against such a catastrophe, unless the taproot were torn asunder by the uprising of the superficial layers of the soil. The behaviour of individuals of one and the same species in res~ pect of each other, as their root-apparatus goes on expanding with the progressive growth of the crop, is of course the same here as in the First Case, except in so far as it is modified by the action of other species present in the crop. This action has now been ex- plained and will be still better understood after a persual of the remarks made under this head in the Second Case. It is only after bringing together all the various circumstances detailed to a com- mon focus that we can adequately appreciate the importance of the role played in the struggle for existence by a difference of root- systems. That rdle is not inferior to the part appertaining to a difference of crown-development and of requirements as to light and shelter. No single species can utilise all the space in the soil any more than it can utilise all the space in the leaf-canapy above; and just as two species of different habits can grow up together side by side, whereas two others having a similar habit cannot without mutual injury resulting, so within a given area the soil may 50 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE, afford spreading room for a larger number of dividuals of mixed species possessing different root-systems than of individuals be- longing to species possessing a similar root-system. Hence the inability of individuals of any species to live under an open or even fairly dense canopy of another species is not necessarily an indication of their not being able to stand the existing amount of shade, for it may be entirely due to there not being room enough in the soil for them owing to both species possessing a similar spread and arrangement of roots, See also footnote on page 29. VI. Apvvanorne agz.—This condition is one of very great mo- ment in deciding the struggle for existence, since advancing age affects directly the action of most of the other conditions. How it does so, has been indicated in the separate discussion of each of those conditions, so that to reconsider the various points here would involve needless repetition of a very large portion of the present section, The student is also referred to the discussion of this condition in the First Case for the extent to which advan- cing age may change the relative fitness of individuals of one and the same species. Here we need only add, firstly, that the struggle between species and species does not hegin until one of them is established or has hegun to push up ahead, such species gain- ing thereby an enormous advantage ; secondly, that later on it is the individuals of species that enter earliest the phase of rapid lateral extension which tend to drive out their neighbours ; and thirdly and lastly, that the victory is ultimately for individuals of that species whose phase of rapid lateral extension is prolonged heyond that of the rest, VII. Re.ative tonceviry.—This factor has a most important influence on the struggle for existence, That influence is so great that of itself it enables a species, placed at a disadvantage in most other respects, to prevail in the end, The best instance of this is offered by the teak, which, in spite of every kind of ill-treat- ment, and of an unsuitable soil and climate, is able to form extensive copses on the dry barren hills of the Sathpuras and Southern Vin- dhyas. In the same way, the sal, although gregarious and fast- growing species like the Tetrantheras, bamboos, &c. may gain the upper hand of it at first, still lives long enough to see them disap- pear and leave it in complete possession of the ground. Indeed, the greater longevity of the more valuable Species seems to be a special dispensation of nature, otherwise useless or inferior kinds, Jike the Cochlospermum Gossypium, Kydia calycina, Helicteres MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGK. 51 Isora, Mallotus philippinensis, Zizyphus, Mimosa rubicaulis, Indi~ goferas, Adhatoda Vasica, Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis, Blumea, Bud- dleia, &c., would simply choke up and drive out all better growth. See also remarks under Condition VII of First Case. VIII. Revative R4Pipiry or cRowra.—tThe influence of this cause will be different according as greater relative rapidity obtains during the first years of the life of a tree or ata later age. Other circumstances being equal, it is evident that species which grow up quickly during their early years will prevail over others of slower growth ; and we know that stool-shoots and suckers tend rapidly to smother out any seedlings that may come up simultaneously with them. In the habitat of the teak, bamboos everywhere, Butea frondosa in Central India, and some other species, complete at least half their growth before that valuable tree merely begins to start upwards, the consequence being that, unless this last has a real start, it is more or less completely driven out, In many sal forests, be- sides the bamboo, Tetrantheras push up rapidly and cover the ground while the sal is only just establising itself. Among the companions of deodar, the Pinus excelsa on some aspects shoots rapidly away soon after it germinates, and leaves that tree far be- hind in the race, Itis owing mainly to the great rapidity with which teak stool-shoats grow up, that that species has so easily held its own in the coppice forests of the Sathpuras.and the’ West- ern ‘Ghats, which until very recently had for centuries been sub- jected to the Dhaya system of cultivation (see page 24). On the other hand, when growth hecomes rapid only after the plants have attained a certain age, its vigour in the case of the larger species, provided of course that individuals possessing sufficient potential latent energy have survived up to that age, is always so great that nothing can withstand it. It is thus that when teak has survived up to this stage, it overcomes most obstacles to its growth ; and so with sal, deodar, Pinus longifolia, Hardwickia binata., &c, Greater rapidty of upward extension is more decisive in the strug- gle for existence than greater rapidity of lateral extension ; but, on the other hand, lateral extension of the crown also means lateral extension of the roots, and hence an individual of an extremely shade-enduring species, which is in its phase of active lateral deve- lopment, may easily maintain its ground against, and even over- come, a rapidly elongating individual of a shade-avoiding species, When a plant or species enjoys at one and the same time more ra- pid extension upwards and sideways, it possesses over all its rivals an advantage which renders it invincible. Deciduous trees- 52 THE SPRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. standing in the midst of evergreen neighbours can survive on the sole condition that from the earliest years they grow more rapidly, not only upwards but also laterally, than their compa- nions. Regarding the rate of growth in height of our various species in different parts of their respective habitats notrustworthy information is as yet available, In a continent like India, we are bound to obtain widely differing figures for one and the same spe- cies according to the locality and the region in which it may grow in each case. Un- til such infurmation is forthcoming, it will be extremely useful to construct compa. rative diagrams of the relative rapidity of growth of different species standing toge- ther in one and the same forest. The varying rapidity of growth of each speaies should be delineated by a curve with its generating rectangular co-ordinates, the abscissa representing the age, and the ordinate the height of the average tree at that age. Figure 1 is such a compara- tive diagram for two trees, A and B; the curves are traced by means of the respective heights attained at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 years of age. The diagram shows at a glance that up to the age of 49 years B grows faster than A; at 5) it is overtaken by the latter, which then gets away fromit, The rapidity of growth of A is slow for the first ten years, then becomes rapid up to seventy years, after which it decreases gradually, and becomes almost stationary. B, on the other hand, grows up rapidly at once, until it reaches the age of 50 years, and then makes little head afterwards. In the diagram 5 in. on the axis of X, or the horizontal line, re- presents one year, and similary <5 in. on the axis of Y, or, which comes to the same thing, on the perpendigular line, represents one foot. Similar diagrama may be constructed to represent relative rapidity of lateral exten< . Bion, IX. Maximum geicur arrataBia.—this condition finally de- cides what trees, out of those that survive up toa certain stage of growth, shall form the crop, or, if there are species present that are shade-enduring enough, to constitute a permanent undergrowth, its upper story. Of the companions of sal there are anly the Termi~ nalias, some Albizzias, Adina cordifolia, some Eugenias, and half a dozen other species which attain the same height as that noble tree, and which, therefore, compete with it for a place in the lofty leaf-canopy of the full-grown forest. In Central India (including Northern Bombay), teak is generally a small tree, and is hence, wherever more powerful countervailing conditions do not prevail, easily beaten by its taller companions. Deodaris, outside the region of the firs, the tallest tree in the forests where it grows; whence its gregariousness wherever other circumstances, such as soil, mois- ture, &e., are favourable. Again, Mesua Jerrea is, with the excep- tion of Altingia excelsa, the tallest tree in the large areas which it covers almost by itself in Assam. The teak in Burma, and the Artocarpus Chaplasha in Assam, although unfavourably circum- stanced in many other respects to struggle for existence with their companions, are able to hold a permanent place in their midst ow- MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 53 ing to the lofty stature they attain. In evergreen forests trees of deciduous species tower above all the other growth. The great advantage possessed by trees that can attain a greater height than their immediate neighbours is, that they are able to resist almost any amount of lateral pressure by always being free to develop in another, the upward, direction. When such trees are also shade- enduring, they enjoy a power of combined resistance and aggres- siveness which makes them invincible, e¢. g., deodar in mixed deodar and oak forests. X. RELATIVE svITABILITY oF cLIMATE.—This is one of the most impértant conditions in the struggle for existence, since in al- most every case it determines the habitat of the various species, and also-the vigour of their growth. Climate is made up of many factors, which it is best to consider separately:— (a) Heat and frost.—The influence of these factors in the mutual struggle for existence is due chiefly to extremes, being very little or scarcely appreciable within limited ranges of temperature. It will suffice to take a single characteristic example illustrating this statement. An examination of the subjoined table will show that teak can flourish and attain its finest dimensions with an absolute an- nual range in the open of as much as 134° Fah., provided the minimum does not descend below freezing point. As the absolute range widens beyond the limit of 134° and the minimum sinks lower and lower below freezing point, teak thrives less and less well, until it disappears altogether with an absolute range of 15()° and upwards, and with the minimum out in the open going down to 7° and more below freezing point. The lowest minimum temperature under the open sky is almost the same at Seoni, Khandwa, Alla- habad and Agra ; but, on the other hand, not only is frost more fre- quent at the two latter places, but the evenings, nights and morn- ings are generally many degrees colder—in others words, the absence of a sufficiency of heat is more prolonged and, therefore, all the more sensible in its effects. For this last reason also, although frosts are severer in Seoni and Khandwa, teak thrives better there than in Jhansi. Until the lowest limit of temperature is reached, a diminishing minimum manifests itself by a more languishing vegetation ; when that limit is passed, to languishing vegetation is added incapability of ripening seed. 54 THE STRUGGLE EOR EXISTENCE: Miyima* Maxiié. _& in open in shade z 2 8 : Stations, Bae REMARKS. eee ae § a9 opeii jshade| 2 : 3 _ 8 = rains e Trains » » z 3 Thayetmyo| 39] 48 | 167! 166] 108 | 102 128 | Teak flourishes, Moulmein 43 | 55] 169 | 164), 98} 90] 126 ” i Karwar 54] 56| 161/159} 93) 89] 107] | : Mangalore 48} 631164] 160; 95} 87} 116] ,, “Ge Sironcha 34| 46/168} 160 {116} 951 134] | a Raipur 38} 41/176] 165 |] 114] 98 | 148 Seoni 26 | 40] 173] 161} 111} 94) 748 | Teak of only moderate Khandwa o7 | 40 ]178] 161] 112] 95 | 146 size. Jhansi 33] 44 | 181] 163 | 114] 98] 148 | Only scrubby teek. Neemuch 22; 38) 180} 170 | 113) 95] 158 | Just outside teak region. Allahabad 25 | 40 | 175] 165 1}115 | 97] 150 ]} More than 100 miles| Agra 24 | 40] 180] 176 | 116 | 106] 156 ){ beyond northern li- mit of teak. A similar table to the above, constructed for sal, will show that that species lives between even wider limits of temperature than teak, or, to speak more explicitly, can stand a lower degree of cold and endure as much heat, provided the heat does not come in blasts in the shape of hot winds, which, occurring, as they do, at a séason when sal is putting forth its new tender shoots, are fatal te its existence. The Terminalia tomentosa cannot resist frost so well as teak, but, as long as the temperature is above freezing, it can. stand more continuous cold and is thus able to extend several de- grees further north, right up to the outer ridge of the Himalayas. In Sindh, the chaors and kachas along the lower course of the Indus are covered principally with babul, whereas higher up the river frosts become very severe and tamarisk gets the upper hand. In the Changa Manga plantation frost has killed out the babul and left sissu complete master of the ground. But temperature does not only merely fix the limits within which a species can live, but also influences the proportionate dis- tribution of the various species forming a mixed crop ; for, while all can live under the conditions of temperature obtaining in the locality, some of the species will resist the extreme limits better than others, some again will put forth greater activity than the “These figures have been obtained at observatories standing in the midst of in- habited buildings and necessarily situated on moderately high ground. The mini- ma temperatures out in the open country and in large grassy expanses are without doubt several degrees lower, a fact that must borne in :aind when reading the text. “MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 55 est during the prevalence of the predominating temperatures, and SO on. Absolutely speaking the effects of frost will be severer— (1) In level than in hilly country, since, the elevation being one and the same, radiation will be more unchecked and, therefore, more rapid in the former case ; (2) On southerly and easterly than on northerly and west- erly slopes, since on the former tke sun shines as soon as it is above the horizon and hence causes sudden thaw ; (3) At the bottom of valleys than on the overhanging slopes, on which the air is in more constant movement and the young shoots of the trees are smaller and less sappy and more quiescent; also be- cause the cooled anditherefore heavier air from the open elevated sides and ridges flows down into the depressions and collects there; (4) In confined places where the air is still than in breezy or windy localities; (5) In places exposed to chilly winds than where stich winds cannot enter ; (6) In a mild climate, with a long season of vegetation, such as we have everywhere in India outside the very high mountain ran- ges, than in a severe climate, since in the former the young shoots will always be more herbaceous and watery and will be less likely to be in a quiescent state, and the frost will occur chiefly at night, after and immediately before the action of a hot and, therefore, also forcing sun 5 (7) In adry than a moist atmosphere, since there will be less im- pediment there to radiation; (8) Ina moist than in a dry soil, the same result taking place here as in (6); (9) In a sandy than in a clayey soil, since sand radiates more ra- pidly than clay; (10) On a grass-covered surface than where the soil is bare, sinea the numerous small surfaces presented by the leaves and stalks of the herbage will aggregate together a much larger radiating surface than the naked superticies of the ground; (11) At the surface of the earth than at any height above it: meteorological observations taken at the Forest School and in the Dehra Dun forests show a difference of sometimes as much as 5° Fah. between thermometers placed at 5 and 60 feet respectively above the ground ; (12) In a shallow soil or one difficult to penetrate for roots than in one in which the roots can go down easily (see page 49). 56 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. As regards the relative effects of frost on the various species composing a crop, they will be directly proportionate—(i) to the ex- panse of the leaves and the roughness of the buds, leaves, and in- ternodes; (ii) to the thinness of the leaves; (iii) to the quantity of water in the cell sap as compared with solid substances; (iv) to the looseness of texture of the active tissues; (v) to suddenness of thaw; (vi) to the thinness and late formation of the outer covering of dead bark (the rhytidome); (vii) to shallowness of rooting; and (viii) to the quantity of watery vapour in the atmosphere. We may hence deduce the following corollaries, granting always that other cir- cumstances are equal:—(a) the more active the vegetative process- es during the season of frosts, the more sensitive the tree; (6) the greater the number of dormant buds, the hardier the species; and (c) the more generous the growth of a young plant, the slighter its power of resistance. Besides influencing the development of individuals of the various species, temperature also affects their ability to bear flowers and fruit (see Condition XT], a and 5). (b) Damp and drought.—Here also only extremes have any ac- tion. For instance, teak seems to thrive best under a mean annual rainfall of from 50 to 120 inches, but does not disappear till the fall decreases to about 24 inches. Hven the range of rainfall of sal ex- tends roughly over 80 inches, viz., from 40 to 120. In the dry climate of Rajputana the Anogeisuss pendula easily gains the ascendancy over all other species. The jand (Prosopis spicigera) finds no rival or compeer in the dry rakhs of the Pun- jab. Under damp must be included, besides rainfall, also relative humidity. The sal will acquire its finest dimensions in the hot steamy valleys of the Lower Himalayas, but refuse to grow in Chanda and other places where, although the temperature during the hot weather is scarcely higher, nightly dews are neither heavy nor occur during any considerable part of the dry season. This statement is supported and further illustrated by the follow- ing table which gives the figures of the mean relative humidity at the several places mentioned in it during the months of March— June, when sal is putting forth and developing its new shoots and is most in need of moisture. The table also explains how, owing to an excess of moisture, sal is unable to extend itself as far east as Sibsagar and Silchar, and that, therefore, it can have too much as well as too little atmospheric humidity. MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 57 Stations MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE REMARKS, Gorakhpur 52 42 56 68 Within Sub-Himalayan helt. Darbhanga 54 51 66 7 i 7 * Dhubri g 69 81 87 ; is ‘i Hazaribagh 36 32 43 66 Within Central Indian area. Sambalpur 53 46 51 67 3 ” ” Sibsagar 79 81 82 83 Too wet for sal. Silchar 73 76 81 85 Fi i Roorkee 51 35 36 52 Just outside sal area—too dry, hot winds. Raipur 39 36 36 63 Some distance vutside—too dry. Chanda 41 34 84 = 60 ” » ” Doubtlessly the natural spread of sissu south of its range is limited by the drier atmosphere of the adjoining region. Prosopis spicigera, Capparis aphylla, and many other plants of Rajputana and the Punjab plains require less atmospheric humidity than most other Indian species. Trewia nudijlora is confined only to tracts visited by moist sea-breezes or to the vicinity of the Himalayas from the Jumna eastwards, where the the air is always compara- tively moist. The very high relative humidity of the inner ranges of the Himalayas enables evergreen species to prevail there, not- withstanding the low rainfall they receive. The abundance and continuousness of rain at the beginning of the rainy seasou exercises a very strong influence on the germina~ tion of the seeds of the various species. The seeds of some species have to go through a protracted process before they become perfect plants. A sudden break in the rains, and afew hours of strong sunshine before the process is complete, might kill the majority of such germinating seeds. This happened over several square miles in the Khandwa Reserve in Nimar in the Central Provinces, in 1879, in the case of the Hardwickia binata. Seeds of other species again, such as the Terminalias, teak, &c., require a large quantity’ of moisture to germinate, and hence their inability to extend into very dry districts, where otherwise circumstances are favourable for their growth and fructification. Moreover above the 20th. parallel of latitude in India proper, if the summer rainfall is at first short, and the seeds of such species can consequently germinate only in the latter half of the season of vegetation, the young herbaceous plants must fall easy victims to the hot sun of October and Novem- ber and the frosts of December and January. Lastly, it may generally be said that those species, the seedlings of which develop a long powerful taproot, will withstand more severe and continued drought and may thus survive where others, less favoured in this respect, will die off in numbers or even entirely disappear. Besides influencing the growth and soundness of individuals of the various species, the amount of atmospheric moisture affects also 58 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. the abundance and frequency with which they flower and seed (see Condition XII, a and 6). (c) Light, its intensity and duration.—Here also it is the action of extremes that exercises any appreciable influence on the struggle for existence, excessively bright light having the effect of over- transpiration and insufficient brightness the result of enfeebled as- similation, the extreme limits being different for different species and the difference being generally very much more marked in the case of the lower limit. Some species cannot make any vigorous growth except under exposure to direct sunlight. These form the majority of our Indian species, and include teak, sal, &.; but amongst them there are many which are able to persist, and even push on gradually, with little illumination. Thus.Hardiwickia bina- ta, Anogeissus, &c., can resist long-continued suppression, and sal, most of our climbers, and others can, unless the cover be very thick, also slowly strengthen themselves and work their way up. Other species, however, like the Quercus incana, silver fir, many laurels, &c., will flourish and attain their finest dimensions even in more or less diffused light. The figs require a great deal of direct sunshine, and hence their arboreal habit. Going out of India to Northern Europe we have the Scots’ pine and birch delighting in almost per- petual sunshine during half the year, and able to survive almost end- less night during the other half. As rather more than one-half of India is situated within the Tropics, and of the rest the greater por- tion consists of level ground fully exposed to the sun and within a few degrees of the Northern Tropic, the climatic influence of light on the struggle for existence, except so much of it as was consider- ed under Condition IV, is of comparatively secondary importance save for those few species, such as the Pinus excelsa, deodar, and some other Himalayan trees, which require bright illumination, but cannot stand heat, both of which conditions are realised at the al- titudes at which they grow. But this is anticipating subhead (e) below. The discussion under Condition IV should be carefully read in connection with the preceding observations. Besides affecting the relative development of the individuals of a forest crop, according to the species to which they belong, the great- er or less intensity of the light acting on their crowns also exercis- es a powerful influence on the frequency and abundance with which they flower and seed (see Condition XII, a and t). (d) Aspect—Change of aspect may introduce changes in all or any one or more of the following conditions affecting the growth of plants:—diurnal and seasonal oscillations of temperature, quantity MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE, 59 and distribution of rain and dew, atmospheric humidity, intensity and duration of sunlight, action of winds, and the depth, richness and humidity of the soil. This being so, it is evident that in hilly and mountainous country the influence of aspect is immense and is often of itself great enough to determine the distribution of species. In Southern Nimar, in the isolated block of hills known as the Sambar Deo range, on the left bank of the Tapti, the southern slopes hear Hardwickia binata, while the northern face being cooler and moister, is covered chiefly with a dense teak copse, a rare Hardwickia being visible here and there. In the outer North-West Himalayas, Pinus longifolia generally affects the warm southern and eastern aspects, while oaks with rhododendron clothe the nor- therly and westerly slopes. Nevertheless, lower down, where sal and that pine meet, the latter, which is a tree of a colder climate, is represented chiefly on northerly and westerly slopes, the sal occupying the warmer aspects. Going up higher, into the region of deodar, we find silver fir, spruce, Quercus dilatata, and semecarpi- folia, with maples, birch, &., predominating on cold northerly slopes ; while deodar flourishes best on the sunnier aspects. We thus see that a species is not always confined to the same aspects, but may move from one toanother as the altitude, in other and more general terms, the temperature changes (see also next subhead). The aspect affected by a species may also vary with the amount of atmospheric humidity of the localities in which it grows. Thus in dry districts in Central and Southern India, the Dendrocalamus strictus affects the cooler northerly and westerly slopes ; whereas in Bengal and along the foot of the Himalayas generally, where the climate is damp, itis found chiefly on the warm southerly: faces of the hills. In regions in which frost occurs, hardy species are favoured by the conditions prevailing on southerly and easterly aspects, since the rapidity of thaw on those aspects, due to the sudden action of the early morning sun, aggravates the dangerous after-effects of night frosts, which always occur when most of our forest Species are in active vegetation. We may hence finda species predomi- nant on those aspects in one locality and slightly or not at all represented on the same aspects in another, simply because frost is seldom or not at all known in the one place while it occurs fre- quently in the other. (e) Altitude——tThe main effect of altitude is to reduce tempera- ture and also to increase thereby the humidity of the soil and the atmosphere ; but it has, besides, the important effect of prolonging 60 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. the duration of sunlight, and, by reason of the clearness and rarity of the atmosphere due to it, of increasing the effect of the sun’s rays. Hence, as we have already seen under the preceding sub- head in the instance of Pinus longifolia and deodar, increasing or diminishing altitude may often cause a species to change the aspect on which it can grow. Another example of this fact is to be found also in the outer Himalayas in Kumaon, where oak forest, al- though chiefly confined to cool northerly and westerly aspects, takes complete possession of southern slopes from the line where Pinus longifolia stops. In the Siwaliks and on the outermost ridge of the Himalayas sal generally prefers northerly aspects owing to the lower elevation ; but when that species approaches its highest: limit, it is confined to southerly slopes. The influence of altitude increases rapidly as we approach the limit of tree-vegetation. (7) Winds—lIn the case of winds we have to mark their direc- tion, velocity and prevalence, and their own temperature and hu- midity as compared with the temperature and humidity of the air of the place which they enter. Hence the influence of winds on the struggle for existence between the plants of a forest crop is tenfold. Firstly, by their violence they may uproot, injure the roots of, break off, mutilate, distort, or stunt the trees ; secondly, they may alter the relative humidity of the locality according as they are drier or moister than the latter; thirdly, they reduce or raise the temperature according as they previously pass over a colder or hotter region, this effect being heightened in proportion to their velocity ; fourthly, provided their temperature is above the dew-point or that of freezing, they delay and diminish the deposi- tion of dews and mitigate the severity of frost or may even prevent frost altogether ; fifthly, they may blow away the covering of dead leaves and other vegetable detritus; sixthly, they always accelerate evaporation ; seventhly, provided they are not too cold, they also accelerate transpiration; eighthly, by constantly renewing the air, they promote assimilation; ninthly, by causing the leaves and branches to sway to and fro, they accelerate the movement of sap ; and tenthly and lastly, they disseminate seed to distances propor- tionate to the lightness and transportability of the seed. And all these various effects may be slight or marked according as the wind is intermittent and local, or constant and of long duration. Of two individuals of one and the same species, that one will resist better the force of the wind which possesses the broader crown, since the extent of the roots will be proportional to the size and vigour of the crown; whereas if the two belong to different MIXED CSOP OF UNIFORM AGE. 61 species but possess the same spread of crown, that one will’resist better which has the more open crown. Again,of two species in question, one may be deep-rooted, while the other has its roots more or less superficial and is consequently less able to resist vio- lent movements of the atmosphere. Thus sal is comparatively rarely blown down by the wind. So also where storms and gales are frequent, as on ridges, spurs, peaks, in narrow gorges, or on the sea coast, the strong-rooted individuals will be the ultimate survivors, and species with weak superficial roots will have to re- treat to sheltered localities. After a deep and strong root-system, strength and elasticity of the wood are the most important quali- ties a species can possess asa safeguard against violent winds. Lastly, a species that is leafless when a strong wind is blowing is of course less likely to be injured than one in leaf; hence in éx- posed windy situations deciduous trees, as a rule, thrive better than evergreens. In considering the effect of a wind we must not forget that accompanying rain adds very considerably to its violence. Species that are in leaf, or bring out their leaves, while periodical hot or chilly winds are blowing, will generally suffer more than those that are leafless at the time. Thus the hot winds limit the expansion to the south and west of the Sub-Himalayan sal belt. Species with leaves or other transpiring organs of firm texture, or covered with a thick and waxy epidermis, such as Prosopis spicigera, Euphorbias, the tamarisks, Capparis aphylla, &ec., are able to offer a more or less successful resistance to the hottest and driest winds. XI. Graprent.—One of the principal effects of gradient, when there is no impeding cause, is to drain off the moisture of the soil. Trees like sissu, the tamarisks, &c., require a great deal of conti- nually moving water in the soil, and they can hence grow only where the ground slopes very moderately but the soil transmits water freely. Other species, like sal, require a less quantity of water and a less perfect, though still free, drainage; hence their affecting only steep or rolling hill sides, except when, as in the Bhabar, the soil itself or at least the subsoil lets water pass through it as through asieve. A third class, like teak, requires still less moisture in the soil, but does not object to a less free drainage, whence its ability to grow both on hill sides and on gently sloping ground with less or more binding soil. A fourth class, like the Pinus longifolia, requires even less moisture in the soil than the preceding but the most perfect drainage, and will hence, where the soil and subsoil are not freely permeable, confine itself to slopes with a gradient of at least 30°. A fifth class, like some Huphorbias, 62 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. objects altogether to any very appreciable quantity of moisture in the soil, and will on that account, where the rainfall is at all plenti- ful, grow only on scarps. And so on. But with species growing on hill sides it is not simiply a question of drainage. They must also possess roots adapted to hold on firmly to steep slopes; and hence of two trees, similar in every other res- pect, that one will possess a decided advantage which has the strong~ er and more firmly-seated roots. Species with horizontally spread- ing main roots will usually prosper better on slopes than on level ground, since there half their large roots will be able to penetrate into and hook themselves on to the hill side, whereas on level ground every such root will be superficial, ¢.g., oaks, Cupressus torulosa, Se. On very steep slopes liable to erosion and landslips, species with a close and strong network of roots, being thereby able to hold tc» gether the soil and rock, can not only anchor themselves more firmly than others less well endowed, but also nourish themselves better. Gradient exercises also three other very important effects on the growth of the individual plants of a crop. In the first place, on it depends the largeness of the angle of incidence of the solar rays and hence their heating and illuminating power, which is obviously more effective the more vertically they strike the plane of the ground. In the next place, gradient regulates the intensity of the light reaching overtopped plants through openings in the leaf-cano- py above, since, the height of the trees forming the canopy being constant, the steeper the slope is, the nearer will the open sky necessarily be, and vice versd, the distance in any case being the product of the difference between the heights of the overtopped plants and of the canopy-forming trees multiplied by the cosine of the angle of slope. And in the third and last place, since the ac- tual superficies of a slope is greater than the area of its horizontal projection, being that area multiplied by the secant of the angle of slope, the steeper the slope is, the depth, moisture, &c. of the soil still continuiny the same, the larger will be the number of crowns capable of crowding together on the slope; for every tree, not having another of greater height immediately below it, will have its crown free on that side, although it may be overtopped by the tree immediately higher up. Lastly, gradient affects the distribution of the seeds of the various species. On a steep slope heavy and round seed will roll away, few remaining in situ to reproduce the species. It is for this reason MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 638 that the oaks grow less abundantly on steep than on’ moderate slopes. XII. Szxepive.—This condition may be considered under six subheads, as follows :-— (a) Its relative abundance.—It is evident that, other circum- stances being identical, a species that produces abundant crops of seed will, even if at first in the minority, secure an easy predomi- nance. Instances of profusely-seeding species are bamboos and the grasses generally (facile principes), sal, sissu, deodar, Quercus incana and semecarpifolia, Pinus longifolia, teak, &c. In Mauritius Tetrantheras, Albizzia Lebbek, and other trees, introduced from In- dia but seeding more abundantly than the indigenous trees, now occupy by themselves entire hillsides. Considering any one species by itself we may say that the ab- undance of its seeding at any time will depend— (i) On its age: the older a tree is, provided it is not in full de- cline, the larger will be its crown and hence the more fruit will it bear. (ii) On the soil; the better the soil is, the larger will be the crown of the tree and the more nourishment will it be able to draw up and elaborate for the formation and ripening of fruit. (iii) On the climate of the locality: the more favourable the climate is, the more vigorous and better developed will be the tree and the larger the quantity of superfluous food it can elaborate to store up in the seed; hence greater fruitfulness, the nearer it is to the heart of its habitat, especially if the species in question is accommodating in-respect of climate, and extends over a wide area. (iv) On the degree of exposure to light: for withotit sufficient illumination the crown will be spare and incomplete, and most, if not all, the food it can elaborate will be used up for its own deve- lopment. Vegetative vigour is, under normal conditions, always greater than sexual vigour, and herice, unless there is more food than what the development of shoots and leaves can utilise, sexual vigour will remain dormant or hardly manifest itself. (v) On the character of the current season: the temperature may be too low or too high for the production or development of flower buds or for the formation and ripening of the seed; too much moisture being present in the soil just before the flowers are due, foliage may be developed at the expense of the flowers; the development of foliage buds being checked by a dry season, the superfluous reserve matter stored up from the preceding season or 64 YHE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. seasons may be used up in producing an abundance of flowers and fruit; and so on: (vi) On the absence or occurrence, during the process of fructi- fication, of accidents due to parasites, insects, fires, &c. (vii) On infrequency of seeding: the longer the interval between one seeding and the next, the larger will be the accumulation of reserve matter in the tree for the formation of fruit and seeds. Hence the profuse seeeding of bamboos, Hardwickia binata, deodar, &e. Of two species possessing equal longevity, that which seeds at an earlier age is often also the one that seeds more abundantly. For instance, teak, babul, Anogeissus, sissu, sal, &c., are fertile before they are hardly out of the low pole stage and are also amongst those of our species, which are the most prolific. Some species require a larger sum total of heat than others in order to flower, and hence also to seed. Hence comparatively poor seed crops where a species occurs in a climate appreciably colder than that of its main habitat. This is most conspicuously illustrat- ed by those species which are accommodating in respect of varia~ tions of climate, as for instance, teak, Pinus longifolia, &e. Ii has already been pointed out that without a completely devel- oped crown no species will seed abundantly. From this it follows that the more shade-enduring a species is, the less insolation, and, therefore, the less isolation does it require. Hence, in a more or less full canopy, the more shade-enduring species, ceteris paribus, have a decided advantage over the rest in perpetuating themselves in the crop. Another result follows from the same fact. If trees of various species have grown up for a long time in a leaf-canopy too close together to allow any to flower, and if the canopy is then suddenly opened out, those trees that can soonest form a complete crown will be the first to seed abundantly, and the species they-belong to must, therefore, tend to predominate over the rest. This power of recovery is not necessarily proportionate to shade-enduring capa~ city, for deodar, a remarkably shade-enduring tree, is known to take at least 12 years, after being released from a close leaf-canopy, to bear any considerable quantity of seed. Moreover, the time that any species takes to recover will be longer, the colder the locality is. In the case of some species, as, for instance, Hardwickia binata, sissu, khair, &c., once the trees have put forth blossoms, subsequent very hot or cold weather scarcely affects the ultimate develop- ment and ripening of the fruit. With others, on the contrary, such as sal, teak, deodar, &c., unfavourable weather, if it does not result in the destruction of the entire crop of flowers, nevertheless allows MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 65 only a relatively small proportion of it to survive and become mature fruit. Similarly, the flowers and fruit of some species are more liable to be attacked by insects and fungi than those of others. Generally speaking, the relative fruitfulness of the various species will be directly proportionate to the smallness of their seeds, while as regards species producing more or less the same size of seed, those will generally bear more plentifully which are of more vigor- ous growth, Hence in any given soil or locality, the relative pro- fuseness with which the several species composing a crop will seed, will depend on the relative suitability of the soil or locality for them. Similarly, in any crop those species will, ceteris paribus, fructify most abundantly, which are nearest to the heart of their habitat. (b) Its relative frequency—While with some species, as sal, sissu, khair, Anogeissus latifolia, A. pendula, Terminalia to- mentosa, &c. generally, and teak and Pinus longifolia within the main range of their habitat, seed-bearing trees in numbers are seldom, if ever, wanting in any year, with others, on the con- trary, like the Hardwickia binata, most bamboos, &c., not a single tree will be found even in flower for several years together. Between these two extremes stand the, greater number of our arborescent species. Greater frequency of seeding is obviously a marked ad- vantage in the struggle for existence. Nevertheless, as we have already seen in the case of bamboos and Hardwickia binata, great profuseness can more than make up for long intermittence, even where the other associated species seed abundantly every year. It is when the species concerned is also shade-enduring and able to push up through cover, that frequent seeding alone, without com- bined abundance, can give it an easy predominance ; but when a- bundance and frequency of seeding are combined in one and the same species, as in the case of our herbaceous grasses, the species so favoured enjoy an enormous advantage. The annual or intermittent seeding of the various forest species isin nearly every case due to their nature. For instance, the bamboos will under no circumstances throw up flowering shoots every year ina general manner. But lower temperatures than those prevailing in the heart of the habitat of a species may prevent it from flowering annually. Nay, even with trees which produce in- florescence buds annually, the ravages of frost, drought, fire, in- sects, &c., will sometimes cause seed to fail. Such failure must be traced to the interval between the appearance of the buds and 66 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENOE. their final change into ripe fruit ; and the liability to failure from those causes will of course be proportionate to the length of this interval. Thus between the appearance of the flower bud and the maturation of the cone of the deodar more than a whole year elapses, with the consequence, in the severe climate affected by that species, that seed forms on an average in only one year out of every three. Similarly, teak near its northern limit in India, although, thanks to the genial temperature during the rainy season, it flowers abundantly every year, not seldom fails to form fruit owing to the heavy frosts of December and J anuary. Andso with Termi- nalia tomentosa, &c. On the other hand, the entire activity of the ‘inflorescence bud of sal is accomplished between March and the following June, so that, unless fires are so exceptionally severe as ta scorch up every green thing in the crowns of the trees, or insects are exceptionally numerous and destructive, a certain quantity of seed must he produced every year, Some species, like the Hardwickia binata for instance, produce flower buds generally, or only, in very dry years. Drought has also, no doubt, some influence on the flowering of bamboos, which frequently coincides with, or immediately follows, years of scarcity. And, indeed, drought may generally be said to favour the produc- tion of flower-buds by weakening and diminishing the foliage of the trees, and thus giving a fillip to sexual activity, Frequency of seeding is also dependent on the degree of densi- ty of the leaf-canopy, some trees, as already stated under (a), re- quiring a smaller measure of isolation than others to produce flowers and fruit. or instance, it is a matter of common experin ence in Assam to find isolated individuals of Mesua Jervea loaded with fruit, while the seed-collector wastes his pains in canopied masses of that species, The same is strikingly the case with deodar and the firs in the N, W, Himalayas, , And generally it may be said that whatever extraneous condi- tions favour profuseness, also favour frequency of seeding. (c) Size and transportability of the seed—Large and heavy seeds, like acorns, will drop almost vertically on the ground, while the minute seeds of Stephegyne, Adina, Pieris, &. will be blown away to considerable distances by the slightest breeze. But large aid heavy seeds also may, thanks to winglike or hairy appendages, such as are found in teak, sal, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Termina- lia tomentosa, &e., be wafted away some distance from the parent tree by wind. When small or light seeds are armed with such ap- pendages, they may be blown away for miles; e. g. seeds of many MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 67 herbaceous grasses, of Asclepiadew, Apocynee, elms, &c. For in- stance, hundreds and thousands of young Stergospermum suaveolens will be found covering several square miles of ground, which do not contain a single fertile tree of that species. Then again water may transport seed over long distances, as is strikingly illustrated by tamarisk, babul, sissu, khair, cocoanuts, &c. Another interesting example of this may be quoted. The nearest limit of the true region of Anogeissus pendula from the northern boundary of British Nimar is not less than 150 miles along the eourse of the Narbada and its tributaries ; nevertheless the immediate banks of that river, where it runs through the dry Vindhyan barrier north of Punasa, are covered in places with a dense low growth of that species, the outcome of seed brought down the river and arrested there. But it is not the action of large vo- lumes of water alone that is effective; in a less striking manner, but on a considerably more extensive scale, the slight depth of water that rushes over the surface of the ground when heavy rain is falling, suffices to produce extensive displacements of seeds, so ‘that while in some places with numerous seed-bearers overhead, all the seeds shed may be washed away, other places containing no seed-bearing trees of a certain species may get plentifully sown with seed of that species. But the transport of seed is facilitated not only by its lightness or its appendages, or by water, but also by its edibility, Thus the heavy seed of Diospyros Melanoxylon is disseminated far and wide by bears, jackals, birds, men, é&c., who are greedily fond of its sweet pulpy fruit. So with various species of Zizyphus, with Gmelina arborea, Myrica sapida, Schleichera trijuga, Buchanania latifolia, the sandalwood tree, wild pear, Terminalia belerica, babul, Tetrantheras, Michelia Champaca, &c, In a large part of the Changa Manga Plantation an abundant undergrowth of mulberry has come up under the original pure sissu crop from seeds dropped by birds. Birds are also active distributors of the seeds of the various species of Ficus and Loranthacee, depositing them on their future hosts in places favourable for their reception. But animals, by swallowing seeds, not only disseminate them, but also accelerate their germination, the secretions of their stomachs and intestines producing a favourable reaction on the reserve matter, Thus, in babul groves in the Deccan, the penning of goats for a few days un- der them, when the fruit is ripe, results in the formation of a dense carpet of seedlings, which otherwise are not produced in any great numbers, 68 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. The force of gravity also acts directly in the dissemination of seed on inclined ground, the heaviest and roundest seeds obvious- ly rolling away farthest. Very steep slopes can be sufficiently abundantly sown, by a species producing such seed, only under specially favourable circumstances, as where the ground is covered with a close growth of undershrubs, and so on. (d) Season of fall of seed.—In forests where fires are an annual occurrence, seeds shed at any time before that plague has passed through, are bound to be almost wholly destroyed, only a few escaping which fall on bare ground clear of combustible substances, or find their way into cracks or under stones, &c., or which belong to species, the seeds of which, like those of teak, Terminalia belerica and Chebula, &., can stand a high temperature without being kill- ed. Species like sal, eng, tun, Tetranthera monopetala, &c., the greater proportion of the seeds of which falls at the beginning of the rains, when the season for fires is over and all nature is green and damp, possess a very marked advantage over their associates, The gregariousness of Quercus dilatata and semecarpifolia is to a great extent to be explained by the fact that their acorns ripen and fall during the rainy season. And, in a general manner, it may be said that the longer the in- terval between the fall of the seed and the ensuing rainy season is, the greater will be the number of risks to which it will be exposed from fires, insects, squirrels, rats, and other animals, excessive heat, &c., and hence the less chance will there be of finding a large pro- portion of it fit to germinate when that season arrives. (2) Relative vitality or germinative power of the seed.—This con- dition has a most important influence on the reproduction ofa species. Although many species produce immense quantities of seed every year or very nearly every year, yet, save in years of ex- ceptional abundance, the majority of the seeds are either quite barren or lose their vitality before they can germinate or give rise to seedlings which die before they are one or two years old. But even when the seeds are perfectly sound, their vitality will vary very much according to the species. Thus teak, although its seed is shed when jungle fires are about to commence and has to lie for several months on the ground exposed to various causes of destruction before the first fall of rain, is still able to reproduce it- self freely, thanks to the extraordinary vitality of its seed, which even a certain degree of scorching will not kill, and which remains perfectly sound after several years of exposure to alternate damp and drought in the forest. On the other hand, the seed of the Ter MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 69 minalia tomentosa, unless it finds moisture enough to germinate at the beginning of the very first rainy season, at once roots and dries up. Oily seeds soon go bad, as the oil is easily oxidised: e.g. seeds of deodar and most other conifers, of Artocarpus, Bassia, &. Small seeds, like those of Anogeissus, Stephegyne, Adina, &e., are killed in numbers simply by the heat of the sun during the hot weather, and but for that circumstance, these species would easily overrun, as the two Anogeissus actually often do, the whole forest wherever they grow. As regards the Anogetssus pendula, however, water seems to exercise a strongly preservative effect on its seeds, which, as already mentioned above, are carried down by river more than 150 miles, to ultimately germinate where it is deposited. This pe- culiarity is also well illustrated by the production of new forests of sissu, khair, tamarisk, and babul. For the most remarkable in- stances of vitality, however, we must go to the grass family. (f) Relative facility of germination—This condition has a most marked effect on the reproduction of the various species com- posing a crop. Thus in-sal forest, there is every year a more or less plentiful new crop of seedlings of that species produced, where- as, save in exceptional years and places, yearlings of the allied species are either wanting or are entirely in the minority. This is due to the sal seed germinating as soon as it falls, and sometimes beginning to do so even before it is shed, while that of its com- panions, although many of them are annually fertile, germinate with much less facility. Similary, in the N. W. Himalayas, the acorn of Quercus semecarpifolia frequently develops a long taproot before it falls soon after ripening at the beginning of the rains. Teak, in spite of its profuse and generally annual seeding, never- theless, as a rule, produces every year only a very small number of seedlings, owing not only to the early fall of its seeds, but, throughout India proper, chiefly to the excessive difficulty with which it germinates, having often, under the most favourable cir- cumstances, to lie in the soil for upwards of two years. There are other species, the actual germinative process of which spreads over several days, so that when once that process has begun, if a sudden long break in the rains intervened, and the soil dried up at the surface under a hot sun, it must be immediately arrested and the germ killed. Such species are Zerminalia tomentosa, Gmelina ar- borea, &c. Again, the same class of seeds, for the very reason that their germination is protracted, are also often liable to rot from temporary excess of moisture and consequent inability to ob- tain the full quantum of oxygen necessary to render the reserve 70 HE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. matters soluble: But the most striking instatice of superior ger- mivative facility giving an infinitely great advatitage to species that possess it, is that of the grasses: whence the extreme difficulty of restocking open treeless land. (9) Relative age of fertility——The earlier a species comes into bearing, the greater the charice it has of not only perpetuating it- self in the crop, but also of increasing its own proportionate dis- tribution in the next getieration. With the sum total of other conditions against it, it can still at least successfully resist complete banishment. Most shrubs and small trees enjoy this advantage, without which the majority of them must inevitably be driven out in time. Considering any one species by itself, we may say that the less vigorous individuals are generally the earlier fruitful, so that those growing further away from the heart of their habitat or under less favourable conditions of soil or climate frequently come into bear- ing earlier, a dispetisation of nature that enables many species to enjoy a wider distribution than they would otherwise possess. It will be observed that amongst introduced species, annuals and biennials generally manifest the strongest tendency to become sub- spontaneous. XIII. Revative POWER OF HEALING OVER WOUNDS.— Wounds, may, even if exposing living tissue, not penetrate as far as the wood, or they may go as far as the wood without removing its cambium layer, or they may remove the entire cambium layer. In the first alternative, a protective layer of cork is formed im- mediately under the exposed surface, thanks to the still existing, though limited, power of cell-division possessed by the green parenchyna of the bark ; and this may happen at once, quite irres~ pective of the season of the year, provided of course the prevail- ing temperature is neither excessively hot nor excessively cold. It is obvious that in proportion to the thickness and vigour of this parenchyma will be the rapidity with which the protective cover- ing will form. As instances of rapid’ formation we may cite sal, Terminalia tomentosa, Boswellia serrata, Pinus longifolia, &e. In the second alternative, the exposed wood-cambium may be cecvered up by new protective tissue before it can dry up, or it may dry up before this tissue has had time to form. In the latter event the result is the same as in the third alternative to be treat- ed lower down. But when the cambium continues moist long enough, the parallelopiped-shaped cells composing it are in a few days transformed by active division into cubical cells forming a MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 71 covering tissue, which becomes green under exposure to light. Not unfrequently the entire cambium layer, the medullary rays ex- cepted, may dry up, when the same covering of healing tissue may be formed exclusively by those rays. However it be, the new tissue soon differentiates itself into wood, cambium and bast, with a corky layer outside of all. Now it is evident that the chances of the cambium remaining moist sufficiently long for the forma- tion of this protective covering will depend not only on the con- dition of the weather (rain, a saturated atmosphere, é&c.), but also on the secretion of gum or resin, as in Acacia arabica, A. Catechu, Boswellia serrata, Pinus longifolia, &c., or on a continuous and abundant outflow of sap, as when a tree is coming into new leaf (sal, mahua, &c., in the hot weather), and so on. In the third alternative, the wound can be covered only by means of the gradual closing in of the edges by the abnormally active formation of new, constantly advancing tissue there. Now we know that the rapidity of this kind of healing depends to such an extent on the thinness and vitality of the new bark formed along the encroaching edges and on its comparative freedom from an external layer of hard inelastic dead bark, that the largest wounds may become completely closed over in a short time in favoured species, while even alsolutely small wounds may remain open for a long series of years in less fortunate species. Thus is accounted for the great ease with which such wounds heal up in the Boswellia serrata, in teak, &. XIV. RELavive FACILITY OF RENEWING LOST OR DAMAGED AERIAL ORGANS.—The facility with which a lost or damaged organ may be renewed will depend on one or more of several conditions, the principal of which are— (a) Abzlity to develop adventitious buds.—At all ages such buds may, more or less easily and in greater or less abundance according to the different species producing them, form on the section where the organ has broken off or has otherwise been injured. In very young individuals of most of our broad-leaved species, the presence of collum buds is the surest guarantee of their ability to survive almost any degree of mutilation. As a rule, those species produce most collum buds, which, as young seedlings, develop a stout taproot compared with the small and, for their age, generally insignificant-sized aérial portion; such are sal, teak, Sterculia, Dalbergia latifolia and Sissoo, &. And in fact those individuals are most prolific in such buds which, within certain limits, are the least vigorous, the otherwise arrested energy of the young plants 72 THE ATRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. being naturally diverted to the root-collum. (b) Tendency to form accessory buds——Some species, such as sal, Terminalia tomentosa, Eugenia Jambolana, Mallotus philippi- nensis, hawthorn, hornbeam, ash, &c., regularly develop such buds, and indeed a few of them, as the Mallotus philippinensis, hawthorn, &ec., owe all or the greater portion of their branching and foliage to them. Since accessory buds, appearing, as they do, after the regular normal bud near which they are produced, are always less advanced than the latter, and as they seldom sprout unless those buds are already dead or injured, it is evident that in species which form them there will always be a sufficient number of buds imme- diately below the broken or injured part ready to sprout and re- place it. (c) Possession of scale or otherwise aborted leaves.—As in every covered bud there may be, according to the species concerned, from five or six to more than twenty five scale-leaves, and as the internodes of these leaves never develop when the rest of the bud elongates into a shoot, it is evident that at the base of every branch of species possessing such buds, and practically on the stem bearing the branch, there will be as many buds as there were scale-leaves in the original bud, each of these buds being the regular axillary bud of the corresponding scale-leaf. Thus at every node of the stem there will always be numerous buds ready to sprout on receiving the necessary stimulus, such as would result from the loss of the whole or part of animportant neighbouring organ, or even from mere arrest of growth in such organ. The marvellous coppicing and pollarding power of the Butea frondosa, of species of Celtis, &c., affords very remarkable instances in point. What has been said of scale-leaves is true without any modification of the small abortive leaves, that we find atthe base of the shoots of so many of our broad-leaved species which do not produce covered buds, such as sal, Hugenias, &e. (d) Presence and abundance of dormant or latent buds.— Amongst conifers the Pinus longifolia and yew possess true dor- mant and even latent buds, but such buds, if we except seedlings of languishing growth of the pine, which retain them for perhaps double that period, are to be found only on wood under 10 years old. In deodar and larch the abortive shoots, which constitude a bundle of needles and which can under favourable circumstance develop into shoots, can hardly be termed dormant buds, since they are after all true shoots ; moreover, they do not persist for more than a comparatively limited number of years, and they never be- MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 78 come latent. Amongst our broad-leaved trees and shrubs there is none but in which a large proportion of the buds formed each year become dormant and even latent. At first we will consider the difference in the number and vigour of the dormant buds only as regards the various individuals be- longing to one and the same species. This difference will depend on— (i) The origin of the plants——Size for size, young plants ori- ginating directly from seed will, under average conditions, gener- ally possess more dormant buds than stool-shoots and suckers, and stool-shoots more than suckers. The superiority of seedling plants is due not only to their greater age and the relatively restricted development of their crown, implying the unfolding of a smaller proportion of the buds produced, but also to their better general health, their shorter and therefore, size for size, more numerous internodes, and the greater thinness of the dead bark covering their stems. Plants on stools are better off than suckers principal- ly because of the sudden arrest of vegetation that always follows upon the exhaustion of all the reserve food stored up.in the parent stools, especially if they have come up in clumps, and also because of their more knotty development. With advancing age, the advantage possessed by seedling plants increases, for, except under adverse conditions, they are always much more healthy and vigorous, pro- duce more numerous twigs and small branches, and, therefore, also more buds, and are longer lived. The difference between stool- shoots and suckers is soon lost with age. Pollards, which are al- ways very rich in dormant buds, have been excluded from consi- deration here, since they are really mutilated individuals, that is to say, individuals not growing under normal conditions. (ii) The age of the plants.—A plant that has just come up, can- not, from the very nature of the case, possess dormant buds; but as it grows on, provided, it is not against the nature of the species to possess such buds, a certain proportion of the buds produced during each growing season must remain undeveloped and become dor- mant; and this proportion increases in geometrical progression, as a result not only of the rapidly expanding crown, but also of the multiplication by divison of pre-existing dormant buds. Thus each successive year adds a larger and larger quota to the ever-swelling number of dormant buds in the tree or shrub. This steady aug- mentation goes on all through the phase of longitudinal growth, while the development of the crown is comparatively restricted, and even continues during the early part of the phase of lateral 74 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. extension. Then, owing to the rapid expansion of the crown and the more vigorous circumferential growth of the stem and branches, the quantity of food available for the sustenance of undeveloped buds diminishes, with the result that they gradually lose their vita- lity, and perish and ultimately disappear under the constantly ad- vancing layers of woody growth. This diminution of the number of the dormant buds begins at the base and top of the tree and progresses steadily respectively upwards and downwards towards the middle, where however some persist up to the.death of the tree. (iii) Repeated temporary arrests of vigour of crown.—Each time there is such arrest, there is a superfluity of assimilated food, which then becomes at once available for the dormant buds. These buds thus receive a strong stimulus, which not only keeps alive those about to perish from want of nourishment, but also strengthens the rest and enables them to multiply very considerably. Some of them may even sprout and thereby give a still further impulse to their immediate neighbours. The arrest of vigour here referred to must be sudden in order that the quantity of food thus suddenly rendered available may be large enough to enable such comparative- ly weak organs as the dormant buds to utilise it. Sueh arrests, if frequent and sudden enough within certain limits, may give such a preponderance to the dormant buds, that the entire surface of the woody cylinder of the tree or shrub in question may become a mass of warty excrescences formed by those buds, a result that is conspicuously exemplified by mutilated specimens of Celtis Roabur- ghii. In the same way a stem hardly a foot in diameter may throw up, when cut back, a clump of more than 100 shoots. The arrested vigour of the crown here discussed may come about from one or more of the following causes:— 1. Drying up of the soil in the hot weather; 2. Great heat or cold, including hot and chilly winds, and excessive insolation and frost; Conflagrations; Pollarding and every description of lopping and hacking; Breaking of a branch from any cause whatsoever; Depredations of insects and other animals; and Excessive light. All these causes are more fruitful, numerous and effective in this country than in Kurope. Thus to abundant rain and a bright hot sun during the season of vegetation succeed cold and even frosty nights in the cold weather; nay, in the cold weather itself, a high forcing temperature during the day is at once followed by a rapid SUSE OU oe MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 75 fall of the thermometer at sundown; and so on. Hence the very much greater vigour and number and longer life of dormant buds in Indian trees and shrubs. Teak, Terminalia tomentosa, tamarisk, and numerous other species coppice vigorously even when they are more than a hundred years old. (iv) Richness and suitability of the soil for the species in ques- tion.—It is evident that the more suitable the soil is, the larger will be the amount of food a given extent of leaf-surface can assimilate, and, therefore, the larger the quantity of nourishment available for the use of the dormant buds. We have now to consider the difference in the number and vigour of the dormant buds in individuals belonging to different species. This will depend on— G@) The number of buds (normal, accessory or belonging to scale-leaves) produced at or near the axil of each leaf, and the number of the collum buds.—The scale-leaf buds, being generally extremely rudimentary, can develop only on the condition of the ex- eessive mutilation or weakening of the original shoots at the base of which they lie: e.g. the formation of a brush of shoots in young sal, when the leader has been killed by fire or frost, or by chilly nights following a hot steamy forcing day; &c. As covered buds may each comprise up to 25 or even more scale-leaves, and each such leaf has at least one bud in its axil, it is easy to realise the immense ad- vantage enjoyed by species possessing covered buds. But as al- ready mentioned on page 72, the outer leaves of naked buds and their internodes may attain so little development when the buds finally sprout, that a naked bud may be just as good as a covered bud in respect of the number of rudimentary buds at ‘or near the base of the shoot developed from it. As regards accessory buds, it may be said that a great many, if not the majority, of broad-leaved trees and shrubs in India pro- duce them, although in most cases they are so rudimentary, that they are difficult to detect and develop only under the stimulus of some strongly exciting cause. But it is such rudimentary buds that are the most likely of all to remain dormant. Lastly, although, as has been said under Definition 66, most of our broad-leaved trees and shrubs below the higher regions of the Himalayas produce collum buds, yet some species form more nume- rous and vigorous ones than others. Besides enabling the young seedling to renew itself as often it dies down, these buds form all or most of the shoots, which at a later age the plant can throw up if cut back flush with, or even inside, the ground. 76 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. (ii) Different degrees of development of contiguous buds.—If all the buds produced at any point were of one and the same strength, they would all sprout together, forming a brush of shoots, Hence it is essential that some should be so much more rudiment- ary than the rest that they remain undeveloped when these latter sprout. Buds at the axils of scale or otherwise abortive leaves are the most rudimentary of all, and species possessing them are al- ways the most prolific in dormant buds. Next come accessory buds, especially if they are situated below the true normal bud. These inferior accessory buds are generally so concealed under the stipules or even the base of the petiole of the leaf at the axil of which they are produced (as in Hugenia Jambolana, Wendlandia exerta, &c.), that they are physically hindered from developing save under a strongly exciting cause. Collum buds are, by their origin, well protected from the light, and the curling up of the tap and side roots draws them still further into the soil, especially if this is rich and loose ; but the generally very adverse conditions under which forest seedlings in India grow up, force the developmental energy of the young plant into them, and some of them do become dormant simply because of their concealed position inside the soil. Sometimes, as in teak in the scrub forests of Central India, they acquire so much absolute vigour, that they sprout and form fairly strong shoots round the base of even the living tree. (iii) The shade-avoiding nature of the species.—The more light-demanding a species is, the stronger must be the exciting cause for a given bud to sprout, and, therefore, ceteris paribus, the greater the proportion of buds that tend to become or remain dor~ mant. (iv) Early formation of the secondary bark.—The sooner buds are covered over by the formation of the secondary bark and with- drawn from the influence of light, the greater the chance of their continuing dormant and of their surviving injurious weather influ- ences. Besides this, the soft bast, in which the herbaceous portion of the bud lies embedded, helps indirectly, and sometimes even directly, to nourish those buds. (v) Deciduousness.—In evergreens most of the protoplasmic matter from the leaves about to fall passes into the younger conti-~ guousjleaves, which, being in full funetion, would moreover draw it towards themselves with very much greater force than any dor- mant buds that may be equally near. On the otherhand, in decid- uous trees and shrubs, a very large proportion of those substan~ ces is necessarily stored up in the woody portion during the MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 77 absence of foliage, and the dormant buds, especially those farthest from the crown, are consequently better nourished. Moreover, deciduousnees is after all a kind of sudden temporary arrest of vigour of the crown. (vi) Rapidity of multiplication of existing dormant buds.— This will depend not only on the amount of nourishment which those buds receive, but also to a great extent on the arrangement of the leaves. The amount of nourishment is always regulated by the conditions treated under the preceding heads numbered respect- ively (iv) and (v), and by the extent of mutilation or weakening of the transpiring and assimilating organs and the suitability of the soil; and hence it follows that species may, provided other circumstances are favourable, possess more numerous and more vigorous dormant buds, the further away, within certain limits, they grow from the centre of their habitat. This also accounts for our Indian trees being able to coppice more abundantly and vigor- ously, and up to a more advanced age, than trees in Europe where the climate is more conducive to regular growth. See also the fourth paragraph on page 74. As regards the arrangement of the leaves, it is evident that in species with opposite phyllotaxis the dormant buds will treble themselves at each division, and that the greater the tendency there is for the leaves to agglomerate them- selves at the ends of shoots, or for the branches to become short- ened (form brachyblasts), the larger will be the number of buds formed in a single season by each original dormant bud. Up to this we have discussed the relative facility with which in- dividuals and species replace lost or damaged organs. When a tree or shrub is cut back, or pollarded, or deprived of its lower branches in order to curtail as much as possible the development of its crown and roots, we have in the consequent production of the stool-shoots or new poll or new side-shoots, whichever they may be, special in- stances of the larger case just considered, the first being an extreme one. Facility for growing up again from the stool is more parti- cularly dependent on the number, vigour and longevity of the dor- mant buds, especially of those originating from collum buds, and only to a slight extent on the production af adventitious buds. Pol- larding and pruning constitute really only two definite kinds of mutilation, and, if effected on rational principles, they encourage in a marvellous manner the formation of numerous and vigorous dormant buds; but in pollarding, and, more particularly, in prun- ing, we rely in a very large measure also directly on the presence of accessory and scale-leaf buds, and of buds at the axils of other- 78 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. wise aborted leaves. and, to a greater extent than in coppicing, on the formation of adventitious buds. XV. RELATIVE FACILITY OF THROWING UP ROOT-SUCKERS.— The faculty of producing root-suckers is limited to a comparatively small number of trees, but those which possess it, have obviously an enormous advantage over their companions. We already know that suckers originate from adventitious buds, and that such buds, although they may from anywhere on a young root, are produced most abundantly and with greatest certainty along the edges of wounds, and generally wherever the progress of the elaborated sap, coming down from the crown, is arrested and there is a release of pressure. Thus standing trees bearing all their organs throw up most suckers in soils of uneven texture (unevenness caused by pre- sence of stones, &c.), in which the roots develop unequally, being more vigorous at certain points than at others owing to better oxgyenation and less impediment to their expansion. Moreover, the faculty of throwing up suckers is always increased by any kind of mutilation of the aérial portion of the tree, being greater in proportion to the extent of the mutilation, 7. ¢. to the diminution of other organs capable of carrying off the developmental energy of the tree. Sufficient aération is an absolute necessity for the for- mation and subsequent development of adventitious buds on the roots, for the buds could not be produced and begin to sprout with- out the presence of oxygen. Hence suckers are always most abun- dant in shallow or loose soils. Hence too the fact that in waterlogg- ed soils trees reproduce themselves badly by means of suckers. This also explains why, in th» irrigated plantation at Changa Manga, the sissu fails to grow up again satisfactorily when stubbed out. In Central India, Ougeinia dalbergioides forms large masses of pure forest on land recently abandoned by cultivation, the husband- ry operations having helped to multiply the number of suckers from the original plants. The same, although to a much less degree, may be said of the Dzospyros Melanozylon in the same forest re- gion. One of the main causes of the predominance of Boswellia serrata in the dry forests of Central India is the facility with which it throws up suckers. The gregariousness of sissu in North- ern India is also in a great measure due to the same cause, as is also the invasive character of Buchanania latifolia in Northern and Central India, and of Excwcaria sebifera wherever it has been in- troduced. It is evident that those trees and shrubs produce most suckers which send out long lateral roots that run along close under ne MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 79 surface of the soil. The Ougeinia dalbergioides enjoys this pecu- liarity to a very remarkable extent, as may be observed from the long rope-like roots, which, from being unable to attain organic contact with the soil, even by means of secondary roots, creep along the surface of sheet-rock on hill sides. Such completely ex- posed roots, however, seldom produce suckers, as they become too hard and woody and covered with a thick covering of dead bark under the unimpeded action of the sun’s heat rays, and, being free to develop equally on every side, vigour of growth is too uniformly distributed along their surface. XVI. RELATIVE DURATION OF FOLIAGE, AND SHASON OF ITS FALL AND RENEWAL.—This condition influences to a very remark- able extent the distribution of many species ina crop. It is evi- dent that, other circumstances being equal, the longer a species re- mains in leaf during the year, the better is it adapted to secure ulti- mate mastery over its companions. A tree in leaf is constantly ready to assimilate new material for its growth, and is either spreading itself out in various directions, or is preparing to do so, the result in either case being that it is able to steal a march on its leafless neighbours, and this with conspicuously greater effect, the earlier it is in renewing its foliage. Thus, where the climate and soil are suited to evergreen species, these always predominate over their deciduous companions. In some parts of Burma evergreen species have invaded the confines of teak, and surrounded in their close embrace isolated trees of that species, which must be the last of their race there, unless equally powerful compensating conditions come to their aid. Again, the sal, whichis all but an evergreen, is able to suppress most of its would-be rivals. Thus, in the Raipur district of the Central Provinces, it has encroached on the teak in many places. The Anogeissus pendula is leafless for only a short timein spring, and tolerates few companions of other species. On the other hand, the Boswellia serrata, besides possessing an open crown, is leafless for from eight to nine months; so that, although for other and more potent reasons it does grow gregariously, it nevertheless allows other species not only to push up into the leaf-canopy on a level with itself, but also to occupy a permanent and often large place there. Such species are Hardwickia binata, Anogeissus lati- folia, teak, khair, &c., which all retain their foliage for some months after the Boswellia has shed its own, and renew it from several weeks to several months earlier. Indeed, in many localities, the Boswellia may looked upon only as a temporary natural crop to be replaced later on by more favoured species, to which it is now acting as a 80 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. nurse, and which will drive it out, or at least predominate over it, when they no longer require its protection. The number of flushes of new leaves that a species brings out during the year is also an important factor for consideration. Every new flush of leaves is, thanks to the large accumulated store of reserve materials, accompanied with a sudden outburst of both lateral and upward extension, during which the tree is able to push up against and through obstacles against which it may at other times be completely powerless. The Hardwickia produces at least. two such flushes every year, and hence its ability to beat species much more shade-enduring than itself. Thus where it grows with khair, it is common to see young Hardwickia seedlings and sap- lings gradually making their way up through the close crowns of poles and trees of that species. The khair being leafless in April, when the Hardwickia brings out its first and strongest flush of leaves, overtopped individuals of this species are able to push up then, without any impediment, into and through the overhangmg crowns of the khair. Then, when towards the end of the hot weather or at the beginning of the rains, the khair puts forth new foliage, they may of course be again overshadowed ; but they do not remain so long enough to suffer in health or vigour, and yet long enough for the new shoots produced at this second flush to remain suffi- ciently herbaceous to form long internodes, a circumstance that only makes them push up all the faster. We may also quote here the instance of associated sal and Termi- nalia tomentosa. The latter species is very much more shade-endur- ing and broader-crowned ; nevertheless, when the two grow close together, the sal, owing to its remaining in leaf longer and coming into leaf again earlier, and also to its putting forth more than one flush during a single season, can go up straight and force in the crown of its neighbour. Lastly, where late frosts occur, trees that bring out new leaves early in the year will naturally suffer more than others whose foliage-buds being to swell up, preliminary to bursting forth, only after the frosts are past. Abies dumosa suffers in this manner ; and thus also is explained the impossibility of acclimatising deodar and the Indian silver fir in Northern Europe. XVII. A ciimpine HABIt.—Under Condition ITI (g) we have explained how climbers, considered as an extraneous accident in a forest crop, kill or at least weaken trees, and thus assist neighbour- ing trees in gaining the victory in the struggle for existence. In this place, on. the contrary, we are concerned with the struggle be- MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 81 tween the climbing plants themselves, considered as an integral por- tion of the forest crop, and the trees on which they climb. Plants with a climbing habit rise up into and spread over the crowns of their supports either (i) by means of adventitious roots, which enter into the very smallest crevices in the bark, and attach themselves firmly thereto, ¢, ¢., ivy, Ficus scandens, &e.; or (i) by means of tendrils, which grasp by merely curling up round any sufficiently thin body with which they come into contact, e .g., the whole genus Vitis, Bauhinia Vahlit, many rattans, &c. ; or (iii) by means of tendrils which, when unable to meet a plant part sufficiently thin to be grasped by curling up round it, may nevertheless often fix themselves ta, any, even moderately, rough, surface with the help of their free extremity, which at once swells up into.a sucker- like disc that grows into and completely fills up the minutest cre- vices and sinuosities, and becomes adherent thereto, after the manner of adventitious roots, e. g., the vines; or (iv) by means of hooked spines, ¢. g., many rattans, Capparis horrida, &.; or (v) by twining round the stems. and branches of their supports, at first generally in a loose coil, and then with a tight grasp, e.g. Millettia auriculata, Spatholobus Roxburghit, Bauhinia Vahlii,, Butea superba, the vines, Celastrus senegalensis, Combeetum decan- drum and a host of other climbers; or (vi). and lastly,by interlacing branches with, or simply resting up against or on the stems and branches of, their supports, e.g., Dalbergia volubilis, Acacia pennata, Cudrania javanensis, &e. From: the few examples just given it will be observed that the same climber may employ more. than one mode of ascension. Thus the vines twine as well as possess tendrils, which themselves can grasp both by curling up.and by attaching themselves like adventitious aérial roots; Bauhinia Vahliz not only has tendrils, which after the disarticulation of the. curled-up portion, are reduced to mere hooks, but also twines. and scrambles up; the rattans twine and also possess tendrils, and moreover, to a certain extent, scramble up, in which mode of ascension they are assisted by their numerous prickles; the climbing figs twine as well as creep up by means of adventitious roots; and so on. Whichever the mode of ascension followed, the result is always the invasion and overspreading of the crowns of the supports by the dense foliage of the climber. The least harm done is impeded growth and a sickly condition of the support. Moreover, when the climber ascends by twining, the stems and branches of the sup- ports get constricted, the increasing pressure on the bark, following the entire circumference of the stem, prevents the free vertical 82 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. diffusion of the elaborated sap coming down from the leaves and other green parts; and, finally, the channel for the passage of the crude sap from the roots becomes disproportionately smaller and smaller for the nourishment of the crowns, which become, in conse- quence, scraggy, sickly, and full of dead twigs and branches (the cause of future interior decomposition and attacks of insects and fungi), and, ifthe trees form a heartwood, there is ultimately no sapwood left in their trunks and death from sheer: starvation is the result, As with all other plants, so with climbers, the immediate effect of light is to cause early and, as far as the species in question is concerned, complete lignification, and thus to check the enlarge- ment of their tissues, which are indeed in most, if not in all, cases, naturally of looser and more herbaceous texture than those of erect woody plants; and hence many climbers exposed to full sunlight and wanting a support become low erect bushes (Millettta, Bauhi- nia, Zizyphus, &c.), or at least assume only a straggling habit (Spatholobus, Butea, é&c.) With defective illumination, stopping short of the minimum absolutely necessary for assimilation in each ease, climbers will form long internodes, and extend themselves vigorously; and indeed the largest of them are found in dense over- green forests. Taking the special case of twiners, we know that the nutating end of the stem has comparatively small leaves (in Bauhinia none at all) and long internodes, exactly as if they were growing in weak light, and this character is no doubt the result of a habit still continued, although the inducing cause (viz., deficient illumination) is absent.. Moreover all climbers are shade-enduring, for without that quality they could not, as they actually do, make their way up through the very densest crowns, as well as develop an aggressive mass of leaves in the midst of the already abundant foliage of those crowns, A further characteristic of many climbers, especially those which twine or scramble up, is that they grow very rapidly in length. Thus, for instance, Bauhinia Vahlit often attains a length of more than 50 feet in a single season, and throws up long shoots which are at once able to reach the crowns of shrubs‘and low trees. It is this property especially which enables such climbers to attack atid overcome trees that are even more shade-enduring than themselves (see p. 47, para. 2). To sum up: Climbers, no matter how they ascend, are able, thanks to their being shade-enduring to a very remarkable degree and often capable of rapid elongation, to rise up into, invade, and over- MIXED CROP OF UNIFORM AGE. 83 spread the crowns of neighbouring trees, no matter how dense. They thereby not only prevent these latter from extending them- selves either upwards or laterally, but reduce the quantity of their foliage, kill and prevent the development'of twigs and young branches, and induce premature decay and death, They are most destructive, if they are also twiners, General Remarks. It will be apparent from the foregoing considerations that a mixed crop which consists of trees of one and the same age, must, in most cases, become gradually either more or less pure, or differ- entiated into groups, each composed more or less exclusively of a single species, This species may be the one most suited to the given soil and locality; but it is not necessarily that one, and, provided that both those main factors of production are sufficient- ly favourable for its prosperous growth, it is essentially that species which is the most tenacious and exclusive of the crop. Its tenacity will depend on its innate vigour up to at least the age of fertility, its accommodating nature in respect of soil and climate, and on one or more of the following properties:—the resistance it offers to any given cause of injury, (such as, for instance, those described under Conditions III, X and XI), its shade-enduring capacity, greater longevity, the depth to which its roots penetrate, the facility with which it grows up again from the stool and throws up root-suckers, the readiness with which it recovers from wounds and any other kind of mutilation, and its ability to ripen fruit and reproduce itself from seed. Its exclusiveness will be due to one or more of the following circumstances :—the special suitability of the soil, subsoil and locality for its growth, the greater density and-‘more favourable shape of its crown, its capability of pushing up into and through the crowns of other species, its greater rapidity of growth (especially during its youth), its superior stature, the greater facility with which it shoots up again from the stool and throws up root-suckers, the longer duration of its foliage and the season at which this is shed or renewed, the number of flushes of leaves it brings out in a single growing season, the invasive spread of its roots or under- ground stems, the readiness with which it replaces a broken or in- jured leader, early, abundant and frequent fructification, the easy dissemination and germination and great vitality of its seed, and the season at which this ripens and is shed. A species may be tenacious without being exclusive, as Boswellia serrata, Prosopis spicigera, Acacia Catechu, Hardwickia binata, teak and Pinus long- 84 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. folia in most cases, &e.; or it may be exclusive without being tenaci- ous, as, for instance, sissu at Changa Manga, where without watering and special care that species would entirely disappear ; or it may be both tenacious and exclusive, like sal, Anogeissus pendula, many bamboos, Ougeinia dalbergioides, Quercus semecarpifolia. and incana, deodar, silver fir, sissu in its proper station, &c. As long as the soil and climate do not keep out other species, mere tenacity alone will not suffice to enable a species to predominate : it must be ex- clusive as well. The conclusion to be drawn is obvious. If our object is to raise mixed crops, we may be certain that, as a general rule, we cannot secure a favourable and permanent mixture by having them of uni- form age throughout. For further observations connected with this subject the student is referred to the ‘‘ General Remarks” under the Fourth Case on page 93. Examples of the Third Case. Instances of this Case are furnished by many mixed khair and sissu forests, mixed tamarisk, Populus euphratica and babul forests, copses in which no standards are left, &c. Artificially raised forests coming under this head are extremely rare in India, if they exist at all. SECTION IV. FOURTH CASE,—Mixed crop composed of individuals of all ages. We have already seen that ina mixed crop consisting of trees of one and the same age, the consideration of the circumstances which decide the struggle for existence is extremely complicated, and that none of them can be examined apart without having to take into account the effects of some other or others. Under the pre- sent head we have one more cause of complication, viz, the exis- tence ot various ages. This circumstance influences more or less the working of nearly all the rest, and the best plan to follow would, therefore, seem to be to repeat here, in their due order, the various headings of the preceding Cases, and consider under each what qualifying effect it produces. Hence in what follows it must be understood that, in the absence of any qualification, what- ever has been said under those Cases holds absolutely true also in the present one. MIXED CROP OF VARIOUS AGES. 85 I. Innate vicour.—The comparative innate vigour of a plant will obviously depend to a very great extenton itsage. The self- sown sal seedling makes little head in the forest until its gradually increasing vigour enables it, when established, to make a sudden start when it is several years old ; whereas its companions, the Tetrantheras, Kydia calycina, Miliusa velutina, Eugenia operculata, &c., push up rapidly soon after they germinate. In the same way the two or three-year-old Pinus excelsa will grow up as vigorously as a deodar several years older. In many forests of the Central Provinces teak will remain only about a foot or two high until it is often more than twelve years old, when it will at once make a rapid start upwards. And similarly ata later age the vigour of one species will diminish earlier than that of another. In other and more general terms, although the innate vigour of a tree will de- pend very much on its age, nevertheless greater age will not al- ways be an advantage in its struggle with other species. Il. GREaTsR SUITABILILY OF SOIL AND SUBSOIL.—It has already been said (page 25) that for one and the same species the unsuitability of a given soil or subsoil, as the case may be, may increase with advancing age. Hence the older individual may, because it belongs to a species for which the soil or subsoil is un- favourable, be really weaker than a much younger one of another species for which they are better suited, especially if the suitability of the soil and subsoil for this latter species increases with the advancing age of the individual. JIJ.—D2ATH, DISEASE, UNHEALTHY STATE, OR RETARDATION OF GROWTH BROUGHT ON BY CAUSES EXTRANEOUS TO THE FOREST, VlZ.— (a) Attacks of insects and other animals.—The presence of old and decaying trees will cause a multiplication of insects, which may also injure to a less or greater extent the younger trees, and also individuals of other species. But, on the other hand, ina properly treated forest, there is no reason why trees should be preserved until they have begun to decay and serve as nests and spreading centres for injurious insects. The timely removal of such trees is always possible in a crop composed of trees of various ages, since overtopped younger individuals of one species or another will always be there to ready to take their place, a circum- stance, the absence of which in a crop of uniform age throughout not only aggravates the attacks of insects as the proportion of unsound trees increases with advancing age, but also renders it impossible to combat them, except at the risk of making large gaps in the leaf- 86 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. canopy, which there are no overtopped trees to present fill up before the soil and crop deteriorates from exposure to injurious climatic in- fluences. Moreover in mixed crops of different-aged individuals the surrounding young, and, therefore, presumably healthy, growth serves, if not as a complete check, at least as a temporary break, to the spread of many insect pests. As regards the ravages of deer, cattle and other herbivorous quadrupeds, it is a well established fact that individuals small enough to be within their reach are never- theless, in most cases, very effectually protected, if they stand in the midst of a taller growth of other species not touched by those animals. (b) Attacks of parasitic and epiphytic plants——The remarks made in the preceding paragraph with regard to the attacks of in- sects apply with still greater force here in the case of tree-killing fungi. Beyond this there is nothing to add to what has been said under the present subhead under the Third Case. (c) Damage caused by climatic influences.—A gainst frost, drought, and sunstroke the shelter of older trees of hardy species is often indispensable, and is always useful, for the permanence of other species that are delicate in their youth. In the torrid valleys and plains of Rajputana, nearly every nim tree springs up out of an Euphorbia bush; and, similarly in the Dehra Dun, nearly every tea bush has one or more tun plants growing up through it, so that a tea garden left to itself would soon degenerate into a pure tun grove. In the Changa Manga Plantation mulberry has possessed itself of the ground under the original sissu. In creating a new forest where there has been none recently, it is often found necessary to raise at first a crop of a hardy species, under the shelter of which more valuable, but less hardy, species are afterwards introduced. Hence difference of ages in a mixed crop is a great help to delicate species in the struggle for existence, and is in most cases an indis- pensable condition for their presence in sufficient numbers, and often even for their permanence in the crop. (d) Conflagrations.—A crop consisting of trees of various species and different ages forms, as a rule, a denser growth and leaf-canopy than ‘any other, and is hence exposed to less risk from fire. So that here also a difference of ages is a great help to weak species, which must otherwise suffer more severely from fire. Indeed itis not difficult to imagine the case of a species, well endowed in every respect to struggle with its neighbours except in the sole matter of resistance to the injurious effects of fire, being kept downin, and even almost banished from, a crop subject to annual or frequent MIXED CROP OF VARIOUS AGES. 87 conflagrations, yet easily predomitiating over every other species in another crop that is completely protected from fire. (e) Floods.—Here again the closer growth consequent on a difference of ages, by offering a more or less effective obstacle to, and thus diminishing in a very large measure, the violence of a flood, increases the chances of the survival of the weaker species. Even as respects submergence, in a crop of different ages every species is likely to be represented by individuals old and, therefore, tall enough to stand above the level of all but the highest floods. But as regards the superabundance of water in the soil due to floods, if, on the one hand, the closer growth implies a larger total tran- spiring surface, on the other hand, the denser leaf-canopy restricts insolation and the free entry of winds under the crowns, both of them powerful factors in the evaporation of soil-moisture. Lastly, the presence at all times of large individuals of species suffering little or no injury from saline substances in the soil, may, owing to the abstraction by them from the soil of a large proportion of such substances enable other species to exist, and even to flourish, where the flood-waters contain enough of the substances in ques- tion to kill or at least badly hurt them, if they were growing pure. (f) Action of man.—The presence of trees of different ages as well as of different species, affording, as it does, a wider field for selec- tion, isa guarantee that the timber-dealer will, because they do not suit his purpose for one reason or another, or because others suit it better, spare numerous individuals of every species present, and these individuals must then ultimately become the parents of a younger generation. The most casual visit paid to forests containing teak, sal or deodar, the most valuable of our trees, will suffice to convince any one of this fact, even in sucha backward country as India is. If timber alone is wanted, unsound trees of the more valuable species and every individual of other species are left to perpetuate their kind ; and if every sort of marketable produce the crop can yield is taken out, seedlings and saplings at least are spared. Even when the object is to make a clearing for any purpose whatsoever, it is generally much more difficult to clear effectively a crop composed of trees of all ages than one consisting of individuals of one and the same age. The preceding remarks assume the absence of every idea ot forest conservancy. When, however, the crop is worked in accord- ance with correct principles, every facility is afforded by a differ- ence of ages for the preservation and fostering of the better spe- cies and individuals, even of such as are in most respects weaker 88 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCH. than their rivals, Even should the forester be wanting in skill,. he is likely to make fewer mistakes in a crop of variously aged individuals. (g) Climbers,—There is no addition to make here to what has already been said under the preceding Cases. Special attention may, however, be drawn to the fact that the presence of different species and various ages necessarily inaplies the existence of several stories of growth and, therefore, affords at all times every facility for the ascension of climbers, although, on the other hand, tho closer mass of roots in the soil and of foliage in the leaf-canopy tends to keep them back during the first stage of their develop- ment. 1V. Densiry of THE LRAF-CANOPY, RELATIVE DENSITY AND SHAPE OF CROWN, AND RELATIVE CAPABILITY OF PERSISTING UNDER, OR PUSHING UP THROUGH, COVER.—The shape, height, depth, width and density of the crowns of trees and shrubs differ not only from species to species, but according to their respective ages. also from individual to individual belonging to one and the same species. Thus it is in a mixed crop composed of individuals of all ages that we find the greatest variety in these several respects. Two im- portant results follow thence. In the first place, young individ- uals of one species or another will generally be present and ready to at once fill up any empty space occurring from whatsoever cause in the leaf-canopy, and each and every species will be thus given a fair chance of waintaining itself permanently in the crop ; and, in the second pl ‘eova crop of mixed species and ages will usu- ally be the densest and most complete of all. V. RELATIVE QUANTITY AND SPREAD OF THE ROOTS (INCLUD- ING THE RHIZOME).—Until decline sets in, the spread, closeness and absorptive power of the roots of trees and shrubs increase with age. Consequently young individuals, and particularly seed- lings and saplings, are not only unable to push their roots about in the soil, but may often be completely starved out, if they are growing in the midst of, or under, a close growth of larger indi- viduals possessing the same root-system. In the present Case, however, owing to the variety of species present, there is always a chance of such stems having for neighbours individuals possessing a different root-system. They are thus enabled not only to persist, but even to gradually establish themselves, until.an opening in the leaf-canopy and more room in the soil, afforded by the disappearance from time to time of some of their old or otherwise perishing neighbours or by the contraction of the roots and crowns of those MIXED CROP OF VARIOUS AGES. 89 on the decline, allow them to shoot up without any impediment. In other words, reproduction by seed, and to a less extent also by coppice shoots, is singularly facilitated in a mixed forest composed of individuals of various ages. VI. InprvipuaL aczs.—Only one additional point under this head need be noticed here. The presence of a variety of ages gives weak species an excellent chance of resisting complete banishment from the crop, since some at least of its representatives, of a sufficient age to have acquired the greatest tenacity of which it is capable, are almost certain ta have for neighbours either very young or very aged individuals of the stronger associated species, and to be thus able easily to hold their own. VIL. ReLative toneeviry.—Greater longevity ceases to pos- sess here the marked influence it exercises in a crop of uniform age, for the longer-lived species must, at many points, be represent- el by old individuals on or near their decline and standing over vigorous younger stems of shorter-lived species which they are consequently powerless to suppress. If the difference of ages is suffi- ciently great, an extremely short-lived species will beable to occupy a permanent place im a crop side by side with others capable of living for centuries. VIII. Reativz RAPIDITY OF GROWTH.—As said before, some species have their period of rapid growth early in life, others later. Young individuals of the former class may hence outstrip older trees of the other class and thus prevail in the end. But, on the other hand, these latter may be old enough to have entered upon their phase of rapid growth, and then they may, in spite of dis~ advantages in other respects, maintain the start they originally had. As the relative ages of the trees of the several component species of a crop would usually vary from point to point, the one result might follow as often as the other, thus ensuring the permanence, although it may be in very different proportions, of all the species in question. IX. RELATIVE MAXIMUM HEIGHT ATTAINABLE.—Age can obvi- ously exercise no influence on this Condition. X. RELATIVE SUITABILITY OF cLImaTE.—As under this Con- dition we have considered only the influence which climate exercises on the general growth of one species, taken in its entirety, as com- pared with the similar influence it exercises on the general growth of another, a difference of ages affects the remarks already made under this head in the Third Case only to the extent that the constant presence of large and, therefore, protection-affording individuals of 90 #HE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. species better adapted to the climate mitigates its excessiveness for associated species that are less at home, thereby enabling such species to thrive better than they could otherwise do. XI. Graprent.—One of the effects of gradient being rapid and effective drainage, it follows that on slopes with a naturally dry soil young plants, to whatever species they may belong, will he safer against drought when growing with larger individuals, especially if all or most of these possess a powerful root-system, a condition that is more likely to be realised if there are several species present. Under the same circumstances the young plants will also be better protected against erosion and against damage by snow. Moreover, the neighbourhood of large trees of various species, all of which would seldom be out of leaf at one and the same time, would neces- sarily prevent excessive insolation on slopes receiving the sun’s rays more or less perpendicularly, and also mitigate the severe after. effects of frost on steep easterly and southerly slopes. XII. Sxzepinc.—Under the Third Case this Condition was con- sidered under seven main subheads. Here we can obviously make additional remarks only under the first, second, fourth, fifth and ‘seventh of these subheads, viz. the relative abundance and frequency of seeding, the season of fall and the relative vitality and germin- ative power of the seeds, and the relative age at which fertility is attained. (a) Relative abundance-—A tree becomes fertile long before it has attained its full height and spread of crown, and it remains so up to the moment of its natural death. The quantity of seed pro- duced, being in proportion to the size of the crown, increases with the age of the tree, until decline sets in, when it gradually dimin. ishes as the crown contracts and becomes more and more spare from year to year. With individuals of different ages distributed pro- miscuously throughout the crop, at nearly every point will be found a tree of one species or another in more or less full bearing, Every species is hence certain to be represented by at least a few fertile individuals by which it can be perpetuated in the crop, and a permanent mixture of the majority, if not all, of them is thereby assured. (b) Relative frequency —tIn the case of species which seed in a general manner only at intervals of two or more years, it is not uncommon to find some individuals here and there seeding within that interval. Thus even some bamboos, e.g. Dendrocalamus strictus, flower sporadically every year. In Nimar, in the Central Provin. ces, Hardwickia binata flowered gregariously in 1873, not at all in MIXED CROP OF VATIOUS AGES. 91 1874 and 1875, sporadically in 1876, and again gregariously in 1877. Asarule, the individuals that flower thus sporadically are among those which possess the least vital energy (this seems espe cially to be the case with Dendrocalamus strictus). Such indivi- duals are usually the older ones. Hence itis an advantage for a species, which seeds only at long intervals, to be represented by at least a few old trees that are not prevented by extraneous circum- stances from flowering and bearing fruit. (c) Season of fall of seed.—Individuals even of one and the same species flower and ripen and shed their seed at short intervals one after another, never all together, so that, unless the entire season of vegetation is unfavourable for germination, some seeds are bound to be shed at the right moment. This absence of simultaneousness is, in addition to other causes, due also to a difference of ages. Hence the presence of representatives of different ages increases the chances of a more or less considerable number of seeds of every component species falling at a favourable moment and thereupon successfully germinating each time the species in question seeds. (d) Relative vitality or germinative power of the seed—As a rule very old or very young trees produce seeds that are either barren or possessvery little germinative power. And even if- the seeds are not barren, their vitality is more easily destroyed than that of seeds furnished by vigorous trees of middle age. Hence a species may be weak in numbers, and yet be comparatively strong enough, from being represented chiefly by individuals of middle age, to be able to perpetuate itself in the crop. (e) Relative age of fertility The presence of variously aged individuals prevents the more precocious species from enjoying any advantage over the rest. Indeed, it may happen that the for- mer, from being generally represented by very much younger in- dividuals, may be placed at a disadvantage. XIII. ReLaviv—e POWER OF HEALING OVER WwouNDs.—This will depend to no inconsiderable extent on the ages of the individuals, quite irrespective of the species, Thus advantage in point of age may tell very much in favour of an otherwise less fortunately placed species. XIV. RELATIVE FACILITY OF REPLACING LOST OR DAMAGED AERIAL ORGANS.—Advancing age will obviously diminish the gene- ral faculty of reproducing lost or injured parts. Hence an abso- lutely strong species in this as well as in many other respects may, simply from being represented by old individuals, ultimately find itself at a disadvantage, 92 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. The most important point under this condition is the power of growing up again from the stool. All species possessing it lose it after a certain age varying with the species in question. It is, during the first years, only slight, then increases rapidly with the diameter of the tree up to the middle of the high-pole stage. Thence- forward it remains unchanged for a series of years varying with the species concerned, after which it gradually or suddenly diminishes. Hence, where clearings or fellings on an extensive scale have been made, the new crop may consist principally of species that are not necessarily the strongest for the battle of life, for such species may have been represented in the original crop chiefly by old trees past their coppicing age, while the majority of the individuals: of the other were young enough to coppice. XV. RELATIVE FACILITY OF THROWING UP ROOT-SUCKERS.— The faculty of throwing up root-suckers is at first n//, then increases with the spread of the roots until the tree begins to decline, when the roots gradually become feebler and die off at their extremities, so that the entire root-system contracts and the number of the smaller roots and root-fibres, on which the sucker-producing adven- titious buds principally originate, suffers very considerable diminu- tion. XVI. RELATIVE DURATION OF FOLIAGE AND SEASON OF ITS FALL AND RENEWAL.—It is an almost invariable rule that in the case of every species the younger individuals not only retain their foliage longer, but also bring out the seasonal or annual flush ear- lier ; and that, if by any chance the foliage of the season is de- stroyed, the young individuals (not always, however, the very youngest, since they are poor in dormant buds) renew it earliest. XVII. A ciimpine HaABrT.—lt is only after the first few years, when the young plant is thoroughly established, that a climber begins to nutate or throw up shoots which develop tendrils or adventitious roots or which are long enough to scramble up other trees or shrubs. Once this period is reached, age has no further effect as far as the climbing habit is concerned. XVIIT. Aw arporeaL HABIT.—This is anew Condition, since an arboreal habit necessarily implies the existence of different ages. Plants possessed of this habit are either (i) parasitic, like Cuscuta, fungi, &e. ; or (ii) only partially parasitic, like Viscum, Loranthus, &c. ; or (iii) purely epiphytic, like some figs, Araliacee, &c. Parasites and epiphytes generally have already been taken ac- count of under Condition III (6) as injurious “causes extraneous to the forest.” In this place we have to deal with only such of MIXED CROP OF YANIOUS AGES. 93 them as form an integral portion of the forest and have to'struggle aguinst other plants for a place in it. Under this category come only some of the species falling under class (iii). In the case of trees, which like the figs, are epiphytic only at first, but ultimately become terrestrial as soon as their roots reach the ground, the epiphyte igy bound to prevail over its temporary host, firstly, because it appears at once in the light on the sum- mit of its host where it can never be suppressed, and next, be- cause, as a rule, the mass of its long stem-like amalgamating roots ultimately encloses and grows round the trunk of the host, which it completely strangles. The epiphytic Araliacew, nearly always also of climbing habit, do not, as far as we know, kill directly their hosts, but only weaken and deform them, in very much the same way, but to a much less extent, as non-twining clinibers do. General Remarks. From what precedes it will have been gathered that a mixture of different ages is particularly favourable to the maintenance of a mixture of species. We have already seen that uniformity of age throughout a mixed crop tends to reduce the number of species anid, in most cases, to give an easy preponderance to a single one, the most tenacious and exclusive of the original mixture (Third Case, p. 83). So that the converse is also true, viz. that a variety of ages always promotes a mixture of species and is often an in- dispensable condition for growing a mixed crop: it gives a certain chance of existence to species which would otherwise be driven out by their more tenacious and exclusive companions. A cursory examination of a sal forest, to take a common instance that strikes the eye at once, is sufficient to convince oneself of the truth of this proposition, Where the trees are all ofa more or less uniform height, and, therefore, presumably of about the same age,' they are almost exclusively sal; whereas, where ages vary, many other species will be found associated with the sal, the relative propor- tion of those species generally increasing with the difference ot ages. There can be no doubt that the pure character of the ex- tensive teak copses of the Central Provinces, Berar, and Bombay are, in a great measure, due to a certain marked degree of unifor- mity of ages; it will generally be found that the purest of these copses are those in which the trees are pretty nearly of one and the same height. 94 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. Examples of the Fourth Case. Instances of the Fourth Case, in endless variety, are to be found anywhere in India. As some of the more important, we may point to the majority of our teak and oak forests, toa great many sal and deodar forests, to our evergreen forests, &c., &. CHAPTER ITI. GRECARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. The terms “gregarious” and “sociable” have been defined on page 5. From the considerations developed in the Chapter just concluded, it will be evident that a gregarious species is one which, by its superior tenacity or exclusiveness, or both combined, over- comes all its neighbours and survives all other contrary conditions in the struggle for existence, while a sociable species is one which, being neither exclusive nor so tenacious as to yield at few or no points to its neighbours, nor the sole species capable of growing in the given soil or locality, is yet tenacious enough to resist complete banishment. It hence follows that a species that is generally gre- garious may nevertheless under certain circumstances become sporadic, and one that is generally sporadic may similarly become gregarious. As a general rule, the more extreme the nature of the soil or climate in any case is, the more likely is the species for which it is best adapted to become gregarious; while average cha~- racters of soil and climate favour sociability. What we have said above will at once become apparent from a study of the few examples of gregarious and sociable trees which follow and in which the principal characters that combine to render them gregarious or sociable, as the case may be, are simply enume- rated. To have attempted to explain and discuss them in a full manner would have carried us beyond the limits laid down for the present Part of the Manual. Sal. This tree disappears the moment it reaches a too binding soil resting on a more or less impermeable sub-soil. Although in a comparatively dry climate it can grow on fairly stiff soils, the sub- soil must always be freely permeable. Hot or excessively cold winds, or drought in April-May also restrict its extension. It is thus, to avery xemarkable extent, wanting in tenacity as against certain widely prevailing unfavourable influences of soil and climate, so that its distribution is limited by sharp boundary lines; but within 96 GRAGARIOUSNESs AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. and rig}t up to these limits it generally not only flourishes in all its vigour but is also gregarious for various reasons, the principal of which are enumerated below. These reasons are so powerful, that a few of them alone would suffice to give it an easy predomi- uance over its ompanions. They are— (a) The unaccommodating nature of the tree, owing to which it generally either flourishes in all its vigour or is completely absent. (6) Its profuse and all but annual seeding. (c) The fall of its seed at the end of the season of forest fires, and at the beginning of the geason of vegetation. (d) The almost immediate germination of its seed. (e) The immediate appearance and remarkable vitality of the collum-buds, which give its seedlings great tenacity. (f) The great length and strength of the taproot developed by its seedling. (9) The ability of its young plants to persist under, and even push up through, fairly dense cover, the latter faculty being consi- derably strengthened by their long narrow crown. (h) The persistence of its foliage during at least eleven monvhs of the year. (2) The production of more than a single dush of leaves each year. (j) The early formation of a thick, sap-gorged secondary bark, which protects the cambium and dormant buds from external injuries. (4) The almost universal aversion of cattle for its leaves, a circumstance that saves its seedlings from being browsed down and its larger individuals from being lopped for fodder. (1) The great powers of recovery of the species. (m) Its relatively great rapidity of growth from the time a cer- tain age has been reached right up to its attaining its full height. (n) The very remarkable facility with which a new leader is formed on the death or disappearance of the original one. (0) The great facility with which it grows up again from the stool. i (p) Its loftier stature as compared with most of its companions. (q) Its ability to form by itself a complete leaf-canopy. (r) Its great longevity, exceeding that of nearly all its com- panions. (s) The enormous depth (down to 60 feet and more) to which its roots can penetrate, whereby it can flourish on the driest soils, resist violent winds, and escape strangulation during its infancy and GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. 97 youth by the dense and stronger roots of other species, even of the grasses. (t) Its winged seed, which in spite of its size and great weight, is often wafted away more than 50 yards from the parent tree. (u) Its great resistance to frost, except in damp low localities. Sissu. This tree, as a gregarious species, is confined to the rumerous flat expanses of loose silty deposits left by the flood-waters of Himalayan streams, where, after delouching into the plains, they spread out over a great width, often branching into a number of shallow arms, which embrace between them islands of various sizes. The loose open soil, from being for a time under water, occasionally dries down to a depth of as much as twenty feet, if not more. The gregariousness of the species is, of course, due chiefly to the pecu- liar nature of the soil and situation which it affects ; but a number of other causes also contribute in their respective degrees to the same end. The more effective of the various causes may be thus summarized :— (a) The exclusive character of the soil and locality in which alone the sissu can come up, only khair, Zizyphus and a few other species being able to grow there in appreciable numbers. (6) Its ability to stand extreme temperatures, especially frost, which is obviously very severe in the low and, during the cold wea- ther, moist situations where it grows. (ce) Its profuse annual, rarely biennial seeding, and the dissemi- nation in immense quantities of its seed by water in the’ flooded lands in which it comes up. (d) The quick and easy germination of its seeds, especially un- der the circumstances in which their dissemination is effected. (e) The number and great vigour of the collum-buds in the youngest seedlings, which enables these to continue establishing themselves in spite of violent floods, erosion, deposit of new silt, &e. (f; Its germination only in loose, freshly-deposited silt, in which the young seedlings, owing ta their prior appearance, have not to contend with the roots of other species, especially of the. grasses. (g) The absenee of fires in such places during the time the plants are establishing themselves, there being hardly any grass present to burn. (h) The great lengt of the t«proot of its seedling, and the great depth to which its roots can penetrate. 98 GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. (7) Its remarkable tendency to produce extremely abundant suckers, and the extraordinary vitality of its roots in this respect, completely severed portions being able to strike at_ once and throw up strong shoots. (j) Its very rapid growth as soon as it has established itself. (k) Its great powers of recovery from the effects of injuries. (J) Its ability to form a complete leaf-canopy by itself during its youth, and even up to the close of the sapling stage. (m) Its complete immunity from lopping and browsing, as its leaves are used neither for fodder nor as manure. (n) The persistence of its foliage almost throughout the year. Pinus longifolia. The Pinus longifolia is a hill tree and flourishes in the poorest and driest soils, being able to attain its finest dimensions even on loosely-cemented shingly formations several hundred feet thick, Individuals of it are found as low down as 1,500 feet, and fairly large patches of it are to be met with in the moist outer Hima- layan belt, but it forms really large gregarious forests only in the intermediate and dry inner belts at elevations ranging from 3,000 to 5,500 feet. The reasons for this gregariousness may, in a gene- ral manner, be briefly stated thus :— (a) The extreme dryness and poverty of the soil and sub-soil which this pine delights in and which most other trees avoid, and the immense continuous stretches of such soil to be met with at the altitudes which suit the tree. This is the chief determining cause of its gregariousness. (b) Its almost complete immunity from damage from the mout of cattle, and from lopping for fodder, that great cause of fodder-yieldin g trees in the Himalayas (most of its larger broad- jeaved associates are such) being either killed out or at least kept down 11 the state of low bushes. (c) The very marked superior hardihood of the young seedling. (d) Profuse general seeding at short intervals, with fairly al undaut seeding in stannmed tis years. (e) The gomparatively small size of-the pine seed, which en- ables it to be caught in small crevices or hollows in the hillsides, contrary to what happens with acorns, which roll or are washed down in numbers to the bottoms of the valleys and ravines, and which are the seeds of the only companions of the pine that are able to compete with it in stature, GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. 99 (f) The extremely ready and easy germination of the pine seed. (9) Possession, up to the sapling stage, of numerous dormant buds, which enables the very young pine to resist fires and other extraneous causes of injury quite as well as its broad-leaved com- panions of equal age. : (A) Its extremely thick corky bark, which protects the cambi- um against any but the severest external injuries. _ (2) The remarkable vitality of its cambium and inner bark, whereby wounds are easily and rapidly healed over. (j) The ability of the pine to form a more or less complete leaf-canopy up to the commencement and even middle of the large- pole stage, (k) The unfavourable nature of the covering formed by the fallen needles, which opposes the appearance of seedlings of other woody species and in some cases even keeps out grass. (i) The remarkably rapid of growth of the pine soon after it is established, and the great strength of its leading shoot. (m) Its taller stature in comparison with its ordinary compani- ons. (n) The fewer enemies or causes of destruction to which its seeds are exposed as compared with acorns, which are frequently worm-eaten, rot or dry up easily, and are devoured in large quan- tities by bears, monkeys, &e. (0) The strong rooting of the pine in spite of its being a coni- fer. Anogeissus pendula. This tree is a denizen of the dry and arid tracts of Central In- dia, where it forms dense, almost pure forests on the metamorphic formations of the Aravali range and on the Vindhyan sandstones of Bundelkhand. Its gregariousness is due to the following com- bined causes :— (a) Perfect suitability of the soil and subsoil and of the climate, which admit of only a very poor arborescent flora. (6) Its marked tendency to join and interlace crowns. (c) Its profuse annual seeding. (d) The easy dissemination of its small winged fruit. (e) Its low, dense, spreading crown, tolerating little or no un- dergrowth, not even grass, (f) Hence comparative mildness of fire immediately under individuals of it in forest conflagrations. (g) Extraordinary powers of recovery owing to the great abun- dance, vitality and vigour of its dormant buds. 100 GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. (hk) Hence also its remarkable faculty of growing up again from the stool, a single stool of less than 1 foot diameter being capable of throwing up a thick, dense clump of as many as 20—50 shoots. (2) The great hardihood of its young individuals which thrive under complete exposu ‘e. (j) Singular paucity of companion species able to compete with it in size. (k) The persistence of its foliage during at least ten months of the year, while the few eompanion species of its own stature are leafless for many months together. (2) Its close and vigorous spread of roots. (m) Comparatively rapid growth for the first few years of its seedlings as soo. as they are established, and of its stool-shoots from the monent they appear. (n) Ability to thrive on the steepest slopes. (0) Greater longevity than that enjoyed by the majo.ity of its companions. Loswellia serrata. This tree is spread over the whole region of Central India, but grows gregariously as an upper crop only 01 the dry trap and sand- stone hills and plateatx there, and forms an almost entirely pure forest where the amount of iron inithe soil becomes marked. In this last case, the single circu nstance of the soil being ferruginous excludes every other species. The causes which reader the tree gregarious elsewhere n ay be shortly stated thus— (a) Dryness, poverty, and rocky nature of the soil, which pre- vent most of the few companion species from riiag up to the same level with it. (6) Its aromatic resinous leaves, which save it from the mouth of cattle and other animals and from lopping for fodder. (ce) The extraordinary ease with which it produces adventitious buds on wounds ; whence in a great measure its unique power of recovery, and, therefore, of surviving the severest mutilation. (d) Its faculty of throwing up strong and numerous suckers. (¢) Its abundant annual seeding. (7) Its extremely rapid growth from the earliest seedling stage. (g) Its conspicuous ability to withstand the fiercest insolation and most prolonged drought, owing to the thickness and vitality of the living bark, its viscid resinous sap and the absence of foliage throughout the entire hot weather. GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. 101 (h) The generally mild nature of night-frosts at the high situa- tions where the tree is gregarious. This circumstance combined with the extraordinary thickness of its young shoots, the nature of its bark and sap alluded to under (g), and the shedding of its leaves at the beginning of the cold weather, enables the tree, which would otherwise be very sensitive, to progress upwards in spite of frost. (4) Its singularly great resistance to the effects of conflagra- tions, thanks principally to the nature of its bark, to its being out of leaf during the season of fires, to the vigour of its dormant buds, to characters (¢) and (d), to its remarkably accommodating nature in respect of the quality of the soil, and to the spareness of the combustible undergrowth on the ground. (j) The very low value set on its wood as timber and even as fuel, it being almost the last tree to be cut for export. Hardwickia binata. This is a tree of the dry tracts of Central and Southern India, but is also met with along the foot of the Kaimur Hills from Rewah to Hazaribagh. It is confined to strongly silicious soils, whatever their origin, and attains its finest dimensions on rocky rugged ground, even where there is scarcely a vestige of soil. It sometimes forms pure forests, but oftener occurs as a top-story over an open undergrowth of Anogeissus latifolia, Boswellia, khair, teak, &c. The causes which combine to make it gregarious are— (a) The dryness and poverty of the soils which it affects and in which its few large companions do not develop their highest vigour. (0) Its extremely profuse general seeding once in three or four years. (c) The easy dissemination of its seed to several hundred feet from the parent tree, thanks to the flat light pod, which contains only a single seed and generally dehisces only after it has fallen. (d) The great facility with which the seed germinates. (e) The remarkable length of taproot developed by its young seedlings, which circumstance, besides securing for them many other important advantages, enables them to grow in the midst of dense grass. (f) The persistence of its foliage during at least ten and a half months out of the twelve. (y) Its producing more than one flush of foliage during the year, each accompanied with a vigorous development of new shoots, 102 GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. and the first of them occurring while all, or nearly all, its neigh- bours are leafless. (hk) The number and extraordinary vigour of the collum buds in the young seedling. (¢) The great hardihood of the young plant even without the help of the collum buds. (j) The surprising ability of the young plant, thanks to cha- racter (g), to withstand the lowest and densest cover of its usual companions, and, with its thin flexible leading shoot, to work its way up through the overhanging crowns of those species. Also see p. 80. ; (k) The extraordinary power enjoyed by the species of recov- ering from the severest mutilation, including injury by fire. (2) The very much greater height attained by it in comparison with most of its companions. (m) Its very rapid growth as soon as it is established. (nm) Its generally superior longevity. In the immediately preceding examples we have limited our- selves to showing, without entering into any lengthy explanatory details, why the species selected for illustration are gregarious. The reasons given are sufficiently obvious after the general dis- cussion of the Struggle for Existence in Chapter II. In the fol- lowing paragraphs we will continue the application of the princi- ples therein exposed and demonstrate, by means of the example of teak and Prosopis spicigera, how one and the same species may be gregarious or exclusive under certain circumstances and sporadic or sociable under others. Teak where gregarious. . Over the wide area of Central India teak is gregarious either (A) on alluvial flats along the courses of rivers, or (B) on small stretches of stiffish sandy soil once under squatter cultivation, or (C) on hillsides, flats, or stretches of undulating ground, which have for centuries been subjected to the dhaya system of cultiva- tion already described on page 24. A.—The soil in the alluvial flats referred to is more or less saline, with a strong admixture of carbonate and sulphate of lime, and jis, in many instances, submerged for a few days every year during the floods of the rivers. It becomes, on the other hand, extremely dry and hard for several feet below the surface, when the rivers have subsided into their normal -beds during the hot weather. GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. 103 These characteristics of the soil and locality exclude most of the ordinary companions of the teak—Terminalia tomentosa, Anogeis- sus latifolia, khair, Boswellia serrata, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Ster- eulia urens, &e. The few associates that follow it (Morinda citrifolia, Lriolena Hookeriana, Acacia leucophlea, Casearia graveolens and tomentosa, Ulmus integrifolia, &e.,) being beaten by it in the strug- gle for existence owing to the following causes :— (a) The extraordinary vitality of its seeds, which the annual floods have only helped to disseminate and prepare for immediate germination from the time these silt-formed tracts were deposited. (b) The constant moisture during the growing season and ori- ginal absence or spareness of grass, which favoured the germina- tion of the seeds and the subsequent establishment and develop- ment of the young seedlings. (c) The rapid growth of these latter in consequence, almost from the first years up to the attainment of their full height. (d) Their enormous spreading leaves, which living or dead, suppressed every other forest seedling under, or in contact with, them. (e) The thick continuous felt-like mass formed by the fallen teak leaves when saturated by rain, which mass, decomposing slowly, smothers up almost every seedling produced under it, and is impenetrable to the roots of most seedlings that germinate above it. (?) The great vitality of the thick taproot and of the collum buds, which enables young teak to survive forest conflgrations better than most of its companions in the locality. (g) The extraordinary vigour and longevity of these collum buds, which ramify, by multiplication, even into the main lateral roots, so that these latter can throw up shoots from a depth of nearly a foot below the surface of the soil. (h) The abundance and great vitality of the dormant buds in the trunk of teak. (i) The exceptionally great vitality of the cambium, which all but enables detached pieces of the stem to strike root and grow. (j) The severity, owing to the large, woody, loosely-packed fallen teak leaves, of the annual conflagrations, which, however, thanks to characters (y), (h) and (2), cause less permanent injury to the teak than to most of, if not all, its compantons. (k) The ability of teak up to a certain age (certainly up to 40 years) to form by itself a complete leaf-canopy canable of killing 104 GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. out all undergrowth, including even grass. (1) The enormous strength and height of teak stool-shoots in their very first year. (m) The existence of a more or less perfect uniformity of age, due to the greater portion of the crop having sprung up within the short interval of years during which the alluvial flats in question were being deposited. (n) The conspicuously greater longevity of teak. (0) Its profuse, almost annual, seeding. (p) Its greater stature as compared with many of its compa- nions. B.—The gregariousness of teak in the second instance may be accounted for thus:— (a) Profuse annual seeding of the trees round and inside the _ original fields, by which means the ground got sown toa certain extent everywhere with teak. (b) The cultivation of the soil furnished this seed with an ex- cellent bed, whence the production of a certain number of vigorous teak seedlings every year. (c) These seedlings, possessing great vitality and throwing up shoots every year from the collum of the root, gradually strength- ened themselves, and obviously suffered little or no damage from the mere annual scratching of the rude plough. (d) They were obviously still further strengthened in a remark- able degree by the hand-plucking of all surrounding grass and weeds, the agricultural crop alone being never dense enough to impede their development and the wandering squatter cultivator never finding their presence sufficiently hurtful to eradicate them. (e) Besides this, the extraordinary vitality of the seeds, lying in the soil in large quantities when the field was abandoned, pro- duced an abundant crop of seedlings in the thoroughly loosened soil during the ensuing two or three years. (f) On the fields being abandoned, the already established seed- lings and seedling-shoots, now shooting up vigorously ahead, and thanks also to character (d) under Instance A, suppressed most of the individuals of such species as were able to reproduce them- selves, like the teak, during the course of the squatter cultivation. (g) See (k) of Instance A, (h) See (e) of Instance A. (¢) The more or less uniform height of the various individuals, due to their having finally started upwards all together on the GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. 105 abandonment of the fields in question, gave to the crop more or less the character of one consisting of trees of one and the same age and thus favoured the most tenacious species present, viz. the teak. C.—The gregariousness of teak under the dhaya system of cul- tivation may be explained by the following causes:— (a) Its great powers of recovery from the worst mutilation, even in spite of annual fires. (b) The remarkable faculty of its root-collum of producing shoots up to a very great age (eighty years at the very least), (c) Its comparatively early seeding. (d) Its protuse annual seeding. (e) Onhillsides, also the characteristic ruggedness of the ground, which offered numerous crevices, hollows and ledges for the lodge- ment and germination of the large, round and heavy seed falling or rolling down from above. (f) The extraordinary vitality of the seed, even when scorched by jungle fires. (yg) The great relative vigour of its stool-shoots, which enable them to overtop seedlings and similar shoots. of other species. (h) The extremely dense crowns formed by its huge spreading leaves, which tolerate no undergrowth, and push back and choke up other plants even of the same height as themselves. (i) Se0ee (k) of Instance A. : (j) The contemporaneous springing up of the new staol-crop as soon as the dhaya cultivator departs for fresh fields. (k) His practice of returning to the same place before the age at which teak ceases to form a complete leaf-canopy. () See (e) of Instance A. (m) The ability of young teak seedlings to withstand fairly dense cover, thus admitting of an abundant advance growth coming up gradually during the absence of the dhaya cultivator, which advance growth is able to shoot away upwards as soon as 1t is uncovered. (n) The great longevity of teak. Teak otherwise sporadic. The three preceding instances excepted, teak is everywhere else a by no means largely represented denizen of mixed forests. The main reasons for this may be briefly summarised thus :— (a) In forests which contain teak, the soilis apt to vary from point to point with regard to the proportion ofclay in it, with regard to the degree in which it is monopolised by weeds possessing a 106 GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. dense invasive root-system, with regard to the degree in which the surface or subsoil rock is fissured, and with regard to the freedom of the drainage. Where the soil is too binding or not sufficiently drained or too dry for teak, or the rock is too compact, or the growth of weeds, especially the grasses, is too heavy and dense, that species will be entirely, or very largely, kept out, notwithstanding that numerous seedlings of it may germinate in such places. (b) Where the teak grows, it is almost the only tree cut for timber, furnishing, as it does, everything from the large house beam and broad boards to the thin round rafter of the rude tem- porary thatched shed. (c) The yearling teak seedling can, asa rule, survive only on the condition that the taproot, which for many years forms the most sensitive and vital portion of the plant, is able to expand and strengthen itself at once. Hence the death of nearly all or by far the largest proportion of the seedlings produced each year, except where the soil is especially favourable. (d) A great many of the companions of teak are more shade- enduring than itself, ; (e) n the condition in which the soil of a forest is ordinarily found, most of its companions establish themselves earlier, and thus take possession of the soil while young teak of their own age are still comparatively weak plants. (7) In many places several of its companions exceed the teak in stature. (g) Many of these species possess broader and deeper crowns. (h) Many of them also retain their foliage till a later date, and some of them even bring out the new season’s flush earlier. (2) After a certain age teak loses the faculty of forming a com- plete leaf-canopy by itself, thus necessarily giving admission to other species even where it originally formed a pure crop. (j) Its seed, being large, does not find easy lodgement in the soil, unless thisis loose or broken at the surface; and, being also round, is exposed to be washed away by the first heavy Sowens especially where forest fires occur and leave no standing vegetation to pro- ject above the ground and arrest the seed, (k) Again, as the teak seed is all shed by the middle of the hot weather, the greater portion of it must every year have been des- troyed by the annual forest fires before special protective measures, of very recent date, began to be undertaken, and is stillso destroyed over the vast areas where fire consery. ancy is either unsuccessful or has yet to be introduced, GREGABIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. 107 (2) In most parts of India proper, the teak is characterised by tardy and difficult germination, the seed either requiring to lie in the ground for at least a whole year exposed to weather influences and other causes of destruction; or sprouting too late in the rainy season to be strong enough to survive throtigh the following dry season or to escape strangulation by the heavy growth of weeds and other vegetation already on the ground. (m) The seed is the common food of iniany rodents, parrots, &. (n) The young plarit is extreniely sensitive to frost. (0) The upper portion of the taproot of the seedling is greedily devoured by rats. (p) Some birds, as the bush-quail, peck off the cotyledonary leaves and the terminal bud, as soon as these appear. Prosopis spicigera. This species, thanks to the enormous length of taproot (60 feet and upwards) it can develop, is peculiarly a tree of very dry ‘re- gions and ceases where the rainfall exceeds 40 inches. In the Punjab and Rajputana, with a rainfall varying from 12 to 25 inches, it is gregarious on high ground where, the depth ot the stratum of permanent moisture being very far below the surface of the soil and the subsoil being strongly saline or consisting of shingle and boulder beds, no other trees or even large shrubs can grow. De- scending towards the main drainage channels it is obliged to yield a less or greater portion of the ground to other trees. In Sindh, where the rainfall is less than 10 inches, the pure Prosopis forest approaches much nearer to the streams, but still remains above the level of inundations. In Bundelkhand and from the Narbada southwards, and in the proximity of rivers elsewhere, the tree is no longer gregarious, the greatly diminished distance, below the surface, of soil sufficiently moist for vegetation enabling other species to grow side by side with the Prosopis, and in many, if not in most, cases even to preponderate over it, thanks to their larger stature, their greater shade-enduring capacity, their superior hard- ihood in those comparatively moist soils in respect of frost, the rocky subsoil, and some other characters which vary with the re- gion and the locality. Concluding Remarks. We need not add to the preceding instances to prove that the gregariousness or sociability of a species is purely the outcome of 108 GREGARIOUSNESS AND SOCIABILITY OF SPECIES. its struggle for very existence with other species and with the op- posing conditions of climate and soil. The fittest will every- where survive. But the fittest species not being necessarily also the most valuable (whether absolutely so or because they favour the growth of those which are), we, as foresters, have often to intervene in the struggle and aid the weaker to conquer the stronger. Hence the most practical end designed to be served by the considerations developed in the present and immediately pre- ceding Chapters is that they may furnish us with the key where- with to study and analyse with sufficient exactness the behaviour of each one of our more valuable species in that struggle, to note under what conditions it can hold its own against all its rivals, un- der what circumstances it has to yield to its stronger neighbours, to what extent and how those circumstances may be favourably modified by the forester, up to what point the struggle is useful in drawing up the trees, in naturally forming their boles, or in any other way improving their growth or the quality of their timber. Armed with such facts, we can, with the full confidence that know- ledge begets, interpose as soon as the necessity arises, with the most appropriate effective measures, in order to shorten or prolong the struggle as the case may require, and to continually aim at securing the most advantageous proportion and distribution of the various species and age-classes—in other words, attain the main end and object of Sylviculture, which are the largest and most use- jul production in forests grown for the market alone ; the most effective living tree-covering or barrier, combined, whenever possible, with a large and useful production, in forests grown for protection ; the most protection-affording and at the same time least invasive and otherwise harmful belts or groups of trees in fodder preserves and in placesin which agriculture is combined with sylvicultwre ; and the most pleasing effect on the eye in forests grown for ornament. CHAPTER IV. SPECIFIC COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS: Ought we to grow pure or mixed forests? This question has already been partially answered in an incidental manner in Chap- ter II ; but it is of such importance to the forester, that it demands special and fuller treatment here. As said before, a forest may be grown either exclusively for the market, or essentially and chiefly for purposes of protection, or in combination with grazing or field-crops, or essentially and chiefly for ornament. The answer to the question which opens this Chap- ter must hence be sought separately. in each of these three several cases. But before attempting to do so, it is necessary first of all to enquire what peculiar advantages or disadvantages accompany the mixing of species, or the growing of them pure. SECTION I. Characteristics of pure and mixed crops compared. The advantages to be derived from growing mixed, as compared with pure crops, are briefly as follow :— LI. A mixture of species generally allows of a more complete utilisation of the area.—lt rarely, if ever, happens that the soil and climatic factors over any area, however inconsiderable it may be, are suited only for a single species, or capable at every point of growing that one species better than all others. Hence with a mix- ture of species % is alwayss possible to grow at any particular point only those species which thrive well there, and thus turn the entire area to the best account possible. See also bottom of page 49. IL, Mixed crops, asa rule, form a denser leaf-canopy—tin a mixed forest the various species attain different statures, develop’ crowns of different shapes and width and depth, are shade-endur- ing or shade-avoiding in different degrees, possess foliage of vari- ous degrees of closeness, affect or prefer different soils and situ- ations, bring out and shed their leaves at different times, and so on. The obvious result is that the leaf-canopy is then composed of crowns of various shapes and sizes, situated at various heights above the ground, and fitting into one another not unlike the 110 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. gravel and stones in concrete, so that it forms a closer-packed mass of foliage than if the component crops were pure. Then again in every forest, whether pure or mixed, the number of stems must necessarily diminish progressively with advancing age by the death and disappearance of some of the trees. Now in a pure forest, un-~ less the component species be extremely shade-enduring, the inter- vals thus produced between the similarly-shaped crowns of the stirviving individuals are bound to become wider and wider, until at a comparatively early age the trees, all more or less of one and the same height and habit of growth, stand well apart from one another and cease to protect the soil except in a very incomplete manner. Ina mixed crop, on the other hand, during a consider- able part of its life, the gaps produced by the disappearance of the trees that succumb in the struggle for existence are at once filled tp by the upward or lateral extension of overtopped or adjacent crowns, belonging chiefly to other species possessing a different ha- bit of growth. Hence not only does the greater density of a mixed forest become, as a rule, more conspicuous with increasing age, but mixed crops generally maintain a complete leaf-canopy up to a more advanced age than pure ones of the same species, an unques- tionably great advantage for the forester in almost every instance. ITI. A judicious mixing of species increases the amount of ligneous production.—For the same reasons that the leaf-canopy becomes denser in a mixed crop, and also because of the different root-systems of the various component species, the number of stems standing per unit of area at any age is larger than in a pure crop and the differ- ence becomes more conspicuous with advancing age. Besides this, the greater density of the leaf-canopy not only produces longer boles and makes the forest grow up higher, but, by improving the soil, it also prolongs the period of sound growth., All these cir- cumstances result in a larger production of wood, and more parti- cularly of timber. IV. It is only by a mixture of species that with regular annual working we can cultivate our more valuable species in the greatest abundance within any given area, over the widest extent of country possible, and of the finest quality and size—Many of our most yalu- able species, like teak, Dalbergia latifolia, Lagerstremia Flos-Re- give &e., and, in many localities, even deodar and sal, grow natur- aly in company with other trees. If we sought rigidly to obtain pure crops, we should either have to clear away all these latter and leave a few isolated individuals or patches of the former to form the sum total of the standing growth; or, if we also insisted on having a PURE versus MIXED CROPS. 11L full growth on the ground, we should have to cut away every indi- vidual of those valuable species from wherever they could not grow gregariously, thus restricting them to those spots alone, of limited extent and few and far between, where they could do so—the one result being as much to be avoided as the other. On the other hand, by studiously preserving and favouring the growth of every individual of all our valuable species, whether it stands by itself or in company with others of its own kind, provided it does not in- terfere with the growth of another more valuable than itself, we produce, in the largest quantity possible, the classes of timber, and wood most in demand and also spread their production over the widest extent of country possible, thus raising them everywhere as near as practicable to the consumer. Then, again, as a mixture of species, by producing a denser leaf- canopy, improves the soil, forms long and well-shaped boles, and delays the commencement of natural decay, our valuable species are enabled thereby to acquire their finest qualities and attain their largest dimensions. So that any one of them, grown in company with another soil-improving species (7. ¢., one which puts forth abundant foliage, that decomposes easily and yields a rich humus), will furnish timber of good size and quality even on soils on which it could not thrive alone. Thus we know that sal, deodar, and especially teak, acquire much finer dimensions in mixed forests than when growing pure, and this most conspicuously on soils that are in themselves more or less untavourable for their growth. V. A judicious mixing of species furnishes produce suited for a greater variety of purposes, and hence giving occupation to an absolutely as well as relatively large portion of the indus- trial classes of the country—This is especially so in advanced communities. We in India are still in a very backward condition. But the signs of the times are already encouraging, and in many parts of the country various woods, which only a few years ago no one would literally look at, are now coming into the market; while for some of them there is an established and rapidly increas- ing demand. In many parts of Berar and Central India the Boswellia serrata is readily bought up at high rates in the shape of boards for flooring and packing cases, and as building wood, although only half a generation ago there, as it is at the present day elsewhere, the wood of that species was not considered good enough even to be burnt occasionally as a fuel. The timber of Terminalia tomentosa, which used generally to be a drug on the market, is now universally valued for railway sleepers. The for- 112 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. merly, and in many places still, despised Pinus longifolia is now exported in large quantities from the hills into the Punjab plains and passed off as deodar on people who judge things by their names. In some parts of the Central Provinces, Ougeinia dalber- gioides poles command higher prices than teak of similar size. In the vicinity of spinning factories Zizyphus Jujuba, which formerly served chiefly for fuel and fencing, is now in great demand for cotton-mill spindles. Such instances may be indefinitely multi- plied. We have in India unlimited resources for cabinet-making, for the manufacture of matches and paper, and for numerous other wood-using industries. Enterprise and time will soon show us how to employ them. VI. A mixture of species tends to increase the production of minor produce, such as seeds, fodder, flowers, bark, leaves and fruit jor tanning and dyeing, §c.—As a rule, it is the young tender leaves of trees that are used as fodder for cattle. Now in a mixed forest the various trees bring out their new foliage at different periods of the year, so that a more continuous supply of fodder is thereby assured. Moreover, in such a forest, some of the species, being of a low habit, or not being valued for their wood except as fuel, can often be lopped without any appreciable detriment to the standing growth, and must even frequently be so lopped for the improvement of the stock. Nay, individuals of the more valuable species themselves must very often be cut out or lopped in order to favour the development of the rest of the crop. Most trees and shrubs yielding dyes, material for tanning, &c., unless specially cultivated, cannot grow gregariously and form pure crops. And go on. VII. Many kinds of trees are less liable to damage in mixed than in pure forest from storms, fire, frost, drifting or superincum- bent snow, hide-bending, insects, game, cattle, fungi, and diseases in general.—In company with a deep-rooted species, another with superficial roots is able to resist storms almost as well as the for- mer. Even superficially-rooted species protect one another when mixed, by reason of the denser leaf-canopy and closer growth they then form than when growing pure. For the same reason the chances and destructiveness of fire are diminished in a mixed for- est. This is especially the case in crops of mixed conifers and broad-leaved species as compared with those of conifers alone. In forests containing conifers, an admixture of broad-leaved trees, the crowns of which are larger and composed of more numerous, stouter, less horizontal, and generally also more elastic branches, PURE versus MIXED CROPS. 113 and the roots of which are stronger and better ramified, affords very great protection to the former against damage by snow and wind. Then, again, as insects often attack only sickly trees (which are relatively not numerous in mixed forests), and not unfrequently confine their depredations, when they do attack healthy individuals as well, toa single or only a few species, their ravages are natur- ally not so extensive in mixed as in pure forest. And if the forests in question contain conifers, the companionship of broad-leaved trees is specially beneficial in that the numbers of the natural enemies of insects (birds, rodents, &c.) are generally increased by their presence. Again species, which in early youth are delicate, find much more protection against frost, drought, &c., in a mixed than in a pure forest. Another beneficial effect of mixture is, that it contributes very materially towards the diminution of diseases, of which the attacks of fungi are either the symptom or direct cause. Lastly, trees, the leaves of which are eaten by cattle or deer, run less risk of being browsed down when they grow here and there mixed with other species than when they all stand to- gether as they do in pure forests. VIII. The relative suitability of the soil and locality for our various species is most easily recognised when they are growing to~ gether, so that the forester has then no difficulty in ascertaining at once, and with certainty, what species he should grow or favour in any given soil or locality—This advantage is especially emphasized in a new country like India, where so little is yet known of the habits and requirements of even our principal species, and it becomes most conspicuous when sowings or plantations on a large scale are to be made. Mistakes committed in executing the various forest operations can be detected much more easily in mixed than in pure crops, and generally, if not always, early enough to prevent any serious or further damage. IX. When a forest is regenerated naturally, its regeneration is better assured. if it is mixed.—Seeds of one species or another are sure to be produced in less or greater abundance every year all. over the forest. A great number of these must germinate, and, whenever sufficient light reaches the ground and other conditions are favourable, a large proportion of the seedlings thus produced must establish themselves. Moreover, as the seeds of different species germinate with different degrees of facility and require different degrees of heat and soaking, it is certain that, whatever the character of the season of vegetation may be, some seedling s cannot fail to be produced every year. Thus in mixed forest re- 114 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. generation is continually going on with more or less vigour, and success depends to a less degree on the forester’s care and skill. It does not, however, follow that in the new generation each spe- cies is represented to an extent proprotionate to its relative value or desirability. X. Ina mixed crop mistakes are generally less fatal in their con- sequences and usually correct themselves, or are corrected by the Jorester, more easily than in a pure crop—lIn the case of overfel- ling or the excessive opening out of the leaf-canopy, the presence of trees of various habits and requirements is the best guarantee we can have for the early restoration of the leaf-canopy or forest, as will be evident from the considerations developed under preced~ ing heads II, VII, VIII, and IX. The beneficial effect of this on the soil is in every case real and unquestionable, but, as regards the composition of the crop where nature is unaided, we have no assurance that the canopy or forest will not be mainly reformed by the less valuable and even undesirable species at the expense of the more valuable ones, AL, Mining species in a forest economises labour and time and facilitates work and supervision—Given a certain definite area of forest and certain species to be grown there. If these species are raised pure, they will of course have to ocoupy as many distinct sec- tions of the area ;so that if an annual supply of the wood of each species were required, a portion of every section would have to be worked each year, thus creating so many independent centres of work. Butif all these species were intermixed, the same result would be obtained by working at only a single point each year, and then the whole area need be divided only into a single series of coupes of convenient extent, instead of into innumerable small patches very difficult to look after and work, because those taken in hand in any given year are necessarily scattered here and there, without any definite order, all over the forest, AIT, A mixture of species contributes in various ways towards equalising the length of the rotation required by our various species— A species that protects the soil very imperfectly after a certain comparatively early age has been reached, must, if growing pure, allow it ta deteriorate, unless the crop is at once cut and regenerat~ ed; otherwise the soil, deteriorating on account of the imperfect leaf-canopy, must necessarily react on the species, and thus weaken and arrest its growth, and induce premature decay. A soil-im- proving species, on the other hand, even if growing pure, will never PURE versus MIXED CROPS. 115 fail to attain the finest growth of which it is capable on the given soil, which it will perforce gradually render more and more suit- able for itself. Now mix both species together, and thanks to the improvement of the soil effected by the lattter, and to the denser leaf-canopy and the maintenance of favourable influences due to the mixed growth, the longevity of the first must obviously be en- hanced. XIII. By a mixture of species a forest ts generally able to yield marketable produce at an earlier age than if it consisted of pure crops.—The reason is obvious. The trees, thriving better, often acquire, in spite of the closer growth, a given size at a younger stage of development. But, what is more to the point, as the stems in a mixed forest are more numerous, the first series of exploitations to check and control the struggle for existence become necessary much earlier, especially if the less valuable species are the fastest- growers. Besides this, in a mixed forest, owing to the different habits of the trees and their different requirements as to light, not only does a given number of stems form a denser leaf-canopy than in a pure forest, but a gap made in that canopy is sooner filled up; so that, with no heavier stock on the ground, the first cutting ean generally be made earlier there. ALIV. Mixed forests, as a rule, yield a larger revenue than pure forests, provided of course that the component apecies are all market able.—This follows directly from all the preceding considerations. AV. A mixture of species gives greater elasticity to the work- ing and treatment of a forest.—Yielding a great variety of pro- ducts, a mixed forest can be worked in almost any condition of the market. Containing various species, and thus composed of indi- viduals possessing various capabilities, it may be adapted at once to more than one method of treatment, or, at any rate, allow of the rotation, the method of treatment, and even the régime, being changed without difficulty or loss of time, On the other hand, when there is only a single species in the crop, the lines on which work must be carried on are necessarily every inelastic, and every thing must be done with a more or less mechanical regularity, little scope being left for altering the system of management from time to time in order to suit the ever-changing conditions of the country or the market, AVI. A mized forest will, unless the soil suits only a single spe- cies, invariably afford better protection against erosion, landslips, ava- lanches, hot or cold or violent winds, §c., than a pure forest growing under identical conditions—We have already seen that in mixed 116 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. forests the leaf-canopy is denser, the number of stems larger, the mass of roots in the soil thicker and closer and the individual trees themselves more resisting : hence the fact enunciated at the head of this paragraph. XVII. Mized forest generally adorns the country more and is also more attractive than pure forest, and thus influences beneficially the physical, esthetic, moral, and mental development of the people.— This advantage is not to be despised, and is by no means of slight importance in its effects on the genius of a people. The finest poetry has had its inspiration from the forest. The manliest and hardiest portion of a nation is generally that which inhabits the interior or the borders of forests. The beneficial influence of forests is seen in the universally admitted necessity of people’s parks, &c. in civilised communities. Having enumerated the various advantages offered by a mixture of species, we will now briefly enquire in what respects, if any, and to what extent a pure crop is to be preferred. In the first place, the treatment and management of a pure forest are simpler, since in it we have to study and satisfy the habits and requirements of only a single species. This greater simplicity is more particularly apparent in the raising and exploi- tation of the component crops, the successful accomplishment of which operations, on that account, makes less demand on the ex- perience, skill, judgment and resource of the forester than when mixed crops have to be dealt with. This is doubtless a very great ad- vantage in a backward country like India, where for many years yet, until no more than the principal species have been thoroughly studied and a large, qualified establishment has been organised, rule of thumb must be largely followed. But it is not to be construed into a universal reason for invariably and deliberately converting every existing mixed forest into a pure forest, and it can do no more than serve as a plea for not being in too great a hurry to introduce a mixture into an existing pure forest without some strong justi- fication. In the second place, when there is only a single species the wood of which is marketable, as unfortunately happens, for the present at least, in the case of only too many of our forests, a pure forest of that species, if it can be raised or is ready to hand, is very desirable ; otherwise, except with the aid of special operations, always diffi- cult and often prohibitory from the point of view of cost, that species must either disappear altogether or be ultimately reduced to a few wretched unexploitable individuals. This consideration is a COMPOSITION OF FORESTS GROWN EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE MARKET. 117 much stronger plea for pure forests than that discussed in the pre- ceding paragraph, but here also, as in that case, the possibility of. creating or maintaining a pure forest, without any risk of some strong countervailing disadvantage or disadvantages, must be previously established. SECTION ITI. Compbsition of forests grown exclusively for the market. In raising and cultivating such forests, the main object to secure is to obtain the maximum and most useful production of which the soil and climate combined are capable. To obtain the maximum production alone the following condi- tions must co-exist :— (i) The forests must be composed of the most suitable species for the given soil and climate——Both these elements usually vary from place to place and often even from point to point, and the species must of course vary accordingly, since there is no single one that will grow equally well under constantly changing conditions of soil and climate. Hence unfailing advantage in a mizture of species, save perhaps in the very exceptional case of the more or less perfect uniformity of both these factors of vegetation. (ii) The forests should consist of the greatest number of stems possible at any given stage of growth compatible with the healthy and profitable expansion of the trees.—This is secured by constantly maintaining as complete a leaf-canopy as possible—a result, as shown under Advantages I, II and III of a mixture of species (pp. 109—110), best attained by means of a miature of species pos- sessing different habits, different requirements as to soil, situation and aspect, and a different ramification and spread of roots, besides making different rates of growth, and reaching different statures, (iii) The trees should attain the greatest length of bole possible under the given conditions of soil and climate.—This end also, as ex- plained under advantage II and II] (pp. 109—110), is best se- cured by a mixture of species, thanks to which the trees attain va~- rious heights, their crowns press up one against another, and the depth of the leaf-canopy is always maintained at its maximum, the result being forcing in height and rapid elongation of the boles up to the maximum limit possible for each species. (iv) We must have continued improvement of the soil until its maximum fertility is reached, and constant maintenance of that maximum thereafter-—To secure this end we must. have— 118 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. a. An abundant annual production of foliage yielding a rich humus.— When several species grow together, they form not only a denser but a deeper mass of continuous foliage, the obvious conse- quence being a more abundant production of leaves, area for area, than if the forest were pure. Besides this, we know that some trees produce more foliage than others, e.g., sal and Terminalia tomen- tosa than teak; in the hills, the oaks, deodar, and the firs than Pinus longifolia; and so on; and that the leaves of some degompose more easily and form a richer humus than those of others, Ter- minalia tomentosa and sal, for instance, being better in this respect than teak, and the oaks than Pinus longifolia or any other conifer, and so on. Hence with a mixture of species there is always a better chance of the soil being continually enriched by the decomposing leaves. 6. The, as much aé possible, constant maintenance of a complete leaf-canopy.—This would protect the soil, including its covering of dead leaves (1) from erosion and breaking away; (2) from the sun’s rays, which would dry up the soil rapidly and hinder the formation of humus; (3) from winds, which would blow away the covering of dead leaves, besides accelerating the evaporation of moisture from the soil; (4) from the action of directly falling rain, which would wash away the surface-soil and covering of dead leaves and humus, besides carrying away in abundance from the soil soluble substan- ces fit for plant food; (5) from being over-run with weeds, which would be an obstacle to reproduction, and would ¢hoke out, or at least keep back, advance growth; and (6), to a certain eatent, from fire, which would burn less fiercely if the soil and covering layer of vegetable débris were kept moist as much and as long as possible, and the production of a strong draught of wind, in case a conflagra- tion occurred, were impeded. All these various objects would be most completely attained by means of a mixture of several species. If the species composing a forest are all, or most of them, deciduous, some of them, at any rate, are sure, or at least very likely, to be in leaf while the others are still bare, and thus a green canopy (imper- fect it may be, but nevertheless a green canopy) will be secured during as many months of the year as possible; whereas, when there is only a single species, and that a deciduous one, the whole forest may be leafless for a considerable time, and the soil complete- ly exposed to injurious weather influences and liable to run wild with weeds. ce. Prevention of fire, which would, besides destroying all the organic matter in the topsoil, bake its surface hard. As shown COMPOSITION OF FORESTS GROWN EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE MARKET. 119 under Advantage VII, p. 113, a mixture of species diminishes the chances and the destructiveness of forest conflagrations. (v) The forest must be rendered as safe as possible against storms, fires, insects, hide-binding, snow and other causes of destruction or malformation of the trees.—It has already been explained under Ad- vantage VII, p. 111, that this end is better secured in a mixed than in a pure crop. (vi) Besides wood, the forest should also yield fodder, fruit, and other minor produce, which would generally be furnished in great- est abundance by a mixed growth, as shown under Advantage VI, page 112. In order to secure, besides the maximum production, also the most useful produce of which the soil and climate combined are capable, the following additional conditions must exist simultaneous- ly with all the preceding:— (vii) The forest should be composed only of marketable species, the largest proportion possible, if the forest is mixed, being assigned to the most valuable (principal) species, consistent with the realisation of all the other conditions—The necessity of this condition is ob- vious. The question of purity or mixture will depend exclusively on extraneous circumstances, such as the adaptability of the soil for one or more species, the limitation of the demand to a single spe- cies or not, &e. (viii) The forest should, if possible, consist of a mixture of species.—Mixed forests yield more varied and, therefore, more widely useful produce. Different industries require different de- scriptions of wood and other forest products, and our aim ought to be to satisfy all present and possible future requirements with the least amount of delay, inconvenience and expense to the State and to the people, and of departmental disorganisation and sudden dis- location of routine. A judicious mixture of species, whenever it is feasible, is the surest means to this end. (ix) The trees should, unless curved timber were specially re- quired, be as long and as straight and clean-boled as possible. —This end is generally best attained by a mixture of species whereby, as explained under Advantages II and III, pp. 109-110, the closer and more vigorous growth results in the formation of long, well- shaped and straight-fibred timber. (x) The wood produced should be as sound as possible-—In the discussion of Advantage VII, p. 112, we have already seen that in order to secure this object a mixture of species is, in nearly every case, to be preferred. 120 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. SECTION. III Composition of forests grown exclusively or principally for purposes of protection. In such forests we require in an essential manner the most effective living vegetable covering or barrier ; and, if in addition to this, we also obtain, wherever possible, a large and useful pro- duction, so much the better. To secure the first object, we must have the following condi- tions :— (i) The forest should be composed of the most suitable species for the given soil and climate :—This is the first condition discussed in the preceding Section. (ii) The forest should consist of the greatest number of stems possible at any given stage of growth:—This too has been already discussed in the preceding Section as Condition (ii). (iii) The leaf-canopy should be as full and as deep and near the ground as possible—This end will be attained by a mixture of various ages, and still better by a mixture of ages and species. (iv) We must have continued protection and improvement of the soil until its maximum fertility is reached, and thenceforward the constant maintenance of that maximum.—This condition also has been fully considered under the same number in the preceding Section. (v) The trees should afford each other mutual security against all extraneous accidents——This is only a slightly modified form of Condition (v) of the preceding Section. Ifin addition to the above conditions, the trees acquire the greatest length of bole attainable (Condition iii of preceding Sec- tion), are all marketable (Condition vii of preceding Section), yield minor produce besides wood (Condition vi of preceding Sec- tion), furnish long, clean and well-shaped timber (Condition ix of preceding Section) and belong to various species (Condition viii of preceding Section) the forest, besides fulfilling in the most com- plete manner its special and original réle of affording protection, will also furnish a large quantity of useful produce. SECTION IV. Composition of forests grown in conjunction with field crops. The combination may take place in two ways thus :—(A) a field crop raised as soon as the forest has been cut back for coppice (the dhaya system of cultivation as it has been practised from times COMPOSITION OF FORESTS GROWN IN CONJUNCTION WITH FIELD CROPS. 121 immemorial) ; and (B) one or more field crops raised after the exploitation of high forest, the new forest crop being sown or planted either simultaneously with the field crop or immediately after it has been reaped (the Departmental system of toungya in Burmah). A. Where a field crop is raised as soon as the forest has been cut back for coppice, the component species should, in the interests of that crop, satisfy the following conditions ;— (i) The trees should not be eapable of producing suckers. (ii) They should be able to grow up freely from the stool. Gii) They should be deep-rooted, so as to leave the top layer of the soil available as much as possible for the field crop. (iv) They should not have too dense a root-apparatus. (v) Their leaves should decompose easily and form a good humus. (vi) Their cover should not be too dense, if standards are re- quired to afford shelter to the field crop. (vii) The individuals composing the forest should not be too close together, otherwise the coppice will be too thick for the pros- perous growth of the field crop. Hence a pure forest will generally be better than a mixed one. B. If the high forest régime is to be adopted and one or more field crops are to be raised immediately after the forest has been cleared, the component species should, in the interests of the field crop, satisfy the following conditions :— G) The trees should not be capable of producing suckers. (ii) Their leaves should decompose easily and form a good humus. (iii) They should be hardy enough to do without shelter. (iv) The young forest crop should be able to grow up rapidly, so as not to allow the soil to deteriorate under too long exposure. (v) The species used should be capable of being raised artifici- ally with ease. Provided the five preceding conditions are satisfied, the forest should be so constituted as to yield the largest and most valuable outturn just as in the case of forests grown exclusively for the market. 122 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. SECTION V. Composition of forest growth on pasture lands and in deer preserves. Inalmost every climate, and most conspicuously so in dry climates, grass not only grows up more abundantly but also comes up earlier on wooded than on perfectly open land. Indeed in the plains of India a crop of new grass will often come up in the midst of forest growth before any rain falls, if the summer rains have been de- layed, and inthe Dehra Dun green grass may be found in the forests even in the height of the hot season in April-May. The best trees to have in pasture lands and deer preserves are ever- greens or those which are nearly evergreen, as then the quantity of moisture in the top layers of the soil is maintained at a maximum at all seasont of the year and the grass is protected against frosts and hot winds, which cause it to dry up. Moreover cattle and deer require shade during the heat of the day. The trees should also be such as bear flowers and fruit eaten by the animals in question. The species should also be hardy enough to resist the isolation in which they must be raised and be able to shoot up rapidly in order to get out of the reach of the animals as early as possible. Bassia latifolia is an excellent tree in all the above res- pects, Lastly, the trees should possess leaves relished by cattle or deer, as the case may be, As all the trees must vither stand isolated or, at the most, form only small clumps, it is immaterial whether only one species or several are grown, provided they satisfy the requirements enumer- ated in the preceding paragraph. SECTION VI. Composition of forests grown essentially and chiefly for ornament, The question of the composition of such forests belongs to the province of landscape gardening and trenches on the sylvicul- turist’s ground only when considerations of production and income are connected therewith. A straight, clean-boled, sound tree, the sylviculturist’s ideal, is not necessarily the handsomest tree on every or even most occasions; but there are few proprietors who can afford to neglect such considerations, and it hence results that in the great majority of cases deviations from the rules of sylvicul- ture are allowed only when they do not involve a serious loss of WHEN FORESTS MAY BE GROWN PURE. 123 production. Wherefore, while constantly aiming at the beautiful, the landscape gardener must adhere, as closely as the special cri- cumstances of each case will allow or necessitate, to the various conditions enunciated in Section II of this Chapter. SECTION VII. When forests may be grown pure. From the considerations developed in the preceding Sections of the present Chapter, it is obvious that the raising of pure forests is to be generally avoided. Under certain special circum- stances, however, forests (A) may or (B) must necesssarily be grown pure. A. It may be laid down as a general rule that a species may be cultivated by itself only when the following three conditions are realised at one and the same time :— (i) Jt should be able to form of itself a complete leaf-canopy up to an advanced age, certainly not much below that at which it becomes fully fertile ; for under no other circumstance would (a) the fertility of the soil be increased or maintained, (5) the natural pruning of the boles of the trees intended to furnish tim- ber be effected to the desired extent, and (c) the forest yield anything approaching the maximum amount of produce of which it is capable. Where regeneration is required to be effected mainly or exclusively by natural means, this condition is a sine gua non, otherwise grass and other injurious invasive vegetation would take possession of the ground as soon as the leaf-canopy began to clear itself. Exceptions to the foregoing Rule :— The preceding condition is not obligatory— (1) If the forest is exploited on a very short rotation.—During their youth all trees protect the ground well enough, since the young stems not only bear standing close together, but also pos- sess low crowns almost reaching down to the ground. Teak cop- pice furnishes a good instance of this fact : under a full crop, say of from 800 to 1,000 stems per acre, not a single blade of grass can make its appearance. A pure bamboo jungle is another excellent instance in point. (2) When the soil is such that its fertility is not impaired by a defective covering of trees—We may instance marshy land (to which the admission of sunshine and wind is, in truth, benefi- 124 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. cial), and the bottoms of many valleys, as well as many low-lying places, which always remain moist or wet in consequence of their situation, andin which the soilis always deep, rich, and free, thanks to the humus and vegetable débris continually washed down from the higher surrounding ground. Even in the case of such soils, it is desirable that the single species chosen to be raised should be as shade-enduring as possible, so as to form a more or less complete leaf-canopy. (ii) The effective factors of soil and climate should be uniformly favourable for its prosperous vegetation over amore or less extended area—Unless this area were absolutely large, the pure crop thus composed could scarcely be considered more than a mere patch of trees forming a small part of a much larger whole of truly mixed forest. (ili) The produce furnished by the given species should either be in such great demand that every square inch of the soil must be devoted to its cultivation, or possess such a high market value that the cultivation of any other species in mixture with it would result in an appreciable loss of possible revenue. The preceding three conditions would not unfrequently be re- alised in certain stretches of sal forest, in tun plantations on extremely favourable ground, &e. B. It has just been explained under what circumstances a species may be grown pure. In the following case, and only in that, there is no alternative but to raise pure forests :— When the soil ts such that no other species, whether marketable or not, will grow on it ; for example, the stretches along the Indus, which tamarisk or babul alone can occupy ; along streams at the foot of the Himalayas, where sissu or khair only will succeed ; some of the laterite tracts in Burmah, where eng is the sole tree ; and so on. CHAPTER V. CULTIVATION OF MIXED CROPS. In cultivating mixed crops we must first of all thoroughly under- stand what conditions are necessary to ensure a permanent mix- ture, for otherwise a crop raised originally as a mixed crop and intended to remain such, may eventually sooner or later become of itself transformed into a pure one. When these conditions have once been thoroughly understood, we must next know how to create and treat a mixed forest in any given case. We will now discusg these questions from a general standpoint, and conclude the Chap- ter with an enquiry into the characteristics of a good auxiliary species. SECTION I. Conditions necessary for a mixture of species. In a general manner it may be said that the possibility of obtain- ing and maintaining a mixed growth depends— 1. Onthe suitability of the soil for the more or less prosperous growth of more than one species.—Many large stretches of laterite in Burmah practically exclude the existence of other species with the eng, save in specially favourable localities. In the Central Pro- vinces certain ferruginuous soils can bear nothing but Boswellia serrata. Terminalia tomentosa occupies almost by itself patches of stiff, wet soils in the immediate vicinity of sal and teak forest. And soon. It is not enough if two or more species can simply grow in a given soil, nor is at all necessary that the soil should at every point be equally suited to all the associated species; what is want- ed is that their vegetation on it should be vigorous enough to enable them to survive in the struggle for existence with little or no ex. traneous aid on the part of the forester. The infringement of this, the first, condition, must necessarily re- sult in the originally mixed crop becoming ultimately pure, with the consequence that the forest growth must, with advancing age, become increasingly more open than if no mixture had been origi- 126 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. nally attempted, in which case a pure forest from the outset would obviously have been preferable. 2. On the suitability of the climate and locality for the more or less prosperous growth of more than one species.—This is self-evident. The expression “more or less prosperous” must be understood here in the same sense as in the discussion of the preceding condition. 8... On the ability of the mixed species jointly to maintain and im= prove the fertility of the soil—If the mixed growth were such that the soil deteriorated under it, then the proportion of some one species, the hardiest and most tenacious of the mixture, would, in the majority of cases, gradually increase to the detriment of the rest, and in time the crop would consist wholly, or almost wholly, of that species. 4. On the requirements of the several species as regards light be- ing different—All woody species require light in order even to simply remain alive, but some can endure shade better others. The ability of a plant to endure shade is usually proportionate to the density and shape (spread and depth) of its crown, as well as to the height of the latter above the ground. If all the associated species possessed the same requirements as to light, the mixture would be no better than a pure forest, and, unless the species in question were extremely shade-enduring, the ultimate condition of the leaf- canopy would become more or less unsatisfactory. 5. On the relative hardihood of the several species——The hardi- hood of the various species during their youth is vary various, and depends in a great measure on the character of the locality and soil in any given case, a fact that should never be forgotten by the forester. In certain localities, and in certain soils, some species cannot do without the protection against frost and drought afforded by shelter and cover, while others again, although able to grow up in the open, nevertheless thrive better when sheltered. 6. On the relative rapidity of their growth in height at various ages, especially during their youth.—Ilt is a matter of very great mo- ment whether in a mixed crop the more shade-enduring species grow up with greater, equal, or less rapidity than the rest, the im- portance of this consideration being greatest during their youth. To take only a single instance: if the crop consisted of individuals of more or less the same age or height, it ts obvious that the more rapidly growing species, provided they were also the most shade- enduring, would, as soon as they had joined crowns over the rest, kill or at least permanently throw back these latter ; while, if the CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR A MIXTURE OF SPECIES. 127 crop were quite young, these must be entirely killed out wherever the former were numerous enough. 7. On the quantity and spread of the roots of the several species.—This circumstance always possesses a considerable degree of importance. Some species will always develop a larger mass of roots and rootlets than others. The main roots of some will work their way on horizontally, while those of others will, for the most part, run along through the ground obliquely, and sometimes (as in the well-known instances of sal and jand) even vertically, being thus able to draw nourishment from the deeper layers of the soil. The roots and rootlets of some species are invasive, while those of others, especially while in the seedling stage, wither away in too close contact with the same organs of another species with which they may be growing. These various characteristics and require- ments of the roots of the several species intended for association should be thoroughly considered and allowed for. 8. In the majority of instances, on the presence of different-aged. individuals—This point has been explained in sufficient detail under the head of “General Remarks” on pages 83 and 93. 9. On the characteristic form of the crop and its mode of origin or regeneration—As regards its form, a crop may consist of only a single story of growth or of two or more stories one above the other ; or it may consist of a single story with an occasional higher tier here and there, or with no individual stems so much more advanced than all their neighbours as to stand in a distinct and isolated manner above them ; and so on. For instance, it is easy to understand that certain species may be able to grow in com- pany with certain others only on the condition that after a certain early age they have their crowns completely exposed overhead and more or less free laterally. Then again, the mode of origin will obviously influence very considerably the permanence or otherwise of a species. Thus, under a strictly simple coppice régime, species producing the strongest shoots or suckers must predominate to the detriment of all the rest ; under an exclusively high forest régime, the earliest and most profusely seeding species may get the upper hand of every other ; and so on. To sum up what pre- cedes, the form of the crop and the mode of raising or regenerat- ing it should always be so chosen as to suit the mixture in the particular case in question. 10. On the relative tenacity of the species to be mized.—This is too self-evident to require explanation. 128 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. SECTION II. General rules for growing mixed crops. We may now lay down the following general rules to be observ- ed in growing mixed crops :— I. The predominant species, whether there be several or only one, ought to be soil-improvers.—If the principal species is itself a soil-improver, then the more it predominates, up to the limit at which the crop would become pure, the better in almost every case. But if it is shade-avoiding, then from the time it ceases to form of itself a complete canopy, the auxiliary species ought to predominate to the extent of filling up all the intervals left be- tween the crowns of individuals of the former. Of course the best way in which this predominance could have effect would be if the an auxiliary species constituted a complete understory of growth so as to leave the crowns of the more valuable trees as free as possible to get the full benefit of the sunlight. When the principal spe- cies is a conifer, howmuchsoever shade-enduring it may be, we have a slight modification of the general case owing to the peculiar nature of the leaves of that family of trees, they being, in fact, strongly fibrous and resinous and hence decomposing slowly and forming a bad humus. On this account, in conifer forests it is always desirable to have as complete an understory of broad-leaved auxiliary species as possible, quite irrespective of the proportion of coniferous individuals present. "IL Shade-enduring species may be intermixed, if they enjoy the same rate of growth in height, or if the slower growers can be pro- tected against the more rapid growers either— (a) By introducing them artificiably a certain numbers of years in advance of the latter ; or ' (b) By their being able to produce an abundant advance growth under the old standing crop, while the more rapid growers can be reproduced naturally in adequate numbers only by means of special regeneration fellings made a sufficiently long time after to give the former the necessary start ; or ‘ (¢) By growing them in sufficiently predominant numbers 3 or (d) By cutting down or topping or pruning and lopping taller or otherwise invasive individuals-of the other species. ‘LIL. A shade-enduring (in other words, dense-crowned ') species may be intermined with a shade-avoiding (in other words, spare- crowned) species, when this latter grows more rapidly or is given a sufficient start ahead of the other—The start must, of course, he GENERAL RULES FOR GROWING MIXED CROPS. 129 sufficient to prevent its being ever outstripped and thereby over- topped. IV. Shade-avoiding species ought not to be intermixed by them- selves in any permanent manner :—For in crops so composed the soil is not only bound to degenerate (violation of Rule 1), but the slower growers must inevitably. be suppressed by the rest. Exceptions to this Rule :— (1) Ona fertile soil, which a spare or interrupted leaf-canopy cannot hurt, a mixed growth may consist of shade-avoiding species. These must, however, be selected on account of their greatly supe- rior value. (2) On very poor soils, such as those on which the Boswellia serrata, &c., thrive, other shade-avoiding species, provided they are sufficiently valuable, such as teak, &c., may be mixed with the for- mer. This mixture is often not only justifiable but also necessary. For instance, in many forests consisting chiefly of Boswellia, the teak has no other nurse to protect it against frosts. V. The various species should be thoroughly intermixed, no one species forming in any place a distinct group in the midst of the re- maining growth.—lf the species in question have dense crowns, such a group would hurt with its heavy shade neighbouring trees of other species, without helping them to any appreciable extent in clearing their boles; while if they possess spare crowns, the soil un- der them must inevitably deteriorate. Besides this, unless the trees in the group and those forming the surrounding growth possessed the same requirements as to light, the stems standing along-the edge of the group would grow unequally, putting on more wood on one side than on the other, and would thus, owing to irregular shrinkage and expansion and consequent liability to warp- ing and even splitting, be ill-adapted for boards and scantlings of ‘the better descriptions. Moreover, since, as has been already shown above (Advantage IX, p. 113-4), a mixture of several species fact- litates the natural regeneration of a forest, the existence of pure groups here and there throughout the forest increases the senealy of its natural regeneration. Exceptions to this Rule :— (1) When the fertility of the soil varies so that we have well- defined patches of distinctly different degrees of fertility, there is no alternative but to allow each patch to be stocked with the species, ‘be it one or several, best suited to it. 130 COMPOSITION OF FOREST CROPS. (2) When a shade-avoiding species has to be cultivated side by side with a more rapidly growing and particularly dense-crowned species, there is similarly no alternative. (8) Certain individuals, generally of the most valuable species, are sometimes preserved, when the rest of the crop is felled, in or- der to allow them to acquire larger dimensions. These must in- evitably inflict some injury, by the cover of their crowns, on the succeeding new generation, But the mischief can evidently be minimised by selecting them standing in groups of greater or less extent, SECTION III. Characteristics of an auxiliary species. The meaning of the expression “auxiliary species” has been al-~ ready explained in Definition 51 on page 7, But after what has been considered in the foregoing sections, we are now in a position to lay down more strictly the full connotation of that term. An auxiliary species must fulfil the following essential condi- tions ;— 1, Jt, must become readily marketable as soon as it has reached the pole stage.—Until this stage of growth has been attained, every indiyidual tree and shrub in a crop, by its struggle for existence with its neighbours, contributes towards the favourable develop- ment of the crop. “Thenceforth a tree here and a tree there begins to hamper the free growth of, or threatens to suppress, others more valuable than itself and must, therefore, be removed at once. Un- _less the stems so removed are collectively readily marketable, and their sale-value is at least aufficient to cover cost of felling and ex- port, it is evident that the unproductive nature of the operation in question would, in the majority of instances, prohibit its ever be- ing undertaken at the right moment, 2. It must be a soil-improver.—This condition is obvious, if the other species in the crop are shade-avoiding, and, therefore, spare- crowned ; and it is equally obvious that, if ahese latter species are shade-enduring and hence dense-crowned, their auxiliary must, unless it is ultimately to be completely driven out of the crop, also be dense-crowned, and thus necessarily a soil-improver. 3. As a consequence of the immediately preceding condition, it must also be shade-enduring.—To be dense-crowned is to be shade- enduring. CHARACTERISTICS OF 4N AUXILIARY SPECIES. 131 4. It must be able to thrive in the same soil as the principal species,—This is a truism. 5. It must possess a different ramification of branches and roots from that of the principal species. In other words, it ought to be able at once to occupy or fill up space in the soil and in the leaf- canopy, which the principal species cannot profitably utilise ; and it must be able to do this without tending to invade or strangle the crowns and root-apparatus of the latter. €. Its stature must not be less than the minimum length of bole demanded from the principal species——In no other way, save very exceptionally, could this length of bole be produced, and, at the same time, the leaf-canopy maintained in a complete state. 7. If natural regeneration by seed is sought, the auxiliary species should be able to reproduce itself spontaneously and readily by seed from a few seed-bearers only ; and if the regeneration is to be effected artificially, its propagation by means of sowing or planting, or both, ought to be easy and inexpensive. In coppices the auxiliary species should be able to coppice vigorously beyond the close of the longest pos- sible rotation, but it should not be able to produce abundant suckers.— It stands to reason that as a crop ages, the relative proportion of the most valuable and hence principal species ought to be increased to the farthest limit compatible with their favourable growth. Hence we must be able to effect the natural regeneration by seed of the auxiliary species with the help of as few individuals of it as pos- sible, In the case of coppices the auxiliary species should not be- come invasive by a too abundant production of root-suckers. 8. Its longevity ought to be at least equal to the term required for the trees of the principal species to attain their full length of bole— Otherwise after the death of the trees of the auxiliary species, none could be produced for years to take their place, and in the meantime the absence of companions tq help in drawing them up and in pruning their boles naturally would affect detrimentally the longitudinal growth of the trees of the principal species. The preceding is a complete enumeration of the essential charac- teristics of an auxiliary species ; it remains now briefly to mention the non-essential, though still useful and desirable, characters of the same, They are— lL. Rate of upward growth, until the high-pole stage is reached, somewhat slower than that of the principal species.—In other words, it is desirable that, provided the auxiliary species is not required as a nurse, it should at no stage of growth be able to rise up ona 132 CHARACTERISTICS OF AN AUXILIARY SPECIES.: level with, much less to overtop, the principal species. 2. A hardy constétution—Young individuals of the auxiliary species should be able to stand a certain appreciable degree of ‘exposure. 3. Longevity not inferior to the rotation applicable to the princi- pal species—This is the best guarantee for the successful natural reproduction of the auxiliary species, for the presence of a sufficient number of seed-bearing individuals of it, when the crop comes under .regenération just before being felled, is thereby assured. 4, Ability to shoot up again readily after repeated cutting back or topping of—Many an individual of the principal species has to be saved from suppression by faster growing individuals of the auxi- liary class, and this can be done only by keeping these latter down, for a time at least, by cutting them back or topping them, as the case may require, once or more frequently. 5. Persistence of foliage during as many months of the year as possible, combined, of course, with a lower stature (Essential Condi- tion 6), and slower rate of upward growth (Useful and Desirable Character 1).—This will add to the effectiveness of the auxiliary species both asa soil-improver and as a nurse for any advance growth that may come up. 6. Accommodating nature as regards soil and situation The possession of this quality must materially facilitate the culture of the auxiliary species in the general interests of the entire crop. BOOK II. THE CREATION AND REGENERATION OF FORESTS. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS. 1 AccurTine is a severed branch or portion of a branch or stem, that is partially or entirely put into the ground, where it then strikes root. 2. A LAYER is also a branch or portion of a branch or stem, which is, however, first placed in contact with soil at some point below the growing extremity, and is not severed from the parent plant until after it has taken root. 3. To TRANSPLANT means simply to remove a plant from any one point to any other, and the plant so removed, or taken out of the ground to be so removed, is termed a TRANSPLANT. A transplant may hence be either a seedling, a rooted slip, a layer, a sucker or a rhizome with or without its culm. 4. As said before (Definition 46, page 6),a forest may be created or regenerated either artificially or naturally or both arti- ficially and naturally. When natural means-alone are employed, the resulting crop will be composed of untransplanted seedlings sprung from self-sown seeds or of coppice shoots or of both. 5. When artificial means are resorted to, the propagation is effected either by direct sowing or by planting. In DirEcr sowIye, as the term implies, the seed is placed in the ground in the forest itself which is to be created or regenerated, and at the point itself which the seedling is intended finally to occupy. The meaning of the term “planting” is too obvious to require a formal definition. In planting we are strictly speaking limited to the use of transplants alone, but the term is also applied to the putting down of unrooted cuttings. 6. A YEARLING is any plant that is less than two years old. 7. A PLANTATION is, strictly speaking, a forest composed ex- clusively of transplants, but the term is also commonly used both in official and forester’s language, to denote a forest raised by direct sowing. This ambiguity, which is very much to be deplored, cannot now be remedied ; but, when a distinction is necessary the term DIRECT SOWING may be employed to denote that the plantation in ques- tion has been raised from seeds sown in situ. 134 PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS. 8. A NURSERY is any area specially used for the raising of trans- plants. A nursery may be maintained or intended to be main- tained year after year in a continuous manner, or it may be kept up fora limited number of years until a certain definite and limit- ed amount of planting has been accomplished, when it is aban- doned altogether. Nurseries may accordingly be either PERMANENT or TEMPORARY. 9. To scHoon a plant isto prepare it for use by means ofa course of training in a nursery. A SCHOOLED transplant is thus one that has been prepared in a nursery, while an UNSCHOOLED trans- plant is one that has not been so prepared. 10. The term LIFTING or LIFTING UP will be used to denote the operation of taking a plant out of the ground preliminary to trans- planting it. 11. To prick out a plant is to remove it from wherever it stands, whether in a nursery or not, and put it down again at any point inside a nursery ; while ro puT ouT a transplant means to place it in the ground zn the forest at the point itself which it is finally to occupy. To prick out and to put out are thus only two special cases of transplanting. 12. To UNDERPLANT is to plant under an existing taller crop. 13. A SEEDBED is any cultivated portion of a nursery in which plants are raised from seed sown zn situ. Before transplants are put out, they are often removed from the seedbeds and pricked out in regular lines, such lines being termed NURSERY-LINES. 14. To Graft is so to apply a portion of one woody plant (the “GRAFT or SCION) to another woody plant (the stock) that, asa consequence of the operation, an intimate union between the cambium and the living woody and cortical tissue on each side of the cambium takes place and the scion becomes an organic portion of the stock. ‘This union is effected by the production of an intermediate connecting paren- chymatous tissue between the contiguous surfaces of the stock and the scion, Bopvine is the special method of grafting, in which the scion consists only of a bud and of a strip of bark to which the bud is attached. CHAPTER IT. NURSERIES- Whatever method we adopt for the creation or regeneration of a forest deserving of the name, the establishment of a nursery is indispensable. If planting is resorted to, the necessity of a nur- sery in which to raise the transplants is obvious. If other methods are employed, then however successful natural regeneration may have been, or however conscientious or skilful the care and precau- tions taken in executing direct sowings, there will always be spots of less or greater magnitude in which seedlings will die off or refuse to come up, or in which stools will be unproductive, or in which a given valuable species will be absent or insufficiegtly represented, in which, in short, the early establishment of plants of a certain species and of a given size and vigour will be urgently required. In all these cases a nursery must be at hand from which a supply of such plants is immediately available. In a nursery all the plants receive individual attention, and it is there alone that they can be. raised under the most favourable conditions possible for any re- quired purpose. How to establish a nursery is, therefore, the first question that requires to be answered. Besides this, from the point of view of the student himself, it is undoubtedly preferable first of all to study the production and early growth of forest trees under the conditions obtaining in a nursery, where those conditions are completely under our control and may be made as favourable as possible for the purpose in hand, before passing on to the study of their production and early development under the abnormal conditions obtaining in a forest, which condi- tions it is notin our power to regulate or modify except to a comparatively slight extent. This being so, we will (1) enquire into the characters which constitute a good transplant, (2) distinguish between permanent and temporary nurseries, (3) formulate general -directions ' with regard to the collection, storage and testing of seeds, (4) give a short account of the principal manures suitable for forest purposes, and (5) describe how to establish and maintain nurseries of either class. 136 NURSERIES. SECTION I. Properties of good transplants in general. Before we can undertake to establish a nursery we must first of all know, as far as it is possible to do so, what description of planting material to raise, that is to say, what kind of transplant will succeed best in any given case. But as regards the species and the age, size and special quality of the plants required—points of very great moment and often demanding exceptionally accurate perception and judgment—they are completely determined for the nurseryman by the forester working out in the forests, and they will be found discussed in their proper place further on. The nur- seryman need only be able to recognise a good transplant by its general appearance, so that he may know what to do in order to raise such plants and how to select those he has to send out. It is evident that for different kinds of work different qualities of seedlings are required, qualities depending on the species, age, soil, climate, locality, & : but there are certain general characters which all planting material must possess, and these combined gene- ral characters constitute what may be termed vigour, In its nor- mal state every species has at each stage of growth a different habit, ze. a general arrangement and shape of root-apparatus, stem and crown peculiar to itself. This limitation being borne in mind, a vigorous seedling will be recognised by (i) its form and proportionate development approaching the normal habit of the species, (ii) a full root-apparatus, and (iii) a healthy crown. (i), Form AND PROPORTIONATE DEVELOPMENT,—The form of the seedling should approach as nearly as possible the form of the normal seedling of the given species, the development of each part being proportionate to the development of every other part, For instance, the stem should not he abnormally thin for the height of the seedling or the fulness of the crown, the crown should not be abnormally small for the thickness of the stem, and so on, Whenever there is any want of just proportion (and this will gene- rally be found to be the case, since the normal state will rarely be attained), it is better that the extent of the roots should predomi- nate over every other part, and the lateral spread of the crown over the height of the plant or the thickness of stem. (ii) A FULL RoOT-APPARATUS—This expression is of course a very comparative one, for the fulness of the root-apparatus in any case will evidently depend on the age of the seedling in question and the species to which it belongs, For instance all yearlings agree PROPERTIES OF GOOD TRANSPLANTS. 137 more or less in possessing chiefly a tap-root with only a few root- fibres and root-hairs. Again, in the case of teak, the expression in question must be taken to mean simply the main tap-root with a few spare rootlets and root-fibres, whereas in other cases it may mean a dense mass of rootlets and root-fibres with a relatively small tap-root ; and between these extremes there will be many intermediate forms. But considering any one species by itself, the more numerous the root-hairs and root-fibres which bear them are, the more vigorous will the plant be. The number of the root- hairs even if they are not produced uniformly every where, and the abundance of the little lumps of earth organically attached to them and which prove their activity. are the main points to look to. (iii) A HEALTHY CRowN.—For any given species a healthy crown is indicated by proportionately numerous vigorous leaves of the proper shade of green, numerous and full buds, and a more of less symmetrical crown of a depth equal in most cases to at least half the height of the seedling. In all the woody portions the liber and cortical parenchyma should be relatively thick, vigorous, full of sap and of a healthy green, and covered over with as little suber as possible. A thick suberous layer on thin or young parts is generally a sign of languishing growth, and a disproportionate thickness of it is usually the first step to the seedling becoming hide-bound. Seedlings possessing the characters just described are such as develop from good seed in a loose soil full of nourishment, with free room to develop on every side, and withno adverse circum- stance of any kind to produce any check in their growth. It is evident that in addition to the above qualities, which may be termed the qualities of the normal plant belonging to any species in question, the seedlings should also be such as may be planted with ease and with the least possible risk of injury to their differ- ent parts or to their general vitality. Hence the smaller the compass of the entire mass of their root-apparatus is, the higher will be the quality of the planting material, as it can then be ex- tracted from the nursery and put out into the forest with greater ease and with less liability to injury. But this character will ob- viously be subject to modification by the circumstances under which the transplanting has to be done. In judging of a given lot of planting material the amount of eare exercised in examiningit quality, and the degree of strictness with which the presence of all the preceding characters is exacted, must necessarily vary with the character of the species, some spe- 188 NURSERIES. cies recovering from injuries or regaining, after having been kept back, their full vigour more easily than others. SECTION II. Permanent and temporary nurseries compared. Whether a nursery should in any given case be permanent or tem- porary is a question that is determined entirely by considerations of convenience and expense. The nearer the nursery is to the site where planting is to take place, the better, for the transplants will then suffer less in trans- port and need not be lifted until almost the very moment they are wanted, while the cost of carriage may thereby be indefinitely diminished. Tempvrary nurseries, being intended to last only a few years, one or more can be made in immediate proximity to, or in the very middle of, each planting site of any extent, and aban- doned as soon as the work there has been completed, new ones, if necessary, being started further and further away as the planting operations progress onwards. This could not obviously be done in the case of permanent nurseries, which, as their name implies, must be in constant use for an indefinite number of years and must, therefore, serve a large area comprising near as well as remote forests. For this reason a permanent nursery is generally much larger than a temporary one. Once a nursery is established, it requires no further expenditure on the preparation of the soil, on fencing, and on the supply of means for watering it, except what is necessary for mere repairs and maintenance. The initial cost of establishment is always com- paratively heavy, but is incurred once for all ina permanent nursery so that the expenditure per year and per plant raised becomes trifling, whereasit constitutes a fresh charge each time a temporary nursery is made and is distributed over only a few years and a limited num- ber of plants. And, indeed, on this account the labour and outlay expended, in the latter class of nurseries, on the preparation of the soil and on fencing and irrigation works are generally kept down as low as possible, with the result that those of the former class yield, on the whole, planting material of much better, quality. This result is also in a great measure due to the possibility, in the case of permanent nurseries, of maintaming a more effiicient establishment, of exercising closer and more effective supervision and control, and of observing, to the desirable extent, that continui- ty of plan, method and purpose, without which success cannot al- PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY NURSERIES COMPARED. 139 ways be commanded. Another important distinction between the two classes of nur- series lies in the fact that with a permanent nursery, as it is always made on a large scale and possesses every necessary appliance, in- convenience or delay seldom occurs in meeting all ordinary fluctuations in the demand for transplants, such as are inevitable in the treatment of any forest that is under some sort of intensive management; whereas with a temporary nursery, unless only year- lings are required, a certain time must elapse before a sudden in- creased demand can be met, while if less than the estimated number of transplants are avtually used, the balance is likely to go to pure waste from becoming too old for use ata later period. Hence temporary nurseries answer only for some definite work to be ac- complished, as, for example, if so many acres are to be planted up in a given manner within so many years, &c. ; they can but seldom, if ever, meet the general wants that arise in the ordinary routine management of a forest area that is at all extensive. Thus after balancing together the advantages and disadvantages of the two classes of nurseries, there are left to the temporary class only two advantages, viz. (1) reduced cost of transport, and (2) use of the transplants almost as soon as they are lifted. And. consequently, whenever there is any doubt as to which kind of nursery should be established, before deciding in favour of a temporary one, it must first be proved, after it has been ascertain- ed that sufficiently good planting material can be raised thereby, (a) that saving on carriage exceeds the increased cost of raising the required number of transplants, and (6) that the more assured suc- cess that may be anticipated, owing to the minimised exposure of the transplants between their leaving the nursery and being finally put down, is sufficiently real and appreciable to compensate for the extra labour, expense and inconvenience entailed by the establish- ment of a new nursery or the continual change of nurseries, as the case may be. Exceptionally a temporary nursery alone can be established in mountainous regions, in which there are distinct zones of vegetation due to the prevalence of distinctly different climatic influences at different elevations. Each such zone will require a separate tem- porary nursery situated within itself. Temporary nurseries must also be used where very heavy planting work is to be executed, such work, when completed, being immediately followed by a permanent contraction of the artificial regeneration operations in consequence of natural means being more largely employed in the sequel. In 140 NURSERIES. this case, if the area is large and compact enough, a temporary nursery need not yield inferior results to a permanent one, with which, indeed, it will assimilate, in character and in the methods of establishment and maintenance, to such an extent as entirely to cease to be a temporary nursery save in the mere name. SECTION III. Collection, testing and storage of seed. This subject will be treated of under four several heads as follows :— 1. Collection, 2. Preliminary manipulation, 3. Testing, and 4, Storage. ARTICLE I. COLLECTION OF SEED. Seeds may be obtained either (1) by collecting directly, or (2) through contractors, or (3) by purchase in the market, or (4) by exchange. Owing to the backwardness of forest culture in India, the third source scarcely exists for us, and the fourth is almost as limited. This is, however, no great disadvantage, since seeds collected directly or through contractors must necessarily belong to the latest crop, and are more likely to be fertile and sounder than those obtained otherwise ; and not only this, but they can be more thoroughly tested. The best seeds are produced by middle-aged, fully fertile, healthy, vigorous trees, standing not too close together, and growing in a favourable soil and situation. Very youny trees usually furnish a large proportion of barren seeds, while very old or weakly trees yield seeds which are not only difficult to keep but also produce weak plants. Deformities in trees are often inherited, as for in- stance twisted fibre, a squat habit, &c. Twisted fibre can be easily detected in trees possessing a cracked bark or rhytidome, as the cracks follow the twist. Seeds ought to be collected only when they are completely ripe: such as are not fully ripe when taken off the tree do not possess the germinative faculty in the same degree as those collected when fully ripe, and they, moreover, lose that faculty much sooner. The ripe fruit of some species, as for instance, teak, Terminalia tomen- tosa, Pterocarpus Marsupium, sissu, &c., persist on the trees for a more or less considerable time. Such fruit one need bein no hurry COLLECTION OF SEED. 141 to haivest. But there are other species, the majority of the seeds of which, with or without the rest of the fruit, are shed as soon as, or soon after, this ripens; eg, sal, deodar, Quercus semecarpifolia and dilatata, Abies Webbiana, birch, Lagerstaemia parviflora, Schrebera swietenioides, Sc. The collection of such seeds evidently admits of no delay. Rainy weather ought, as far as possible, to be avoided for the collection of seeds, especially of such as are small, like that of Ano- geissus, birch, Adina cordifolia, Stephegyne parvifolia, §¢; but this prohibition obviously does not extend to the case of such seeds as are to be sown at orice, or, which comes to the same thing, as can~ hot under any circumstances be preserved, e.g., of sal, Quercus semecarpifolia, &¢. According to the various species and various circumistances seeds have to be collected in different ways. The fruit may (i) be care~ fully hand-picked off standing trees that are not to be allowed to suffer any injury thereby, or (ii) collected off felled trees, or (iii) be gathered from the ground after they have been shed naturally, or lastly (iv) be broken off forcibly with a hook from standing trees. (i) HanD-PICKING OFF STANDING TREES THAT ARE TO BE CARE~ FULLY PRESERVED :—This method is always the most costly of the four. Itis the only one practicable with small or light fruit thatis easi- ly blown away by the wind (such as that of Pterocarpus Marsupium, Ougeinia dalbergioides, Anogeissus, khair, sissu, Hardwickia, elms, maples, ash, &c.), or with small light seeds that escape from the ripe fruit still hanging on the tree,'such as those of deodar, silver fir, birch, Schrebera swietenioides, Pieris, &c. The seed collector, with sack slung over shoulder or round waist, must climb up into the crown of the tree. What he cannot reach directly with his hand, he must draw to within arm’s length of himself by means of a hook attached to the end of a light but strong sapling or bamboo of sufficient length. Branches and branchlets break off less easily when drawn upwards than if pulled downwards; hence it is always advisable for the collector to climb up at once to the highest point he can attain and begin by plucking off the fruit hanging at the summit of the trees. The fruit of many species is more or less articulated to the twig which bears it, and thus comes away easily ; but that of some species has to be cut or pulled off. For the latter class of fruit the use of a cutting implement, such as a pruning knife or an ordinary sickle, is to be recommended. Figure 2 represents a convenient implement, which combines a sickle-like hook (a) and asharp gouge-like edge (6) in which it terminates. If the fruit 142 COLLECTION OF SEED. cannot, under any circumstances, be reached with the hand, an implement similar to that used by mango-gatherers may be employ- ed (Fig. 3). The bag (6) receives the fruit or seeds, and prevents them from escaping or falling to the ground, while the peculiar. shaped opening (0) catches the stalk just above the fruit or bunch of fruits and breaks it off. Fig. 4 represents a modified form of the same implement; s s are fine sharp saw-edges which cut through the stalk as the man draws the implement towards himself. (ii) GATHERING OFF FELLED TREES.—Trees that are to be cut for export in the ordinary course of work often yield a consider- able supply of good seed. They should be felled or lopped im- mediately the fruit is ripe. A pruning bill or hook often facilitates very materially the collection of the fruit. This is the only method applicable to the various kinds of bamboos. (iii) GATHERING FROM THE GROUND.—The seeds that fall first are generally barren or worm-eaten; they should invariably be rejected. To this end the dead leaves and early-fallen fruit or seed should be swept away from under the selected trees. This method of collection is very economical, and is peculiarly suited for large heavy fruit that falls more or less perpendicularly, and does not break up and allow the included seed or seeds to dis- perse; e.g. those of Quercus incana, the sandalwood tree, sal, Termi- nalia Chebula aad belerica, $c. To help the fall of the seed or fruit, the branches of the trees may be shaken. (iv) PLUCKING THE FRUIT OFF FORCIBLY FROM STANDING TREES.— When trees marked to fall within a year or so are chosen as seed-bearers, it may be found inconvenient or impossible to wait, in order to collect the seeds, until the trees are felled. On account of the nature and small size of the fruit and seed, method (iii) may also be inapplicable, while () would be unnecessarily expensive, since there is no reason, in this case, for sparing the fruit-bearing branchlets and twigs. The fruit may then be broken off singly or in bunches with the aid of a strong hook, forming a sharp angle of about 30° and firmly attached to one end of a long sapling or bamboo. To enable the hook to catch the branch firm- ly, the inside edge should be sharp or serrated and slightly curved inwards. In using the implement, the hook should be passed over the fruit-bearing branchlet or twig at the point at which it is to be broken off, and then jerked sharply downwards; or if that does not suffice, it should be worked round once or twice until it firmly catches the branchlet or twig, as the case may be, when a single jerk will suffice to cut the latter through. Where small wood has no PRELIMINARY MANIPULATION OF SEEDS. 143 value, or there is no objection to thinning out the crowns of the trees, branchlets of a certain thickness may be lopped and the fruit then hand-picked from them. Some trees produce bunches of fruit, the common stalk of which dries up at maturity and easily disarticulates from the rest of the branchlet, the panicled fructifi- cation of teak being a good instance in point. The present method may be employed with such trees, both alone and also, when all the fruit, although ripening more or less simultaneously, do not all fall together, in combination with method (iii). ARTICLE 2. PRELIMINARY MANIPULATION OF THE FRUIT OR SEED. The fruit or seeds of many trees require to undergo some pre- vious manipulation before the seed is in a fit condition to be sown or stored up. Hither (a) the seeds are enclosed in a fleshy pulp, e. g., those of Dillenia, Schleichera trijuga, Artocarpus, Gmelina arborea, Diospyros, §c. ; or (b) they are included in a capsule or pod, or be- tween scales, e. g., those of Lagerstremia, Schrebera, Michelia, khair, Hardwickia, babul, Conifere, §c.; or (c) they are surrounded or provided with wings or with hairy appendages, which interfere with their uniform distribution in sowing, as well as uselessly increase their bulk and weight, e.g. the seeds of teak, of some Terminalias, Pterocarpus Marsupium, elms, maples, pines, firs, poplars, willows, &c. ; or (d) they are so full of moisture that they cannot be stored up at once without becoming heated and fermenting, e. g., the seeds of pines and firs, Anogeissus, Quercus incana, Sc. ; or (e), although as ripe asthey can ever become on the parent tree, they would germi- nate badly or after much delay if sown as soon as collected, e. 9, those of teak, Terminalia tomentosa and Arjuna, Pterocarpus Marsu- pium, babul, ash, &e. (a). SBEDS ENCLOSED IN A FLESHY PULP.—In many cases the pulp may be got rid of by allowing it to rot, and then rubbing it away or washing it off in large vats with abundance of water, the contents of the vats being well worked about with strong rods bound together broom-fashion. Edible fruit, such as that of Zizy- phus, Diospyros, Buchanania, Schleichera, §c., give no trouble ; people who live in, or close to, the forest will bring in all the seed required, in return merely for the privilege of collecting the fruit, with occassionally a trifling money remuneration added. Some kinds of fruit may also be given to goats and cattle, which eject the seed when chewing the cud, e. g. Zizyphus, Terminalia belerica 144 PRELIMINARY MANIPULATION OF SEEDS. and Chebula, Phyllanthus Emblica, Gmelina arborea, Prosopis spt- cigera, §¢. (b). SEEDS INCULDED IN A CAPSULE OR POD, OR BETWEEN SCALES.—The quickest plan to adopt, when it is practicable, is the application of heat, under the action of which the valves of the cap- sules or pods and the scales of the cones open out or disarticulate, thus setting free the enclosed seeds. In many cases simple exposure to the sun suffices ; in others, however, a higher and more sus- tained temperature is required, and then special drying-houses are necessary, in which the fruit to be treated is exposed to the direct action of air heated by steam pipes or by passage over an open fire, and. kept at the required temperature with the aid of thermo- meters. The coverings and scales are separated from the seed by raking or riddling or winnowing, according to circumstances. But the application of heat does not suffice for, or may altogether fail with, the fruit of many species, such as sissu, Hardwickia, babul, khair, &c, In that case, if the seed is tough enough, threshing in sacs or in the open, or treading with bullocks on a well-beaten level floor in the manner of the Indian agriculturist, will give good results. Some seeds, however, principally those of some legumin- ous plants, may not stand such rough treatment, viz., Hardwickia binata, sissu, &c., and, in the very rare event of the separation of such seeds from their covering being deemed indispensable, the only way to free them, as far as we know, would be to manipulate each fruit individually with the hand, (c). SEEDS WITH WINGS OR HAIRY APPENDAGES.—The wholesale removal of these appendages, except one by one with the hand, is not always possible without injury to the germinative power of the seeds; but whenever practicable, it should he effected. If the seed is hard or tough, friction ar?gentle threshing suffices to detach the appendages in question, When this is the case, a very expeditious method would he to loosely fill up large stout sacs with the seed, and to thresh these or work them violently backwards and forwards, according to the toughness of the seeds, until the appendages are detached, when they could be easily separated by the ordinary pro- cess of winnowing, Treading with cattle may sometimes be found efficacious. Threshing is necessary for seeds of Terminalia tomen- tosa and Arjuna, Pterocarpus Marsupium, &e. Treading with cattle or friction in sacs will succeed perfectly with teak, &c. With brittle or otherwise delicate seeds the following process may often be employed with good results :—They should be spread out and sprinkled over lightly with water from a pot with a fine rose, and TFSTING OF SEEDS. 145 thus moistened, they should be collected into large heaps. As soon as a gentle heat is felt on inserting the hand into a heap, the seeds should be spread out to dry. When they are again dry, the ap- pendages will be found to have disarticulated of themselves. (d). SEEDS TOO MOIST TO BE STORED UP AT ONCE.—The seeds of many species have, in order to anticipate their natural dissemina~ tion and complete dispersion, to be plucked from the parent tree before they are quite dry. Other kinds of seed again contain a great deal of moisture even when they fall off naturally. Such seeds should be spread out, not more than from 2 to 3 inches high, inadry, airy, sunny place, and turned over with a rake twice or thrice daily for a period varying with the kind of seed and the dry- ness and temperature of the weather. After this they should be piled up higher, the raking being continued as before, but being limited to only once a day, This latter process should go on until the seeds are sufficiently dry to be stored or packed up. Experience alone can tell when this is the ease, It is needless to say that in the cold weather the seeds should be removed under shelter during the hours of dew, As regards seeds that are moist even when they are shed naturally, this drying is really the completion of the ripen- ing process, for such seeds germinate more promptly when they have been thus dried than if sown as soon as they fall off from the parent tree, (ce). SEEDS THAT REQUIRE A FURTHER PROCESS OF RIPENING AFTER FALLING OFF FROM THE PARENT TREE.—Among agricultural crops our gram isa well-known instance of such seeds: it will germinate freely only several months after it has been harvested. Instances of forest seeds, already given higher up, are those of teak in Central India and Bombay, of Terminalia tomentosa and Arjuna, of Pterocarpus Marsupium, babul, ash, &c. Drying increases the germinative faculty of each one of these species, especially the power of swelling up enjoyed by the embryo, and by the perisperm when there is one, with imbibed water. In the case of teak in Central India it would appear, from numerous experiments made, that continued exposure to all the alternations of the weather during a whole year, provided fermentation is prevented, favours this second ripening process, ARTICLE 3. TESTING OF SEEDS, Seeds may be originally barren or they may lose their germina- tive power owing to one or more of the following causes:—fermen- 146 TESTING OF SEEDS. tation and decomposition, excessive loss of moisture, and attacks of insects. Hence before taking over or using seeds, they should be thoroughly examined. There are three practical ways of testing the germinative power of seeds; they may be termed respectively (a) the ocular (b) the weight and (c) the germination tests. Whichever method is employed, if the quantity to be tested is very large, it should be divided into smaller lots and each such lot should be examined separately. Moreover from each lot the seeds should be taken, without any selection, from different points, a few from each. . A. The Ocular Test. This method of test, as the name implies, consists in the examina- tion of the seeds with the eye, assisted, if necessary, with an or- dinary magnifying lens. If the seed is sufficiently large, it is cut in two with a sharp knife and the section is then examined. The germ, including the perisperm (when there is any) should, if thoroughly sound, fill the testa completely, possess the healthy colour peculiar to the ripe seed of the species in question, emit no unpleasant odour and contain a sufficient amount of moisture. Next, the testa should be removed in order to assure oneself of the soundness of the plumule and radicle. The size of the seed is no criterion of its germinating power, but the larger seed generally produces the hardier and more vigorus seedling. When the seeds are too small to be cut open easily, unless they are oily, we have no proof of their soundess beyond the absence of any unpleasant odour and the healthy appearence of the outside of the testa. If they are oily, the presence of the oil is ascertained by crushing them on a hard surface with the nail of the thumb or, if very unyielding, with a hammer-head. A spot of oil or grease on: the nail or hammer-head will be a certain sign that they are good, for in seeds that are at all decomposed, the oil will have dis- appeared, having been oxidized and converted into other substances. Sometimes small seeds are tested for moisture by placing them on a red-hot iron plate. If the seeds burst with a slight explosion,. due to the sudden formation of steam, it is a proof that they contain a sufficient amount of moisture. The ocular examination of seeds requires great experience and. special knowledge, and even then there is no slight risk of error, particularly in the case of small seeds. It ought never, if we can help it, to be employed by itself as a final test in taking over any large quantity of seed, and its use should, as a rule, be confined to THE WEIGHT AND GERMINATION TESTS. 147 the preliminary examination ofa given lot of seed, so that the use- less labour of subjecting really bad seed to the more rigorous, but generally tedious, germination test may thereby be avoided. B. The Weight Test. In this test a sufficiently large measure or number of seeds is weighed and their average weight compared with the previously ascertained standard weight of good seed. Seeds that are just heavier than water, are sometimes tested by throwing them into that liquid, those which float being obviously bad. ; This is a very uncertain method, for in the first place seeds of one and the same species will have a different average weight in differ- ent localities ; in the second place, seeds may lose an appreciable part of their natural moisture, and hence also weight, without their germinative power being at all impaired thereby ; and, in the third place, the dealer or contractor might moisten the seed just before the test. In any case, it ought never to be employed alone, but mere- ly as an adjunct or auxiliary to the preceding or following method. C. The Germination Test. In this system a given number of seeds, taken without selection from a lot to be tested, is placed under the most favourable condi- tions for germination, and then the proportion of seeds that actually germinate, combined with the average time in which they have germinated, is taken to indicate the quality of the entire lot. The quality will be directly as the proportion germinating and inversely as the average number of days taken in germinating; so that, ex- pressed in figures, it may be represented by a fraction the numera- tor of which is the percentage of successful seeds and the denomi- nator the average number of days taken by each successful seed to germinate. We will explain this by an example. Suppose that 200 seeds are sown and germinate as follows:— 4 in 4 days , total number ofdays = 4x 4 = 16 7 ” 5 ”» 9 ” ” ” so TKS eS BS 19 ” 6 ” ? ” ” ” » = 19x 6 =114 38 ” 7 ”» ? ” ” ” » — 38x 7 =266 33 ” 8 ” ’ 9 ” ” » = 88x 8 =264 25 ” 9 » > ” ” ” » = 25x 9 =225 il ” 10 ” ’ ” ” ” » = 11x10 =110 2 sp D1 ge ey ” 9 ” » = 2xll = 22 1 ” 12 ” ’ 2” » ” » = 1x12 = 12 i.e. 140 in all have germinated in a total number of 1064 days. 148 TESTING OF SEEDS. Thus the average number of days for cach seed is 74 and, the percentage germinating being 70, the quality of the seed may be 70 o The nutrber of seeds tested must, of course, be sufficiently large to guarantee the trustworthiness of the results, and it is obviously most convenient to experiment with 100 seeds or some multiple of 100. It is unnecessary to wait until the entire process of germina- tion is over in order to consider the test complete ; the germinative power of the seed is sufficiently proved if the germ has swelled up, the plumule and radicle have already attained a certain develop- ment, and the cotyledons, and the perisperm, if any, are perfectly healthy. The water used should, if possible, be soft, such as rain or snow or distilled water, or it may be taken from a small running stream that does not flow over limestone rocks. It is evident that the progress of any experiments undertaken should be watched from day to day. In favourable weather the seeds may be sown out in the garden in ordinary soil; or, if they are small and difficult to find again, they may be enclosed in a fold of flanuel or any absorbent cloth before being put into the soil, so that they may be easily examined from time to time and the progress of germination constantly watch- ed. Enclosing the seeds in the flannel or other absorbent cloth has also some other important advantages: the seeds are less likely to rot from excessive damp, or to suffer from insufficient aération or from rapid alternations of heat and cold, or be attacked by insects, than if they were in direct contact with the soil. An improvement on the preceding method is to sow in ordinary garden pots, which, being portable, can be moved into the sun or shade or under shelter according to necessity, so as always to secure for the seeds the best conditions for germination. Moreover, sown in pots, the seeds are much less liable to be injured by excessive damp. Somte special precautions have to be employed in the use of pots. After placing a potsherd over the hole at the bottom, the pot should be half-filled with coarse sand or potsherds or tiles broken up small, in order that no water may collect and stagnate at the bottom of the pot. Good garden soil should than be put in and the seeds sown in it to the proper depth, which will vary directly with the size of the seed. Instead of watering from above and causing an impermeable crust of fine mud to form on the sur- face of the soil, the pot may, whenever necessary, be placed for a sufficient time inside another larger pot containing water. The expressed by the fraction THE WEIGHT AND GERMINATION TEST. 149 water will enter by capillarity through its sides, but principally by way of the hole in the bottom through the layer of coarse sand or broken tiles. For soil may be substituted sawdust, pounded charcoal or coke or brick-dust, especially if the seeds are small or are likely to suf- fer from being clogged over too thickly with mud. All four sub- stances are highly absorbent, admit air freely, and, while retaining moisture well, yield it up slowly but with sufficient rapidity for the requirements of germination. Moreover charcoal and coke are natural preservatives against decomposition. There is, however, no necessity in every case for burying the seed at all. Some seeds, such as those of bamboos and many leguminous kinds, germinate easily and rapidly enough if simply kept in a warm _ place in a shallow dish of water. Others sprout if simply enclosed in a roll of some loose-woven woollen cloth, such as flannel, that is con- stantly kept moist. The best way to keep the cloth moist, without al- lowing it to become too wet, is to connect it by means of a sufficiently thick skein of wool or worsted with water standing at a lower level than itself, so that the quantity ascending by capillarity may just ex- ceed the quantity lost by evaporation. If, owing to rapid evaporation, especially in a dry atmosphere, the woollen cloth is likely to cool down too much, it may be put under a globe of glass or metal, and, if necessary, exposed thus to the sun or before a fire. But a still better plan (see Fig. 5) is to use a wide-mouthed glass bottle, which is kept partly filled with water. One end of the skein being hooked on to the mouth of the bottle, the other is allowed to hang down in the water as far as the bottom itself, while the roll of woollen cloth containing the seeds is attached to the skein above the level of the water. In order to check evaporation and the consequent refrigeration, a perforated cork or wooden stopper or tin-cap should be put over the mouth of the bottle. The water can be replenished whenever necessary. The bottle, with its skein, stopper and roll of woollen cloth, thus forms an easily-portable apparatus, which can be exposed to the sun or before a fire, or kept in a warm place, just asis required, and may be carried about on long journeys without interfering with the trustworthiness of the test. The glass jars, with screw tin-caps, in which prunes are imported to India, will serve the above purpose excellently. Various special apparatus have been contrived for procuring the germination of seeds under the most favourable conditions irres- pective of the season of the year. Two of these may be here de- scribed. 150 TESTING OF SEEDS. Hannemann’s Germination Piatrer (Figure 6).—This isa cir- cular plate of porous earthenware about six inches in diameter and two inches thick. On the upper side are regularly arranged circular hollows numbered consecutively from 1 upwards, and about 3/8 in. across and 3/16 in. deep. The underside bears eight radial furrows about 1/5 in. wide and 3/25 in. deep, which facili- tate the passage of water through the earthenware, from the under to the upper surface. In using the platter, it is first soaked in water for about 24 hours and then placed in a flatdish containmg just enough water to reach its upper edge without flooding it. The seeds are placed singly in the hollows, and either left uncovered or covered over with flannel or good soil. The water should be re- plenished whenever necessary. Nosse’s Apparatus (Figure 7).—This consists of a square- shaped block of porous earthenware of about eight inches side and two inches thick and with the under surface and sides glazed. On the upper side is a saucer-like hollow surrounded by a canal, the depth of which is almost equal to the thickness of the block. The seeds are placed in the bowl and are kept constantly moist by the water which percolates in from the surrounding canal through the porous earthenware. To keep out external influences, the appara- tus is protected with a cover (cin figure), which is raised at the corners to allow a free circulation of air, and is perforated in the centre to admit a thermometer in case of delicate experiments, Experiments carried out by Baur prove that all the various methods of test by germination yield more or less the same results, although, on the whole, sowing in a garden bed is the least to be relied on, while Nobbe’s apparatus is the safest. The germination test is the best of all, as it is the most certain of the three, and by it alone can the exact proportion of good seed and the germinative power of the seeds be accurately gauged. But it is evident that it can be employed only with seeds that can be forced to germinate within a reasonable time ; otherwise the test may be vitiated by unavoidable accidents during the long interval between the commencement and the close of an experi- ment. Moreover, there are some seeds, like those of teak and babul in many parts of India, an entire lot of which, all collected at one and the same time and from one and the same tree, never germinate together but at intervals of weeks, months and even one and two years. For such seeds the germination test alone would necessarily be insufficient and in most eases impracticable, but, STORING OF SEEDS. 15L whenever practicable, it should always to adopted in combination with the ocular method. ARTICLE 4. STORAGE OF SEEDS. Some seeds cannot be preserved ; they must be sown at once. Those kinds which ripen during the rains, such as sal, Quercus semecarpifokia, Mesua ferrea, &e. cannot, from their nature, be kept. The seed of the first two species, particularly the oak, often germinates on the parent tree before being shed. Seeds which contain a large quantity of oil are, as a ‘rule, very difficult to pre- serve, as the oil soon decomposes. As instances may be quoted the various species of Bassia and Artocarpus, Cashew-nut, deodar, the pines, especially Pinus Gerardiana, &e. So also seeds con- taining a large quantity of moisture and enclosed in a thin soft shell generally keep badly, as, for instance, the various species of Eugenia and elm, sandal, acorns, &c. Usually seeds retain their vitality longer if allowed to remain in their fruit-coverings. Some seeds keep for a number of years with no further precaution than merely protecting them from continuous damp ; of this class teak is the most remarkable example. Steeping seeds in a solution of alkaline borates and silicates and then drying them checks in many cases their germination, without in any way injuring their vitality. In storing seeds they must be preserved against germination, fermentation and decomposition, excessive loss of moisture, fungi and animals. To prevent germination it is sufficient to withhold one of the three essential conditions for its occurrence, viz., heat, oxygen and moisture. The simultaneous presence of these same three factors is also necessary for fermentation and decomposition and fungoid growth. Hence in keeping seeds it is sufficient to protect them from (a) animals and from any one of the following three influences :—(’) damp, (c) heat and (d) air. A, Protection against Animals. The animals which attack stored seed are rats, mice, squirrels and insects, Rats, mice and squirrels can be easily kept out by putting the seed into strong jars; or into metal-lined boxes ; or into recep- tacles placed on supports hung round with pods of the Mucuna prurita or fenced with close-set sharp Spikes (barbed, if possible) or with a smooth broad disk projecting out in every direction like a quoit or bell. The supports in question may also be surrounded 152 NURSERIES. with a sort of masonry moat possessing smooth sides. and half-filled with water, the section of the moat being pear-shaped so that ani- mals falling into the water cannot crawl out. Pounded glass, dry sand, ashes, chopped straw, spices or aromatic leaves may be mixed with the seeds ; but this plan will succeed chiefly with small seeds. Against insects strong jars, with every opening stopped up, may be used; but, unless the seeds to be preserved are naturally dry, they are likely to decompose in the close air, and generally the easiest and least objectionable plan is to mix with the seeds bitter leaves, such as those of nim, bakain, Vitex Negundo, &. or some powerful-smelling drug, such as asafcetida, camphor, dc. or fine slaked-lime ; or a double receptacle may be used, one fitting loose- ly inside the other and holding the seeds, the interval between the two being filled with unslaked lime. B. Protection against Damp. Of all causes of destruction of seed damp is the most dangerous, especially in darkness and when the air is still. It is also the most difficult to guard against. Seeds with a hard pericarp or testa, like teak, Zizyphus, Ter- minalia Chebula, &e., have little to fear from damp if they are kept on a dry floor in a well-aired and bright place and not piled up too high. A raised boarded floor, with the air playing freely under- neath is the most suitable. The seeds may also be kept in stout sacks suspended from the ceiling, or they may be stored in large baskets supported on wooden trestles (Fig. 8). In addition to any one of the preceding methods, the seeds may be spread out and turned from time to time. Seeds that have little moisture of their own may be kept in large jars of burnt or unburnt clay with an opening at the bottom, by means of which they may be taken out as required, and which may be stopped with a wooden plug. But a less expensive method is to plaster the large baskets represented in Fig. 8 with a mixture of mud and cowdung, which together maintain an equable tempera- ture and allow of a sufficiently free circulation of air. Wooden chests lined with perforated tin, as described higher up, may also answer. But when the seeds are very sensitive to damp, more elaborate arrangements must be adopted. The double chest or basket, with the interval between the two receptacles filled with quick lime, should yield good results, for the lime, being an energetic absor- bent of moisture, would not allow any to passin from outside. PROTECTION AGAINSE HEAT. 153 Instead of the lime, husks or clean chopped straw, or, if insects al- so are to be kept out, nim and other bitter leaves might be used. In deep and wide baskets, the seeds should be interstratified with the husks, straw, &c. This plan may be enlarged upon by con- structing a circular shed (Fig. 9), with walls of stout wattling, plastered over or not, and a thatched conical roof supported on a centre-post. The shed should be erected on a high plinth of solid masonry, raised on a substratum of wood ashes to keep out white ants, and surrounded on all sides by a canal possessing a pear- shaped section as described higher up under A. The figure shows in section the arrangement of the substratum (a), plinth (b), canal (c), walls (d), roof (e), centre-post (f), and the disposition of the seeds (g) and surrounding lining of straw leaves, &. (h). C. Protection against Heat. If the temperature can be constantly maintained below the point at which germination begins, seeds may be kept damp without suffering any injury. A high temperature is most to be feared for oily seeds, as the oil, which is to serve as food for the future plant before it is able to assimilate for itself, is soon oxidised and thereby converted into substances of no use whatsoever in germination. To preserve seeds against heat they may be kept in water-tight cases at the bottom of a deep well in the plains or stored up in cool underground cellars in the Himalayas and at similar high ele- vations. A common plan followed for the preservation of pulse, cereals, &c., in many parts of India, where the soil is clayey, is to excavate a large, deep pit in raised ground and to plaster the inside with fine clay and cow-dung in order to make it water-tight. The bot- tom and sides of the pit are lined with a thick layer of leaves (nim, Diospyros Melanoxylon, Vitex Negundo, &c.) or husks or crushed straw, which, besides serving various other useful purposes, absorb any damp that may come through and prevent it from getting as far as the seeds. The seeds are interstratified with the same material almost up to the mouth of the pit, which is then stopped up, first with straw and leaves, and then with clay two or three feet thick. The thick loose lining and interstratified layers of straw and leaves torm an effective non-conductor of heat and thus prevent wide and sudden fluctuations of temperature, besides leaving no entrance for insects, rats and mice. The system just described is known under the various designations of pev in Marathi; gotto in Bengali ; khati, khatta and kothiin the dialects of Upper India ; khana in 154 NURSERIE. the Hindi of the Central Provinces; and pdtardin Telugu It may be adopted with advantage in the case of seeds of species that seed at more or less wide intervals, as, for instance, the various kinds of bamboos, Hardwickia binata, &e. The cold weather is obviously the best time of the year for this method of storing, when the air is cool and dry. D. Protection from the Air. As has already been said, the greatest danger for seeds is expo- sure to damp and the best protection against it, especially for such seeds as contain a notable quantity of moisture of their own, is the free play of air round about them. Hence in most cases the ad- mission of air is an indispensable necessity and it is seldom that we are called upon to withdraw seeds from its influence, and then too only when it is avehicle for moisture. The large pit system described in the preceding paragraph obviously keeps out air most effectually ; and indeed, in a general manner, we may say that whatever method is successful in keeping out heat may also be adopted for keeping out air. E. General Remarks. Tt will have been observed that in storing seeds several methods may be adopted to protect them from any single one of the causes of injury or destruction to which they are subject. The final ' choiee between those various methods will depend on the circum- stances of each case, that is to say, on the nature of the seeds, on the number, nature and destructiveness of the effective causes in question, on the cost and abundance of the seed, and on the time up to which the given lot must be kept before being used. SECTION IV. Manures. Before we can sow or transplant, we must render the soil, if it is not already so, as suitable as practicable for the purpose. In addition to tilling it, and thereby loosening it to a sufficient depth and exposing it to fertilising weather influences, we may have to improve still further both its physical properties and its chemical composition, This improvement is effected by the addition of manures. We accordingly describe below, ina brief manner, the manures most commonly used by the forest nurseryman. Manuring may be necessary for one or more of three distinct objects: (1) to modify the physical characters of the soil ; (2) to supply certain elements of plant-food which it originally does not YURSERIES. 155 contain or contains in too slight a proportion, or to restore to it those elements which have been removed from it by the plants raised therein; and (3) to render harmless or inert certain injurious constituents present init. A nursery is rarely started any where except in virgin forest land that has been fertilized by generations of tree-growth; but it is seldom that such land possesses uniformly all the requisite physical characters, and even as regards the ele- ments of plant-food, there is nearly always advantage in adding, howsoever little it may be, to what is already present to the soil. Hence, asa rule, in preparing soil for the first time we have to put into it manures which chiefly modify and improve its physical characters, and only secondarily increase its nourishing power for plant-growth. On the other hand, in a nursery that is already in working order, the physical characters of the soil have been already more or less permanently modified in accordance with all requirements by: means of the first manuring; whereas, howsoever great the proportion of the elements of plant-food may be which we give tothe soil in the shape of manures, those elements are constantly being exhausted by the planting material raised therein. Indeed the soil of a nur- sery exhausts itself just as rapidly as soil under wheat cultivation : on the whole, if loses less phosphoric acid but much more potash. and lime than the latter. As compared with trees of the same species about eighty years old, nursery seedlings only a year old. take up annually from the soil six times as much phosphoric acid, seven times as much potash and nearly twice as muvh lime and magnesia; and whereas those large trees return to the soil, in their, fallen leaves, fruit and small twigs, almost more than what they. have taken up through their roots, the seedlings are carried away bodily, and consequently whatever they may have appropriated: from the soil is lost to it for ever. Hence, in a nursery that is al- ready in full working order, we must put into the soil manures that affect little, or not at all, its physical characters, but supply to it, in a very large measure, the direct elements of plant-food. Thus, according as we require chiefly to modify the physical qualities of the soil or to supply it with useful compounds of nitrogen anb phosphorus, and of potash, lime and magnesia we have, for the purposes of a forest nursery, two broad classes of manures, which we may designate respectively (a) WEAK MANURGS and (5) sTRONG MANURES, 156 * NURSERIES, ARTICLE 1. WEAK MANURES. The most commonly available weak manures are (1) clay, (2) lime, (3) marls (4) fine sand, (5) wood-ash, (6) charcoal, (7) surkhi-ash, (8) vegetable mould and (9) weak composts. 1. Cxays.—Under this head we may include also loams and the ooze and crust of fine earth found at the bottoms of tanks and stag- nant pools. These and the true clays correct the want of consistence and hygroscopicity of sandy soils and render them cooler, besides preventing manurial matters from being carried away beyond the reach of the young plants by subsoil drainage. In the case of light soils full of organic remains, an admixture of clay, besides giving them better consistence, prevents the two energetic’ action of the organic matters, which are retained by the clay and yielded up to the plants only in proportion to their requirements. 2. Limz.—Quicklime, used as a top-dressing, is applied with great advantage to new soils containing a large quantity of un- decomposed or only partially decomposed organic substances, which it rapidly reduces, thereby forming carbonic acid, ammonia, phos- phates, and other useful compounds. Such are peaty grounds and recently broken up grass-lands, and also soils that have been for some time treated with farmyard manure and vegetable mould. Lime acts beneficially on the soil also by decomposing inert com- pounds of soda and potash, which it thus releases for the use of plants. Lastly, besides being itself an important element of plant food, it loosens the texture of stiff clays and gives a certain amount of cohesion to loose sands. 3. Marus.—These have the same physical effect as the clays, except that they produce warmer soils. Containing a large quan- tity of lime, they exert, to a considerable extent, the same beneficial influences as lime. _ 4, Fine sanp.—This is added to a stiff clayey soil to diminish its compactness and to increase its capacity for heat. Silt is the best adapted for the purpose on acount of the smallness of the grains of sand of which itis composed, and also because it general- ly contains some nutritive organic and mineral matters. Calcare- ous sand is obviously preferable to a purely silicious sand. 5. Woop-asH.—Wood-ash forms an excellent manure, con- taining, as it does, a very large proportion of potash and soda and a considerable quantity of phosphates and sulphates. But it is too expensive a manure to be used seperately, and it is, therefore, MANURES. 157 mixed with farmyard manure, vegetable mould, &., and is one of the constituents of surkhi-ash (No. 7). 6. CHarcoAL.—This, like wood-ash, can only constitute an auxiliary manure. Its high manurial value is almost. entirely due to the remarkable avidity with which it absorbs ammonia, carbonic acid and other gases, and the equal facility with which it gives them up to the roots of plants, and to its rendering stiff and cold soils friable and warm, and dry and porous soils hygroscopic. 7. Surkui-aso.—As the name imports, this substance is a mix~- ture of burnt earth and a large proportion of vegetable ash and charcoal dust. The ordinary mixed ash and dust of a brick, tile or charcoal kiln may be used ; but, whenever possible, the manure should be specially prepared. On land covered with rich herbage the surface soil, with the roots of grasses and other plants that traverse it, should be cut up, while still moist, in brick-shaped sods (Fig. 10), which should be dried in the sun. The best soil for the purpose is loam, the poorest are sandy soils. Stiff clays, especially if they are ferruginous, are easily liable to be burnt too hard. When the sods aredry, they should be piled up in small kilns about 14 yards in diameter and 3 feet high, and the kilns should then be fired in dry weather. The arrangement of the kilns is shewn in Fig 11. a@ is a mass of small wood over which two layers of the sdds are built up in the form of a dome J. Over this is laid a layer of small wood ¢, and over this again two layers of sods d,and soon. In building up the kiln a passage mm. is left on a level with the ground, whereby the kiln is fired. Obviously the sods should be arranged with their upper grassy surface inside. As the combustion progresses and the small wood gets consumed, the entire mass subsides, producing vents here and there which should be at once filled up and covered over with fresh sods. In doing this more sods are often used up than in the first building up of the kiln. The completion of the burning may require seve= raldays. When the kiln has cooled down sufficiently to be handled, the sods should be taken out and broken up fine, an oper- ation that is more easily effected before they have become quite cold. The surkhi-ash should be at once collected in heaps and put under shelter. The advantages of using surkhi-ash are two- fold. Besides increasing the consistency of a too free, and dimi- nishing the compactness of a too stiff, soil, it renders immediately available to the roots of plants, in a soluble form, the mineral mat- ters present both in the small wood, leaves, roots and other vege- table refuse burnt and in the soil itself of the sods; but its 158 NURSERIES. effectiveness in this latter respect is gradually lost, however care- fully it may be stored up, and it ought hence to be used fresh. 8. VEGETABLE MOULD.—Vegetable mould is simply thorough- ly and slowly decomposed vegetable detritus. Under favourable conditions, the leaves, small twigs, flowers and fruit that fall in a forest decompose and form vegetable mould. In India, however, especially outside the evergreen forests, the conditions are adverse to the spontaneous formation of vegetable mould. In deciduous forests the leaves and other vegetable fragments, as soon as they fall, are exposed for a more or less prolonged period to a scorching sun, which, iffire in the meantime does not consume them, dries up every particle of moisture in them and renders them extremely brittle. Then follow several months of heavy rain, which soaks the leaves to such an extent as almost to make them undergo a process of maceration, the result being that nearly all the useful elements are washed away, leaving behind only the bare fibres which, brittle as they have been rendered by the preceding hot weather, crumble to pieces and are thus in their turn for the most part carried away by the heavy surface drainage into the streams. But even where vegetable mould does form naturally, it is of an inferior descrip- tion being generally, owing to too rapid decomposition, of the car- bonaceous type. Occasionally it is acid or only partially decom- posed, and itis always poor in nitrogenous elements, since the leaves, before they are shed, have given up all their nitrogenous matter to the parts that are still in full growth or which serve as storehouses of nourishment, and the decomposition is too quick for the absorption of nitrogenous matters from the atmosphere. Hence ‘we must always prepare vegetable mould specially. Inashady place just outside or in one corner of the nursery rectangular pits, not more than three feet deep, should be dug. But if, as in places in the hills, the temperature of the air is never sufficiently high to promote decomposition, the pits should be dug in an open place on asunny aspect. If necessary, the bottom and sides of the pits should be carefully puddled to prevent soluble substances from passing into the soil and being thus lost. A pak- ka masonry lining would of course be very desirable, if it could be afforded. Into the pits, besides dry leaves, also green, herbace- ous plant-parts should be thrown in, succulent portions being the best. Care must be taken that no seeds get into the pits, as the seeds. of many weeds, particularly of grasses, often retain their vitality throughout the whole rotting process to which the con- tents of the pits are subjected, and it is, therefore, advisable to MANURES. 159 cut all the weeds, that are thrown in, before their seeds have ripened. With the leaves may also be put in some cattle drop- pings, saw-dust, ashes, a little quicklime, &. The contents of the pits should always be kept thoroughly saturated, but never allowed to become too watery, otherwise air could not penetrate all through the mass and decomposition would on that account be retarded. The pits should hence be protected from rain. For watering the pits slops are better than clean water, and liquid manure is obviously the best of all. From time to time, say once every month, the contents should be well turned with a pole, in order to allow every portion to be sufficiently oxygenated ; and it is to facilitate this process that the pits should not be deeper than three feet. At the end of the second or third year the decomposi- tion will be complete and the vegetable mould fit for use. When this stage of decomposition is reached, all trace of organised structure will have disappared. Jt is superfluous to add that a pit should be filled up in a single operation and thatno fresh leaves and plants should be thrown in from time to time afterwards : every portion of the contents of the pit should decompose simulta-- neously and uniformly. The leaves of some plants decompose sooner or yield a richer manure than others. Such plants should be preferred. In each locality experience will soon show which are the best plants to use. In a general way it may be said that the suitability of the leaves and other plant-parts is in inverse ratio to the quantity of fibres they contain and in direct ratio to their succulence. 9. Weak composts. Composts are simply mixtures, in vari- ous proportions, of strong manures or weak organic manures with earthy matter. They are weak or strong manures according as the proportion of this lastis large or small. The earthy matters are introduced not only to modify the physical characters of the soil, but also to temper the otherwise too energetic action of the strong manures and to prevent a too large concentration of soluble substances, whereby the moisture in the soil might be rendered too thick to be taken up by the plants by endosmose. Composts, into the manufacture of which vegetable mould enters, may be prepared at once in the rotting pits, by throwing in with the leaves, &c, or at any time afterwards, clay or loam or marl ; the repeated stir- ring up of the contents mixes together the earth and organic ele- ments intimately. Perhaps the best and most economical compost is a mixture of vegetable mould and farmyard manure (see. next page) with loam. The addition of a sufficient quantity of cattle 160 NURSERIES. droppings, when the leaves, &c. are thrown in into the rotting pit, will produce sucha compost. Street sweepings are a kind of compost. ARTICLE 2 STRONG MANURES. * The best known strong manures are (1) farmyard manure, (2) poudrette, (3) bone-dust, (4) guano, (5) saltpetre, (6) urine, (7) blood, and (8) strong composts. The fourth and fifth are how- ever too expensive in India to be used by the forest nurseryman. Accordingly only the first three and the sixth, seventh and eighth, which will be numbered respectively 4, 5 and 6, will be described. 1. Farmyarp Manurie.—This is the most generally used of all manures in India and is also the easiest of all to prepare. It is obtained by simply rotting the droppings of sheep, goats and cattle. These droppings could not be used fresh as not only would their inevitable subsequent decomposition heat and injure the roots of the seedlings, and the seed they contain cover the soil with . grass and weeds, but they would encourage fungoid growth and invite destructive insects, especially the grubs of cockchafers. As regards the relative value of the droppings of the various animals, those of ruminants are to be preferred, because these, as they chew the cud, masticate their food more completely and pass out the fibrous portions in a finer condition. Amongst ruminants the droppings of cows and goats are preferable to those of buffaloes and sheep : not because buffalo droppings are inferior in nutritive ower, but because they feed more coarsely and hence pass their food through in a less well triturated condition, owing to which circumstance their manure attracts white ants. The droppings of sheep are inferior to those of goats, as they generally feed on less concentrated food. Horse dung, owing to the special nature of the food given to that class of stock, is very rich in nitrogenous matter and phosphates, but the mastication of the animal is so im- perfect, that much of the food passes out either undigested or in large coarse particles, thus attracting white ants. Where, how- ever, there are no white ants, the droppings of well-fed horses should be preferred to those of cows for a stiff cold soil, in order to give it a freer texture and greater capacity for absorbing and re- taining heat; and ifthe ground is not to be used at once, the manure in question may be worked into the soil before it is fully decomposed, so as to turn its mechanical action to the best advan- tage, and also to check the excessive fermentation to which horse dung is liable and to minimise the risk of losing a considerable MANURES. 161 portion of the rapidly-forming ammonia. Camel dung makes the strongest manure of all owing to the succulent and herbaceous plant-parts that the animal feeds on. Whatever the droppings used, they must be rotted in pits similar to those used for preparing vegetable mould ; but the necessity for protection from the sun is not so great here, as the droppings consist of matter that has already undergone a considerable degree of decomposition. Great care should, however, be taken to pre~ vent a too violent fermentation, to which all animal dejections are particularly liable. The contents of the pits should always be kept ‘moist and turned over from time to time, and the manure will be ready at the end oftwo years. During the rotting process, ammonia and other useful gases are formed in abundance, and are apt to disappear unless special precautions are taken to fix them. The best plan is to sprinkle charcoal dust or finely sifted clay or gyp- sum thickly over the fermenting heap each time it has been turned up. Farmyard manure contains from six to seven times as much nitrogenous matter as pure vegetable mould on an average, 7. e., from 1 to 24 per cent of its dry weight of nitrogen. Ordinary arable land, according to its quality, requires, in order to he fully manured, from 200 to 400 maunds of farmyard manure per acre. 2. Poupretre.—Poudrette is the deodorized mixture of night soil with earthy matters. Itis very rich in nitrogenous substan- ces and phosphates, and should, therefore, never be used pure but combined with vegetable mould in the proportion necessary to secure from five to six per cent. of nitrogen in the mixture. Pou- drette may be prepared in pits in the same manner as farmyard manure ; but as the offensiveness of the contents prevents its being turned for free aération, the night soil, with the earthy matters, should be thrown into the pits in thin layers at a time. It is ready for use at the end of a year. Poudrette prepared with a large ad- mixture of ashes and charcoal dust is the most valuable of all, When required on a large scale, it is best, from every point of view, to desiccate the night soil in special furnaces. 3. Bons pust.— Where an appreciable proportion of phosphates is required, bone dust should be added to other manures, particular- ly to vegetable mould or surkhi-ash, at the rate of from four to ten maunds per acre. Fresh or unboiled bones are of course to be preferred to boiled ones, which, nevertheless, contain more than 50 per cent. of phosphate of lime. 162 PERMANENT NURSERIES. 4. Unine.—Urine is a very powerful manure, and human urine is the richest of all, containing, as it does, more than 30 per cent of urea or nearly 8 times as much again as that of the cow and more than 4 times as much again as that of the horse. Urine should never be used except after putrefaction, and then, too, large- ly diluted with water or mixed with earthy matters, as in an un- mixed state it would be very injurious to plants. During the putrefaction a large amount of ammonia is formed and must be fixed by the addition of gypsum, whereby the volatile carbonate of ammonia is converted into the non-volatile sulphate. 5. Bioop.—Blood is a very powerful manure, not only on account of its nitrogen (nearly 16 per cent.) but also of the nu- merous useful salts it contains, chief among them, after common salt, being phosphates. Blood may be applied to the soil in a liquid or dried state, either alone or mixed with other manures. 6. Composts.—The meaning of the term compost has already been explained under the head of weak manures. There also it was said that composts are strong, if they contain a large proportion of nitrogenous matter or phosphates. Hence nothing special need be said here. SECTION V. Permanent nurseries. The main points to consider as respects the establishment and maintenance of a permanent nursery are :— (1) Choice of site. (2) Area of the nursery. (3) The form of its boundary. (4) Fencing. (5) General perparation of the soil. (6) Watering. (7) Laying out of the beds, paths, &e. (8) Preparation and management of the seed-beds. (9) Preparation and management of the nursery lines.. ARTICLE 1. CHOICE OF SITE. In choosing a site for a permanent nursery we have to consider its two elements :—(i) soil, and (ii) locality. Som.—lIt is an erroneous idea that transplants should neces- sarily be raised in soil similar to that of the forest into which they are to be put out. The nurseryman is in every case required to CHOICE OF SITE. 163 supply vigorous plants well furnished with root fibres and with a crown strong in proportion, and that soil is the best for his purpose which produces such plants, whether it be like the soil of the forest or not. Such plants, as we have just referred to, are neither the thin, dry, starved seedlings that would come out of a poor soil, which seedlings, possessing little vitality, must soon succumb under the exaggeration of unfavourable conditions consequent on their being put out in similar bad soil; nor are they highly forced plants, which being over-developed above ground, contain too large a pro- portion of insufficiently lignified parts to possess tenacity enough to survive a sudden change of conditions for the worse, and would suffer very appreciably even in the mere transport and putting-out operations. But even admitting, for the sake of argument, that seedlings should be raised in soil similar to that of the forest where they are to be put out, what is to be done if the soil there, as is nearly al- ways the case in the enormous aggregate area a single permanent nursery has to serve, varies from place to place ? How is the nur- seryman to make his nursery, in respect of soil, so complete an epitome of the proportionately immense area, for which he has to raise planting material ? And how is it possible to expect the most experienced workman who plants for us, to be able to put down at every point seedlings coming from exactly similar soil? Here we evidently arrive at a reductio ad absurdum. But there is still another very important consideration to regu- late the choice of soil. A permanent nursery is, by its very mean- ing, intended for the raising of planting material belonging to a variety of species, possessing, in the aggregate, very various re- quirements, and consequently the soil should be such as to suit each and all of those species as closely as possible. We are thus perforce led to choose a soil of medium quality, z.e., one that is neither too rich nor too poor, neither too wet nor too dry, neither too stiff nor too free, in other words, a moist sandy loam. Ifit should happen that a sandy loam is not available, then it is better to select a really sandy soil than one which contains a strong proportion of clay. Under the influence of drought a clayey soil would cake at the surface, and would shrink and become creviced, thereby rending asunder and killing the roots of the seedlings , while during frost it would swell up to such an extent as to leave them ejected when it subsided on thaw occurring. The sterility and want of sufficient cohesion of a sandy soil can be easily cured 164 PERMANENT NURSERIES. by admixture of the necessary manures, whereas it is always a difficult and expensive task to correct the defects of stiff clays. Moreover, a sandy soil is much more easily kept clear of weeds. As regards depth, it does not follow that, because the transplants ought to possess short roots, not exceeding say 18 inches in length, the depth of the soil should also be limited to that figure. With only 18 inches of depth, the soil would nearly always be liable to be overheated under a hot sun, or to become waterlogged during the rains if the subsoil were not very freely permeable; and it is always safe to insist on a minimum depth of 8 feet. / Stones in the soil also tend to overheat it, besides injuring the nursery implements and interfering with the easy lifting up of the plants. The nature of the subsoil is of little importance as long as it is neither impermeable nor too freely permeable. A basis of lime ig an advantage, as it prevents the formation of acid humus in the soil, which it at the same time enriches by the formation of carbo- nates. Locarity.— With regard to the second point, locality, it may be generally laid down that it should not be one exposed to early frosts or to drought, nor should it be so damp as to favour the develop- ment of mildew and other fungoid growth. For this reason it should not be situated in a hollow or be confined in the midst of a lofty mass of forest where the air circulates with difficulty ; nor should it be too open or exposed to hot winds. The ground should be just sufficiently inclined to allow water to drain off easily, with- out, on the other hand, letting it out too fast. In hilly country, however, high gradients cannot always be avoided; but even then soil that holds water sufficiently well, can invariably be found. For the purpose of watering, it is a great convenience to have a surface spring or streamlet near at hand, especially if the former lies above the nursery and can be led into a channel. A Public Works canal running above the nursery, would be better than either. The vicinity of a tank lying above the level of the nursery, but remote enough to obviate swampiness, is still more to be desired. In the absence of these special advantages, a well or wells must be sunk, in which case the water-holding stratum ought to be as near the surface as possible. Flat expanses of good soil, can often be found along the banks of small rivers that run all the year round or contain perennial pools, and in such places the expense of well-sinking would be saved or at AREA. 165 least minimised, but where frosts prevail, such localities should be high enough to be above the reach of severe frosts. As no trees should stand in the nursery, nor any so near its boundary as to interfere, by meaus of their roots, with the cultiva- tion of the ground inside, the selection of a blank, which is also otherwise adapted for the purpose, is to be recommended in the interests of economy. Buta belt of trees along the boundary, producing useful seed or fruit and sheltering the nursery against cold or scorching winds, is always desirable. The aspect will depend in each case on the climate of the place and the necessity or otherwise of shelter or free exposure to the weather. Thus, in a hot dry region a northerly slope will be selected, while in a cold ordamp situation, a southerly outlook will generally be the best. Where night frosts or early frosts occur, a south-westerly exposure is the safest—see page 55 (2). Localities subject to heavy hail-storms should be avoided, also places liable to inundations. ' The accessibility of a nursery is a matter of the first impor- tance. In the plains always, and in the hills whenever possible, carts ought to be able to come up to the nursery. And for the forest or forests which it has to serve, the nursery should occupy the most central position available. Lastly, the situation should be a healthy one at all times of the year, for the establishment must be a resident one, and super- vising officers should be able to visit the nursery at all seasons. ARTICLE 2. AREA OF THE NURSERY. The area of a permament nursery ought, generally speaking, to be at least large enough to occupy fully the time of any special establishment entertained for it. It will of course vary withthe area of the forest or forests which it has to serve, with the extent to which artificial methods of stocking or regeneration are resorted to, with the average age and size of the transplants to be raised and the probable extent of failures after they have been put out. It must be borne in mind that the labour and cost of establishing, and especially of maintaining, a single large nursery is much less than that required for a number of smaller nurseries aggregating the same area, except that in the former case the transplants have to be carried out over a longer distance. Nevertheless, unless the dis- tance of lead is very great, the extra cost of carriage per individual plant is generally insignificant, and in nearly every case it is 166 PERMANENT NURSERIES. expedient to have a large nursery. It may, therefore, be laid down as a general rule that the area of a permanent nursery should not be less than 4 acres, and in the majority of instances it should be at least 6 acres. ARTICLE 3. PERIMETER OF THE NURSERY. On the outer form of the nursery depends the length of its boundary, and hence the cost of fencing it. It should, whenever possible, be a regular figure. Since the arrangement of the irri- gation channels, and hence of the beds and paths, must always be rectangular, the best figure would be the square, and after the square the rectangle. In many cases, however, as in the hills, the choice is necessarily limited, and there is no alternative but to adopt irregular figures suiting the contour of the ground. Excep- tionally, indeed, there are even occasions in which irregular figures are advantageous, as when a portion of the boundary coincides with the bank of a river which forms a natural, completely insurmount- able sunk-fence. ARTICLE 4. FEncInG. No nursery can fully serve its purpose unless it is completely protected against the inroads of cattle, elephants, pigs, porcupines, hares, deer, and other destructive animals. Where flat stones are procurable in the vicinity, and in sufficient abundance, as in most districts of sandstone and gneissose forma- tion, a wall of dry masonry, effective against all animals excepting the elephant, can be put up at a trifling cost. A pucca wall would of course be the best, but the expenditure required for its construc- tion would, in most cases, be prohibitive. The next best kind of fence would be one of wire stretched on standards of iron or wood or, better still, on single slabs of stone. Sucha wire fence has, however, this disadvantage that it does not stop the ingress of small animals, such as hares, porcupines and even young pigs. But if money is available, that defect is easily remedied by means of wire netting. In the event of funds being wanting a dead thorn fence formed of branches of Zizyphus, khair, or any other spiny bushes abundant in the vicinity, similar to those erected every year round fields in most parts of India, may be put up against, or inter- woven with, the horizontalistrands of wire. To increase the effec- tiveness of the wire fence just described, it should be erected along the top ofa mound formed by excavating an open ditch, about 18 GENERAL PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 167 inches deep and 2 feet wide, along the boundary and throwing up the earth along its inside edge (Fig. 12). The sections of both mound and ditch should be an equal-sided trapezium, and would necessarily be equal in area. A berm or scarcement, AB, should be left between the mound and ditch to prevent the earth from slipping back into the latter. The mound should he thoroughly well rammed before the fence is put up. The combination of mound and ditch not only reduces the height of the wire fence required, but the ditch, besides serving as an additional protection, also performs the office of a drain. When the nursery is situated on a pro- ‘nounced slope, the ditch and mound cannot obviously be employed, since they would only facilitate the erosion of the soil. On suck slopes no special protection will be required along the lower edge of the nursery, since the retaining wall of the lowest terrace (see Article 5, page 169) would be as good as a sunk fence. All tight-bound fences of wooden posts and wattling are entire- ly out of place at elevations under 5000-6000 feet, where white ants and destructive weather influences would necessitate. their constant renewal. Moreover they would be no barrier to pigs, porcupines and hares. Live hedges, of species varying with the forest region, may be employed when the area of the nursery is very large and is partly used for other purposes, as, for instance, an orchard or experimentaF forest garden. But, in any case, a more effective internal fence would be required for the portion of the area devoted to real nursery work. Live fences have, for the most part this prohibitive dis- advantage that they harbour noxious vermin, besides, when not thorny, giving free access to hares, &c. The principal species best adapted for live fences are—in the Himalayas, Crategus, Pyrus Pashia, roses, &.; in the plains, the prickly pear, species of Euphorbia, Zizyphus, Carissa, Cesalpinia, Capparis horrida, &c. The only way to keep out elephants is to surround the nursery with a ditch about 10 feet wide and at least 8 feet deep, and with sides making an angle of not less than 60° with the horizontal. As an extra precaution the bottom of the ditch may be studded with sharp stakes. ARTICLE 5. GENERAL PREPARATION OF THE SorL. First Cultivation. The first thing of all to do is to clear the ground of every tree and shrub ; and here we may, therefore, describe in a brief man- 168 PERMANENT NURSERIES. ner, without trespassing on the province of Forest Utilisation, the best implements to use for the purpose. They are felling-axes, bill-hooks, picks, grubbing-axes and the hoe-axe. Felling-axes and bill-hooks are too well-known, for all practical purposes, to need any special notice here. A complete account of them will be found in any work on Forest Utilisation. Picxs.—There are several varieties of picks, some having point- ed, others cutting, ends. As they are used for penetrating and loosening hard soils or gravels, or for cutting roots among< gritty and stony particles, they require their ends to be well steeled and tempered. All varieties of picks agree in being curved, the radi- ous of curvature being more or less equal to the combined length of the handle and the labourer’s arm. The best form of this tool is the pick-axe (Fig. 13), one end of which is pointed and the other flattened into a cutting edge at right angles to the direction of the handle. The length of the head may be from 24 to 30 inches, that of the handle about 3 feet, and the width of the cut- ting-edge from 8 to 4 inches, or even more, if circumstances render ‘it desirable. THE GRUBBING-AXE.—Figs 14 and 15 represent two common and very useful forms of this implement. It is used for uncovering and undermining, as well as for cutting, roots. The handle is of the same length as that of the pick. The term mattock is used in- differently to designate this as well as the tool next described. The Hoz-axe. This is somewhat similar in construction and em- ployment to the transversely flattened edge of the preceding imple- ment, but is more strongly made and broader, and has a longer handle. Its use is chiefly to cut up bushes by the crown of the roots. Figs. 16 and 17 represent two common forms. Instead of first felling a tree and then extracting the stump, the easiest and quickest, as well as the most economical and effective plan is, after uncovering the main roots, to cut through these. The force of the wind alone, aided if necessary by a little pushing or pulling, causes the tree to lean over to one side far enough for the immense leverage of the crown and trunk, as the tree falls, to rend asunder all the smaller and. lower roots. The extraction is thus immediate and complete. This mode of oper- ating also shakes and breaks up the soil very effectively, thereby facilitating the future tillage. The next operation is to level the ground. 1n the plains, if the surface of the soil is more or less even and has only a slight slope, and provided the length of the nursery in the direction of the slope GENERAL PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 169 is not great enough for there to be any very appreciable difference of level between its lowest and highest portions, this end is accom- plished simply by means of the ploughing operations, followed by a few sufficiently heavy falls of rain. The deeper depressions must, however, be specially filled up, and this is generally best done by bringing in good topsoil from outside the nursery. If, all other circumstances being the same, the difference of level is marked, exceeds say 1 in 10, the area must be divided off into horizontal terraces, the edges of the terraces being protected, if necessary, against slipping or erosion by means of retaining walls of dry masonary, which, besides being cheap and effective, permit of a sufficiently free drainage. The amount of terracing will be directly proportional to the steepness of the slope, and the width of the terraces will vary jointly with the angle of slope and the depth and richness of the topsoil, for the subsoil should nowhere, as far as can be helped, be exposed or even brought too near the surface. The terraces should be so laid out that the cutting shall, as far as practicable, be equal to the quantity of embankment, in order thereby to minimise both the labour of cutting and the distance of lead for the earth cut, and to utilise every bit of this latter. The use of a levelling instrument can never be dispensed with, as the best work with the eye cannot but fail at many points, and cause hereafter much trouble, serious loss of good planting material, and heavy expenditure on frequent repairs of broken terraces and eroded soil. Under any circumstances, we can seldom get rid of the necessity of protecting the soil against erosion. During heavy showers a large proportion of the rain, not being able to enter the soil as fast as it falls, rushes over the surface, cutting channels in it, and carrying away aconsiderable portion of the top-soil, especially if this has been loosened by cultivation. Whatever the character of the ground, the following grand rule should be universally observed :— The rain falling on higher land outside the nursery should never be allowed to run down into the nursery, except it be along a natural, well-defined drainage channel passing throngh it, which it has not been found possible to close ; nor ought any portion of the fall within the limits of the nursery to be permitted to be carried off outside by surface drainage. In the plains, the mound system of fencing already described on page 167 answers perfectly as a protective work. The mound prevents a rush of water both into and out of the nursery ;- while 170 PERMANENT NURSERIES. the ditch serves not only to drain off with sufficient rapidity any excess of moisture in the soil of the nursery itself, but carries off all the surface drainage of the higher ground outside. Indeed, when the fall of the ground does not exceed about 1 in 20, the mound alone is so effective that it is common to see large fields as it were walled off by mounds of mere earth into a number of -very nearly level compartments. Any slight difference of level ‘that exists is soon corrected by rain, and the compartments then form a succession of low terraces with earthen parapets. In the hills, the terraces should be given a slight slope inwards : the rain caught by each terrace will then drain away, partly through the soil and out by the retaining wall, and partly by way of the irrigation channels, without causing any risk of erosion to the edge of the terrace. The rain falling on the slopes above, if at all considerable, should be diverted, by means of one or more channels, into the nearest ravine or gully. If due care has been exercised in the choice of the nursery site, special drainage works will hardly ever be necessary. In the rare event of their being required, the directions given in the next Chap- ter for the construction of drains would generally apply. The next thing to do, after clearing and levelling the ground and protecting it against erosion, is to free the soil of all its larger coarse elements down to a depth of at least 18 inches, so that it may contain nothing to blunt the sharp implements of the nurseryman or overheat the soil, and also acquire a uniform texture. The stones lying on the surface ought to be at once picked off, those below the surface being got rid off during the progress of the actual tillage. Where the stony element is at all abundant, some of it will still remain even after the tillage operations have been completed, and will have to be removed by sifting or screen- ing when the nursery beds and lines come to be prepared, as explained further on. Lastly, we have to consider the tillage or real preparation of the soil, the object of which is to remove and kill the roots of all existing growth and to loosen and comminute and otherwise improve the layer of the soil in which the future plants are to be nourished. But in thus breaking up the soil, care must bé taken to bring up to the surface as little as possible of the under-layers, which have never yet been exposed to fertilising weather influences, By keeeping at the top all the richer portions of the soil, the lower layers get the full benefit of the soluble substances of plant-food carried down from them by rain or irrigation water ; whereas if GENERAL PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 171 these richer portions were allowed to go down to the bottom, those substances would only sink deeper into the ground, a large pro portion of them beyond the reach of the roots of the young plants. If the operations preceding the tillage have not already re- moved the low ground vegetation, this should now be got rid off. Amongst native gardeners and agriculturists it is usual to burn off this vegetation. Such a plan is, however, to be deprecated (ex- cept on acid or stiff clayey soils, which indeed should, in the first instance, never have been chosen). Its only recommendation is a very petty economy, while it destroys all the organic matter in the top layer of the soil. All the rubbish should be cut or pulled up by the roots. It should then be collected into small heaps up to a foot high equally distributed all over the area, and fired on a calm, dry day, so as to ensure complete combustion. Half-burnt remains of the rubbish would be strongly acid, and their subse- quent decomposition would overheat the soil and injure the roots of the young nursery seedlings. The succeeding tillage operations will suffice to mix the ashes thoroughly with the soil. The soil should be cultivated as deep as possible, for this is the only way to kill out all existing growth and make a clean, whole- some, soft, well-aérated and well-drained bed for the seedlings to spread their roots in. A loose soil is constantly improving under the fertilising influence of the air which penetrates it and by the process of nitrification. Moreover in such a soil dew forms even at very low depths and an equable favourable temperature is main- tained. Theoretically speaking, the pick or hoe is the best implement to use. But work with those implements is necessarily so slow and costly that, except on narrow terraces on steep hillsides where no other implement could be employed, they must always yield the place to the plough. Whatever the pattern of plough adopted— and this will vary greatly in different parts of India—the share must enter the soil deep enough to tear up and kill all vivacious roots and underground stems. A few fragments of these, if left in the ground, would multiply very rapidly and render the nursery work impossible. The creeping roots of woody species that throw up suckers cannot, however, always be entirely got rid of with the plough, as they often (e.g. those of Phyllanthus Emblica, Boswellia serrata, Ougeinia dalbergioides Diospyros Melanoxylon, &c.,) go down to a depth of 2} feet and more, and hence they must often be dug out with a pick or hoe, whenever and wherever a sucker betrays their presence. 17s PERMANENT NURSERIES. The best time of the year to begin ploughing is soon after the close of the summer rains : the soil is then soft and yielding, while the sun is quite strong enough, or the cold at night great enough, to destroy the vitality of the roots and underground stems torn up. One or two women or boys should follow the plough and pick or pluck out all stones and roots brought up to the surface. If the land has had woody growth on it, the ploughman should be armed with a light axe with which to cut through all roots sufficiently strong to arrest the progress of his plough. A coulter (Fig 19, C) fixed to the shaft of the plough, and strong enough to cut through woody roots up to 1} inches thick, will facilitate and ex- pedite the ploughing work very considerably. There should be at least two ploughings at right angles to one another. The plough should be succeeded by the bullock-hoe (Fig. 19), the size of which will be proportionate to the depth to which the plough has penetrated. The hoeing, which should be repeated at least twice, will shave away all the ridges necessarily left by the Indian plough; cut and break up the larger clods ; catch, cut or tear and bring up to the surface nearly all the roots still remaining in the soil ; level the ground by cutting away eminences and drag- ging fresh earth into the depressions ; and thoroughly mix up with the top soil any manure scattered over the surface. The clods are still further reduced by means of a log-roller or special clod-crusher drawn by oxen. After this it is advisable to hoe the soil over again in the same manner as on the first occasion. . The soil should now be left to lie thus until the first fall of rain has thoroughly soaked it, when it should be hoed over again in cross directions. The result of this last hoeing will be that all the re- maining clods, large and small, will be thoroughly comminuted, the soil acquire a soft, uniform texture, and the surface be evenly levelled. The procedure just described will answer in the very stiffest soils, tor which indeed it is especially well adapted. Under cxposure to the air, the clods, drying up irregularly, crack and, to a very great extent, crumble to pieces of themselves or become easily pulveris- able. The comminution is still further assisted by the innumerable particles of organic matter scattered throughout the soil and which, absorbing oxygen and thereby increasing in bulk, become each a centre of activity for loosening and breaking up the clods. If the soil is acid, the repeated turning up to which it is subject- ed and the fine state of comminution to which,it is reduced by the GENERAL PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 173 method here recommended, secures the early and complete oxida- tion of the previously imperfectly decomposed organic substances that caused the acidity. When the soil is naturally of a free texture, and roots, especial- ly those of grasses, are not numerous and troublesome, for the bullock-hoe we may substitute a strong wooden harrow (Figs. 20 and 21.) The entire area of the nursery ought to be cultivated, that is to say, not only the portions that are to comprise the future seed-beds and lines, but also those which will constitute the roads and paths ; for, as said before, every trace of vivacious roots and underground stems must be completely removed. If the soil is poor in bases, as when it is a stiff clay or a nearly pure silicious sand, it is advisable to strew quicklime or, which is generally more economical, finely ground kankar over the surface just before the last two hoeings. The quantity of lime or lime- stone to use will depend on the nature of the soil in each particu- lar case. Beyond the liming no manures should be applied until after the nursery beds and lines have been laid out. It is much to be recommended to grow a prévious crop or two of potatoes, Indian corn, rice, Sorghum, sugarcane, sesamum or cotton, whichever is the most suitable, before laying out the area as a nursery. The cultivation of such crops, all of which require very thorough weeding, effectually clears the soil of every trace of the previous vegetation that covered it, corrects all its harsh quali- ties, loosens it thoroughly, renders its texture perfectly soft and even, and completes the levelling of the ground. Potatoes, sugar- cane, and cotton are the best crops for our purpose, as cereals and oil seeds attract rats and mice. While improving the soil and site, these crops will also yield a large money return, covering, in many cases, the entire outlay on the preparation of the soil. Subsequent Cultivations. If the nursery has been completely utilised and carefully main- tained, the wholesale style of preparation described in the preced- ing paragraphs will never again be required. But it may frequently happen that a considerable portion of the area has not been used for a season or two and has in the mean- time become overgrown with weeds. In that case, if the growth ot weeds is not very strong, two ploughings, followed by two hoeings or harrowings, will suffice to restore the soil to its original V74 , PERMANENT NURSERIES: high condition of tilth. If strong weeds have overrun the soil, they may, before the plough can be used, have to be cut or shaven away with sickles, pickaxes, grubbing axes, or hoe-axes, according to the size and lignification of the weeds and the nature of the soil. _ Otherwise it will be sufficient merely to hoe up the soil lightly. An excellent form of tool for this purpose is the tea-planter’s hoe (Fig. 22). ‘ ARTICLE 6. WATERING. In the climate of India, which admits everywhere of a more or less prolonyed Dry Season, watering in some form or other cannot be dispensed with. Even in the few exceptional cases in which the intervals between sufficient falls of rain are not long enough to kill the young nursery plants outright, these, especially such as are in the seed-beds, are necessarily thrown back in their growth, unless watered artificially. And indeed, under any cir- cumstances, it is a matter of vital importance for the nurseryman to be able to regulate his work and control the growth of his young plants without being entirely dependent on the contingency of rain falling. The necessity of artificial watering being then indisputable, it may be generally laid down that for nursery purposes the usually soft, tepid water of a flowing stream is better than the generally hard, chill water of a spring. Tank water would obviously be even still better. The chill of cold water is most easily corrected by storing it in a reservoir previous to use. This storing also affords an opportunity for mixing special soluble manures with the water, an expedient which, as will be seen further on, istoften useful and even necessary for preventing or diminishing the ravages of white ants. The reservoir, in order to minimise waste by absorption in the soil, by evaporation, &c. should be situated in the immediate vicinity of the nursery. _ Water may be given to the plants either (A) by pouring it from above, 7.¢., by HAND-WATERING, or (B) by IRRIGATION. vel andwatering. In hand-watering the supply of water may be brought from a distance in skins, or led in channels, from wells or tanks or running streams, into reservoirs either of pucca masonry or with merely puddled sides and bottoms, and situated in the midst of the beds or lines to-be watered. Hand-watering is always both costly and WATERING. 175 slow. Under the most favourable circumstances, as only a very limited quantity of water per unit of area can be given, its effects are only superficial and therefore not lasting ; and hence, when it has once been begun, it must be continued nearly every day until the first fall of rain thoroughly soaks and softens the soil. When it is effected with watering-pots or ordinary garden pumps, a hard crust of fine mud, impermeable to air and dew, forms on the surface of the soil and has to be broken up by light hoeing as often as the watering takes place. This very objectionable contingency may, to a limited extent, be obviated by the use of the garden syringe, which consists of a forcing pump whose spout is furnished with a fine rose ; the water is ejected through the rose with great force in a shower like rain, which, besides moistening the soil, washes off the dust, &c. clogging the green parts of the young plants. Whether pots or pumps or syringes are used, the water must penetrate as far as the roots to produce any useful effect. Hand-watering in permanent nurseries has its raison détre only in the Himalayas where drought is neither prolonged nor severe, and even then only in the absence (exceptional it must be said) of running streams or surface springs immediately above the nursery site. It may also be employed immediately after seed has. been sown, as it enables the loose soil to settle round the seed better than irrigation does. It is the only method practicable with plants in baskets or garden pots. Irrigation. In all other cases irrigation should be resorted to: it is much cheaper, much more effective and much more expeditious, and requires very rauch less trouble and labour than hand-watering. The ordinary system followed by European nurserymen is to lead the water, from whatever source obtained, into horizontal channels running between the beds and lines parallel to their longest dimension. The water is never allowed to flow over the beds, and is retained in those channels until the soil of the beds or lines, as the case may be, is thoroughly drenched. The pre- caution of keeping the water off the beds and lines is taken to prevent the formation of a superficial crust of mud. For con- venience’ sake we will term this the LATERAL PERCOLATION, or simply the PERCOLATION, system. A common method employed by native gardeners and agri- culturists is to enclose the beds and lines with a continuous ridge of earth 5 or 6 inches high, and then, by admitting water inside 176 PERMANENT NURSERIES. through a small opening, to flood them to a depth of 3 or 4 inches. By this means the soil is perhaps more effectively drenched than by the percolation system, for the water let in over the beds some- times stands as much as an hour or more before it is completely absorbed—no slight advantage, it must be admitted, under the strong Indian sun. The work is also perhaps done a little more expeditioulsy. But, on the other hand, the formation of a superficial crust of mud, which must afterwards be raked and broken up, is inevitable. The method just described may be termed the FLOODING system. Whether the percolation or flooding system be employed, the effect is the same as regards the total destruction or banishment of white ants, rats, mice, and other burrowing animals, the depre- dations of which seem only to be aggravated by hand-watering. Another of the numerous advantages which irrigation possesses over hand-watering is that it suceeds in shallow soils where the latter, from compelling the roots to remain entirely superficial, completely fails. When the tank, spring, or stream is on a lower level than the nursery, the water has obviously to be lifted. Of the various water-lifts in use in India the best to adopt, according to circum- stances, are the Persian Wheel (of which there are several forms), the Double Mot, Charas, Chars, Charasa, Pur (Oudh), Bara (Punjabi), Kavala (Tamil), or Kajuli (Telugu), the Dheki, Dhenkul, Dhenkli, Dhenguli, Dhinguli, Bendi (Oudh), or Jhata (Punjabi), and the Ldthi Kundi (Chambal, Punjabi, Yetam, Tamil and Telugu), all which contrivances are too well known to need being described here. The water thus lifted can be led away at once into the nur- sery beds and lines, or stored up in a reservoir until wanted. ‘When the distance of lead is considerable, say exceeds 50 yards, iron pipes, or cheaper still, gutters of wood or sheet iron, supported on wooden or iron trestles, are easily and economically set up. Masonry channels, if on a large scale, are extremely costly, and earthen embankments, however well puddled, are very wasteful, and require constant looking after. In the absence of all other sources of water-supply, the only plan is to sink wells, the number and size of which will depend on the area of the nursery and the abundance of water in the stratum in which they are sunk. The most effective water-lifts to employ in this case would be the Persian Wheel and the Double Mot. The best time of the day for watering is, according to the LAYING OUT. 177 experience of Indian gardeners and agriculturists, the afternoon. The explanation of this, as far as the hot weather is concerned, is obvious, for watering early in the day would result in a very large proportion of the water being lost by simple evaporation. But as regards the cold weather, in places exposed to night frosts, it is evident that the later in the day a plant is watered, the larger will be the quantity of moisture contained in its tissues, and hence the slighter its resistance to frost during the night. Hence the proper plan in the cold weather would be to perform the watering in the forenoon ; and if from wells, as early in the day as possible, since during that period of the year well water is always much warmer than both the air and the soil in the morning. But indeed, whenever practicable, watering ought to be entirely dispensed with in frosty situations during the Cold Weather. When there is advantage in watering in the afternoon, the whole ora portion of the water-supply that is available in the forenoon can, if necessary, be stored up in reservoirs. Such storing is unavoidable when the discharge of the canal or natural stream on which the nursery is dependent, or the copiousness of the spring feeding the wells, is insufficient to irrigate the required area within the specified time. Moreover when an insufficient stream of water runs down the channels, a very large proportion of the water is lost by percolation in the soil. ARTICLE 7. LAYING OUT OF THE NURSERY. In laying out the interior of a nursery two main points have to be kept in view : (a) how to make the best use of the given area, and (b) how to perform the watering in the most economical and effective manner. For every permanent nursery there should be a good set of offices for the establishment and for storing tools, seeds, &e. in. If the area is large, these buildings should be situated at or near its most central point in order to facilitate constant supervision both by day and night. Ifthe area is limited, they should be erected immediately outside. The cattle used in connection with a nursery ought invariably to be stalled outside. In large nurseries it is generally advantageous to have a cart- road leading up to at least the nursery buildings, and, if possible, also carried further on, so as put it-within easy reach of every part .of the area. To economise space as well as money, it should be made 178 PERMANENT NURSERIES. broad enough for only a single cart, the width being increased at the extremity and, if necessary, also at certain other points, to enable carts to turn or cross. The road should be metalled and havea slightly convex section. It ought also to be raised somewhat above the level of the adjoining soil on each side, and be protected with well-made side-drains. One corner, generally the shadiest and most protected of the nursery, ought to be specially set aside for preparing and storing manures. The next step is to lay out the paths and nursery beds. These latter should be just broad enough for a child 9 or 10 years old to easily reach the middle without having to step or rest on them. A breadth of 40 inches is very convenient. Their length would be limited only by the shape of the ground and the number of plants of the several species to be raised ; and they ought always to be rectangular. The beds must be divided off from each other by paths about a foot wide. These would be more or less parallel to each other and comprise two sets crossing one another at right angles, one set abutting perpendicularly on the cart road, when there is one. When the nursery is to be irrigated, the paths running parallel to the longest dimension of the beds should follow horizontal lines, and the water, instead of reaching the beds directly from the source whence it is obtained, should previously come down a primary or FEED channel, of sufficient width and depth, from which it would be diverted at right angles, to the right and left, into smaller se- condary or DISTRIBUTING channels about 6 inches wide and 4 inches deep, and running between each bed and the path immediately above. In Europe the paths running parrallel to the beds serve themselves as distributing channels; but in India, where a large quantity of rain often falls within a limited time, the paths, if used as watercourses, would often be rendered quite unfit tor circula- tion, and, if used for circulation, would be rendered unsuitable for irrigation. Hence in this country it will not unfrequently be expe- dient to beat the paths firm and to cover them with gravel, clinkers, coal cinders, &c. It is evident that midway between every two successive paths of the series running at right angles to the lie of the beds there will be a feed channel, and that every distributing channel will terminate at the path on which it abuts. In the percolation system of irrigation the surface of the beds ought evidently to be slightly raised above the paths, say about 2 inches. This is easily done by cutting a portion of the top soil LAYING OUT. 179 off the paths and throwing it on the beds. The adjoining dis- tributing channels act as side-drains during a shower of rain, and protect the paths from being washed away. The irrigation water, as it comes down, is retained, by means of small removeable dams, in the distributmg channels, until the adjoining bed or beds are thoroughly drenched. These dams are simply a square or rectan- gular piece of wood, earthenware, sheet iron, or stone placed across the feed channel in a continuous line with the lower edge of two adjacent distributing ones, and standing just a fraction of an inch below the level of the path on each side, so as to prevent the wa- ter from ever rising high enough to flow over those paths. On even open ground the disposition of the beds, paths, and channels would be as represented in Fig. 23, where B B are the beds P P the paths, D D the distributing chennels, F the feed channel, and ddthe dams. Z When the dimension of the nursery in the direction of the length of the beds is too great for a single system of feed channel with its distributors to perform the irrigation conveniently and efficiently, there must be more than one such system laid out ; and, when this is the case, the feed channels should themselves be fed from a main one running at right angles to them at the highest end of the nursery. On hill sides the feed channels on each terrace must obviously receive their water directly from those immediately above them ; and hence, to prevent erosion, it is necessary to pave them, if not along their whole length, at least at both their extremities. In hilly country flat stones adapted for this purpose are, asa rule, easily obtainable, and both the sides and bottoms of the channels can be protected in this manner at a trifling cost. But a simpler expedient is to form the channel of two planks joined edgewise, as shown in Fig. 24. - At the upper end of the feed channel on each terrace, a wooden cask may be. let into the ground to receive the water falling from above, and of sufficient capacity for any sudden emergency that may arise. Instead of placing a cask, a small stone-lined tank or well may be built. If the flooding system of irrigation is employed, the beds must be lower than the paths, and indeed, on the same level as the dis- tributing channels. The water is turned into these channels by damming up with mud the feed channel just below them. It is then admitted into the beds by removing, with the hand or a hoe, a 180 PERMANENT NURSERIES. few inches length of the ridge flanking the distributing channel. When the beds are sufficiently flooded, the ridge is restored, the dam placed across the feed channel having been previously re- moved. It would be a great improvement, and one easily effected, to maintain a permanent opening in the ridge of earth, and to fit into it a moveable dam formed of a piece of wood, flat stone, hard earthenware or sheet iron. Similar dams should be used also in the feed channel. In every other respect the arrangement of beds, paths and channels would be the same as in the percolation system. ARTICLE 8. PREPARATION AND MANAGEMENT OF SEED-BEDS. Before proceeding to describe the actual preparation and management of the seed-beds, it is necessary to say a few words regarding the process of germination and the methods of forcing it, and the time for sowing the seeds. § 1.—Germination and methods of forcing it. In the germination of all seeds three distinct stages may be recognised :— (i) Tae Imsiprrion or Warer.—First of all the germ and also the perisperm, if there is any, absorb water and swell up. The higher, within certain limits, the temperature is, the more rapidly does this process take place. The covering of the seed may also absorb water and beecome more soft and yielding. (ii) CuemicaL CHances or State or THE Reserve Ma- TERIALS.—Under the influence of heat, within certain limits, and the special ferments present in the seed, the water-gorged reserve materials absorb oxygen from the air, and from generally inso- luble substances incapable of directly forming plant tissues, . be- come converted into soluble substances capable of at once becom- ing living tissue. (iii) DEVELOPMENT oF THs EMpryo.—By means of the newly formed substances, under the continued influence of moisture, heat and oxygen, new cells are formed in the embryo, which thus increases rapidly in size, breaks through the enclosing shell and develops into a perfect plant. This stage begins before the com- pletion of the second, and much of it is contemporaneous with it. Tt is evident that the first stage can be entirely, the second stage partially, completed before the seeds are sown, thus dimi- nishing the time during which they will have to lie in the soil SEASON FCR SOWING. 181 before the embryo becomes a perfect plant. To allow the second stage to be entirely completed would result in most cases in risking the safety of the seeds from the inevitable handling they must be subjected to in the act of sowing. In no case ought the young rootlet to be allowed to attain more than a small fraction of an inch in length before the seed is sown. There are various methods of securing this partial completion of the germinative process, or, as it is termed, of forcing germination. First of all, the seeds may be soaked in ordinary water, either by submerging them or by putting them into baskets wherein they are kept constantly moist. The latter method is the better of the two, as it allows air to pass in freely between the seeds, and with the air a certain amount of heat ; but some seeds, like teak, which have a hard horny shell that absorbs moisture with difficulty, are best kept submerged, heat being given by artificial means or by placing in the sun, air by frequent stirring. The length of the soaking will, of course, depend on the nature of the seed. Some seeds, especially such as are very hard and dry, may be first soaked for a few seconds or minutes in water raised to a temperature of about 200° Fah. Sometimes the seeds are put up in heaps and moistened, and in this condition are allowed to undergo a certain degree of fermentation, which of course helps germination. The absorption of water by the embryo and the necessary chemical changes may be promoted by subjecting the seeds to the action of certain reagents in solution in the water, such as chlorine, bromine, iodine, monobromide of camphor, lime, and weak acids, which latter also render the shells porous. Limewater even revives in some cases the germinative power of the embryo. Lastly, the seeds may be soaked in liquid manure ; this contains in addition to chlorine and certain organic acids, also slimy matters which help to keep the seeds moist and enable them the better to absorb moisture from the soil. In the case of seeds, which, like teak, have a hard impervious shell, and which on that account germinate with difficulty, thorough soaking followed by drying, this alternation being repeat- ed once or oftener if necessary, is not unfrequently the most effec- tive method of inducing quick germination. § 2. Season for sowing the seeds. The season for sowing the seeds will depend on the species in question and on the age and time at which the seedlings are to be removed from the sccd-bed. 182 PERMANENT NURSERIES. Absolutely speaking, for all places where there is no prolonged covering of snow during the winter, the commencement of the summer rains is the best time for sowing, as every condition in nature is then favourable for early germination and rapid growth, and the seedlings have the entire rainy season in which to gain the strength necessary to resist the October sun and, where there is a true cold weather, also the frosts of winter. But in the case of some species the nature of the seed itself fixes the time when it should be sown. Forinstance, the acorn of Quercus semecarpi- folia, must be sown in the middle of the rains, when it ripens. Similarly, for sal there is no other period for sowing but the com- mencement of the rains. Where snow falls and lies throughout the greater part of the winter, the best time for sowing is the autumn, as the seeds cannot be better preserved from all harm than under-the protecting covering of snow. Becoming thoroughly saturated with moisture under the snow, the seeds germinate during the first warm days of spring and the young plants are already pretty strong by the commencement of the summer rains, throughout which they continue growing on right up to mid- autumn. For seeds that have a protracted germination, like teak in most parts of India proper, ber, &c. the end and even the middle of the hot weather is a good time for sowing, as germination is thereby forced and takes place at the very first burst of the monsoon, and the seedlings, whether at once transplanted or kept in the seed-bed, have the entire rainy season in which to strengthen themselves for the unfavourable time of the year that immediately ensues. And generally speaking, whenever transplants from a few days to two or three months old are required, the seeds should be sown a sufficient number of days before the approach of the summer rains. § 38. Actual preparation of the beds. The style of seed-bed depends entirely on the method of plant- ing out employed and, in pit planting, especially on the form and size of the pits ; broadly speaking we can have only three kinds of seed-beds :—The seedlings may be raised either (a) in ordinary seed-beds, or (b) in cylindrical tubes sunk into the ground flush with the surface, or (c) in ordinary flower-pots or baskets. A. Ordinary seed-beds. First of all, if necessary, the layer of soil in which the seedlings PREPARATION OF THE SEED-BEDS. 183 are to spread their roots should be thoroughly sifted or screened, so as to free it from all gravel and coarse grit. As in each case only a certain maximum length of roots is required, it is clearly an advantage to prevent the roots from: going down beyond the fixed depth. The roots can of course be shortened by actual amputation (to be described lower down), but where excessive moisture is not to be feared, it is frequently advisable to form, at the required depth, a hard fleor through which the roots of the seedlings will be unable to penetrate. This floor may be made. of kankar or gravel or broken bricks and tiles well-rammed down ; but the very best materials, both on account of their porous and absorbent nature and manurial qualities, would be pounded charcoal or coke or coal cinders. A masonry floor or one of flagging would be objectionable, as it would be impermeable to water and the seedlings would suffer from wet feet. Moreover, by reason of the organic acids they contain, the roots would ultimately eat their way through masonry and thus necessitate frequent renewal or repairs. After the floor is forme4, the sifted soil should be put back. The surface of the beds should always be carefully levelled with a rake or any other convenient imple- ment. Simultaneously with the levelling the necessary manure should be raked in. In very free soil the manure ought to be kept near the surface, while in stiff soils it should be mixed with the soil almost as far down as the roots of the seedlings are required to penetrate. The stiffer the soil is, the more energetically does it retain soluble and imsoluble matters mixed with it and prevent these from reaching roots outside it ; whereas in free soils, rain as well as irrigation water can carry manure from near the surface down to the lowest roots, and manure raked in deep would either be lost or encourage the roots of the seedlings to go down too deep. For the very reason that stiff soils retain extraneous matters with great energy and yield them up with difficulty to plants, they should also be manured more heavily. B. Cylindrical tubes let into the ground. These tubes are either formed of two semicylindrical tiles of ‘sheet iron, tin or porous earthenware bound together, or consist merely of hollow bamboo internodes. The only advantage their employment offers is the easy removal of the seedlings. But as ‘there are very few species that cannot. be transplanted from am 184 PERMANENT NURSERIES. ordinary seed-bed with at least equal ease and success, the sys- tem in question is suited only for those few exceptional species that cannot stand any appreciable injury to their roots, and to the still more exceptional case of seedlings being required with a long tap-root and few side roots or root-fibres. The system is extreme- ly costly as regards both the nursery work and transport to the forest, and should therefore be altogether avoided in permanent nurseries, unless the area to be planted up isin the immediate vicinity. C. Flower-pots and baskets. Plants raised in flower-pots or baskets are carried to the place, where they are to be used, without being removed from the pots or baskets, and ave thus saved from all risk of injury to their roots. There is no advantage in raising small plants by this method, since they can always be transplanted with perfect ease and safety from an ordinary seed-bed. The method may be adopted only in the case of large plants required for avenues, groves, fields, hedgerows, parks and gardens. The pots and baskets should be filled with thoroughly well manured soil, a hole, in order to secure proper drainage, covered with a potsherd, being made at the bot- tom of the pots. The pots and especially the baskets must lifted up from time to time to prevent the roots of the seedlings from getting into the ground. § 4. Manner of sowing. In sowing four considerations have to be kept in view, (i) the disposition of the seeds, (ii) the quantity of seeds to sow, (iii) the depth of sowing, and (iv) the method of covering the seeds. A. Sowing broadcast. In sowing broadcast the quantity of seed to be used will depend on the nature of the seed and the age at which the young plants are to be removed. For instance, in Central India, where a bed of teak once sown goes on producing seedlings for three con- secutive growing seasons, we cannot sow too thickly, even to the extent of completely covering the ground. Again, there are certain species, like Anogeissus, Adina, Stephegyne, Nauclea, &c., an extremely large proportion of the seeds of which are usually barren ; in their case also the beds should be literally covered with a layer of seeds. Small or light seeds that are easily blown away by the wind and are difficult to scatter evenly, should, before being sown, be mixed MANNER OF SOWING. 185 with a sufficient quantity of vegetable mould, surkhi-ash or some compost. As regards covering, some seeds, as for instance teak, need not be covered at all, unless it be with a little chopped straw in order to counteract excessive evaporation and help germination by its decomposition. With these exceptions, all seeds after being sown must be covered over. The depth of covering will depend chiefly on the size of the seeds. Small seeds produce plants with a com- paratively short hypocotyledonary stem and must not, therefore, be sown so deep that the cotyledons cannot emerge from the soil and stand up wellabove it. The larger the seed is, the more care- fully must it, as a rule, be protected from drought. Large seeds should therefore be sown deep, but not so deep as to prevent a sufficient amount of air from reaching them. A safe rule with large seeds is to give them a covering of more or less the same thickness as their own cross dimension; but it must not be for- gotten that, for each kind of seed the depth of covering must vary with the facility with which it germinates. In covering seeds the usual plan is to sprinkle some light spongy manure, such as, for instance, vegetable mould ora mixture of vegetable mould and farmyard manure, over the bed and then rake it over, by which means the seeds not only get covered, but the layer of soil containing the seeds is in every way rendered as suitable as possible both for germination and subsequently for the nutrition of the young plants. Large seeds require to be pressed into the soil one by one ; but no amount of care can secure their being covered over to a uniform depth, and hence they are not, as a rule, adapted for broad-cast sowing. VaLuE or THE System.—Sowing the seed-beds by scattering econemizes both money and labour as far as the actual sowing is concerned. But the seeds seldom germinate uniformly. If the sowing has been done thickly, the plants are inevitably too crowd- ed at a great many points, and must suffer, unless early thinned out or transplanted into nursezy lines; if the sowing has been done sparely, the soil is insufficiently covered in many places and thus deteriorates or, at the best, there is considerable waste. In either case the disadvantages are serious. In addition to these ‘drawbacks, weeding and the lifting up of the seedlings becomes a troublesome matter. Moreover, as shown above, large seeds are not always suited for this style of sowing. Nevertheless when seed is plentiful or cheap, or the young plants are not to remain long in the seed-bed, or the nature of the seed sown is such that 186 PERMANENT NURSERIES. only a small percentage may be expceted to germinate, the broad- cast system is often to be recommended. B. Sowing in lines. The lines should of course be straight and parallel amongst themselves and run across the bed. They may be either equidis- tant or two and two nearer together. : The distance between two consecutive lines or pairs of lines will vary with the size of the seeds (large seeds will naturally produce large seedlings), the rapidity of growth of the seedlings, and the age at which they are removed. The seeds may be sown either on ridges or in furrows. Ripces.—Ridges may be made by drawing together the soil in lines with a common hoe, or with a special draw-hoe, the crane- necked hoe (Fig. 25). The craning serves a double purpose ; there is no angle to catch soil and thus clog the iron, and the line -of draught remains as nearly as possible on a level with the edge of the blade, so that the draw is steadier and the implement less easily turned aside. The ridge may be shaped directly with the hand, or with the ridge-mould (Fig. 26), which is made of iron to prevent clogging and just spans half the width of a bed. The di- mensions of the ridges will depend on the nature of the soil and of the seeds, on the rooting and constitution of the seedlings, and on whether the seed is sown only in a single row along the top or also on the sides. The formation and maintenance of ridges is both troublesome and expensive, and hence, except in very wet locali- ties, such as we need scarcely ever select for a permanent nursery, or for the special benefit of some particular species, furrows are to be preferred. Furrows.—The width of the furrows will depend on the size of the seeds, on the number of rows of seed sown in each, and on the depth itself of the furrows. In practice it is never advisable to sow more than two rows of seed in the same furrow, whereby the arrangement, in which the seedlings stand in equidistant pairs of lines, is secured. The depth of the furrows will depend on the size ef the seeds, on the length of time required for their germina- tion, on the quantity of manure put in with the seed, and on the necessity or otherwise of earthing up the young plants. The larger the seeds are, the thicker will be the covering required. The more protracted the germination, the better must the seeds be protected from drought or cold or birds, and hence the deeper must they be buried. MANNER OF SOWING. 187 The regularity of the furrows is easily secured by stretching along each of the two opposite edges of the bed, by means of stakes, a strong line knotted at the required intervals. A short line or stick laid across between two opposite knots will suffice to guide the tracing of the furrow. The furrows may be made with the hand alone or with the aid of special draw-hoes, such as the trowel-hoe (Fig. 27) or the share- hoe (Fig. 28). The size of the blade and the angle between the blade and handle will vary with the width and depth of the furrows. But whenever possible, the sowing wedge and boaid should be em- ployed. These do not require the aid of any cross guiding line or stick, as they are just long enough to lie exactly across the beds. To use the sowing wedge (Fig. 39), itis held by the two handles, and being laid across the bed between two opposite knots, is pressed or rammed into the soil to the required depth. Before it is drawn out, it is worked from side to side so as slightly to widen the open- ing of the furrow and to consolidate its sides. The wedge is adopt- ed for use only in more or less free soil that does not clog, and it requires to be sponged or mopped each time it is forced into the soil. When small furrows are required two or more wedges may be secured together by cross battens as shown in Fig. 80. The sowing board (Fig. 31) is specially adapted for small seeds. It consists of a plank about 14 inches thick to the under face of which are attacheditwo or three laths at the required distance apart. The under surface of the laths is grooved in the middle along their entire length, so that the bottom of the furrows made may have a pronounced convex section, and seeds dropped along the elevated middle line may fall uniformly down each side, thus sowing two lines of seed in a single operation. In using the sowing board the trouble of measuring off distances before it can be placed and pressed down, may be saved by allowing the board on each side to project beyond the outer lath to the extent of half the interval required between two furrows. Two boards may then be used side by side, each being moved fo1ward alternately. Similarly, and with the same object, the cross battens in the combined wedge may be lengthened. The number of seeds to sow will depend on their size and quality, and on the rapidity of growth of the young plants, their require- ments as regards light and shelter, and the time that they are to remain in the seed-bed. Large seeds of good quality should be arranged in a continuous line, touching or almost touching each other. Smaller seeds, since they produce small plants, may be 188 PERMANENT NURSERIES. sown more rrofusély. When it is once known how much seed ought to be sown, the entire quantity to be used should be divided into small equal lots corresponding to small equal divisions of the beds. In no other way can the seeds be uniformly distributed. The depth of sowing will depend on the size of the seed, the time it takes to sprout and its exacting nature as regards the con- ditions necessary for its successful germination. Seeds may be sown with the hand or with special implements. Large seeds are most easily put into the furrows with the hand. Small seeds also may be sown with the hand, but there is risk of sowing too thickly or of distributing unequally. To minimise this risk, very small seeds sould be previously mixed with finely sifted vegetable mould or farmyard or any other suitable manure. But for small seeds it is best to use the sowing horn or sowing bottle. The sowing horn (Fig. 32) is made of tin and resembles in shape cans used for oiling machinery, except that the extremity of the spout is slit through for some distance, and the gape of the slit is regulated by means of a sliding ring, it being larger the higher up the ring is fixed. The end of the spout may also be removeable and thus allow of the opening being varied without resort to the device just described. The sowing bottle (Fig. 33) is a much simpler contrivance and consists of an ordinary wine or spirit bottle covered with a cap of stiff leather open at the extremity. The size of the opening may be made adjustible, but it is better to use different caps for different openings. Itis always an advan- tage to use bottles of clear glass, as the quantity of seed in them at any time can be noted ata glance. It is obvious that in both the horn and bottle the opening of the spout or cap must be adapted to the size of the seed and the proposed thickness of sowing. The capacity of the horn or bottle should bear a definite proportion to the extent of the bed or number of furrows to be sown. A further improvement would be to graduate the bottle by means of thin lines scratched in it. It is always advisable, before sowing, to strew the bottom of the _. furrows more or less thickly with manure, such as vegetable mould, farmyard manure, surkhi-ash, or any mixture of these three, in order to secure a perfect bed for the seed. To the same end the seeds should be covered with the same manure. When the cover- ing of manure has been given, the surface of the beds should be lightly raked over and levelled, and the sowing is then complete. VALUE OF SOWING IN LINES.—The advantages of sowing the seeds in lines are :— WATERING THE SEED-BEDS. 189 (i) The amount of growing room required by the seedlings is easily and exactly regulated. Ths roots have free room to develop on each side between the lines, and, however crowded the seedlings may be in each line, they receive light not only from above but also from at least one side. A given area can thus be fully utilised in the happiest manner possible. (ii) The seedlings give each other mutual support and shelter against frost, sun-stroke, &c. (iii) The weeding of the beds becomes very easy (see. p. 193). (iv) The hoeing of the beds is also singularly facilitated (see p. 194.) (v) The removal of the seedlings never presents any difficulty (see pp. 200-1.) (vi) If the seedlings are not to be transplanted for some time, the beds can be thoroughly and evenly manured with ease (see p- 194.) (vii) If, owing to the seeds not being uniformly good, they fail at any points, failures are easily detected and the gaps can be filled up at once without any trouble. (viii) It is the only method which renders possible the amputa- tion of the tap-root in situ (see page 194.) In addition to the above advantages, sowing in furrows offers the signal one of securing, with very little special care, an even distribution and the right depth of sowing for the seeds, however large these may be. The only disadvantage of sowing in lines as compared with free scattering is that, when the seeds are small, it takes more time ; but except when the seeds are to be sown as thickly as possible, the countervailing advantages offer far more than a mere compen- sation. § 5. Watering the seed-beds. As soon as the sowing is over, the beds should be watered, even if the soil is already moist, as this is the quickest and most effective way of producing a perfect contact between the soil and the seeds. The flooding system of irrigation should be avoided, for the breaking up of the inevitable superficial crust of fine mud and the simple rush of the water itself would necessarily disarrange the entire seed-bed and uncover many of the seeds, especially if small ones have been sown. Besides this, the flooding water, as it sank into the lower depths of the soil, would carry away with it, out of reach of the future plants, all the soluble and finer portions of the 190 PERMANENT NURSERIES. manure, and, in addition the seeds themselves might suffer from excessive moisture. In the impracticability of employing the percolation system, it is better to hand-water than to irrigate. The moisture of the soil must, with only a single exception, be constantly maintained until germination is complete, and water must, therefore, be given as often as the soil begins to get dry. The exception just referred to applies to the rare case of those seeds, which possess so hard, tough and impermeable a shell, that their germination is promoted by allowing the soil to quite dry up before it is watered again, the porosity and facility to dehisce of the shells being thereby increased. Indeed it may be found ex- pedient to repeat this alternate drenching and drying more than once, as with teak in Central India. In these exceptional cases the watering on each occasion ought to be as copious as possible, and the flooding system of irrigation may then be employed. After the plants have come up above ground, less frequent watering will be necessary, but, on the other hand, more water will have to be given on each occasion, and handwatering should, as far as can be helped, be entirely given up. § 6. Protection of the seed-beds. Both the seeds and the young plants are exposed to many causes of injury or destruction against which they have to be protected. A. Protection against animals. Birps.—Many kinds of seeds and the tender shoots of young seedlings are greedily devoured by birds. Scare-crows are of little use, as most birds, especially sparrows, doves, &., soon get accustomed to them. Rattles, a good and easily made pattern of which is given in Fig. 34, may be set up at different points and all worked simultaneously by means of lines connected with a single one worked from some central post of observation. ~ Automatic rattles, worked by the wind or flowing water, could also be easily put up, and an improvement on this would be to attach the rattles to figures made up like human beings. But the most effective plan would be to arm a man with a gun and a few blank and even loaded cartridges, or to put a strong coop of close bamboo or other trellis work over the beds (Fig. 35), which last device would also have the advantage of keeping out many other kinds of animals. Hargs AND Porcuprinrs—These animals generally commit their depredations by night and no fence sufficiently economical can PROTECTION OF THE SEED-BEDS AGAINST ANIMALS, 191 keep them out. The only plain is to scare them away with rattles or scarecrows, or to leave one or two small openings by which: they may be encouraged to enter rather than at any other point,, and there tu shoot or trap them as they enter. Coops may also be used. SqurrRes. Squirrels can be kept off only by constant watching and moving about. For beds, in which the seedlings are still small or the seeds have not yet germinated, coops will answer perfectly. Rats, Micz anp Motes.—Most of these are burrowing animals. Moles are sometimes very useful, as they feed on insects and worms, but they undermine the beds and’ thus cause destruction to. both seeds and seedlings. When numerous, they should be trap- ped or poisoned, but they are fortunately confined only to the Himalayan region. Rats and mice do. damage-sometimes by eating. the seeds, sometimes by nibbling round and: at the roots of the young plants. They may often. be successfully caught in ordinary half-burnt water pots (ghards), let into the ground and _ half full of water, and with their mouths concealed with a thin covering of grass. But the most effective plan is to poison them. Grains of wheat specially prepared with strychnine, orlarge- pills of flour-. containing strychnine, arsenic or phosphorus,.should be put into. drain-tiles placed underground or on the beds at various points. Monxeyrs.—These pests can be kept at a distance only by shoot--. ing one or two as often as they approach the nursery. InsEcTS AND. SprpERS.—Seeds and all parts of plants are liable: to the attacks of insects. Seeds that have a protracted germination necessarily suffer most.. Those liable to be attacked should be shown in surkhi-ash and their- sojourn in the soil shortened by some forcing process. Ash should: also be sprinkled over the bed. Soaking the: seeds im a solution of camphor, besides hastening germination, also preserves them from the attacks of insects.. Grubs of beetles gnaw roots, their presence being betrayed by. the sudden withering up. of a seedling here and a seedling there, They must be picked out of the soil one by one. Some other insects that attack roots live in larger or smaller colonies. The latter are easily destroyed ; but white ants are extremely difficult to overcome. The drenching of the soil by means of irrigation. often suffices to keep them away. Sprinkling the beds. with a weak solution of assafctida is thoroughly effective. The decom- posing juices of some plants, such as the prickly pear (Opuntia 192 PERMANENT NURSERIES. Dillenit,) nim, &e., keep white ants at a distance, and their leaves should therefore be used in sufficient proportion in preparing vegetable mould, or rotted in a tank or cistern through which the irrigation water has to pass. It is superfluous to add that, where white ants abound, manures which attract them should be avoided. Those insects which nibble round the root-collum, near which, when not feeding, they lie concealed in the ground, should be dug out and destroyed. Insects which attack green herbaceous parts must be picked or brushed off one by one and killed. The brush represented in Fig. 36 may often be found convenient for the purpose. Spiders suck the juices of plants or injure their foliage with the webs they weave. They are easily destroyed. Many birds, especially the family of starlings (chief among them the maina, which digs out insects from the soil) and the Indian Roller, and shrikes, prey upon insects. Such birds ought to be encouraged by giving them every facility for nidification. Shrews and lizards also are very useful enemies of insects. B. Protection against frost. North of a line passing from Broach through Nassik, Auranga- bad, Chanda and Raipur and west of its continuation through Hazaribagh, Patna and Muzaffarpur night frost is one of the great- est enemies the Indian forest nurseryman has to contend against, The simplest and cheapest plan is to fix thatch tatties over the seedlings (Fig. 37, a). But if the frosts are severe, a similar tatty (Fig. 37, b) should also be placed edgewise along the south-east side of each bed so as to keep the morning sun off the plants. It is superfluous to add that all these tatties should be light and moveable, and should be taken off every morning as soon as the air has again become warm and the frost has completely disap- peared, being put up again about an hour before night-fall. Where the dhadu or wind from the Himalayan snows blows, a tatty should be put up, during its prevalence, on the north side of each bed. Another plan is to stick twigs and small branches in the ground between the lines. If the cold is not severe, these twigs and branches, if they do not altogether keep out frost, at least mitigate it and prevent a too rapid thaw, and they also have the advantage of not stopping the formation of dew on the plants and in the upper layers of the soil. A third plan is to place over the beds the wooden coops already PROTECTION OF THE SEED-BEDS. 193 described (Fig 35), which temper frost and the morning sun and allow the plants to get the benefit of the nightly dews. As they do not prevent sufficient light and heat from reaching the plants, they need not be removed in the day time like the grass tatties. Bamboo trellis-work fixed on supports would be the cheapest form of such cover. In case of severe frost loose grass or a cheap mat could, in addition, be spread over the trellis work. A fourth plan is to cover the ground between the lines with a thick layer of straw, which keeps in the heat of the soil and pre- serves the roots and lower, and generally most sensitive, parts of the stem. The base of the seedlings can be further protected by earthing it up with the aid of the crane-necked (Fig 25) or share (Fig 28) hoes. A fifth plan, which may be adopted simultaneously with any of. the preceding, is to maintain a smouldering fire on the windward side of each bed. Dry, powdered cattle dung, laid in a narrow: deep trench running paralled to, and just outside, the edge of each bed, burns steadily and slowly, requires no watching at all, and gives out the required amount of heat. Lastly, to minimise the danger from night-frosts, the vegetation ot the seedlings should be kept back as much as possible during: winter by stopping watering or reducing it to the minimum neces- sary to keep the plants alive. C. Protection against excessive insolation. Excessive heat may retard the functions of nutrition, or, by overheating active and sensitive tissues, disorganise and kill them ; while too intense sunlight may produce over-transpiration and thus either weaken temporarily or hurt permanently the seedlings. In order to keep the temperature as near the optimum as possible and to prevent transpiration in excess of the moisture taken up by the roots, we must temper the rays of the sun by shading the beds: with tatties, mats, thatch, or more or less open trellis-work ; and also, by keeping the soil sufficiently moist and, if necessary, also’ by covering it over with straw, prevent it from becoming over- heated. It is the afternoon sun from which the beds are chiefly to be shaded. Another plan is to grow along the western edge of each bed a line of persistent agricultural plants, such as castor oil, cotton, &c., which at least pay for their maintenance without interfering with the roots of the seedlings. Lucerne, which isa soil-improving crop, may also be sown in lines alternating with the lines of seedlings. 194 PERMANENT NURSERIES. The most sensitive part of the seedlings, the region of the root- collum, should be earthed up where the heat of the sun or hot winds are to be feared. Covering the beds with straw or growing alternate lines of lucerne also affords the necessary protection ; but earthing up always yields the best results. In the case of broad- leaved species, earthing up, by withdrawing the buds at the root- collum from the influence of light, guarantees their preservation and assists them to become dormant, thereby insuring the vitality of the future transplants. The earthing up may be effected with the crane-necked (Fig 25) or share (Fig 28) hoes. § 7.— Weeding and maintenance of a loose rich soil. Weeds amongst the seedlings not only live at the expense of the nutritive matters in the soil intended for the seedlings, but also, owing to their usually greater vigour and their ability to grow up in a dense mass, directly injure the roots and foliage of the seed- lings. Any weeds coming up should be forthwith removed by the roots so as to prevent them from growing up again, and nowhere near the beds should weeds be kept long enough to run to seed. All woody growth, which in newly broken up forest land, be it never so carefully prepared, will not unfrequently come up at numerous points, should be grubbed out at once, along with the deep-seated stool, root or rhizome producing it. Stray weeds springing up here and there must of course be plucked up indivi- dually ; otherwise it is always advisable to combine the weeding with the operation next to be described. The soil in the seed-beds will always gradually settle and become caked, and will, therefore, require to be worked up from time to time so as always to keep it loose enough. This periodical loosening of the soil may be effected with various implements. If the sowing has been done broadcast and the seedlings stand close together, the common garden trowel (Fig. 38), or the Indian khurpa (Fig. 39) are the only implements that can be used. Otherwise pick- forks (Fig. 40), drags (pickforks minus the mattock end, but much lighter ; see also Fig. 41), iron rakes (Figures 42-44), garden forks (Fig. 45-47), or the share-hoe (Fig. 28) should be employed according to circumstances. If the seedlings are kept for any length of time in the beds, the. soil may become exhausted and require to be manured again.” Advantage should be taken of the operation just described to put in the fresh manure. TRAINING OF THE PLANTS. 195 § 8.— Amputation of the taproot. If the seedlings are allowed to remain for any considerable period in the seed-beds and are to be put out directly thence into the forest, the taproots should be reduced to the length required. This curtailment of the taproot necessarily induces the develop- ment of a compendious, bushy mass of rootlets and root-fibres, thanks to which the seedlings can be extracted, transported and finally put out in the forest with ease and comparative safety. Where, as described above on page 182, a special floor, impene- trable to roots, has been formed, the shortening of the tap-root and the consequent development of side-roots will take place naturally. Otherwise the tap-root must be artificially shortened. As it is a necessary condition that the seedlings in a seed-bed shall not be re- moved for this operation (for otherwise we should have a true case of transplanting into nursery lines), the tap-roots have to be amputat- ed in situ. This may be done with a spade having a thin, flat blade’ and a sharp oblique cutting edge (Fig. 48) : a square edge might, as the soil is always loose, only push away the roots without going through them. The amputation should be effected only after the tap-root has become sufficiently lignified and before it has become too strong to render the removal of so much of its lower portion injurious to the seedlings. Another plan is to expose, on one side, the roots of a line of seedlings, and then to cut off the tap-roots with a sharp pruning knife ; but this method is obviously so labo- rious that it would be better to go in at once for transplanting into nursery lines, which would be not only less tedious and expensive, but more effective. The amputation of the tap-root injures the seedlings of many species, notably those which form a stout radish-like tap-root, like teak, sal, &c. The pines and firs also suffer from the curtailment of their tap-roots, as the section, being at once covered over with a secretion of resin, cannot absorb nourishment from the soil. And so the operation should be avoided, whenever possible, by putting out the seedlings young or transplanting them early into nursery lines. § 4. Training of the plants. As the seedlings raised in seed-beds are usually young and small, we are seldom called upon to train them to develop ina particular way. Hence nothing special need be said here on the subject and the student is referred to page 205, under Nursery Lines. 196 PERMANENT NURSERIES. ARTICLE 9. PREPARATION AND ManacEemMent or Nursery LINES. Before the student can study the actual preparation and manage- ment of nursery lines, he must understand fully why and under what circumstances transplants from the seed-beds must often undergo a further training or schooling before being allowed to leave the nursery. He must also remember that the planting material raised in nursery lines comprises, besides seedlings, ‘also suckers, rhizomes and rhizome-shoots, slips and cuttings, layers, and grafted and budded plants; and that the seedlings may be self-sown plants from the forest as well as those obtained from the nursery seedbeds. § 1. Nursery lines and seed-beds compared. As compared with seed-beds nursery lines offer the following characteristics :— (i) They require a much larger area of prepared ground ; (ii) Hence there is greater waste of manure, and (iii) More water is required and the arrangements for watering are proportionately much more extensive and elaborate ; (iv) The seedlings standing far apart, the soil deteriorates more rapidly ; (v) For the same reason weeds are more abundant and give proportionately more trouble to remove them ; (vi) The plants require more individual attention ; (vii) Greater skill and care are called for ; (viii) Control and management are much more difficult ; (ix) The seedlings being larger, their lifting up and transport to the forest are more difficult and require more labour and car- riage ; and, (x) Asa consequence of all the preceding characters, they are much more costly. . Hence nursery lines should be resorted to only when it is neces- sary to raise material— 1. For planting out in avenues, groves, parks and hedgerows. 2. For planting up pasture lands. 3. For planting in places exposed to climatic extremes. 4. For planting in rich soil liable to be overrun with large strong weeds, and especially grasses possessing deep, abundant, powerful and vivacious roots and rhizomes. 5. For planting in localities subject to inundations. THE SCHOOLING OF SEEDLINGS. 197 6. For planting in the midst of advanced growth that has already reached a certain size. 7. For introducing new seedling growth in a coppice. For all the above purposes large plants, such as cannot be pro- duced in seed-beds, are indispensable. Seedlings may require being schooled in nursery lines in yet two other cases, viz. (i) when, by reason of the supply exceeding the demand, they have been kept so long in the seed-bed that they must be pricked out. in order to acquire the proper root- development ; and (ii) when, for any reason, self-sown seedlings from the forest are to be used, and owing to the unfavourable soil of the forest, the root-development of the young plants is defective. In every other case seed-bed raised plants will suffice. § 2. The schooling of seedlings. By far the largest proportion of planting material raised in forest nurseries consists of seedlings. We will, therefore, first of all describe in detail the management of seedlings in nursery lines. Mauch of the procedure described will be common to the treatment of root-suckers, rhizomes, slips and cuttings, and layers and grafts, and our remarks regarding those exceptional classes of transplants will hence be brief and of purely special application. In dealing with the schooling of seedlings the following points will be noticed :—(A) Age of transplanting and number of times to transplant ; (B) season for transplanting ; (C) distance of trans- planting ; (D) preparation of the soil; (E) lifting up of the seed- lings ; (F) method of transplanting ; (G) watering ; (H) pro- tection ; (1) weeding and hoeing ; and (J) training. A. Age for first transplanting and number of times to transplant. The age at which seedlings should be removed from the seed- beds to nursery lines will depend on one or more of the following circumstances :— (i) The nature of the species ; (ii) The crowded state of the seedlings in the seed-beds ; _ (iii) The rapidity of growth of the seedlings at the time in ques- tion ; (iv) The year in which the seedlings are to be put out ; and (v} The number of times the seedlings are to be transplanted. Under no circumstances, however, should seedlings leave the seed-bed before lignification of the tap or main roots and the stem is at least fairly well advanced : for the roots are always more or ‘198 PERMANENT NURSERIES. ‘less injured or weakened by their removal, and the presence of woody tissue is therefore absolutely necessary both to give them greater resisting powers and to conduct water from the roots to the leaves rapidly enough to keep pace with the inevitable loss by transpiration. As the chief object of transplanting is to keep the roots of the seedlings, however large these many be, within manageable limits, it is evident that if the interval between the first transplanting and the time when the seedlings are te be put out is so long that the roots have time to spread out too far in every direction, a second transplanting must take place. And indeed, if the interval is long enough, a third and even a fourth transplanting may become necessary. But, as a rule, it is seldom that a third’ trans- planting is required ; and the necessity of a fourth and @ fortior7 a fifth transplanting is altogether exceptional. The interval between two transplantings will depend— (i) On the rapidity of growth of the plants above ground, (ii) On the natural tendency to spread of their roots, and (iii) On the difficulty with which the roots injured in the pre- vious transplanting recover. The last transplanting will take place just one year before the seedlings are to be put out. In the case of very large seedlings the plan described on page 306 will save a last transplanting. B. Season for transplanting. It may be laid down as a general rule that unless special circum- stances order otherwise, the best time for transplanting is soon after the re-awakening of vegetative activity, for the plants are then most capable of recovering from any injury they may have suf- fered and they have almost the entire growing season before them to establish themselves thoroughly in their new place. For those ° species which start into activity at the beginning of the summer rains, as, for instance, teak, Terminalia tomentosa, §c., there can be no question as to the most favourable time for transplanting them being soon after the first showers have fallen. This of course presupposes that the seedlings are ready to transplant then. But it may happen that the seedlings in question are still too small to be removed from the seed-bed. In that case, if the cold weather in the locality is always mild, transplanting may be effect- ed as soon as the seedlings are ready, and the seedlings will continue establishing themselves all through the cold weather. Striking new roots, and never suffering from excessive transpira- tion, they will be strong cnough to live through the ensuing hot PREPARATION OF NURSERY LINES. 199 weather, and will be then ready to make a full start at the begin- ning of the following rains. In many parts of India where frosts are unknown, a considerable quantity of rain falls in the period from October to December. This fact is an additional justification for autumn transplanting in such places. Another obvious exception to the general rule enunciated at ihe beginning of this article is that of species which, like sal, sissu and most of the hill trees, start into vegetative activity in spring. In their case it is evident that transplanting in that season is not to be recommended, since in the plains the hot weather immediately follows, while in the hills May and June are certainly not favour- able months for the recovery of seedlings that have received any injury to their roots, the soil being then too cold for root activity, while the sun and uir are sufficiently warm for rapid transpiration. Hence for transplanting such species also the beginning of the rains seems to be the most suitable time. C. Distance oftransplanting. While the plants should be given sufficient room to. expand and form a full crown and root-apparatus, they should also be kept close enough together to shelter the soil, to afford each other mutual protection, and to prevent their roots from spreading out unduly. The,best way to reconcile these several, some of them conflicting, requirements is to arrange the plants im parallel lines and, except they exceed four feet or so in height, to keep them closer together in the lines than the lines are to each other. A rich well-manured soil, to check the tendency of the roots, to spread is a sine gud non. The actual distance between the lines, as well as between the plants in each line, will necessarily depend on the size of the transplants required, on their size when pricked out, on the rapidity of their growth, on the time they are to remain there and on the special habits and requirements ot the species. With our hundreds of species and the great variety of conditions of climate, soil and locality prevailing in India, it is evident that no hard and fast rule can be laid down on the subject, either for all species in general or for any one species in particular. D. Preparation of the soil. If the seedlings required are not large, then a group of nursery lines may, and usually does, assume simply the form of a seed-bed and is prepared like this latter, the only difference being that in the one case we sow seeds, in the other we put down seedlings. Indeed the seed-beds themselves may be directly converted into 200 PERMANENT NURSERIES. nursery lines by simply removing every alternate line of seedlings and thinning out the seedlings in the remaining lines so as to leave a distinct interval between two consecutive seedlings. The removal itself of the seedlings sufficiently loosens the soil and clears it of weeds, and a dressing of manure can be given in relevellingit. A further step in differentiation, if the interval between two consecu-~ tive lines exceeded twelve inches, would be to open a trench between every two consecutive lines of the same depth as the distri- buting channels and to serve the same purpose as these last. But when the plants are so large that they require to stand at least 18 inches apart both ways, then the seed-bed form would lead to a considrable waste of manure and labour, and the soil should therefore be carefully prepared only at the points where the seed- lings are to stand. E. Lifting up of the seedlings. The armnount of care to be excercised in taking up the plants from the seed-bed will depend entirely on the recuperative powers of the species. In the case of small plants of some species they may be plucked out with the hand after the soil has been thoroughly drenched. Some. other species, particularly those which throw up root suckers or grow up from cuttings, recover readily even from extensive root injuries. Hence the rule to follow is to employ the cheapest mode of lifttng up the plants compatible with their safety and future welfare. In what follows general directions are given for lifting up plants which must be injured as little as possible. If the plants are very small and have come up from seed that has been broad-cast, a simple and expeditious way and one that may be resorted to in any kind of soil is to push a khurpa or, better still, the common trowel under them and lift them upon it, The earth that comes up with the roots may be kept or brushed away, as re- quired. With larger seedlings, the roots of which have attained a certain lateral as well as downward development, the employment of the khurpa or trowel is out of the question. If the seedlings are stand- ing isolated and they are required with covered roots, the conical transplanter (Fig. 49) is very suitable in soil that does not clog ; it not only takes up the seedlings with a well-formed ball of earth, but also serves to make at once a hole of the proper dimensions for its reception. The semicircular transplanter (Fig. 50) may be used in any soil and answers for still larger plants. But if the seedlings stand in lines, by far the best plan is to open a trench of sufficient depth along the outside of one of the extreme TRANSPLANTING 201 lines and, with a flat spade or hoe inserted into the ground on the other side of the line, to tilt over the seedlings, with the soil in which they are standing, into the trench. The next line of seedlings can then be similarly tilted over into the trench produced by the removal of the first line, and so on. If itis desired to maintain the roots covered, the nurseryman has only to take out each plant with the soil adhering thereto. Otherwise he can pick out the plants one by one or several together ; and then, as in the process of being tilted over the earth round the roots has already got thoroughly loosened, it can easily be brushed or shaken off without injury to the roots. 1f the plants are very large and stand well apart, then none of the methods hitherto described will answer and the seedling will have to be taken out with a curved or flat spade (Figs. 51 and 52), forced into the ground all round each plant. Or an ordinary hoe or pick or any other implement may have to be used. F. Transplanting. If the plants are very small, they can be pricked out with the finger or a stake, knotted lines being used, as in sowing, to guide the nurseryman. If they are larger, the quickest plan is to put them into furrows made with implements similar to those described under the head of sowing (Figs. 27, 28 and 29), or with the common hoe or spade. The furrows will necessarily be much deeper and wider than those used for sowing. To facilitate the distribution and setting out of the transplants in the lines, the planting batten (Fig. 53) should be used. The batten, which should be rather longer than the width of the planting bed, having been placed across the bed over a furrow, its two ends resting on the soil beyond, a plant is placed in each nick, where itis at once held in position. The nurseryman has thus both hands free to arrange the roots and fill up the furrow. When spades or ordinary hoes are used, much time will be saved by combining the two op- erations into a single one by filling up the trench just planted up with the earth taken out in making the next one. Plants of some size are best put into the middle of the furrow, as their roots require to be spread out before the soil is put in ; smaller plants possessing chiefly a single main root, may be put up against one side of the furrow, which side should on that account be more or less vertical, If the plants are too large to be arranged in beds, pits must be prepared for them. The pits should be rather larger and deeper than would just suffice to hold the roots ofa seedling. They may 202 PERMANENT NURSERIES. be prepared with the conical or semicircular transplanter (Figs. 49 and 50), or with curved or flat spades (Figs. 51 and 52), or with the common khurpa (Fig. 39) or trowel (Fig. 38), or with an ordinary hoe. The conical transplanter used should be of the same size as that with which the seedlings to be pricked out were taken up ; the earth round the roots comes up as a cylinder of the same diameter as the lower and narrower opening of the implement, while the hole formed with it has the same conical outline as the outer surface of the blade. Before the plants are put into the holes or furrows, they may have to be pruned. All broken roots or badly injured portions of roots should be cut with a clean section with a sharp knife. Simi- larly, long roots that require curtailment should be cut down to the required length. The crown also must often be pruned. It is hetter that the roots should preponderate over the green parts than that these parts should be in excess of the roots, since in the former case the development of some of the buds will at once restore the desired equilibrium, while in the latter the insufficiency of the roots must at once debilitate the entire crown. As it is impossible to secure exact equilibrium, it is advisable to thin the crown a little severely, especially when broad-leaved species are concerned. In doing this, the languishing or less lignified shoots and twigs and half-developed herbaceous leaves should be removed in preference to all others, as they would be the first to suffer from over-transpiration. In the case of conifers the leading shoot should, as a rule, be carefully preserved. There is another reason, besides the diminished absorptive power of the roots, for reducing the leaf-surface, and that is that the very fact of the seedlings being removed from their original crowded position to a more free and open situation accelerates transpira- tion in a very remarkable manner. Whether we transplant into furrows or pits, good manure should be strewn thickly over the bottoms of the furrows or pits, and also placed at every other point in immediate contact with the roots : and the soil, before it is put back over the roots, should be mixed with a little manure. After the plants have been put in and the furrows or pits filled up, the soil should be carefully pressed down round the seedlings, so as to ensure close contact between it and the roots, and to fur- ther this end water should be given without delay. Unless the soil is pressed in at once, it will afterwards settle down of itself and leave bare the upper portion of the roots, or, at any rate, the WATERING AND PROTECTION OF NURSERY LINES. 203 usually sensitive region of the root collum ; and besides this, eva- poration from the roots will go on in the air-spaces surrounding them and thus endanger their vitality or permanently diminish their absorptive power, or at least prevent them from taking up moisture at once to the full extent of their capability, oe throwing back the whole seedling. G. Watering. As alreadly directed, the first watering should be given as soon as the planting is over. As the transplants have necessarily lost a part, very often a considerable part, of their root-apparatus, the total absorptive power of this latter has consequently been appreci- ably diminished, and on this account the soil must be kept con- stantly moist until new roots have been produced and the plants have completely regained their vigour. Water must therefore be given frequently, but in small quantities at atime so as not to deluge the weakened roots. When the plants have fully recovered, the frequency of the watering may be diminished, even to the ex- tent of allowing the surface soil to become more or less dry during the intervals. The larger and stronger the seedlings are, the less frequently will they require to be watered. Nursery lines prepared in the form of seed-beds are best watered by the percolation system of irrigation. When the seedlings are large and stand far apart and the seed-bed form is no longer prac- ticable, then the flooding system is the only possible method of irrigating. It may be carried out in one of two ways,. either by dividing the whole area of the nursery lines, by means of little ridges, into small compartments, or by making a hollow round each plant and connecting the hollows of a single line with one another by a common channel. By the former plan all the plants of a compartment are watered simultaneously and the entire area is flushed, whereas by the latter the plants in the several lines are watered in succession one by one and only the soil immediately round each plant is irrigated. This latter plan should be adopted -only in the exceptional case of the plants standing far apart and of the necessity of economising a naturally limited water-supply. H. Protection. AGAINST ANIMALS.—Birds, as a rule, do little damage to seed- lings of the size standing in nursery lines, and special precautions need therefore seldom be taken to keep them out. Perhaps par- rots, which bite off the leaves and buds of many species, are alone to be guarded against. The larger seedlings may also be injured by birds perching on them. 204 PERMANENT NURSERIES. Hares may nibble off the tender shoots of transplants up to more than a foot high, whilst against poreupines the size of the seedlings is never any protection. Both animals must be kept out in the way suggested on page 190. Rats, monkeys, and insects are as much to be dreaded here as in seed-beds. The measures to be taken against them are the same as those described on p. 191. AGaAINstT FRost.—For the smaller transplants the same precau- tions must be taken as for plants in seed-beds (wde pp. 192-193.) But when the plants are large, and therefore stand far apart and occupy a large area of ground, covering with thatch, &c., is out of the question. Next to selecting ground not exposed to severe frosts, the only plan is to shelter them with tall growth of some hardy agricutural plant that requires little from the soil and at least covers the cost of cultivating it. If the frost is not severe, it will suffice to bind the stems and branches loosely with dry grass or straw. AGAINST EXCESSIVE INSOLATION AND HOT WINDS.—Immediately after the seedlings have been transplanted and until they have begun to strike new roots, they should be shaded from the sun to prevent transpiration in excess of the limited supply of moisture absorbed by their diminished root-apparatus. If the plants are too large to be shaded at a reasonable cost, a part of their foliage or transpiring surface should be removed, as already recommended on p. 202. After the plants have struck, they have nothing to fear from the sun’s light and but little from its heat so long as they are suffici- ently watered. The larger the transplants, the less can they be in- jured by heat. Asa rule, the portion of a transplant most sensi- tive to the sun’s rays and hot dry winds is the region of the root- collum : this may be protected by drawing earth over it. Stems with tender bark may be protected by tying grass or straw loosely round them, or enclosing them in a loose tube of bamboo matting. I. Weeding and maintenance of a loose rich soil. Nursery lines forming groups resembling seed-beds should be weeded in the same way as the latter (see p. 194). Otherwise the same constant careful tending should be given only to the im- mediate vicinity of the seedlings, the intermediate space being simply hoed up from time to time, the interval between one hoeing and the next being only just short enough to prevent the soil from becoming caked or weeds difficult to kill from gaining possession of the soil, TRAINING TRANSPLANTS. 205 g. Training the transplants. However carefully the transplants may be raised, some amongst them will always assume an abnormal or irregular development, or sicken without, however, dying. These ntust be trained into well- shaped, vigorous, healthy seedlings by means of judicious. pruning or by altogether cutting them back. A. Pruning. As every deprivation of a part of its foliage results in a corres« ponding temporary curtailment of the vegetative vigour of a plant, pruning should be resorted to only in the four following cases :— (i) The end of the leading shoot may have been damaged or weakened by frost or other causes beyond hope of recovery. The weak or damaged portion should be removed immediately above a strong and healthy bud, which will thereby be encouraged to develop and replace the lost leading shoot. If the phyllotaxis is opposite or whorled, there will be more than one bud immediztly under the section. It is not always possible to recognise which of these buds is the strongest, or even which is likely to develop into a vigorous shoot. Hence itis generally advisable to let every one of the buds develop, getting rid of all but one only when it is quite clear which will make the best leading-shoot. In most cases this happens before the buds have attained any development, and the superfluous shoots can be got rid of by simply pinching them off with the fingers. (ii) Sometimes the lateral shoots of the seedlings become ab- normally vigorous at the expense of the leader. These shoots should be weakened by being shortened. The extent of the shortening will depend on their vigour. Very strong shoots will have to be reduced to half their length, but if the operation is done in time, simply pinching off the terminal bud, or breaking off the two or three extreme internodes, will suffice. (iii) Sometimes, owing to circumstances beyond control, a fork has been produced, by which the vigour of the crown is divided between two shoots. We must get rid of that one of the two, which is less promosing, either because it is weaker or less well lignified or growing more decidedly out of the straight line. (iv) Instead of a distinct single leader we may have a number of shoots growing up iv the form of a broom. This is only an ex- aggerated forking and may be treated on the same principles as the fork if one of the shoots is strong enough to become the leader ; but generally a new leader must be formed by pruning down to 206 PERMANENT NURSERIES. the first vigorous bud below this defective growth, as in the first case. B. Pruning. This wholesale remedy should be adopted only in the last resort, and should, therefore, be restricted to the three cases given below, It is evident that only broad-leaved species ean be so treated. (i) When seedlings have a tendency to grow abnormally tall and lanky, witha narrow spare crown. This tendeney can only be corrected by cutting them back. The new shoots that come up will generally develop normally. The formation of a brush of shoots should be avoided by nipping off the weaker shoots as they show themselves. (ii) When the seedlings become hide-bound, that is to say, when the bark of the stem, and often of other parts also, becomes tough and dry and the cambium becomes inactive and unable to exercise tension enough to split the unyielding bark. Here again the sole remedy is cutting back and absolute renewal of the entire portion of the seedlings above ground. (iii) When a stronger regrowth can be produced. Occasionally stronger plants can be produced by cutting back the original seedlings, and the plants thus produced have their numerous small roots close to the surface, a very desirable quality indeed. § 3.—The schooling of root-suckers. Hither (A) suckers already produced may be put down in the lines, or (B) only cuttings of roots of species that throw up suckers. True suckERS.—The best suckers to use are such as have sprung up on small roots and have already developed some roots of their own ; they then approach nearest in character to seedlings. The portion of the parent root removed with the sucker should be cut with a clean oblique section at both ends to facilitate the absorp- tion of water. Although every part of the stem and of the main roots of a sucker is always thoroughly lignified and is hence able to conduct water rapidly, still it is advisable to reduce, by judicious trimming, the foliage of the sucker in order to prevent any chance of excessive transpiration. The suckers should be put down in the same manner and with the same care as seedlings of their own size. Roor-cuTrines.—These are short sections, from a few inches toa foot long, of roots not more than two inches thick. They should be taken in preference from knotty or otherwise irregularly-shaped roots, as they are then more likely to succeed and to send Up strong shoots. They ought to be inserted in the soil obliquely with their SCHOOLING RHIZOME-SIIOOTS AND CUTTINGS. 207 upper extremity just below the surface of the soil, which should be loose and rich and always kept in a nearly saturated condition. Both ends should be cut clean and obliquely. Rootlets and root- fibres should be preserved, only ragged ends and wounded portions being removed with a clean cut. GENERAL REMARKS.—Plants raised from suckers generally ex- aggerate the original tendency of the species to produce suckers ; and on that account, while they may be well adapted for covering up bare land or forming a hedge rapidly, they cannot produce as tall, regular and sound timber as seedling trees. Hence propaga- tion by suckers is of extremely rare occurrence in forest nurseries, and this all the more for the additional reason that suckers succeed, in the few cases in which their use is to recommended, quite or almost as well without any preliminary schooling in a nursery. The fruit and flower gardener often finds the method of propaga- tion by suckers a useful means of perpetuating good varieties. § 4.—Rhizome shoots. Propagation by means of such shoots is a kind of propagation by division, that is to say the various rhizomes, with their shoots if any, which form a single bamboo clump, are parted and put down again separately. It is thus an excellent method of increas- ing the stock of bamboos in a nursery. It is also used, when seed is not available, to raise transplants from clumps growing in the forest ; but this practice is subject to the drawback, often serious, of the propagated plants seeding and dying off atthe same time as the parents clumps. To minimise this drawback, the rhizomes should be obtained from the youngest clumps available. The simple rhizome, the success of which is, however, never certain, and which should on that account seldom be used except on a small scale, may be put into the ground in the same manner as root- cuttings. But if the leafy stem has developed, the whole should be treated exactly like seedlings of the same size, except that when the stem is 3 inch or upwards in diameter, it should be cut down to the top of the second o1 third internode. This amputation is necessary to prevent the excessive transpiration that would other- wise inevitably follow from the diminished abscrption of moisture due to the loss of the greater portion of the root fibres, and the disconnection of the rhizome from the rest of the clump. § 5.—Cuttings. Cuttings are used only for propagating species that do not seed or for obtaining at once plants of some size. Only a com- 208 PERMANENT NURSERIES. paratively small number of species are able to grow from cuttings. A cutting strikes and becomes established sooner than trans- planted seedlings. Hence, except for propagating rare species or varieties, there is seldom, if ever, any necessity for putting cut- tings through a course of nursery training ; and it is very much better to put them out at once where they are required. Hence cuttings will find their place only very exceptionally ina forest nursery: Nevertheless a short description of how to propagate by means of them cannot be omitted from a Manual which profes:es to give general principles. Cuttings for forest purposes may be either sections of the shoots of some broad-leaved species, or entire culms or sections of culms of the various species of bamboos. A. Cuttings of broad-leaved species. The roots which cuttings develop are all adventitious roots, originating some on the callus formed along the edge of the buried section by the still active cambium, but the majority from under the lenticels. The formation of a large callus may be secured even before the cutting is severed, by removing a ring of bark or tying a ligature at the point at which it is eventually to be cut off ; the elaborated sap being for the most part arrested in its descent by the barkless girdle or ligature, as the case may be, a swelling is produced immediately above consisting of young and, therefore, still active woody and cortical tissue. Until roots are produced, cuttings can absorb moisture from the soil only through their buried lower section, which should therefore have as large an area as practicable and be in the best condition possible to let water enter easily. Hence it ought to be cut obliquely and as clean as possible with a sharp knife. The upper extremity of the cutting is best cut straight across to reduce the surface of evaporation, and, in order to create a further obstacle to evaporation it should be covered over with clay or, better still, with a mixture of clay and cowdung. Cuttings should be put down obliquely, so that no part of their buried length may be so far away below the surface of the soil as to be unable to receive the full amount of aération requisite for producing a vigorous development of roots. The best time for putting the cuttings into the ground is just before the re-awakening of vegetative activity, when the wood and the bark are still full of reserve material. The larger the amount of this reserve material is, the more abundant and vigorous will be the proluction of aaventitious roots. SCHOOLING OF CUTTINGS. 209 To prevent the bark from being ruptured, unless the soil is very loose and soft, the cuttings should not be forced into the ground but let into holes made with a stake or dibber. They should be set, if small, in lines, like small seedlings, if large, like large seed. lings ; and the soil in which they are to be put should be as well prepared as possible. Cuttings may be divided into three main classes, (a) unpeinen rods, (b) pruned rods and (c) posts. UNPRUNED RODS.—These are young branches, from one to four years old, taken without any selection, and are set in the ground broom-fashion with all their twigs and branchlets intact. It is obvious that such cuttings, once they have struck root, cannot be easily taken up again, and for this reason they are hardly suited for nursery purposes. PRuNeD RoDS.—These are sections of from one to three-year-old wood, which are carefully selected and cut from amongst the strongest shoots of the parent plant. The upper extremity of the shoot, being always insufiiciently lignified, is removed, and all the twigs and leaves are pruned off. The upper end of each rod should bear two or three vigorous buds, and, in putting the rod into the ground, itis best to leave only these buds above the surface. Pruned rods are par excellence the cuttings to be used in nur- series ; and even then, the smaller they are, the better. Posts.—These are stout branches from one and a half to three, four and even five inches in diameter, and from five to sixteen feet long. It is evident that they are unsuited for use in nurseries, save in the very exceptional case ofa very rare species being required to be propagated. B. Culms. Culms may be used whole or cut up into sections, and they may be completely buried or have one or two nodes above ground. A crown of adventitious roots springs up at the nodes and the bud at each node forms a leafy shoot. The lower nodes strike best, and indeed those situated in the upper half of the culm never strike if the culm is cut up into sections. Culms are most successfully used at the beginning of their second year of growth ; in their first year they are never sufficiently lignified, and do not contain as much reserve constructive materials as they do afterwards, while after the second year the original bud at each node has ceased to exist, having developed into leaf and branch, and the tissues have become ‘too hard to be active enough to. produce numerous, strong roots. In putting down the culms, such branches as interfere with 210 PERMANENT NURSERIES. their being placed in position should be pruned off ; the remainder may be left with all their foliage, as the fibres of the bamboo are rapid conductors of water. § 6—Layers. Layering is scarcely the work of a forest nurseryman, yet in this country he’may have a fruit or flower garden attached to his nursery. Moreover the operation may sometimes be utilized out in the forest for covering bare ground round certain spreading shrubs or trees. Layers may be made to strike root either (1) x the ground, if the branches are low and flexible or (2) in soil contained in a pot, basket, &c., above ground (by circumposition, as it is called, if the branches are too high and too rigid to be bent down to the ground. In the first case, the branches to be layered are bent into the soi] (Figs. 54 and 55) and kept in place by means of a stake or peg with a curved head or with a loop of wire buried in the ground, or, if the layers are thin or possess httle elasticity, simply with a stone placed over the soil. If the branch is long and very flexible, it may be bent into and out of the ground more than once (serpen- tine layering, Fig. 55). In layering by circumposition (Fig. 55), the branch more or less retains its position, the soil is put into a box, garden-pot or basket, or may even be held together merely with a piece of matting or coarse canvass bound with twine. A garden pot, cut some way down on one side before being burnt, does extremely well, or the branch may be enclosed between the two halves of one and the same pot, the halves closing up against. one another except where a whole in the bottom allows the branch to pass through. Asin this elevated position the soil is liable to dry up rapidly it should, during dry weather, be covered with moss, straw, &., and kept constantly moist by means of a pot suspended vertically above, through a hole in the bottom of which the water drips continually. Whatever the method of layering employed, the early and abundant development of adventitious roots is en- couraged by arresting the downward progress of the elaborated sap. This may be done either (i) by means of a ligature, or (ii) by twisting, or (iii) by tongueing or heeling (Fig. 54 a), or (iv) by ringing (Fig. 54 6), or (v) by splitting the branch through the middle for about 2 inches of its length, or (vi) by cutting one or more notches right through the bark into the wood. With species that are specially well adapted for this method of propagation the branches may be laid in the ground for a consider GRAFTING. 211 able portion of their length. As only the branchlets and twigs on the underside will need to be cut off in order to lay the branch in the soil, the rest will stand out and become each an independent~ rooted individual. This procedure may be adopted with bamboos. The best season for layering is immediately after the first burst of activity at the beginning of the season of vegetation: it is at this time that trees form the largest quantity of constructive mate- rials and at the same time display the greatest amount of activity in developing new organs. For layering we may use the same age of wood as for propaga- tion by cuttings, but itis obvious that the thinner the branches are, the more flexible will they be. In any case they must be thoroughly lignified. Since the layers are connected with the parent stem as long as they are still unable to nourish themselves, almost any woody species may be propagated with more or less certainty by layering. § 7. Grafting. This is still less the work of a forest nurseryman than layering, but in a backward country like India we may be required to do it outside our regular professional duties. Success in grafting depends on the complete amalgamation of the cambium of the scion or graft with that of the stock on which it is put; the connection formed must be organic. Once this conpection takes place, every new layer of wood or bark made by the scion is formed in organic connection with the corresponding layer of wood or bark added by the stock. Besides this, the empty space between the two sections inside the cambium ring may be filled up with new woody cellular tissue formed by the medullary rays and the parenchymatous tissue in the fibro-vascular bundles, and the scion and stock become thereby completely cemented to- gether. Consequently, whatever the method of grafting, the cambium of the scion must be placed in direct and close contact with the cambium of the stock. To facilitate and maintain this contact until the ultimate amalgamation takes place, the stock and scion should be firmly tied together with some soft but strong fibre, and the lines of junction between the scion and the stock should be covered up and protected against atmospheric influences with variously-made compositions. Indian malis use chiefly clay mixed with cowdung, the object of the cowdung being to pervent crack- ing, to maintain an even temperature, and the better to preserve moisture. The proportions in the mixture are 1 of cowdung to 212 PERMANENT NURSERIES. from 1 to 2 of clay or clayey loam. The addition of a little finely- chopped stiff hay diminishes still further the risk of the clay crack- ing and falling off. The composition should be made at least a week before it is used and thorough mixture should be secured by frequent turning and beating with mallets. It should not be allowed to get dry before use. Besides grafting clay there are various preparations of what is called Grafting Wax. Firminger in his * Manual on Gardening in India” gives an excellent recipe for one as follows :— ; “Take 27 oz. of common yellow resin and melt it gradually, so as not to drive off the turpentine. When reduced to the thick- ness of a syrup, add ten ounces of alcohol. Shake them thorough- ly together and pour them at once into a well-stoppered bottle. ‘When the graft is inserted and tied in its place with a strand of matting, cover the surface of the whole with this varnish with a small painters’ brush. Such varnish is affected neither by heat, cold, nor wet.” Grafting clay possesses several decided advantages over graft- ing wax. Firstly, being put on moist, it can gradually, and there- fore with no risk of deluging and injuring the exposed cells, restore to the scion all the moisture it has lost while being worked on the ‘stock. Secondly, being itself capable of being kept moist, it can supply moisture to the scion as long as this latter is still unable to obtain as much as it requires from the stock. Thirdly, it prevents rapid and wide fluctuations of temperature better than any wax ean. Fourthly and lastly, however thickly it may be laid on, soil isa natural preservative of wounded vegetable surfaces. On the other hand, clay cannot always be used in grafting small delicate plants, and, as it is net elastic, unless it is taken off soon after per- fect union between scion and stock has taken place, it is likely to prevent, by compression, the stem from increasing in diameter at the line of junction, where this increase is indeed most required. Grafting is impossible unless the scion and stock are closely related, 7. ¢. are varieties of the same species, or species of the same genera, or genera of the same natural order. The power of co- alescence does not extend beyond this last degree of affinity. Besides this, the species to which the scion and stock belong should be able to attain more or less the same diameter at one and the same age. Any great disparity in this respect generally re- ‘sults in the object itself of the grafting being defeated. One or more of the following ends may be sought in grafting: — (1) to propagate a variety or species that cannot otherwise be GRAFTING. 213 acclimatised ; (2) to ensure early fruiting, the age both of the stock and of the individual supplying the scion having each its due in~ fluence ; (3) to strengthen a weak variety or species by working it on a vigorous stock ; (4) to perpetuate varieties of species that can- not be propagated either by cuttings or by layering ; (5) to pro- duce pleasing ocular effects. Theoretically speaking the best time for grafting is just as the season of vegetation is about to begin: this, firstly, because the wood and bark of both stock and scion then contain the maximum quantity of reserve material ; secondly, because the sap being then “down”, the scion is more resisting than during the full activity of vegetation ; and, thirdly and lastly, because, as both stock and graft become active immediately after the operation, there is no intervening period during which the cambium cells on the section may from any cause become inert or at least lose part of their activity. Where there is a true spring, this theoretically best time can be realised. But where the season of vegetation is, as is many parts of India, immediately preceded by hot dry weather that must exercise an injurious influence, the operation must be put off to August or September, when the sap is full of formative material, vegetation still active enough to produce the necessary amalgama~ tion of the stock and graft, and the air moist and generally warm. This latter time is still more favourable, if the winter in the locality is mild. In the hot weather the vegetation of the plants to be used as stocks and to supply the scions should be forced by judicious watering. Exceptionally, grafting, particularly budding, may be performed earlier in the rains. On the way in which the scion is worked on the stock depends the method of grafting. Hence there are numerous methods, but the following axe those which are most generally employed :—(a) Splice Grafting (b) Tongue or Whip Grafting, (c) Crown Grafting, (d) Cleft Grafting, (e) Saddle Grafting, (f) Budding and (g) Inar- ching or Grafting by Approach. In the first five and the seventh methods the scion almost invariably consists of one year old wood, while in budding, the bud used may be taken off any well-formed shoot of the preceding or current season. A. Splice Grafting. This is a very simple method. It is very suitable for delicate plants, and when properly done, seldom fails. The wood of the scion and the stock, where they are to be united, should be of exactly the same girth and shape, so that the cambiums of both may be in complete contact all round. Figure 57 at once explains Missing Page BUDDING. 215 8 inches with a chisel, which is kept in the cleft untill the scions have been inserted. On its withdrawal the stock closes firmly upon the scions. The stock should then be carefully tied up and the union and the top of the stock covered over as usual. This method of grafting is very simple and easily executed, and rarely. fails ; but it favours decomposition in the centre of the stock. E. Saddle Grafting. Saddle grafting (Fig. 61) is the inverse of cleft grafting, the apex of the stock being cut in the form of a wedge which exactly fits into a slit cut into the base of the scion. It is evident that the stock and the scion must be of one and the same diameter throughout the entire line of union, a coincidence not easily secured. F. Budding. Budding differs from all other methods of grafting in that the scion contains no wood at all, and consists only of a bud witha smaller or larger piece of the bark attached. In budding special knives (Fig. 62, A and B) are used, the lower extremity of the handles of which is made of hone or ivory or some hard flexible wood, and is shape like the end of a paper knife. According to the shape of the piece of bark and the mode in which it is worked on the stock, there are four principal methods of budding as follow :— G) Tor Ordinary Shield-Budding (Fig. 68). The piece of bark is in the form of a shield from 2 to 4 in. long and ? to } in. broad. In the bark of the stock, where the bud is to be inserted, a T-shaped incision (&) is made, the cross and upright bars of the T being slightly longer than the width and length respectively of the shield of bark. With the sharpened extremity of the handle of the budding-knife, the bark (0,)) is gently lifted away from the wood and the bud-bearing shield is then inserted beneath these lifted edges so that the top of the shield fits accurately up against the bark of the stock immediately above the cross bar of the T (C). The overlapping bark (2,5) is then pressed firmly over the shield, a ligature is tied on as shown at (D)), and the entire union is then covered over with grafting wax or ordinary crude resin applied with a brush. The bud must of course remain exposed. The T-shaped incision may be made inverted as represented at E (Inverted T-budding) T-budding is very successful with oranges: and roses. (ii) Sgquare-Shield Budding (Fig. 64). Here the piece of 216 PERMANENT NURSER(ES. bark is cut square, and fits exactly into a square incision in the ‘stock, from which incision the bark has been entzrely removed. Ag there is no overlapping bark of the stock to cover and protect the bud-bearing shield and thus hasten the union between the bud and ‘stock, this method is not so certain in its results as the preceding. (iii) Flute-Budding (Fig. 65 A). The flute should be taken off a cylinder of wood slightly thicker than the one on which it is to be worked, as it shrinks as soon as it has been taken off. A narrow bandage is put over the junction of the barks at (e) and a cap of soft adhesive plaster (grafting clay answers very well) is put over the top to exclude weather influences. This method suits walnut and other thick-barked trees. (iv) Ring-Budding (Fig. 65 B.) The piece of bark (”) should be taken off a part somewhat thicker than the part of the stock on which it is to be applied, both in order to anticipate the shrinkage referred to under flute-budding and also to prevent any chance of a bad fit. If ultimately found too large, the edges can be pared till they just meet when tke piece is brought tightly round. This method of budding is more easily performed than the preceding one, from which it differs principally by the fact that in it the stock need not be headed down at all and can, therefore, continue its vegetative processes with undiminished vigour and thus contribute an abundance of formative matter to complete the union of the scion with itself. The best season for any of the preceding modes of budding is when the bark of the stock is gorged with sap and comes away easily from the wood, and the weather is moist and warm. Water should never be allowed to enter and lodge between the bark of “the scion and the wood of the stock. G. Inarching or Grafting by Approach. This method differs from all the previous methods of grafting in that the scion has not to be separated from its parent tree in order to be worked upon the stock. Inarching is effected by making a small blaze on one side in both stock and scion, then fitting the two closely together by the bared surfaces. After complete union has taken place, the branch or plant inarched may be severed at once from the parent tree or stock ; but it is better to gradually diminish its partial dependence on the parent either by cutting through it little by little or by girdling it about } in. below the union, so that while a certain quantity of sap (chiefly crude) will still continue to flow into it, the elaborated sap may be arrested CHOICE OF SITE TOR TEMPORARY NURSERIES. 217 just above the girdle and may result in increased vigour of growth in the region of the union. The stock is usually a plant only a few years old, while the scion is a small branch of the same thickness of a large tree. Good varieties of mango are always propagated by inarching. In baring the cambium for the purpose of inarching, either the wood need not be touched at all, or a thin slice of wood may be removed with the bark. In Fig. 66 the stock and scion are kept more or less parallel to one another, but they may be crossed. SECTION VI, Temporary Nurseries. All temporary nuseries possess two essential characteristics. In the first place, they must be situated in the middle of, or close to, the spot to be planted up; and in the second place, we raise in them only the number of seedlings that are required to stock or fill up withina given timea given area witha certain few definite species. These two characteristics regulate the esta- blishment and entire course of management of nurseries of this class, ARTICLE 1. Cuoice or SITE. Owing to the first characteristic the selectionis confined toa limited area. Within that area we must find the most suitable spot for the purpose in view: The number of species being necessarily few, and frequently reduced to a single one, the choice of soil presents little difficul- ty. The soil should possess the average, never the exaggerated, qualities of the soil of the area in which the seedlings aro to be used. For instance, ifthe general character of the soil in that area is sandy, the soil of the nursery must not be a pure sand, but one in which the sandy character predominates less or more, according to the prevailing type of soil. Again if a stony element is the rule, the nursery should not be established in the most stony spot to be found within the area. And so on. As regards locality the most level plot of land should be selected. In the plains it should not be a hollow, but a piece of rising ground in which water cannot lodge, but from which also it does not drain off too easily. In the hills old fields generally offer the best sites. The general configuration, aspect and altitude should, like the soil, approach the happy mean, and all exaggerated characters should be carefully avoided, 218 TEMPORARY NURSERIES. To what extent the spot should be open or sheltered by standing trees will depend on the nature of the species to be raised and on the amount of protection required against frost, drought, &c. For some species the site must be entirely open, for others again, at the extreme end of the scale, a more or less full canopy of trees overhead will be required. Between these two extremes there are a great many intermediate degrees depending on the hardihood and light-demanding nature of the species to be raised and on the prevalence of frost, drought and other injurious climatic influences in the locality. When the shelter of trees is indispensable, individuals of middle age with long clean boles and crowns, that have not had time to spread out to any great extent, are the best to have. According to Heyer, it is a fact proved by experience that in Europe broad- leaved trees are better to have over conifer seedlings than conifers themselves, and vice rersé. This may be found to be true also in India and is certainly completely borne out by our own experience in this country, and its explanation is to be sought in disparity of root-systems and different requirements of the roots in the soil. As regards accessibility it is evident that the nursery should not only be situated as near as practicable to the places to be planted up, but be easily reached, and, if possible, be also accessible to hand-carts or wheel-barrows. ARTICLE 2. AREA. The question of area is one of very easy solution, since we know previously the system of planting to be followed and the exact area for which planting material is required. That area will in every case depend on the distance up to which the plants may be easily, cheaply and safely carried, and on the percentage of failures antici- pated. In the hills it will also depend on the range of elevation of the hill-side to be operated upon and the number of distinct forest zones of which it consists : each such zone, being entirely the result of well-marked climatic differences, will require a separate nursery situated inside itself. Thus the area of a temporary nursery may vary from a few square yards to half an acre or more. Where destructive quadrupeds are numerous, it is advisable not to have nurseries of such a size as to invite their depredations by their conspicuousness. Nevertheless, if any establishment ean be located at the nursery, the area may of course be large. Under any circumstances, it should be large enough to be able to prodnce, BOUNDARIES, FENCING, WATERING AND CULTIVATION. 219 for safety’s sake, something in excess of estimated requirements. ARTICLE 3. Form or BounparRy. Owing to the small size and temporary nature of such nurseries, the choice of shape admits of great latitude ; but if fencing is necessary, economy will require a regular form—a rectangle or square on level ground, a complete terrace or succession of terraces in the hills. ARTICLE 4. FEncina. Where cattle, deer, pigs or elephants must be kept out, fencing will be indispensable. All that has been said under this head in connection with permanent nurseries, applies also here ; only it must be remembered that, as the fence is required for only a very limited period, it ought to be as cheap as possible and need not be of a lasting nature. Tight-bound fences find their place here. They may be made of bamboo or other wattling carried on strong wooden posts. But fencing should rather be the exception than the rule. ARTICLE 5. WATERING. In those portions of the Himalayas where there are frequent showers in spring, and under exceptional circumstances elsewhere, watering may be dispensed with ; otherwise temporary nurseries, like permanent ones, must be watered. But the watering here need be neither abundant nor frequent, and may be limited to simply keeping the seedlings alive. The method of watering will depend very much upon whether there is any establishment stationed at, or close to, the nursery. Should such be the case, provided also other facilities exist, irriga- tion may be adopted ; otherwise there is rarely any alternative to hand-watering. But as the area is never large, hand-watering, especially if it is simply limited to keeping the seedlings alive, can at the worst constitute only an insignificant item of cost. ARTICLE 6, PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. Contrary to what obtains in a permanent nursery, the rule in the case of temporary nurseries is to turn up the sods so as tu bring the lower and poorer layers to the surface. In temporary nur- series specially prepared manures in any appreciable quantity are 220 TEMPORARY NURSEQIES. seldom available, and so the best plan is to let the richer upper layers go down and to bring up to the surface the inferior soil, which can be top-dressed with any little manure that may be at hand, or, that failing, with good surface soil brought from the surrounding area. As a further means to the same end, the soil should be broken up in the cold weather so as to expose the deeper layers, even if it be only for a few months, to the fertilising action of atmospheric influences. If this inferior lower soil were left at the bottom, the seedlings would remain underfed and would fail to develop a full bush of rootlets and root-fibres. In other respects the directions given for the preparation of the soil in permanent nurseries (p.p. 167-173) should be generally followed. But owing to the small area, and in some cases to the roots of the standing trees, the hoe and pick must often be used instead of the plough. ARTICLE 7. LAYING oUT OF BEDS, PATHS, &c. If only germ plants are required, there is obviously no necessity for dividing off the nursery into beds, paths, &c. The entire area may be sown broadcast or naturally by the trees overhead, as the circumstances of the case may dictate. Otherwise the disposition of the interior of a temporary nursery will depend on its area. The area may be so small that the entire nursery consists of only a single bed. If otherwise, it should be divided off into beds and paths of the usual width. It is seldom that transplanting is done in temporary nurseries, but when it cannot be dispensed with, it should be restricted to small plants that may be pricked out into beds resembling seed-beds. Transplanting in the nursery itself can become necessary only in the following cases :—(1) When large seedlings are required in lofty mountain ranges with distinct zones of forest growth ; (2) whenever, owing to the supply of seed fail- ing or for any other reason, it is necessary to school natural seed~ lings obtained from the forest. Transplanting may also be resorted to when water is available in sufficient quantity and for a moderate outlay. ARTICLE 8. PREPARATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE SEED-BEDS AND NURSERY LINES. The beds are prepared in the same way as in permanent nurse- ries. As we usually employ hand-watering in temporary nurseries, the beds would generally be on the same level as the surrounding MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS. 291 soil; if they were lower, water would lodge over them during the . rais, and if higher, there would be risk of drought. Nevertheless, if the locality was very damp, they would be sufficiently raised to prevent wet feet. The sowing is executed in exactly the same way as in permanent nurseries, but greater attention should be paid to the quantity of seed sown ; the plants should come up thickly enough to assist in keeping down weeds and yet be far enough apart not to become spare and lanky. Under a canopy of trees, if only germ seedlings were required, it might suffice to let those trees sow the ground naturally. In the nursery lines the seedlings ought to stand closer together than they would under similar circumstances do in permanent nur- series, where the more intensive cultivation enables the young plants to acquire a greater lateral development and the weeds can be removed as soon as they show themselves. The seedlings should be pricked out during favourable weather at the commencement of of the summer rains ; seldom, if ever, later, even if the succeeding cold weather be mild, because, in view of the unavoidably insuffi- cient supervision and tending that can be given to this class of nurseries, the seedlings must be placed in the very best conditions possible to take care of themselve. For the same reason the prick- ing out should be done with great care. Both in the seed-beds and nursery lines the soil should be drenched as soon as the seeds or plants have been put into the ground. ARTICLE 9. MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS, WeEDING.— Weeding can in no case be dispensed with. Where there is shelter of trees overhead, and neither frost nor drought is to be feared, there the freer the beds are of weeds throughout the year, the better, and the operation should, therefore, be repeated as often as it is required and the necessary labour and supervision are available. But where frost or drought can do harm, the strong- est and really dangerous weeds alone should be kept out at all times, and a complete weeding should be effected only at the com- mencement of the summer rains so as to give the plants growing room when they most require it; otherwise the weeds should be left untouched as a necessary protection for the young plants. PROTECTION AGAINST ANIMALS.—Cattle, deer, elephants and pigs must be kept out by means of fences (see Fencing p. 208). Por- cupines, monkeys, and hares cannot be excluded except when there 229 TEMPORARY NURSERIES. is a resident establishment, but the best thing that can be done is to have small, inconspicuous nurseries. As regards rats, the only resource, when they are numerous, is to poison them and to pre- serve as much of the weeds asin consistent with the favourable growth of the seedlings, because these animals generally prefer clean ground when they can get it. Plants, whose roots are avoid- ed by rats, might be grown mixed up with the seedlings. Against insects there is absolutely no remedy except to select a sheltered, not too sunny site, and to use manures which tend to keep them at a distance. Birds are little to be feared, unless the nursery is con- spicuously large ; and then too, as the entire area is generally sown up within a few days, it is easy enough to employ watchers during the short period required for the complete germination of the seeds. Once the seedlings are up and the ground covered, there will be nothing conspicuous to attract the few birds that peck off buds and leaves. PROTECTION AGAINST FROST AND EXCESSIVE INSOLATION.— Where trees overhead afford sufficient shelter, no special measure is obviously necessary. Otherwise the necessary protection is secured by means of thatch placed over the beds and along their eastern or western edge, according as it is frost or the sun that is to be guarded against ; and a further precaution would be, as explain- ed under weeding, to preserve weeds. In hot or dry weather the seedlings should be watered from once to four times a month ac- cording to the proximity and abundance of water and the necessity for the operation. AMPUTATION OF THE TAP-ROoT.—As a rule, seedlings raised in temporary nurseries are put out early and therefore require no curtailment of the tap-root in the nursery itself. In the excep- sional cases demanding this operation it should be effected in the same way as in permanent nurseries. . Tranine.—As regards the training of the seedlings, the con- stant care and watchfulness which the operation requires prevents its adoption anywhere but where there is a resident trained esta- blishment. It is, therefore, very exceptionally resorted to in temporary nurseries. When it can be carried out, the same rules regulate it as have been given for similar work in permanent nurseries. CHAPTER III. PRELIMINARY WORKS. The area to be operated upon may not be in a fit condition to be immediately sown or planted up, and some preliminary work may, therefore, be called for to render it suitable for the purpose. The soil may be either (1) swampy or too wet, or (2) entirely wanting in cohesion, or (3) situated on a slope and liable to slip: or be eroded, or (4) too dry to give any hope of rapid success, or even of success at all without irrigation. SECTION Ef. Treatment of swampy or water-logged land. Even species that are naturally found in swampy situations grow all the better for some slight correction of an excess of water: Without a certain amount of root-aération the absorbing organs: of plants cannot form the organic acids wherewith to dissolve, and thereby utilise, the large proportion of essential, but not immedi-. ately soluble, matters present in the seil ; and without sufficient oxygenation the decomposing organic substances in the soil woul yield an injurious quantity of humic and other acids: hurtful to plant-growth. Itis evident that sufficient sub-surface aération must prove especially fatal to young seedlings, with their extreme- ly delicate, tender and herbaceous constitution, their very limited root-apparatus, their small size, their restricted transpiring surface so utterly disproportionate to their functional activity, and their: slight recuperative power. Lastly, water-logged soils, being very cold, reduce still further the already diminished activity of the roots. Hence, as already explained in Part I, the significant scarcity of natural reproduction on water-logged or constantly flooded land. The few seedlings that do ultimately survive are unable to extend their roots into the deeper layers of the soil, and hence suffer both in their growth and health and their stability. 224 SWAMPINESS, CAUSES AND GENERAL CURE. ARTICLE 1. SWAMPINESS, ITS CAUSES AND GENERAL CURE. Swampiness may be due to one or more of the following causes :— I. Flooding by overflow of a stream or the sea, One or both of two remedies may be adopted :—(1) Throw up a dam to keep out the water, or (2) confine it within a channel or channels cut through the area subject to inundation and having a free outlet. II. Situation along the lower outcrop of an inclined impermeable stratum underlying another freely permeable one. The water falling on the higher ground above sinks through the latter until it reaches the lower stratum, by which it is arrested and over which it flows underground until it wells out where that stratum comes out at, or near, the surface. The famous Tardis of India are formed thus. The swamps in the Dehra Dun and the numerous areas of limited extent in the interior of the Himalayas are less striking, but characteristic, instances. Here the cause of swampiness cannot, as in the first case, be removed, but the excess moisture may be got rid of by drainage. ILI. Inadequate outlet for the water entering, or falling over, the area in question owing either— (1) To an insufficient fall, in which case special drainage works must be resorted to ; or . (2) To the natural drainage channels being rendered ineffective either (a) by a rough bottom of rock, boulders or stones which impedes the rapidity of their dischasge or (b) by contractions and irregular bends or a fold of ground running across, whereby the current is obstructed and thrown a long way back. Were the remedy lies in the removal of all obstructions in the bed of the streams, in the widening of the channels at certain points, and in straightening or rounding off sharp bends, Or (3) To animpermeable subsoil. Ifthis impermeable stratum is neither too thick nor too far below the surface, it may be pierced at a sufficient number of points, especially where it forms depres- sions, in order to let through the superfluous moisture into the stratum below. If the rock is not very hard and the area to be treated is large enough, special boring machines would be em_ ployed with economy. If the thickness to be bored through is too great, or the area is small, a system of drainage cuts cannot be avoided, DRAINING. s, 225 ARTICLE 2. Dratys. Drains may be OPEN or COVERED. Open drains are very difficult to maintain, as they are constantly being silted up or choked up with weeds and fallen leaves and twigs. Moreover the best por- tions of the top soil get washed away into them. But, on the other hand, for forest purposes drains are, as a rule, only required for a few years, that is to say, until the crop to be raised has become established. After that the trees either cease to be sensible to swampiness, or themselves constitute most effective drains by means of the transpiration through their leaves. Hence, as the covering of drains, especially the larger ones, is very expensive, it should generally be avoided ; and in cases of absolute necessity it will often suffice to cover only the smaller drains, Figures 67-71 represent some simple and cheap, yet effective, methods of covering drains. Tn fascine drains (Fig, 67) cross-billets of wood a a, set up trestle- fashion at regular intervals, support longitudinally laid fascines }, upon which, in order to prevent fine soil washing down through them and choking up the drain, clods of turf ¢, grassy surface downwards, are packed. The rest of the drain is filled up with part of the excavated soil. In small stone or rubble drains (Fig. 68), from a third to one half the depth of the excavation is filled with clean round stones a, which are covered with a layer of turf sods 6 asin fascine drains. Instead of the turf, or immediately below it, a thin layer of smaller stones ¢ may be packed. Fig. 69 represents the usual form of a box drain. The sole a is paved in order to prevent the stones on the sides from sinking, and should be laid with the greatest care and with the largest stones. In building up the sides, a few small stones b may be packed under and about the larger ones ¢ in order to steady them as well as the covers d, which last should be placed with their flattest or most concave side downwards so as maintain the cavity as large as possible. If required, small stones, with a covering of sods, may be packed over the box. _ Fig. 70 shows two styles of couple drains, the triangle formed by the stone slabs being inverted in B. As in box drains, a packing of small stones, topped with turf, may be laid over the drains, 226 PRELIMINARY TREATMENT OF WATER-LOGGED LAND. In the interior of the Himalayas, where unsaleable refuse-wood from timber-sawings is available in large quantities, wood may be used instead of stone in constructing box and couple drains, in which case it will always be advisable not to omit the packing of small stones. When stones or straight small wood are not obtainable cheap enough or in sufficient abundance, drains similar to rubble, box, or couple drains may be made with tiles or bricks, whole or broken as the case may require. In ordinary tile drains, semicylindrical tiles are placed on a flat sole, as represented in Fig. 71. A simpler, and, for this country, more economical plan would, however, be to burn entire the cylinders moulded for ordinary roofing tiles and to arrange them so that the narrow end of one cylinder fits into the broader opening of that next above it in the drain. Pipe-tile drains will seldom be used on account of the expense. The best trenching tools for cutting drains are spades, shovels and hoes in soil free from stones, and picks and mattocks in stony soil. The spades should be of sufficient width, according to the diminishing width of the excavation. A shovel much bent at the neck and pointed (Fig. 72), or a spade with the handle consider- ably bent, are very convenient to finish the bottoms of drains with. Gauges (Fig. 73), showing the depth and width of the drains, are indispensable, as are also instruments for giving the exact fall re- quired. A large level, like a mason’s ordinary level, spanning about 10 feet and with the tie-bar graduated to read degrees or gradients by means of the plumb-line, is an excellent instrument for the latter purpose. A system of drains may comprise three inter-subordimated classes of cuts or channels :— (1) The collecting or primary drains or cuts, which are intended to collect the excess water from the layer of soil to be drained and pass it on to the next larger drain ; (2) The receiving or secondary drains or cuts, the object of which is to connect together the primary channels and carry away their accumulated waters ; and (3) The main or outflow drains, which, when the area to be drained consists of more than one little drainage basin, unite several receiving channels into a single system and conduct the total volume of excess water to the nearest large stream. The main drains are often the natural drainage channels widened and straightened and given the necessary fall. DRAINING. 207 The collecting or primary drains are necessarily made at the very seat of the swamp, and their number will depend on the area to be drained and the distance apart they are made. If they were cut at right angles to the lines of steepest descent, i.c., along horizontal contours, they would no doubt collect most water, but, on the other hand, the outflow would be impeded ; while if they were made to follow lines of steepest descent, they would collect very little, as most of the water would drain away prallel to them through the soil, and flood-waters after heavy rain would rush down and cause erosion. Hence the primary cuts should run somewhat obliquely to horizontal contour lines, so as to collect as much water as possible and yet allow it to run down freely without a tendency to produce erosion. The other two classes of drains should usually follow lines of steepest descent as nearly as practic- able (Fig, 74) ; but when the ground is nearly a dead level, the receiving drains also would best run obliquely to horizontal con- tours, but in the opposite direction to the primary cuts (Fig. 75). If the area to be drained is limited and the slope of the ground pronounced, the net-work of drains may be laid out with the eye alone ; but when the fall of the ground is not easily appreciable, or the area is large and the surface configuration complicated, a complete series of levels with an instrument should be taken and an accurate map of the ground made showing contour lines at not less than 10 feet vertical intervals. On such a map the system of drains could then be easily laid out (Figs. 74 and 75). The cross-section of an open drain will depend on the nature of the soil through which it is cut. The ratio of ab to be (Fig. 76), which determines the cant of the sides, should never be Jess than } and may go up as a high as 3. Heyer gives the following figures :-— For turf or peat oe sie -» ¢to4 » clay and stiff loams seg » sandy loams ... a -. 1d », sandy soils ai 2 to 3 The fall to give to drains will also depend on Ahi nature of the soil, and is a direct function of the velocity of current permitted. Heyer’s figures for the maximum fall are— In loose earth wid 285 ae 76 per 1000 ,, stiff clay ake oes eee 152 3, 45 » sandy soils ets wa acid 305 ,, ,, » gravelly soils ... sas «609 > ” » shingly soils see ane im. 914... ” 228 CONSOLIDATION OF SOILS POSSESSING NO CHOICE. In stony soils ae ‘i ..- 1,220 per 1000 », Stratified1ock ... ae «. 1,840, 5, »» massive rock fe 8,050 ,, 55 For a given velocity of current, the fall # may be determined. from the formula— 2 Be a 2x a (42-6375) gt where v = the given velocity of the water at the bottom of the drain, p = the periphery of the section of the drain, and w = the mean width of the section of water at its highest level. As the drains may sometimes fill up to the very top, the value of w should be the same as the mean width of the drain itself. The interval between two successive collecting drains will de- pend on their depth, on the permeability of the soil, and on the thickness of the layer of soil to be drained. The following proce- dure for determining this interval with exactness in any given case is recommended :— : _ An experimental drain (Fig. 77, a,), of the proposed section, being cut, several holes (1, 2, 3, 4,...... ), of the same depth as the drain, and at short equal distances apart, should be successively bored along a line at right angles to the direction of the drain. The drain should then be blocked up until the water in it ceases to rise any more. Both the drain and the holes will be found to have filled up to the same level mm. Now open the drain and let it work. The water inthe holes will gradually sink, and this the lower, the nearer they are to the drain. In one of them it will ultimately sink down to the depth to which it is proposed to drain the soil. The distance of this hole from the drain will be equal to half the distance that must be left between the drains. The depth of soil to be drained will of course depend on the species to be introduce ; but, as a rule, it will not be much more or much less than 3 feet. When the drains are close together, the depth, and, therefore, the total amount of excavation is consi- derably reduced by banking up the excavated soil between the drains whereby the level of the ground gets considerably raised. SECTION IL. FIXATION OF SOILS POSSESSING NO COHESION WHATSOEVER. Such soils consist of silicious or calcareous sand with practically no substances, such as clay, humus, &e., to bind the loose parti-~ eles together intoa cohering whole. The particles may be large FIXING OF LOOSE AND MOBILE SANDS. 229 enough never to be drifted about by the wind or they may be so fine that they form perpetually moving waves and hills. ARTICLE 1. SANDS UNINFLUENCED BY WINDS. Instances of such sands we have along nearly all our low coasts and in the loose deposits left by wandering rivers in northern India. They require fixing only in the sense that in most cases a little cohesion would increase their hygroscopicity and give the necessary foothold to trees grown on them. Where a perennial supply of water is close to the surface, as on those low coasts and in many of the river deposits referred to, sowings of woody species may take place at once without any special preliminary preparation, more particularly as numerous grasses and species of Carex with long creeping rhizomes and rooting stems come up spontaneously therein and help to bind together the loose particles to a certain extent. And indeed, even if such plants were absent, they could, if required, be introduced there without any difficulty. ARTICLE 2. Drirtina Sanps. It is evident that before any forest operations can be attempted in such areas, the drifting about of the sand must once for all be stopped. Experience of such work in India is limited to the ad- vanced little State of Jeypur. We can, therefore, do little more than place before the student certain general ideas, which may be of some practical utility in suggesting special methods when any occasion or necessity for fixing drifting sands presents itself. We will consider separately the two cases of drifting sands on the sea coast (coast dunes) and of those in the interior (inland dunes). We have not, for obvious reasons, included here the case of invasive sands brought down in consequence of the denudation of hill ranges at the upper end of a river basin, a striking example of which we have in the hills behind Hoshiarpur in the Punjab. In that case the evil can be stopped only by attacking it at its source, viz., by reboising the hills in question or by putting a stop to their disforestation and carefully conserving the forest growth on them. The consolidation of unstable slopes is treated of in the next Article. § 1. Coast Dunes. On many low beaches every high tide leaves behind it quantities of very fine sand, which, drying, is continually drifted inland hy 230 CONSOLIDATION OF DRIFTING SANDS. the wind and forms moving hills, that may attain a height of more than 200 feet. These hills, as we would raturally expect, have a gentle slope on the sea-face but descend abruptly landwards. Sometimes they are long, continuous, and disposed in regular and parallel lines ; at other times they are hroken or run zigzag. Thig depends on the form of the coast line and the direction and con- stancy or fitfulness of the winds. It is to these moving sand-hills that the name of dunes has been given. The valleys between the dunes, when these latter are devoid of vegetation, are generally marshy. On the western ceast of France the rate of progression of the dunes towards the interior has been ascertained to be 14 feet a year, and the quantity of sand thrown up annually by the sea to form them about 1,000 cubie feet for every yard of coast-line. The essence of all the work of fixation is the arresting of the new sand-drifts as soon as they are thrown up by the sea and the pretection of the interior hill against the full trunt of the winds blowing from the sea. This double object is secured by the raising of a protective wall with the help of the new deposits brought in by the tides. This wall is nothing more or less than a dune, that is designedly formed, and which, from its position, may be called the LITTORAL DUNE. The littoral dune is formed by erecting and constantly maintain- ing, parallel to the coast line and about 100 yards from high-water mark, a continuous line of dead fences or hurdles, against which the drifting sands are arrested. The sand collects on either side of it in the torm of a long hill, whose backbone is the line of fences itself. On the west coast of France the following is the procedure ;— The fences consist of a line of paling constructed of planks about 6 feet long, 1 inch thick, and about 6 inches wide, and pointed at the lower end. The planks are put into a trench about 14 feet deep and then driven into the sand, so that when the trench is filled up, only a little more then a length of 3 feet remains above ground, An interval of about one inch should be left between two consecu- tive planks. The sand is deposited up against the paling sloping gently seawards ; but some of it passes through the spaces left be- tween the planks and forms a sort of backing for them, thereby given them increased stability. As often as the sand reaches the top of the paling and begins to cover it, the planks are pulled upa few feet by means of levers or differential pulleys. In this manner the littoral dune rises gradually higher and higher. All tendency ON THE SEA COAST. 231 to hurry is avoided in raising the height of the littoral lune, other- wise its height may become too great for its base with the result that its stability would be seriously impaired. To give greater stability to the littoral dune a tight-bound fence about 5 feet high is erected behind the paling. The wattling is at first carried up to not more than a yard from the ground ; but as the dune rises, it is continued upwards. Since the fence cannot be raised like the paling, a new one has to be erected as soon as the preceding one has been covered by the sand. If, notwithstanding these precau- tions, the wind is apt to breach the dune, other rows of palings, making a certain angle with the first, are erected on the steep face behind, in order to widen the dune or to form buttresses. When the littoral dune has attained a sufficient height, the for- mation of a new one may be commenced nearer the sea. In any case the constant maintenance of a littoral dune is an absolute necessity ; otherwise every benefit resulting from previous opera- ss must inevitably be lost by the continual drifting in of new sand. Behind the protection afforded by the littoral dune, the interior dunes are fixed by the planting or sowing of grasses and species of Carex and othér plants growing up rapidly and extending them- selves by means of rhizomes, suckers or creeping rooting-stems, The plants are put down or made to come up in tufts, or, better still, continuous lines, which may consist of two parallel series run- ning at right angles to one another. Before the seeds are sown or the plants put down, all the steeper slopes on the windward side should be cut down and given a gentle ramp so as to offer as little resisting surface to the wind as possi- ble. The valleys and deeper depressions may also be filled to a less or greater extent by erecting hurdles or fences across them, to arrest the sand drifting in their direction. Until the sowings or transplants are advance] enough to have. taken a firm hold of the soil it may be found necessary to prote:t them against subsequent drifting of the sand. This may lhe done. in several ways as follows :— I. By means of branches containing nunrerons twigs. These branches are laid end to end over the grountdin continuous lines touching one another, and in such a manner that the top of one branch is in contact with or covers the cut extremity of the next. Long poles are then placed across the branches from 4 to 6 feet apart and made fast to the groan] by means of wooden ‘hooks driven into the sand. It is always alvisable to lay the branches, 232 CONSOLIDATION OF DRIFTING SANDS. in the same direction as the wind, but with the lower end turned . towards the wind, which will then blow over the covering without getting caught under it and disturbing it, II. By means of twigs spread evenly over the ground and kept in place with a shovelful of sand thrown over each. III. By means of some long strong wiry grass spread over the ground in the same manner as the twigs. lV. When there is sufficient moisture, by means of sods of turf arranged as represented in Fig 78. Whatever the method of covering employed, itis evident that it should be put down immediately after the sowing and planting has been effected. And it is also evident that so long as no woody growth has established itself, the areas must be rigidly closed to grazing and every kind of trespass, traffic being confined to definite lines, where special precautions, such as the planting of a hedge, erection of fences, &c., should be adopted to keep the soil fixed. The same precautions must be taken in the case of inland drifting -sands also, § 2. Inland Dunes. With respect to the consolidation of drifting sands in the interior, some experience has already been gained in the two small tracts near the city of Jeypur in Rajputana. The first of these (Amanishah) was under flourishing cultivation until the weir across the river close by was breached and the water level in it suddenly fell about 20 feet. The result of this catastrophe was that the al- most pure, fine sand that formed the soil and had been held together by the moisture and the crops, began to drift before the winds from the south and invade the city. Every year the sand accumulated up against and topped the lofty city walls, and had to be cleared away with enormous expenditure of labour. In a word the whole city was threatened to be buried under it. In 1869 Dr. (now Sir) D. Brandis advised the local authorities, to plant forest. After numerous trials the following plan promises to be completely success- ful :—First of all enclose the area rigidly against man and _ beast, put down tufts of the panni grass (Saccharum Sara) at intervals of 1’ x 5’ where the soil is quite bare and 1’ x10’ where there is already some vegetation. In three or four years the sand will be able to resist the strongest winds, being traversed by a dense net- work of roots several feetdeep. So long as the area is kept closed, no further measure is necessary ; but for complete consolidation tree-planting is indispensable. With this view cuttings of sissu CONSOLIDATION OF UNSTABLE HILLSIDES. 233 roots about a foot long are buried in pits from 4 to 5 feet deep and watered every fourth day during the dry season. At the end of their fourth year the suckers that come up are 12 to 20 feet high. Prosopis spicigera, being a desert species and also able to throw up root suckers, will probably succeed better than sissu. In more extensive areas than those at Jeypur it may be found necessary, at the same time that planting is begun on the wind- struck edge of the desert to stop imroads of the sand beyond the opposite edge by forming a special barrier similar to the littoral dune in operations on the sea-coast. In connection with the for- mation of such barriers it is necessary to mention a most remark- able fact observed in the second or Motidongri tract at Jeypur. The sand does not only drift along the surface of the ground, but is also blown through the air in large quantities, even over obstacles (such as a ridge) more than 300 feet high. If there is another similar obstruction parallel to the first and not more than a few hundred yards off, most of the sand that comes over this first barrier is deposited between both, especially on the reverse face of the former ; otherwise the sand is carried away to great distances and is distributed over so large an area as not to visibly affect its surface in any way. Another remarkable fact deserv- ing to be recorded is that when a very high obstruction, such as a lofty ridge, is encountered, the sand, after striking against it, is thrown back and forms a distinct lower parallel ridge (dune) some distance in front of it. At Jeypur there is such a dune about 300 feet high in front of the great Nahargarh ridge. SECTION III. CoNSOLIDATION OF UNSTABLE SLOPES. Very little has yet been done in India to rewood bare slopes prone to erosion and landslips, and the little that has been attempt- ed has been confined to areas where denudation is a compara- tively gradual process. Hence here also we have hardly any local experience to guide us in dealing with cases of a serious character. In the absence of such experience, the following observations, based chiefly on the knowledge gained in the execution of the reboisement works carried on with such marvellous success in the French Alps, may prove useful as suggestions, ARTICLE 1. CAUSES OF DENUDATION OF HILLSIDES, Slopes may become unstable owing to the action of several or all of the following causes :— 234 CONSOLIDATION OF UNSTABLE SLUPES. (i) Steep gradients. (ii) Broken surface of the ground and sudden changes of gradient, causing water to rush down with great velocity at some points, slowly at. others, instead of with a smooth even flow everywhere. (ili) Schistose or otherwise friable nature of the vocks. Portions of such rocks are liable to break away by their own weight alone. This tendency is increased by the mechanical pressure of the water that sinks into and fills up the fissures and interstices, and by its solvent action, which is assisted by its constant motion down- wards, (iv) Free nature of the soil. (v) Clayey nature of the rock or soil, which, absorbing large quantities of moisture, increases enormously in weight, swells up and becomes soft, and thus either breaks away in masses under the force of gravitation alone or is easily scoured and furrowed and deeply cut into by the surface drainage. Sometimes the clay may absorb so much water that it may be converted into liquid mud. This denuding action of water is still further increased if ferruginous elements are present in the soil, those elements being dissolved out of the soil, which then becomes porous and less resisting. (vi) Alternation of rocks of different densities and absorbing water with different degrees of energy. With changes of weather very unequal expansion or contraction may thus take place throughout the entire mass of the rocks, resulting in the breaking up and loosening of the entire hillside. The effect is greatest when a band of clay underlies porous rocks above ; the clay swells and lifts up and breaks these rocks, or, becoming dissolved and diminishing in bulk, is no longer able to support them. (vii) Earthquakes. (viii) Alternation of wet and drought. The wet causes the soil and rocks to swell up, when, drought ensuing, unequal contraction takes place, cracks are produced and the solidity of the hillside becomes permanently impaired. (ix) Alternation of frost and thaw. Under the action of frost the water in the soil and in the fissures and crevices of the rocks suddenly expands, enlarging all existing cracks and producing new ones. As long as the frost lasts, the frozen water acts as a cement: on the loosened fragments and masses ; but as soon as the ice has melted, there is nothing left to hold them together. (x) Pelting or abundant rain. The impact of the innumerable drops following one another in quick succession disturbs very ap- CAUSES OF DENUDATION. 235 preciably the surface of the hillside ; while the fallen rain, increas- ing its mass and density by means of the suspended and dissolved matters it takes up, and moreover gathering velocity and momen- tum as it rushes down the hillside and tears up gravel, stones and larger fragments, carries almost everything away before it. (xi) Wind, especially when it drives rain or hail. (xii) Lying snow—its weight, and, when it has frozen and formed a single solid mass with the surface of the hillside, its breaking away in avalanches and its constant slow glacier-like movement downwards. (xiii) Absence of forest growth. A covering of trees protects a hill side by attenuating or completely nullifying the destructive action of all the preceding causes except earthquakes. The dense, strong network of roots, anchored fast in the solid rock below, holds together, even on very steep slopes, loose, crumbling rocks or soil, which would otherwise slip or be washed down into the valley. When rain falls, the crowns, and, to a smaller extent, the trunks of the trees, sustain the first shock of the drops. A portion of the water descends on the soil below in spray, another trickles down the trunks of the trees, a third drips slowly, but with very much less velocity and, therefore, momentum than the original rain-drops, from the leaves and branches, while a fourth is evaporated back into the atmosphere, and a fifth adheres by the force of attraction to the trees or is absorbed by them superfici- ally. Thus of these five portions, only three reach the ground, comprising, according to Ebermayer, only about 75 per cent. of the total precipitation ; and then it must be remembered that a, by no means, inconsiderable portion of this quantity does not reach the ground at once but goesondripping from the tree- tops for some time after the shower itself has ceased. Of this 75 per cent that ultimately reaches the ground, one portion de- scends at once by way of the roots into, and is held by, the entire depth of soil penetrated by those roots, a second is absorbed by the covering of dead leaves and low vegetation (vegetable mould absorbs nearly twice its weight of water, moss up to six times), while a third, if any remains, ultimately filters down slowly through this loose impeding mass into the drainage channels, taking as many days to reach the valley below as the shower took minutes to fall. Thus the water never rushes down the hillside, and can do no damage to the soil, which is moreover protected by its dead and living vegetable covering and the close network of roots; the streams and, at other seasons, dry gullies and ravines rarely become 286 CONSOLIDATION OF UNSTABLE SLOPES. swollen torrents, but more or less perennial rills gush down the mountain side and the larger watercourses never run dry. The water that sinks into the ground is partly absorbed by the roots and finds its way through the leaves back into the atmosphere which it keeps moist, is partly retained by them by the force of capillarity and their own suction power, while a third part filters downwards and re-appears below to feed or form springs. At no time have the upper layers of the soil to bear more than a fraction of the weight of water within them and the almost imperceptible underground flow is never a danger to its stability. If snow falls, the trees catch and retain a large portion of it, and what reaches the ground is held in place, until it melts, by the trunks of the trees and the low vegetation below, whereby heavy drifts and, as long as the trees stand, avalanches and the slow downward glacier-like movement of the snow are prevented. When spring comes, the snow thaws gradually, first on the tree tops, then on the ground below, latest of allin the deep, tree-sheltered ravines. Like the rain water, a part of the melted snow sinks into the soil, while another is absorbed by the dead vegetable covering over it, through which covering the remaining portion trickles down slowly to the drainage channels. The crowns of the trees,as long as they are in leaf, shelter the soil and retard evaporation from it, and if the crowns become leafless, the covering of dead leaves and grass and other low vegetation and the spongy network of roots are still there to prevent it from losing its moisture except very gradually. “Under the crowns of the trees and the ground-covering of vege- table detritus the soil can seldom become baked and cracked by a torrid sun and is, even at the surface, to a great extent protected from frost. Lastly, the mass of trunks, branches and leaves breaks the force of wind and hail. ARTICLE 2. PROTECTIVE WORKS. Protective works undertaken to render treeless, unstable slopes fit to be sown or planted up with forest species need only be limited to (A) holding together crumbling rock or soil, (B) checking the excessive velocity of the flood waters at certain points in the streams and gullies, and (C) providing a free outlet for rain and snow water, so that none of it may sink into the ground sufficient to soak and convert into liquid mud, or to saturate, break up and undermine, the rock below. A.—To. accomplish the first of there three objects, the danger- PROTECTIVE WORKS. 237 ous portions of the hill side, especially the gullies and ravines should be cut into terraces, the width of which will be in inverse proportion to the steepness of the ruling gradients. The terraces should be given a decided slope outwards and ‘their faces should be protected by revetment walls. As these walls have only a tempor- ary utility, that is to say, are required to hold the soil together only until the covering of trees with their dense network of binding roots has been established, dry masonry will be the rule, pakka the exception, and then too only confined to the most dangerous points and to cases of absolute necessity. The revetment masonry between two terraces will often have to be continued for a few feet both upwards and downwards along their floor (Fig. 79, a and 6) in order to protect it against erosion. Indeed, it may sometimes he necessary to continue the pavement across the entire width of the terraces, in which case long blocks of wood may be laid between the masonry to tie it together (Fig. 79 ¢). But instead of paving the entire floor it will often suffice to put down paving stones in lines forming a sort of check pattern (Fig. 79 d). In forming this pattern blocks of wood may be substituted for the rows of paving stones, in which case the pattern will resemble Fig. 79 ¢ without the paving stones. In dangerous places numerous long headers ought to be used in the revetment walls, better still blocks of wood as shown in Fig. 80. B.—To accomplish the second object the channels of the water- courses must be regulated. Contractions have to be widened, sharp bends gently rounded off, the angle at which one water- course meets another altered, and so on, all these various works having for their co»mmon object to secure as much as possible an. even flow. But the most important point of allis the graduation of the beds of the channels in the direction of their length; all hollows must be filled up, obstructions removei, and the fall so regulated that it gradually diminishes downwards in order to. counteract the constant acceleration of velocity of the current due to the force of gravitation. Owing to the usually steep gradients where such work has to be done, the main end can be secured only by forming the beds into a succession of terraces. The water falls from terrace to terrace, erosion being prevented by means of masonry or other revetments, and flows smoothly down each terrace. When the fall permits of it, the simplest plan to follow in forming the terraces is to throw dams across the channels at well judged intervals, and of the right height, and strong and tight 233 CONSOLIDATION OF UNSTABLE HILL SIDES. enough not be breached. Stones, gravel, silt, &c., brought down with the water, will then gradually collect behind each dam until the bed of the stream rises up on a level with it, thus ultimately forming an even terrace having a geutle slope outwards. The more rapid the fall is, the nearer together must the dams be con- structed. The material of the dam will depend on the maximum volume and velocity of the water coming down at any time. To use pakka solid masonry in all the dams would, by reason of the expense, be impracticable, and hence only the larger and stronger among them should be so built. In many cases a dry stone wall, of sufficient width, will suffice, the silt collecting behind it soon making it more or less tight. Another excellent style of dam is represented in Fig. 81, which explains itself. All dams constructed of dead material have against them this drawback that they must be at once made of the required height, and are besides very expensive. In the French Alps a tight live fence of some strongly-rooted, easily slipped, and quick-growing surub has provel an effective substitute for masonry. The fence is put up low, but gradually grows up, and it never, like other de- scriptions of dams, allows the water to rush over it and fall clear of it in a single mass that tears the ground away where it falls. A further plan, often adopted with great success, is to erect two parallel strong, tight-bound live or dead fences a few feet apart from one another and to fill the interval with boulders and rubble. When the fall is very rapid, the terraces must be completed at once without delay and may have to be made so narrow as to assume the appearance of a flight of steps. If the material of the mountain side is very loose, the sides of the ravines may have to be wholly or partially lined with dry stone masonry and even buttressed up by cross-walls in continu- ation of the line of the edge of each terrace. C.—The third system of measures is intended to attack the evil at its very source. At the head of each drainage basin, all over the mountain-side, a well-devised system of drains is cut, which collect rain and snow water and give it immediate egress to the larger natural drainage channels, without allowing any consider- able proportion of it to sink into the mountain-side, thereby preventing its soaking and softening the latter and destroying its stability. We have seen that in the drainage of swamps no regard at all is paid.to the quantity of moisture in the layer of the soil below that IRRIGATION WORKS. 239 which is to be rid of its superfluous moisture. Here it is essential that the lower layers shall receive as little as possible of the atmos- pheric precipitation, that this precipitation shall affect as thin a layer as possible of the earth’s surface, and that the entire stratum containing an excess of moisture shall be drained. Hence the principles to follow in the present case will differ from those observed in designing, cutting and constructing the drains in the other case mainly in the following respects :— (i) None of the drains should be covered, so that they may act as quickly and with as little delay as possible, and allow as little as possible of the atmospheric precipitation to sink into the earth. Gi) The receiving and outflow drains should be given a more rapid fall, and must therefore be more carefully protected against erosion. (iii) The collecting drains should be as deep as the greatest depth down to which superfluous moisture penetrates. SECTION IV. Irrigation Works. The great Changa Manga plantation owes its remarkable success to the excellent system of irrigation adopted there ; and indeed we may go so far as to say that itis owing to this irrigation that the plantation has at all been possible. Almost everywhere out- side the Himalayas drought is one of the greatest obstacles to the stocking of bare wastes ; to it must be traced most of our numer- ous failures even where the annual rainfall exceeds 40 inches, and to it is due the now proverbial charge made against us of inability to restore, within a reasonable time, the enormous areas of ruine| forests that past improvidence has handed down to us. Such being the case, wherever the Canal Department has water running to waste, or natural facilities exist for the construction of a cheap but effective system of irrigation works and the requirements of the population in respect of forest produce are insufliciently met, there irrigation should be resorted to without hesitation, as the certainty and rapidity of success will repay over and over again the special outlay entailed. Even well irrigation will be practicable and remunerative near large markets where the water level up to the early part of March is not more than 10 to 15 feet from the surface and no rock has to be bored through. For canal irrigation no better treatise on the construction of the necessary works specially adapted to the conditions of this country 240 IRRIGATION. exists than the Rurki Manual, to which therefore the student is referred. The following paragraph adapted from Ribbentrop’s “ Hints on Arboriculture in the Punjab,” describing the system followed in Changa Manga, will be found interesting as well as instructive :— “There are three descriptions of irrigation cuts, (i) the rajbahas or main feeders, (ii) the secondary feeders, and (iii) the trenches or distributing channels. The rajbahas receive the water direct from the canal by means of a water head or Mogha, the secondary feeders convey the water from the rajabhas to the different points of the area to be irrigated and the trenches bring the water up to the plants. The width and depth of the first two classes of channels of course depends on the area which they are required to serve. The width of the section of a rajabaha may be from 12 to 14 feet at the top. The exact dimensions to give to the secondary feeders, of which there is one for each compartment, are more difficult to calculate and depend not only on the area of the com- partment in question, but on the fall attainable. The trenches are only 1’x1'. In loam the large channels are given sloping sides of about 45°. In sandy loam or sand the cant is stronger, increas- ing in fact with the looseness of the soil. It is of the utmost importance to give an uniform fall to the feed channels, otherwise silting up of the beds and the destruction of embankments must ensue. The fall we adopt depends chiefly on the fallin the canal and the height of the weirs from which we receive the water. We have everywhere tried to obtain the highest fall possible up toa maximum of from 1 to 14 feet per 1000. Care is to be taken that the excavated earth from the feed channels is thrown up equally on both banks. The silt and vegetation that collects in the chan- nels is cleared each time they are to be used.” CHAPTER IV. DIRECT SOWING. In direct sowing success depends on the correct appreciation and due observance of the following six conditions:— J. Proper selection of the species to sow ; II. Employment of good seed (this has been fully dealt with in * pages 145-151); III. The most favourable season for sowing ; IV. The quickest, cheapest and most effective mode of prepar- ing and sowing the ground ; V. The right quantity of seed to sow ; and VI. Adequate care of the sowings until they are established, SECTION I. Selection of the species to sow. On the proper selection of the species to sow more than on any other consideration depends the success of direct sowings. In nurseries seeds are sown in highly prepared soil within a small manageable area, and are carefully protected during germination ; while, after germination has taken place, the young plants receive almost individual attention and are carefully guarded against all harm. In direct sowings, on the other hand, the work is spread over such immense areas, that anything like minute supervision and tending is quite out of the question ; the seeds, and after them the seedlings, receive a minimum of attention, and the latter are, from their most tender age, left more or less completely to take care of themselves. Whence the great importance of a correct choice of the species to be sown. This choice is, at the very outset, necessarily limited to those species which can best fulfil the object in view. That object may be very various. It may be the production of certain special or general classes of timber, fruit, &c. in quantities proportionate to the probable demand, or the raising of a preliminary or nurse crop, or the protection, of hill-sides or the plains country below, or a 242 DIRECT SOWING. favourable modification of the climate, &c. Then from among these species only such can be selected as are likely to succeed under the given conditions of soil, clinate and other surroundings. Those whose seeds germinate with difficulty (¢. e. take time or re- quire specially favourable conditions), or go bad easily, or are sought after by numerous and destructive enemies, must in any case be avoided. The selection of the species to sow thus requires the most care- ful and judicious consideration based on ripe experience and a through grasp and appreciation of the prevailing conditions under which the stocking operations are to be undertaken. The simplest case occurs when the sowings are to be effected on land that is, or has only recently been, under a crop composed, amongst others, of one or valuable and suitable spontaneous species. Then the choice admits of little or no hesitation, and each such species must be sown in the soil and locality for which it is best suited. SECTION II, Season for sowing. In the temperate and alpine regions of India, the Himalayas, if we except the case of such seeds as ripen during the summer rains and cannot be kept and must therefore be put into the ground at once, autumn sowing will, as a rule, yield the best results. Where snow lies, the seeds will remain protected under it, and as soon as the latter has melted, they will, being already thoroughly soaked, germinate during the first warm days of spring; and where no snow falls, or melts soon after it falls, the seeds will be completely protected under the soil throughout the cold of winter, particularly against mouldiness, fermentation and insects, and, as in the preced- ing case, they will germinate early in spring. Thus, in either case, the seedlings will have before them the remainder of spring, the whole of summer and part of autumn in which to develop and strengthen themselves against the next ensuing season of frosts. Sometimes, however, in order to avoid spring frosts or the sudden occurrence of cold and raw or hot and dry weather in May-June, it may he advisable to sow in the rains. Elsewhere in India the best season for sowing is generally the commencement of the summer rains, where these are heavy enough, because, in the first place, save during that season, there is never any certainty of finding sufficient moisture in the soil, and, in the second place, seedlings that come up later in the rains or at any other time of the year would have little or no chance of surviving PREPARATION OF THE SOIL AND SOWING IN GENERAL. 243 the bright strong sun of September-October, the cold nights of October-February, or the following hot weather, as the case may be. Nevertheless when the area to be operated upon is large, or when sufficient labour is not available at the exact moment, a part of the sowing must necessarily be executed before the rains. No lamentable results need, however, follow this violation of the general rule, for, protected inside the soil, the seeds would suffer little or no harm from the dry heat prevailing at that time of the year ; and actually the seeds of many valuable species, such as sissu, the Terminalias, &c., sustain no injury whatsoever if sown several weeks or even months before the setting in of the summer rains, provided of course no continuous wet weather intervenes. Indced, in the case of teak, the germination ofthe seeds of that species is, on most occasions, so protracted, that it is advisable to sow immediately after the close of the summer rains or as soon as the cold weather has begun: continued contact with the wet soil, followed by the drought of the hot season will exercise a forcing effect on the seeds. ‘The seeds of species, which, like sal and some others, ripen at the beginning of the summer rains and cannot be preserved, obviously give no room for choice or delay, and must be sown as soon as they are ripe. Where simmer rains are very weak, there the seeds must perforce be sown in time tor the N. E. monsoon. In the localities in question there is fortunately no frost, and the seedlings can go on growing and establishing themselves during the immediately en- suing cool dewy season. SECTION III. Preparation of the soil and sowing in general. The better prepared the soil is, the greater are the chances of success. The seeds should find a clean, loose, warm bed and the seedlings should be protected against invasion by noxious species and be able to strike their roots deep and push up vigorously: The stiffer, richer, moister, or more abundantly traversed by roots and rhizomes the soil is, the deeper and more»,completely must it be worked up and cleaned. Buta naturally free soil should not generally be turned up deeper than the seeds are to lie, so as to minimise the evaporation from it and to prevent water of atmos- pheric precipitation from sinking down too rapidly and deep. If there is a thick covering of undecomposed or only partially decom- posed dead leaves over the surface, this should be removed from the points where the seed is to be sown, orit should at any rate, if not 244 DIRECT SOWING. too abundant, be thoroughly worked into the soil below. If the soil is sour, it should be turned up deep and freely aérated. Where insects are abundant, the more open and sunny and suitable for their breeding the locality is, the lighter must the soil be worked. The care with which the soil should be prepared will be proportionate to the delicate and exacting nature of the species. The best time for preparing the soil for summer sowing, where snow does not lie or there are no winter rains, is the season follow- ing the close of the summer rains, the soil being then still moist and yielding and as much time as possible being given for the play of beneficial atmospheric influences. Otherwise the work must be done in early spring. For autumn sowings, which are confined mainly to the Himalayan region, the soil must be pre- pared in September—October, soon after the 8. W. monsoon rains are over. When tke seeds have been sown, they are exposed either to be (i) blown away by the wind, or (ii) washed away by rain, or (iii) devoured by animals, or (iv) rot from excessive or stagnant moisture, or (v) to undergo fermentation, or (vi) be killed, or at least badly injured, especially when the process of germination has already begun, by heat, frost or drought. One of the most effective precautions to take against these va- rious risks is to bury the seeds to the right depth in a clean, sufficiently loosened soil. The maximum depth of sowing is ri- gorously fixed by the length of stem between the root collum of the seedlings and the first pair or group of leaves, which, when germination is complete, should-stand clear of the soil. Between this maximum depth and the mere scattering of the seeds over the surface of the ground, the various depths of sowing will be deter- mined by the imminence and potency of the risks enumerated above and by the following additional considerations ;—the size of the seeds, the time they take to sprout, thelr exacting nature as regards the conditions necessary for gemination, the ease with which, in epigeal germination, the cotyledons burst forth and leave the seed cap, the delicate or hardy constitution of the region of the root collumn in the young seedling, and the stiffness and hygroscopicity of the soil. Thus, the stiffer the soil is, the shal- lower ought to be the sowing in order to secure sufficient aération for the seeds and the newly developing radicle ; the greater the likehood of frequent breaks of dry weather occurring during the process of germination, the deeper must the seeds be buried ; and go on. DIFFERENT METHODS. 245 SECTION IV. Different methods of direct sowing. The ground may be sown without any preliminary cultivation, or it may be subjected toa certain amount of previous tilth. In the former case the seed may be broadcast more or less uniformly over the entire area to be stocked or it may be dropped into small holes or cuts (notches) made in the ground. In the other case, the entire area may be cultivated and sown, or the operation may be partial and restricted to certain definite portions. When the sowing is only partial, the cultivated portions may form more or less continuous parallel lines or consist only of detached spots of very limited extent. Then again, the continuous lines may be on the same level as the rest of the ground (strips), or hollowed out in the form of trenches or furrows, or raised into ridges, or combine the form of any two or all three of these methods ; while the de- tached cultivated spots, according to their size and form, may be patches or plots, pits, hollows or holes, mounds, or combinations of patches, plots, pits or hollows, and mounds. These various methods may be exhibited synoptically thus:— Direct Sowine ne cn am Without tilth With tilth co ~~ oo a Seem, 2 ay oe Partial 5 & a SSeS - 2 = Incontinuouslines In lines of detached spots Cet eee ee ae rg e¢7F . ig¢grEgegeereFR es e ° a #8 cs B o9 5 ° g @ > «s 5 ° lo] Sef ° See oP 2 ee E o a @ 5 & & 6 h F © = eh 5 5 ct 8 & ° o. — me —Y og - 5 S 8 zs 3 : 2 wn f 8 2, : 5 z a od wm 5 —_ a so _ = & _ oo 1 2 8 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 18 1 ~ 246 DIRECT SOWING. ARTICLE 1. BROADCAST SOWING WITHOUT TILTH.. As the name of the system implies, the seeds are sown broadcast without any previous preparation of the soil. In order that the system may succeed, all or the majority of the following conditions must co-exist ;— (1) The soil must be free from all rank growth of weeds or low bushy shrubs. (2) It must be naturally more or less free. (8) It must ordinarily retain moisture at or near the surface during a considerable part of the year, since, owing to the un- loosened soil, the taproot of the yearlings must generally be short. (4) The seeds used must be possessed of great vitality, or, at least, germinate readily. (5) Seed must be extremely abundant and cheap, since, owing to their lying completely unprotected on the surface of the ground, many and even the majority of them necessarily fail to germinate, and on this account the sowing must be very profuse. (6) There must be no danger from climatic extremes. (7) The young seedlings must be extremely vigorous and hardy and able to develop a long, strong tap-root. (8) The ground must not be too sloping, particularly if heavy. showers occur. In short, this method may be successfully adopted only where the conditions for germination and for the subsequent struggle for existence are unusually favourable. Jt may be employed with good results to introduce or increase, more rapidly than natural regeneration would do, the proportion of a tenacious species in an already existing forest, especially if that species is more shade- enduring than its companions. Where frosts and drought do not prevail or are mild enough not to be dangerous, a hardy and quick-growing species, like Pinus longifolia, teak, &c., for in- stance, may be sown on more or less open land that is not too hard or too thickly overgrown with tall and strong weeds. Two great points in favour of this method are its cheapness, and the rapidity and ease with which the sowing is executed, requi- ring next to no supervision and no skilled or specially trained labour. Where the prevailing conditions are favourable for its employment and time is of little or no consequence, it should be preferred without any hesitation to every. other. DIBBLING AND NOTCH SOWING. 247 ARTICLE 2. DisBiine. DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD.—In this method a hole is made with a dibber (Figs. 82, 83 and 84) and a seed or two are dropped in and covered to the right depth. The holes should be made in a regular manner, along straight parallel equidistant lines, in order both to ensure uniformity of sowing and to facililate the actual carrying out of the work and the subsequent supervision and con- trol. The holes may be made either singly at equal distances apart or in uniform groups of two or more together with equal intervals between two consecutive groups. Whatever the arrangement, there ought generally to be from about six to nine holes per square yard. After the seed has been dropped in, the hole should be filled up by pressure with the foot or fingers, or by scraping soil into it from the edges, or better still, if practicable, by putting in manure. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD.—This system is evi- dently an improvement on the preceding. In the first place, it requires less seed, and, in the second place, the mode of sowing the seeds protects them to a very great extent against harmful external influences and gives them some sort of a bed, whereby the development of the taproot is favoured and the vigour and tenacity of the seedlings remarkably increased. Hence it will succeed not only wherever the other has any chance of success, but also in places in which the latter would completely fail. Its employment requires a more or less loose and moist soil, free fiom powerful and invasive weeds, and a species that naturally develops a strong taproot. Itis well adapted for filling up small blanks in a forest and for introducing or extending a given species under the cover of a more or less open standing crop of old trees. ARTICLE 3. NotcH sowiNa. DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD.—In this method an oblique notch is made in the soil with a spade or hoe, one or more seeds are dropped in with or without manure, and the notch closed over them with the pressure of the foot. The notches should of course be arranged in lines, but as several seeds can be sown ina single notch, there is never any necessity to make them in groups. The notches may consist ofa single cut each or they may have the form of a T. In cross-cut sowing, as this latter system is called, the best place for the seed is generally the junction of the two 248 DIRECT SOWING. notches, but seeds may be dropped in at other points also. The spade used should be a straight one, with a thick blade gradually narrowing towards the edge (Fig. 85.) The planter’s hoe (Fig. 22) may be used in soil too hard and dry for spades. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD,—The notch system in general, like the preceding, necessarily implies the absence of strong or invasive weeds, a naturally loose, deep, moist soil, the development of a powerful tap-root, and, if the species used is delicate, either a mild, moist climate or the shelter of canopied forest overhead. As compared with mere dibbling, the present method enjoys this advantage that the long oblique wound made in the soil, especially the double oblique one in the cross-cut system which loosens the soil very appreciably, is more favourable for root-development than the very restricted hole made by the dibber ; and for this reason, and also because more than one seed is sown in each notch, the number of notches, area for area, may be considerably less than the number of holes. But, on the other hand, the notch system requires the soil to be in a softer condition at the time of sowing. ARTICLE 4. CoMPLETE SOWING WITH TILTH. In this method, after a less or more complete preparation of the soil, the entire area is uniformly and pretty thickly sown. § 1. Preparation of the soil. In preparing the soil three different procedures may be followed, according to its actual condition. I. If the soil is naturally free and the growth of weeds is very slight, a simple raking or harrowing or a merely superficial hoeing will suffice. Such a soil we may, for instance, have where a well- conserved forest has just been felled or opened out, or where a field has been recently abandoned. If the ground is open enough and free of stones and large roots near the surface, harrows (Figs. 20 and 21) may be used. Where there are too many stems standing to permit of the manosuvring of a harrow, rakes must be substitut- ed. Owing to the work required of them, these rakes should be strong and heavy, and made entirely of iron and steel. A useful model of one, that can be used like a hoe as well, is the drag (Fig. 41). If woody roots are numerous, the most effective tool to em- ploy is the hoe. It may be of any one of the patterns represented COMPLETE WITH TIITH. 249 in Figs. 16, 17, 22, 40, 86 and 87, the last but two of which is an extremely convenient implement, as it combines a hoe and rake in one and the same tool. II. In the next place, the soil may, as in many of our Himalayan forests, be covered with a mass of more or less undecomposed leaves so thick that only an insignificant portion, ifany, of the roots of yearlings can reach the true soil below, and at the same time close and spongy enough to retain sufficient moisture during the season of vegetation to prevent those roots from extending themselves beyond it in search of water. Yearlings so conditioned remain ill-nourished, and when, on wet weather ceasing, the spongy mass dries up, their roots dry up with it and they die or, at least, get permanently weakened. In such places the obnoxious dead vegetable covering should be so far removed, or, if it is not too thick, so worked up into the soil below, as to give the tender seedlings’a chance of sending down their roots at once into the true mineral soil. The drag (Fig. 41), hoe axes (Figs. 16 and 17), pickfork (Fig. 40°, and the hoes repre- sented in (Figs. 96 and 87) are excellent tools for the purpose. The hoes must be light and rather long and narrow in the blade. If the ground is level enough to preclude any fear of slipping or erosion, cattle may be driven over the area just before the sowing operations ; their weight, combined with their sharp cloven hoofs, will suffice to crush and comminute the coarse debris and force them into the soil. If domestic swine are available in sufficient numbers, they would be better than all the cattle and implements in the world, as their feet are not only sharper, but they are more active and with their snouts work up the surface soil thoroughly, at the same time destroying insect grubs and rats and the roots of weeds. III. Thirdly and lastly, the soil may be so stiff or so covered with strong brushwood and weeds that neither of the two proce- dures already described would answer. Here, first of all, it is necessary to clear away all the obnoxious low growth. This may be done with bill-hooks, light axes or hoe-axes for the larger woody plants, and sickles or, still better, scythes (Fig. 88) for those that are more slender or herbaceous. Next, the soil must be worked up. If the area is clear of trees or large boulders and roots, it should be ploughed up. The ploughs used must necessarily be very. powerful and fitted with a coulter (Fig 19, c¢) to cut through moderately thick roots. Ifthe ground is not suited for the plough, 250 DIRECT SOWING. then there is no help for it but to resort to the very much slower and more expensive employment of picks (Fig. 13) or hoes, assisted, wherever necessary, with the grubbing axe (Figs. 14 and 15). The hoe should be heavy and strong, with a blade narrow enongh to give it penetrating power. The various patterns represented in Figs. 22, 16, 17 and 87 are excellent ones according to circum- stances. But it is obvious that the use of hoes and picks, by reason of the enormous expenditure it entails, cannot be generalised and must be confined to very exceptional cases and to the preparation of areas of very limited extent. Whether the plough or pick or hoe is used, the depth to which the soil is broken up will be in direct proportion to its stiffness, to the quantity of invasive roots it contains, and to its stony nature. § 2. Sowing the seeds. The sowing may be effected broadcast with the hand, or by means-of drills or other special machines. When the plough is used in preparing the ground, the ordinary sowing tube of the Indian cultivator (Fig. 89), attached to and dragged behind the plough in the furrow just made, would be advantageously used. fis a wooden funnel, into which, with his right hand, the sower keeps dropping the seeds ; ¢ is a thin hollow bamboo, about 3 feet long, the bore of which must be wide enough, to allow the largest seeds sown to fall through freely. With his left hand the sower guides the tube and holds it constantly vertical. The thickness of the sowing is regulated entirely by the sower ; the thicker the sowing is to be, the more seed he has to let slip through his fingers. If the seeds are small, and are on that account likely to fall too thick, they should be mixed with fine dry earth or, better still, with vegetable mould, farmyard manure or surkhi ash. With this tube seeds of any size can of course be sown. The great advantage of using this and the implement next to be described is that the sowing is effected in continuous parallel lines, thereby facilitating very considerably after-supervision, Another very useful, but simple and easily made and maintained, contrivance, which may be used in whatever way the ground has been prepared and at any time after the plough has been used, is. the perambulator drill (Fig, 90). The seed is put into the hopper A, at the bottom of which rotates horizontally a cylinder ¢, grooved longitudinally along its circumference and connected by means of an endless driving band with the wheel w. st is a flat strip of iron that can be slid backwards and forwards, by means of the COMPLETE WITH TILTH. 251 adjusting screw sc, across the opening at the bottom of the hopper and thereby regulates the feed of the seeds from the latter. As the implement is pushed along, the wheel w rotates, setting in motion the cylinder ¢, the successive grooves of which catch and take on the seeds that have passed down from the hopper and, with the revolution of the cylinder, drop them through the tube ¢ over the point of the small share sh, and thence into the furrow mane by the share. The advantage which this machine possesses over the simple sowing tube is that the quantity of seed sown can be exactly regulated without any trouble or fatigue by the merest tyro and the share can be adjusted so as to make a furrow of the depth required. But the sowing with it of large or winged seeds, like those of sal, Zerminalia tomentosa, &c., is entirely precluded. Sowing broadcast requires a certain amount of skill and much more careful management than drill sowing, and in any case it does not distribute the seeds so uniformly. Moreover it can sel- dom be performed except in calm weather, particularly when the seeds are small or light or flat or winged. A light drizzling rain. makes the work easier. Whether we sow broadcast or in drills, great care must be given to secure an equal distribution of the seeds. To this end the area to be sown should be divided, by flags ranged in parallel lines, into. a number of small temporary compartments of equal extent, and. the seeds into the same number of equal lots. Although the sowing in each compartment taken singly may not be quite uni- form, nevertheless the distribution of the seeds over the whole area will be sufficiently equal for all practical purposes. If there are several species of seeds to be sown together, they may be thoroughly mixed beforehand in the proper proportions ; but if sowing drills are used, it is much better to sow each kind separately in alternate lines or according to any other arrangement suiting the proportion of each to be sown, as by no other means is it possible afterwards to ascertain exactly and with ease the’ relative success of the several kinds sown, and hence whether the required proportion of each species exists on the ground. Whatever the mode of sowing, the seeds must be sown thickly :. however good the quality of the seeds may be, a large percentage will always fail to germinate, and, owing to the wholesale, and, therefore necessarily rough and ready, manner in which the ground has been prepared, a very much larger proportion of the seedlings. must die. At least 10 seeds must be sown per square yard, 252 DIRECT SOWING § 3. Covering the seed. In sowing with the tube, a weighted brush of twigs may be attached to and trailed behind the tube, and thus cover the seeds immediately they have been sown. The going to and fro of the plough cattle and the workmen will assist the process. When large seeds have been sown, an ordinary roller clod-crusher may be passed over the soil to complete it. With the perambulator drill, as large seeds are never sown with it, the workman walking behind it will tread down the soil suffici- ently in most cases. If further measures are necessary, twigs may be tried broom fashion and attached just behind the dropping tube (Fig. 90 br), or bush-harrows (Fig. 91) or roller clod-crushers may be drawn over the area. When seed is broadcast, it may be raked over or pressed into the ground with rollers, according to the depth of covering re- quired. In whatever manner the seeds are covered, it must not be forgot~ ten, that besides burying them down to the right depth, they must everywhere be brought into sufficiently close contact with the soil in order to be protected against unfavourable accidents of the weather. Hence the means to be employed in any case will de- pend partly on the way the ground has been prepared and sown, partly on the size and nature of the seeds and character of the resulting seedlings. § 4. Value and employment of the method. It will have been seen that this method of sowing requires a very large expenditure of labour, supervision and seed, and, there- fore, of money also. Again, however thickly we may sow, unless every prevailing condition is uniformly favourable (a very rare contingency), the seedlings come up unequally ; in some places there are none at all, in others they are few and far between, while elsewhere they may stand too close together. The result is that sowings generally grow up badly, repairs and other improvement operations are very difficult to execute and control, and often it becomes impossible, or next to impossible, to distinguish failure from success. But, on the other hand, when the seedlings do come up more or less uniformly, they meet their crowns and close over the ground earlier than in any other method, thus not only arresting at once the deterioration of the soil from exposure, but also affording each other mutual protection and engaging with each other in a benefi- STRIP SOWING. 258 cial struggle for existence that forces them up in height, prunes their boles naturally, and produces clean, straight, sound timber. But, all points considered, the only four cases in which the adoption of the method may be justified are— (i) When the soil is apt to be overrun with a dense mass of tenacious invasive weeds. (ii) When the area to be sowf has just been under field crops or has been prepared for them, so that the soil is already in a very high, if not complete, state of preparation for the sowing of forest seeds. (iii) When one or two field crops can be taken off the ground, in which case the cost of preparing the soil would be, toa great extent or entirely, or even more than, recouped by the sale of the field crops, while the forest seedlings themselves could be raised simultaneously with those crops and be protected by them during the most tender stage of their existence. (iv) When small areas of a hundred square yards or so are to be sown up. ARTICLE 5. SrriP sowlIna. In this, as in all the following methods, only a part of the entire area is cultivated and sown. Here the ground is cultivated in narrow, more or less parallel, equidistant and continuous strips, the uncultivated intervals being much wider than the strips. § 1. Direction of the strips. The vegetation standing on the uncultivated intervals will afford considerable protection to the young plants in the strips against frost, excessive insolation, winds and erosion, and the effectiveness of the protection will depend on the direction in which the strips run. DIRECTION FOR FROST ALONE. In the case of continuous frost that direction would be the best which gave the plants the fullest benefit of the sun’s influence. During the season of frosts, the sun is low down in the south. Strips running N. E. and 8. W. would be warmed by it throughout the afternoon (when it is most power- ful) until it set, and would therefore never cool down to such an extent as strips running in any other direction, particularly that joining the eartern and western points of the compass. Where only night-frosts prevail, the morning sun must in any case be avoided, and here again a north-easterly direction would be the best: while it would protect the young plants from the morning 254 DIRECT SOWING. sun, it would also retard radiation from the strips in the afternoon and thus mitigate, if it did not altogether prevent, frost. DIRECTION FOR EXCESSIVE INSOLATION ALCNE. In the hot wea- ther, when alone this danger exists, the sun rises for every place in {India more or less due east and sets more or less due west. Hence in strips running east and west the seedlings would receive next to no shelter from the vegetation standing on the adjoining uncultiva- ted intervals, that is to say, would be practically exposed to the sun’s rays during the whole time it remained above the horizon. On the other hand, the young plants would receive most shelter, if the direction of the strips were due north and south ; they would then receive the sun’s rays only from some hour before noon to the same hour after it had passed its zenith, the length of time depend- ing on the height and density of the vegetation referred to and on the width of the strips. DIRECTION FOR DANGEROUS WINDS ALONE. It is obvious that the strips should run as much as possible at right angles to the direction of such winds. Saving local deflections due to the con- figuration of the ground everywhere, and the sinuosities of the coast line near the sea, the direction of violent winds in India is either north-west or north-east or south-west. When not bring- ing rain, the current that blows north-east also becomes a hot wind at a certain distance from the coast. In the Himalayas the dhadu or chilly wind that blows down from the snows, naturally sweeps down the longer valleys, which of course all open out to the south. The direction of the strips with reference to dangerous winds is thus a very variable one, depending on the posi'ion of the place with respect to the sea and to the configuration of the land in the neighbourhood. DIRECTION FOR EROSION ALONE. If the soil on decidedly in- clined ground is loosened in any direction but that following horizontal contours, rain or snow water, rushing downwards, would scour and wash away the loosened soil in the strips, together with the seeds or young plants that the latter may contain, and thus also endanger the stability of the slopes. DIRECTION GENERALLY CONSIDERED. In aligning strips on slopes, all other considerations must yield to the essential one of preserv- ing not only the sowings but the ground itself, and there is thus no alternative but to follow horizontal contours. Otherwise the direction would be as follows :— a. If protection has to be secured against frost and excessive STRIP SOWING. 255 insolation combined, some direction between the lines whose bear- ings are respectively 0° and 45°. &. If against frost and a dangerous wind combined, some direc- tion between a line running north-east and south-west and the perpendicular to the direction of the wind. ce. If against excessive insolation and a dangerous wind com- bined, some direction between a line running north and south and the perpendicular to the direction of the wind. d. If against frost, excessive insolation and a dangerous wind combined, some direction between that which would be followed if only the first and second dangers acted together (case a above) and that which would be adopted if only the second and third (case c) or the first and third (case b) were to he provided against. In all four cases, the strips must of course follow most nearly the direction required by the danger that was most to be prevented. § 2. Length of the strips. On level ground, the length of the strips may of course be indi-~ finite, being. limited simply by the drainage channels and by the extent of the area across which they run. But on slopes it is evident that they must be broken up into short lengths in order to leave a sufficient number of intact intervals over which the main rush of surface drainage may pass without producing erosion, The more broken the ground, the steeper the slopes, and the heavier the rainfall on the higher ground above, the shorter must be the strips and the longer the uncultivated gaps between. On hill-sides of varying slope certain strips may have to be dis- continued altogether or new intermediate ones inserted according as, with increasing or diminishing gradient, the distance between two consecutive strips becomes insufficient or excessive. § 3. Distance between the strips. The distance between the strips will depend generally on the time in which it is desired to produce a canopied growth, and this will be influenced by several considerations as follows :— (i) The quantity of useful forest growth already on the ground capable of contributing, toa less or greater extent, towards its formation. (ii) The rapidity of growth, in the given soil and locality and under the given conditions of culture, of the species to be sown. (iii) The shape and lateral_extension of the crowns of young individuals of those species. 256 DIRECT SOWING. (iv) The requirements of those species in respect of light. Some species acquire their most useful shape and dimensions in more or less open leaf-canopy, others only on condition that the leaf-canopy is more or less complete, and so on. (v) The craving of those species for the early formation of a leaf-canopy, in order to be able, thanks to the mutual protection that trees standing together afford each other, to start up vigor- ously. (vi) The necessity for an early suppression of the weeds and other noxious vegetation present. Such vegetation may be harm- ful either on account of the rapid and invasive spread of their crowns or roots or rhizomes, or on account of the tall and dense growth they form, or of the ease and rapidity with which they multiply by means of seed or suckers. (vii) The object to be secured by the sowing. This object may be very various. For instance, a certain species may be absent or insufficiently represented, and it is desired to introduce it or to increase its proportion. Or, again, it may be decided to renew or to maintain in undiminished vigour a copse, that is exploited before any of its component individuals can become fertile and produce self-sown seedlings, or which is composed of a species that cannot reproduce itself naturally from seed under the given local conditions. Or again, it may be necessary in some open situations to raise a mere nurse, and therefore temporary, crop of some hardy and quick-growing species, in order afterwards to be able to intro- duce under its shelter the species which are to compose the forest permanently, but for young individuals of which the prevailing local conditions are unfavourable. And so on. (viii) The difficulty of securing success. The more casualties we anticipate, the larger must be the aggregate area actually sown and consequently the narrower the uncultivated intervals. (ix) The amount and effectiveness of the supervision available. The less the supervision and the more untrustworthy the people exercising it, the closer together must the strips lie. (x) On the%amount of labour that may be available or consi- dered desirable to devote to the repair of failures. When the area to be sown already contains a more or less open forest growth sufficiently promising to be utilised, the distance between the strips will rarely be less than 10 feet, the maximum being about 50 feet, but the average as low as 20 feet. The inter- vals may be still wider if a new species has to be introduced in an already existing forest, and @ fortiori if it is proposed merely to STRIP SOWING. 257 increase the proportion of an actually present species. The irter- vals may be equally wide in fodder preserves, where the object of raising lines of trees or shrubs is to stimulate the production of grass. Under most of the other conditions the width of the un- cultivated intervals will range from 2 to 10 feet, the more usual figures ranging from 4 to 6 feet. § 4. Width of the strips. The width of the strips themselves will depend— (i) On the tendency of the soil to be overrun with a tall or dense growth of tenacious invasive weeds or inferior woody species. (ii) Onthe the rapidity with which young individuals of the species to be propagated are expected to grow up under the given conditions of soil, locality and vulture. (iii) On the hardy or delicate constitution of those individuals. The mre delicate they are, the closer together, consistent with condition (i), must lie the sheltering edges of the bordering uncul- tivated intervals. (iv) On the nature of the soil and locality. The strips will be narrow in proportion to the intensity of solar radiation, the severity of frosts, the dryness or tendency to overheating of the soil, the violence, dryness or extreme temperature of prevailing winds, &e. In cold wet soils and situations or in mist-clad locali- ties, the strips must catch as much sun as possible and must, there- fore, be made comparatively wide. So again, if the climate is mild and the soil forcing, other circumstances not being prohibitory, the strips should he given a certain width. (v) On the light-demanding nature of the seedlings. The more shade-enduring they are, the narrower may be the strips. For instance, tun, if other circumstances permit, may be sown over the width of a hoe. (vi) On the indifference of the species to the presence of weeds. As a rule, the strips should seldom be less than 1 foot, or more than 3 feet, wide, the more usual width approaching 2 feet. § 5. Preparation of the strips. Whenever the nature of soil, locality and existing vegetation permit, ploughs with a broad share, or the bullock hoe (Fig. 19), the ordinary rake-harrow (Fig 20), or the triangular harrow (Fig. 21) should be used. Where the employment of these expeditious implements is not possible, hand tools must be used as already described on pp, 248-250 ; only, since we here break up a mere 258 DIRECT SOWING. fraction of the total area, the soil must be more deeply and more carefully cultivated than for complete sowing. In the hills the strips should assume the form of short narrow terraces. In order to minimise erosion the terraces should always break bond, 7. e., every break in each line of terraces should be exactly opposite to the middle of the terrace in the lines immedi- ately above and below. Where the rainfall is slight and never descends in heavy showers, the terraces should slope slightly inwards, and the earth and refuse obtained in making them should be heaped up along their outeredge. Where heavy falls occur, the terraces must not be allowed to collect any water which would ultimately flow over the edges and wash them away ; hence the slope should be very slightly outwards and the refuse and superflu- ous earth should be collected close up against the lower edges of the terraces so as to prop them up and prevent the water flowing off those edges too rapidly or in too large volume all at once. § 6. Sowing the strips. Owing to the restriction of the aggregate area to be sown, we can afford to use more seed here area for area than in the preced- ing method. The seed may be scattered or dibbled in with the hand or sown with any of the special implements described on pp. 250-251. They may be scattered without any order, or sown according to a regular pattern, the most common forms of which are given in Fig. 92. Large seeds, in order both to economise them and to facilite after-supervision, are best sown individually in lines. For small seeds also, sowing in lines is convenient ; but it is not the most expeditious method, and when the seeds germinate freely, mere scattering will suffice. In scattering the seed, owing to the narrowness of the strips, the workman cannot help stooping and cannot therefore give his arm so wide a sweep as when sowing broadcast, so that the selection of calm and, if possible, drizzly weather need not be insisted on here to the same extent as in the other method. Small or light seed should be mixed with fine earth or manure. § 7. Covering the seed. The seeds may be covered with the aid of light rollers or hand rakes or bush-harrows. When sowing machines are used, the covering will of course be effected at the same time as the sowing, but under any circumstances | assing a light roller subsequently TRENCH OR FURROW SOWING. 259 over the strips will ensure the soil being properly pressed round and over the seeds. § 8. Value and employment of the method. As in this method only a part (from about one-third to one-sixth and often even less) of the total area is cultivated and sown and a more uniform distribution of the plants is assured, it possesses the following advantages over the complete method :— (i) It requires less labour and outlay, on which account— Gi) We can afford to give more care and attention to the pre- paration of the limited area sown and to the selection and sowing of the seed. (iii) Owing to the regularity of arrangement, surpervision, from the time the tillage operations have been begun right up to the complete establishment of the sowings, is rendered extremely easy and hence also much more effective. (iv) The spontaneous vegetation preserved between the strips affords consi:lerable shelter to the seedlings on these latter, in many cases all the shelter that they ever require. The strip method may be employed wherever direct sowing is justified, the following cases excepted :— (a) Where the land is swampy, in which case it would only aggravate the tendency to damping off of the roots of the seedlings, as the strips would only collect water ; (6) Where the ground is very stony or full of large roots and stools, in which case not only would the regularity of the strips be interfered with, but their preparation would be very costly or even impracticable ; and (ec) Ina very dry soil when shade-avoiding species requiring a certain amount of moisture are used, in which case the strips would expose the soil too much. - ARTICLE 6. TRENCH OR FURROW SOWING. This method differs from the strip method in only two essential particulars, vz., (1) that the seeds are sown appreciably below the general level of the ground, and (2) that the trenches and furrows necessarily serve as receptacles, however temporary it may be, for rain and snow water. The first difference can exercise no qualifying effect on the application here of whatever has been said under the strip system regarding the length and direction of the cultivated lines. But 260 DIRECT SOWING. the second difference makes it obligatory to follow horizontal contours in tracing the trenches and furrows, for any slope, one way or the other, of their bottom must convert them into water- courses or at least cause the soil and seeds to be washed down from the higher to the lower points and the seedlings to be exposed or entirely uprooted. In excavating the furrows aud trenches the use of levelling intruments is indispensable, unless they are made in such short lengths (up to a maximum of about 10 feet) that work with the unaided eye would not result in a difference of level exceeding say 2 inches. The large wooden triangular level described on p. 226 would be a very suitable implement to use. On slopes the maximum of 10 feet should be carefully observed. Trenches differ from furrows in that they have more or less vertical sides and are generally deeper in proportion to their width, while the latter have more or less gently sloping sides and are deepest along the middle. § 1. Width and depth of the furrows and trenches. In the dry soils and localities in which this system has its razson @’étre, not only is the growth of weeds never heavy but every bit of whatever comes up is useful and even necessary to protect both the soil and the sowings. Hence the width of the furrows and trenches should never exceed 2 feet, and should be regulated principally by their depth, which itself will depend on the amount of moisture that they should be able to catch and hold, on the porous nature of the soil, and on the abundance of rain or other source of moisture. Usually the width will vary from 10 to 20 inches, the depth being about half the width. § 2. Preparation of the furrows and trenches. Furrows may be made with a special plough or with a pick or hoe, according to the nature of the ground, while trenches must be excavated with hoes and picks, even if the soil has been first of all loosened with a plough. In any case, the soil at the bottom should be loose and rich in order to form a good seed bed, and to this end the trenches and furrows should be excavated beyond the depth fixed for them, and the bottom should be filled with the good top soil removed. The rest of the excavated earth should be heaped up along one edge either on the side on which the seedlings will require shelter against unfavourable weather influences, or, if the ground has a pronounced slope, along the lower ‘edge. Where picks and hoes are used, much time and money are saved by form- ing the bottom of each excavation with the top-soil obtained RIDGE SOWING. ae 261 from the next one made. But if no portionof the excavated soil is in a sufficiently good condition to be used at once (a frequent contingency in stiff clays), the whole should be left outside for some time in order to improve under free exposure to the atmos- phere. It is superfluous to add that heavy continuous rain must not be allowed to intervene between the excavation andthe return of the soil, as all the looser and better portions must get washed away and be lost. All clods at the bottom of the furrows or trenches should be broken up with a mallet and the whole soil nicely dressed. § 3. Sowing the trenches or furrows. The seeds may be sown with the hand or with the perambulator drill and raked in ; but if they are large, they should be dibbled in with the hand to the right depth. Where special protection” against frost or execssive insolation or dangerous winds is required, the majority of the seeds should be sown up against that side of the excavation, on which the seedlings will need to be protected. § 4. Value and employment of the method. The object of sowing in furrows or trenches is to secure for the roots of the seedlings immunity against drought and wide fluctu- ations of temperature. The low position of the seeds enables the roots, as soon as germination has begun, to get into the deeper layers of the soil, which are subject to smaller variations of tempera- ture and at all times contain more moisture than the more superficial layers, and may remain cool and moist even when these latter have quite dried up and are intensely heated. Moreover the excavations serve as receptacles for rain and snow water, which they retain for a longer or shorter time, and this particularly during the season of most active growth. Lastly, the position of the seedlings, especi- ally of their roots and root-collum, in a hollow affords them very effective protection against excessive insolation, frost, cold and hut winds, and hail. The method may, therefore, succeed in dry and hot or cold situations and in porous soils, where strips would at the best yield only uncertain results. But it isa very expensive one and should be employed only in exceptional cases, where less costly methods are not likely to succeed. ARTICLE 7. RiIncGE sowie. This method is the very opposite of that Just described, the seed being sown above the natural surface of the ground in soil collect ed into ridges. 262 DIRECT SOWING. § 1. Preparation of the ridges. "The length and direction of the ridges are regulated by the same considerations as the corresponding points in the strip system, except when, as described lower down, they immediately flank trenches, in which case they must necessarily follow horizontal lines. The height of the ridges must be between the minimum figure that would secure the necessary amount of aération for the roots of the seedlings and that at which danger from drought would begin. Their width cannot be less than what, having due regard to their height, is necessary for their stability. Actually the ridges will seldom be more than 18 inches across at the base, the height being not more than half the width. The ridges may be made either (1) by drawing together the top- soil in lines or (2) by digging a trench and piling up the excavated earth along one edge of it. In the second case, the dimensions of the ridges may be diminished in consequence of the adjoining trench, which can also serve as a drain or as an irrigation channel or as a ‘depression to hold water if any rain should fall during the dry season. When the trenches serve as drains, they should be made on the side of their sister ridges towards which the ground slopes. Otherwise they should be excavated on the upper side so as to give to the seeds and seedlings on the ridges the full benefit of the water they contain, to enable them to catch as much of the surface drainage as possible and to prevent the ridges from being breached or washed away by that drainage. Whether trenches are made or not, the earth forming the ridges should be carefully con- solidated by beating it firm, and, if practicable, also by turfing their sides. In the great irrigated Changa Manga plantation the ridges were made with earth excavated from trenches 1’ x I’ in section and doing duty as distributionchannels. In} the re- boisement (now abandoned) of the Pabbi, in the Gujrat District of the Panjab, the trenches served to catch the surface drainage and were given a section of 1’ x 1’ on merely inclined ground and of 2’ x 2’ on slopes of 25° and upwards. On very swampy land each ridge may occupy the whole width between two consecutive drainage cuts, and be formed with soil taken equally from each of the two cuts. The ridges will in that case be necessarily more or less flat-topped. § 2. Sowing the ridges. The seeds may be dibbled in along the top or along the sides or along both the top and sides, according to the nature of the seed COMBINATIONS OF STRIP, RIDGE AND TRENCH. 263 and the resulting seedlings. When the ridges occupy the entire interval between two drain~ age channels, the top may be expeditiously sown with a drill. § 3. Value and employment of the method. The method of sowing on ridges is especially adapted where irrigation is available ; also in the several tarais and other swamps in different parts of the country. In nearly every case it is advan- tageous and necessary to flank the ridges with trenches, and when this combination exists, the system is very suitable on dry hill- sides, the trench serving to catch rain water and hald it for the benefit of the young plants on the ridge. By catching a very large proportion of the surface drainage the trenches also serve to diminish the risk of erosion on unstable slopes and on land liable to get ravined. The method is, however, very costly and should be adopted only after the chances of other more economical methods have been fully weighed and considered. ARTICLE 8. CoMBINATIONS OF STRIP, RIDGE AND TRENCH. The following combinations are theoretically possible :—(1) ridge with trench or furrow ; (2) strip with trench or furrow ; (3) strip with ridge ; and (4) strip with trench or furrow and ridge. Com- bination (3) can so rarely occur that it will not be described. For convenience of expression, in the rest of this article, the words “or furrow” will not be repeated, and must be understood each time the word “trench” is used. § 1. Combined ridge and trench sowing. In studying ridge-sowing we have already had to consider the case of a combined ridge and trench, in which only the ridge was sown. The only difference between that system of ridge sowing and the present method is that here the trench also is sown. It is evident that the trench can in this case never partake of the nature of a drain. Sometimes both ridge and trench are sown with one and the same kind of seed, so as to secure a double chance of success ; if the sowings on the ridge fail, those in the trench at least are likely to succeed, and vice versé. Such a procedure is of course nearly always a confession of ignorance; but in this country, for many years to come, all our work must partake to a certain extent of an experimental character, and even when our knowledge of forest conditions in India has been perfected as far as human perfection 264 DIRECT SOWING. can go, it will in many cases be advisable to protect ourselves against contingencies and sow both ridge and trench. But more often it will be seeds of different species that must be sown in the two places, by which means the chances of success will be in the highest degree assured. The more delicate species will be sown at the bottom of the trench and on the side above the trench, the hardiest being kept on the top of the ridge. A special variety of the system would be to combine a forest and an agricultural crop, the latter being sown along the top of the ridges in order to protect the former. By this means the cost of preparing the ground may be wholly or partially recouped, and delicate forest species may be propagated. The agricultural crop chosen should be a hardy one for the locality and not be invasive. For North-Western India the Cajanus indicus would be very suit- able ; where frosts do not occur, the castor oil plant; and so on. Wherever, outside swampy localities, the simple ridge system succeeds, sowing the combined ridge and trench will generally give still better results, especially on dry hill-sides, and the extra cost it will involve will only be the price of a small quantity of seed and of the labour for sowing it. § 2. Combined strip and trench sowing. The trench serves the same purpose here as in the immediately preceding system, while the strip is better suited than the ridge for dry level localities and for species that cannot stand drought. The excavated soil from the trench should be used in filling up adjoining depressions and in throwing across the line of drainage so as to enable the trenches to fill even with a moderate shower. As in the preceding system, an agricultural crop may be sown here also on the strips, and then each strip will generally occupy the entire interval between trench and trench. § 3. Combined strip, ridge and trench sowing. We may have three modes of combination, of which, however, only two are practical. (i) The trench running between the strip and ridge, the last be- ing of course on the side the ground falls. This is the best of the three combinations for ground that is not much inclined, as the water held by the trench will benefit ridge and strip equally and seedlings of delicate species in the trench will be well protected both against weeds and injurious weather influences. On a decided slope the loosened soil of the strip would get washed away into the trench. PATCH SOWING. 265 (ii) The ridge separating the trench from the strip, the last being on the side towards which the ground falls. This is the best of the three combinations for land with a decided slope. Owing to the inclination of the ground the water from the trench must flow through the soil downwards to the strip. The use of the treble combinations treated under this head is even a worse confession of ignorance than the adoption of any of the preceding double combinations ; but with them the chances of success are of course greatly increased. They are, however, very costly and must be avoided, except in case of absolute uncertainty as to the best method to adopt. Under any circumstances they should never be employed on any extensive scale, but merely ex- perimentally in order to gain experience. Their adoption is quite out of the question on slopes of 15° and upwards ; and hence it is always possible and advisable to raise a field crop on the interval between each triplet so as to recoup at least part of the total out- lay. ARTICLE 9. PATCH SOWING. If we break up strips into lengths so short that each length be- comes more or less square-shaped, we obtain patches. Patches, may, however, also be circular, but the square is the easier shape to prepare and is the one generally adopted. Patches may hence be defined as little squares of cultivated soil arranged in more or less parallel equidistant rows or lines and at equal distances apart from one another in each line. § 1. Distance between the patches. Thus in making the patches there are two distances tc be consi- dered, (1) that between the lines and (2) that between the patches in each line. The former distance is regulated by the very same considerations as the width of the uncultivated interval in the strip system ; the latter also by the same considerations, but with this qualifying circumstance that allowance must be made for a patch or two failing here and there and thereby increasing the interval between the consecutive patches in one and the same line. Hence the patches are generally arranged closer together in one direction (in the lines) than in the other (from line to line). The most common practice is to provide for the failure of every alternate patch and thus make the distance between the patches in the lines half the distance between the lines. Sometimes, however, as when there is already some useful forest growth on the ground or grass 266 DIRECT SOWING. is a valuable commodity, and so on, the distance required between the lines may be so great that this rule could not be followed. In * “that case half the distance would be too great and the ratio must be accordingly diminished in proportion to the extent to which failures are to be apprehended. § 2. Size of the patches. The dimensions of the patches are amenable to the same considera- tions as those which regulate the width of strips; but as in the case ot strips the seedlings receive extraneous shelter only on two sides, whereas here they receive it equally on every side, the cross dimen- sion of the patches may safely exceed the width that would be given to strips under identical conditions of soil, locality, species employ- ed and surrounding vegetation. One of the rare exceptions to this rule will occur when on steep slopes the lines of patches run up and down hill (see § 3). In that case, to minimise,the chances of erosion, the patches should be as small as other considerations will allow. No danger need be apprehended for the seedlings in these small patches from the surrounding vegetation, which on such steep slopes is seldom dense save under standing forest. In the exceptional case just referred to, the side of the patch will vary from 1 to 2 feet, otherwise it will generally range from 2 to 4 feet, from 2 to 3 feet being the usual figure. § 3. Direction of the lines of patches. The dimension of a patch in every direction is small enough for the surrounding spontaneous vegetation to afford complete protec- tion to the seedlings as long as they do not top that vegetation. Hence, until this stage is reached, it is of no consequence at all, as far as injurious atmospheric phenomena are concerned, in what direction the lines run. It is only when the seedlings have grown up that they form a series of parallel lanes, along which the wind may sweep with unchecked violence if the directions are coinci- dent. In the plains, therefore, it is quite sufficient to run the lines of patches at right angles to the direction of dangerous winds. In the hills the lines of patches should whenever possible, follow contour lines, irrespective of every other consideration. But when the ground is so steep and bare of trees or shrubby growth as to afford no foothold for the workmen, each patch would require a ledge to be cut immediately below it for the workman making it to stand on. If the lines of patches were close enough together, each line would serve as a point d’appui for the preparation of the line next above it. But the lines are seldom, if ever, close enough PATCH SOWING. 267 together for that purpose. Hence on such slopes, the lines of patches should run up and down hill, so that each workman on his own line would use the patch last made as a foothold for the prepa- ration of the immediately higher one. The lines of patches should as much as possible deviate from the lines of steepest descent, other- wise they would soon become watercourses. § 4. Preparation of the patches. In preparing the patches the use of any but hand tools is of. course out of the question, although no doubt, before the making of the patches is actually taken in hand, the ground may under favourable circumstances be ploughed up or harrowed or hoed up in lines coinciding with the lines of the future patches. The dig- ging and grubbing tools would be the same as those used in making strips. As the patches aggregate a much smaller cultivated area (roughly one-half to one-third) than the same extent of strip sow- ing, the soil should generally be prepared more deeply and much more carefully than in that system and may, in some cases, even be manured. Small patches on flat ground where weeds are not heavy and the soil is neither stony nor full of strong roots, may be prepared with the torsion rake (Fig. 93). § 5. Sowing of the patches. For the same reason that the soil should be better cultivated, the sowing should be thicker than under similar conditions in the strip system. When the seeds are small, a pinch of them may be scat- tered with the hand and covered over with the aid of a light rake or brush of twigs. If the seeds are large enough to be sown regularly, they should be put into the ground according to a fixed pattern, which will be different according to the size and quality of the seeds, the prevailing conditions of soil and climate, the nature of the seedlings produced and the object to be accomplished. The seeds may be dibbled in with the forefinger and thumb or with a small dibber ; but a more simple, neat and expeditious plan, which also ensures the most perfect uniformity of distribution and depth of sowing, is to use astrong board of the same size and shape as the patches and studded on the lower side, according to the given sowing pattern, with pegs or spikes long and thick enough to make holes in the soil of the required depth and dia- meter. The other side of the board should be furnished with some sort of convenient handle, with which to hold and manceuvre the board. The board being placed accurately on a patch, is pressed or trod upon until the entire length of the pegs or spikes is buried 268 DIRECT SOWING. in the soil. On removing the board, nothing more remains to be done than to drop a seed into each hole, with a little manure added if necessary, and then to rake the soil lightly over the seeds. It is best for one workman to manipulate the board and another to sow and cover the seed. The use of the implement just described, which may be termed the sowing porcupine, furnishes several im- portant advantages. In the first place, there is no time lost in counting the seeds and in distributing them uniformly, and any untrained or careless cooly can sow with it just as efficiently as the most experienced or conscientious workman. In the second place, it allows each future seedling to be effectively manured with the smallest possible expenditure of labour and of manure ; and the sowing being well done, less seed need be used. Lastly, owing to the perfect uniformity of the sowing holes secured with the imple- ment, seeds of different species can be sown in different patches or in one and the same patch, as the case may be, in accordance with the habits and requirements of the several species, and check and . supervision are remarkably facilitated. For the board we may substitute either a piece of sheet iron strengthened with ribs or an assemblage of battens or iron bars. § 6. Value and employment of the method. This method of sowing, while it enjoys all the advantages pos- sessed by the strip method, is superior to the latter in the follow- ing respects :— (i) By ita much smaller proportion (from about one-seventh to one-twelfth and even less) of the total area is cultivated and sown ; wherefore— (ii) Less labour and time are expended ; (iii) More time, skill and care can be devoted to the prepara~- tion and sowing of the cultivated portions ; (iv) Less seed is used (under ordinary circumstances only one- half), thus justifying stricter selection and thicker sowing; and = - (v) Outlay of money is diminished. Moreover. (vi) Supervision and examination of results, the work being done at well-defined points, are easier ; (vii) The young crop receives more protection from the sur- rounding spontaneous vegetation, which borders it on every side ; and (viii) The chances of erosion on hilly ground are diminished. The patch method is peculiarly well adapted for stony localities or where the ground is trayersed by numerous strong and woody PLOTS, PITS AND HOLLOWS. 269 roots or where the soil varies very appreciably from point to point, also in repairing small areas of previously unsuccessful regenera- tion. It is, however, totally unsuited for wet or swampy localities, since each patch would there become a collecting centre for the superfluous moisture. Mereover, it is not effective enough in the midst of a very strong growth of weeds and undershrubs. ARTICLE 10. PLoT sowine. Plots are simply patches of an exaggerated size, which renders their employment practicable and advantageous under standing forest where the growth of weeds and brushwood is very heavy, as in evergreen forests and in the Himalayas. The size of the plots (from 6 to 10 feet side) permits of their being made at much wider intervals apart than patches, from about 100 to only 40 plots per acre, and then they practically constitute numerous small temporary nurseries from which the intermediate ground can be planted up. For this reason they are extremely useful on hill- sides containing several distinct zones of vegetation or in forests where the soil and locality, and consequently also the composition of the stock, vary from point to point, and especially to increase the proportion of some valuable species that carnot reproduce it- self naturally with the same ease and abundance as companion species of mueh less value. It is hardly necessary to edd that the soil in the plots must be completely freed from roots and rhizomes capable of throwing up shoots and thus enabling undesirable species to again take pos- session of the ground. Moreover the cultivation should be deep and thorough in order to give the sowings the best chance of establishing themselves. Ifthe soil is poor or otherwise of bad quality, it should be well manured. The proportion actually cul- tivated of the total area will be so small (never more than 22 per cent.), that the extra cost of high tilth will be trifling, especially when compared with the results. The sowing should be thick enough to enable the seedlings to close over the ground within each plot in from 4 to 6 years. ARTICLE 11. PIT OR HOLLOW SOWING. The pet and hollow are to the patch what the trench and fur- row are to the strip, and a pit differs from a hollow in the same sense as a trench differs from a furrow, that is to say, a pit bas a 270 DIRECT SOWING. flat bottom and more or less vertical sides, while in a hollow the sides slope gradually from all four sides towards the middle, which is therefore the deepest portion. The dimensions, including their depth, of pits or hollows are in- fluenced by the same considerations as those which determine the width and depth of trenches or furrows ; but just.as the cross dimen- sion of a patch generally exceeds the width of a strip, so the cross dimension of a pit or hollow may exceed the width of a trench or furrow. Pits and hollows are prepared with hand tools and generally in the same way as trenches, except that in their case the rubbish may be heaped up on several sides, according to the several quart- ers on which shelter may be required. The soil at the bottom may be top-dressed with manure. Pits are more expensive than hollows, which indeed cost very little more than patches, and may in the plains of India be em- ployed, with even superior results, in nearly every case in which these last succeed. Ina hollow, the tools reach and work upa deeper layer of the soil than in a patch, the young plants are better protected against drought, insolation, frost and injurious winds, and, thanks to the sloping sides, the seeds are severally placed under different conditions, so that the chances of success are multiplied. Pits should take the place of hollows only in-very dry or frosty or hot, stony localities, or when the upper soil forms a hard pan through which the delicate roots of young seedlings cannot work their way before they get beyond the reach of drought. Pits and hollows possess all the advantages over trenches and furrows which patches possess over strips, and they are, even more so than patches, out of place in wet soils. Pits worked deep and filled with ma~ nured soil would answer capitally in grass lands in the case of hardy species, like sissu, sal, Hardwickia binata, &c., the yearling of which sends down a long thin tap-root, or in that of delicate but fast-growing species, which, like tun, grow all the better for some protection given to the root-collum and the lower portion of the stem. ARTICLE 12. Sow1ne 1n Houzs. Holes are simply pits of reduced diameter (from 2 to 5 or 6 inches), but in which the soil is generally loosened to a great depth (from 2 to 4 feet and even more), in order to enable young seed- lings to at once send down their roots beyond the reach of drought SOWING ON MOUNDS. 271 ‘and injurious extremes of temperature, or through a stratum of soil that is either impenetrable to their roots or is choked up with the rhizomes and roots of strong grasses. This rapid extension of the roots into good or unoccupied soil secures the early establish- ment of the seedlings, and the narrowness of the holes protects the base, or most sensitive part of their stems, with the collum buds it contains, from weather extremes. The holes may be made with soil augers (Figs. 94 and 95) or the borer represented in Fig. 96, if the soil is not stony ; or with a strong boring machine or with crowbars, if it is stony. In filling up the holes good topsoil may be used, or a few inches of manure may be put in last of all, in which the seed may then be sown. Where the growth of weeds is very strong" and dense, the pit may be combined with the hole, that is to say, after making a pit in the usual way, a hole may be-bored in the centre. By this means the seedlings will be protected from being choked up both above and inside the soil as long as they are still small and unable to struggle successfully with those weeds. This method of sowing is no doubt costly, but it gives a certain chance of success to the seedlings and more than repays in the end, by saving heavy after-expenditure on repairs and maintenance and by the accelerated establishment and growth of the young plants. It ought to give excellent results with species, which, like teak, cannot suffer close contact with strong weeds, especially the grasses, or which, like sal, sissu, Hardwickia binata, &c., do not get established until they have developed a long, deep-seated taproot. ARTICLE 13. Mowunpd sowina. Mounds are to patches and pits what ridges are to strips and trenches. As plants growing up on mounds enjoy root aération on all four sides, whereas those on ridges receive it on only two sides, both the height and base of the mounds may exceed the corresponding maxima figures for ridges. Hence mounds may stand up to 2 feet high and even more, and measure from 2 to 4 feet across at the base. The alignment and spacing of mounds are determined by the same considerations as the alignment and spacing of patches. As in the case of ridges, the sides of mounds should be turfed or otherwise consolidated. The mounds may be built up by drawing together the surface 272 DIRECT SOWING. - soil or by using soil from excavations made alongside. In the latter case, the excavations serve as drains and thus contribute powerfully towards root-aération. In localities where the soil, although water-logged during the rains, becomes very dry during the rest of the growing season, the excavations will catch from occasional showers enough water to keep the plants alive and vigorous. The excavation may consist of a single square pit on one side of each mound, or of two pits, one on each of two opposite sides of the mound, or, lastly, of a sort of continuous ditch or moat surrounding the mound, according to the degree of swampiness to be corrected. The excavations help to reduce cost by making it possible to diminish the height and generally the size of the mounds. Sowing on mounds constitutes par excellence the system to be followed in very wet soils, where the mounds would not only be far more effective than ridges, but also cost very much less. The height at which the seedlings would start would render them safe against invasion or suppression by powerful weeds, . ARTICLE 14. CoMBINED PATCH, PIT AND MOUND SOWING. As in the case of continuous cultivated lines, four different com- binations are here also theoretically possible-—(1) hollow and mound, (2) patch and pit, (3) patch and mound, and (4) patch, pit and mound. The only useful form of these combinations is the one already des- eribed under the preceding Article, vz, a mound rising out of a hollow. Here the sides of the mound and the surrounding hollow would be sown with a moisture-loving species capable of serving as a nurse to the more valuable species sown on the top of the mound. The second, third and fourth combinations are, for the present at least, of no practical utility for us. SECTION V. Quantity of seed to sow. We are now in a position to appreciate the quantity of seed to sow in any given case. It will depend— (i) On the quality of the seeds, z.e.. the number per cent, that are expected to germinate, the average time in which they are likely to complete their germination, and the vigour of the seedlings that it is believed they will produce. (ii) On the method of sowing employed.—Thus complete sowing without tilth will require most seed; then follow, in descending QUANTITY OF SEED TO sow. 273 order, complete sowing with tilth, combinations of strip-trench- ridge, strips, trenches, ridges, combinations of patch-pit-mound, patches, pits, mounds, holes, and, lastly, plots. (iii) On the state of preparation of the soil—The better pre- pared the soil is for the germination of seeds and the development of the seedlings, the fewer will be the casualties, and hence the sparser need be the sowing. (iv) On the nature of the soil and locality—The drier the soil is, or the heavier the growth of weeds, or the severer the climate, and so on, the earlier should the leaf-canopy be formed and the thicker must, therefore, be the sowing. (v) On the special risks, independent of the soil and the locality, to which the seedlings are liable to be exposed.—Such are depreda- tions of animals, night-frosts, &c. (vi) On the nature and habits and requirements of the species to be propagated.—For instance, the profuseness of the sowing will be in direct proportion to the delicate nature of the seedlings, their slowness of growth, the narrowness of their crowns, the difficulty with which natural pruning takes place, and so on. (vii) On the most advantageous density of growth under the given circumstances.—A too dense or a too open growth are equally harmful. In the former case, the expenditure is needlessly in- creased by the larger area cultivated, by seed wasted, and by thin- nings rendered necessary before the individual stems become marketable, while the crop itself suffers deterioration owing to the weedy growth of the component trees, the ultimate result being loss of production. In the latter case, the leaf-canopy forms too late-either to protect the soil or to protect and draw up the compo- nent stems, and costly repairs become necessary to replace the numerous casualties, the result here being also loss of production. (viii) On the object to be fuljilled by the sowings—Thus sowing should be profuse, if tall trees with long, straight, clean boles are desired ; more or less sparse, if the object is only to fill up small blank intervals in the midst of existing forest, or to introduce or increase the proportion of a certain species, or to obtain timber of large girth early ; and so on. Absolutely speaking and having due regard to all the conditions just enumerated, the quantity of seed to sow should be sufficient, according to the severity or mildness of the climate, the dryness or humidity of the soil, and the delicate or hardy constitution of the seedlings, to produce a complete leaf-canopy within a period rang- ing from 8 to 15 years after the sowing. 274 DIRECT SOWING. SECTION VI. Maintenance operations. At first, until germination has taken place, the seeds sown re~ quire to be specially protected, and after that, while the sowings are establishing themselves, the seedlings have to be kept out of danger, their growth directly encouraged and casualties promptly repaired. ARTICLE 1. PROTECTION OF THE SEEDS SOWN. As long as the seeds have not germinated, they are liable to be eaten up by animals or killed by unfavourable weather influences during the process of germination. As regards the various animals that devour seed, sowing at the right time often diminishes their ravages, if it does not entirely save the seeds. Thus, in the Himalayas, seeds sown just before snow falls, are effectually protected against insects, rats and most other predatory animals. And, in a general manner, it may be said that the shorter the time during which the seeds are allowed to lie before germination is completed, the better for their safety. Seeds sown at the beginning of the season of vegetation should undergo a little forcing. If birds are troublesome, they onght to be scared away by men armed with guns and moving about conti- nually. There are some seeds the embryo of which, even after germination has begun, takes some time to come out of the testa. In this condition the embryo becomes sweetish and is attacked by small ants. Such seeds, besides having their germination forced, should be soaked in a solution of some drug avoided by those insects. Among unfavourable weather influences, if every possible pre- caution has been taken to sow at the right time, drought is the only one to be feared, and against it we are helpless, unless we can irrigate or water. If in spite of every precaution, the seeds first sown have been killed on any large scale, our only resource is to sow again at once, provided a sufficiently long period of the season of vegetation is still remaining. ARTICLE 2. PROTECTION OF THE SEEDLINGS. PROTECTION AGAINST ANIMALS.—It is impossible to secure com- plete immunity against animals. Grazing should of course be rigidly excluded, even at the expense of putting up fences. Against PROTECTION OF THE SOWINGS. 275 destructive game no false scruples regarding sport should deter us from exterminating them, whether they are quadrupeds or birds. Where deer and antelope are numerous, the cultivated lines, whether continuous or not, are liable to be converted into their regular tracks; in which case, besides browsing off the tender succulent shoots, they trample down or break young seedlings. To minimise this danger the cultivated places should be made as inconspicuous as other governing conditions will allow. This precaution also reduces the depredations of rats, which always like clean soil, and diminishes the numbers of insects, many species of which principally frequent warm sunny spots where the soil has been loosened. Insectivorous birds and other animals should be encouraged. PROTECTION AGAINST FROST.—A simple and cheap method of securing this protection is, if the seedlings are small enough, to put conical grass shades (Fig. 97) over them. The shades should be strong enough to withstand wind and rain, and must let in sufficient light, air and warmth to prevent the plants from sicken- ing. The way to keep the seedlings warm, while at the same time protecting them from the morning sun is to keep the shades slightly open on the south-west side. Ifthe grass surrounding the seed- lings is tall and not too far away, it should be brought together over each seedling or group of seedlings and tied up in a knot at the top. Indeed, if the vegetation on the uncultivated intervals is full and dense enough and stands well above the seedlings, it should be left untouched or it may be slightly bent down over them. If the frosts are not severe, it will often suffice to earth up the base of the seedlings in order to protect the buds in the vital region of the root-collum. Lastly, if the seedlings are too large to be protected by the surrounding vegetation or by means of grass shades, grass may be tied up or coiled loosely round the stems and main branches of the seedlings, and especially over the end of the leading shoot. But when frosts are very severe, the only way to obviate complete failure is, if direct sowing is allowable, to sow none but really hardy species, at the‘outset at least. PROTECTION AGAINST EXCESSIVE INSOLATION AND DROUGHT.—AII the measures detailed under the preceding head answer here also, But, as a rule, the sun alone is not so great a danger to seedlings as frost, and, in most cases, the shade cast laterally by the vegeta~ tion standing on the uncultivated intervals will suffice. It is chiefly in the case of yearlings, and particularly of young seedlings of coni.. fers or belonging to species that come into leaf at the beginning 276 DIRECT SOWING. of, or just before, the hot weather, such as, for example, sal, sissu, tun, &e., that excessive insolation is to-be feared in exposed places and must be provided against. Timely watering is always the best precautionary measure. During the season of dormant vegetation the seedlings require no help; either the air is then too cold for drought to occur or the young plants are leafless and cannot suffer from over-transpiration. Again during the summer rains watering is rarely colled for, except perhaps in the dry zone receiving a rainfall of less than 20 inches. Itis only during the October- November heats which prevail outside the area subject to the influ- ence of the N. E. monsoon, that yearlings generally begin to sicken and may require to have the soil kept moist round them. After these five or six weeks of danger, the activity of the young plants sinks to a minimum and the nightly dews caught and retained in a loose soil generally suffice, especially in Northen and Central India. But dur- ing those five or six weeks of extremely bright sunshine and a very clear atmosphere, it is often the over-active transpiration of the green parts, far in excess of the amount of moisture taken up by the roots from a cold soil, that hurts the young plants* rather than the absence of sufficient moisture in the soil; and the best safeguard then is to shade the plants. From December to February inclusive, the activity of the young plants sinks toa minimum or entirely ceases, and so it is only where there is no true cold season that the nightly dews may not suffice and may require to be supplemented by one or two waterings, such a contingency being, however, ex- tremely rare. After February most of our trees outside the Hima- layas begin to be leafless and remain so until the burst of the 8. W. monsoon. Seedlings of such species will hardly need to be watered then, and it is only young plants of species that come into leaf in spring that may have to kept alive by one, or at the outside two, good waterings, while the new leaves are still tender and wanting in firmness. One of the most effective means for avoiding, or at least minimising, the labour and expense of watering is to get the seeds to germinate early in the snmmer rains (or in the Himalayas, if late frosts are not to be feared, as early in the spring as possible), so that, by the time the beneficial influence of that season has passed away, the seedlings may be strong and deep-rooted enough to have little or nothing to fear from drought or over- transpiration. PROTECTION AGAINST DANGEROUS WINDS.—The only really dangerous winds are the hot winds, the sole safeguard against which is watering. FOSTERING OF THE SEEDLINGS. 277 ARTICLE 3. SPECIAL FOSTERING OF THE SEEDLINGS. It may be found necessary or advantageous to foster the growth of the young plants by watering them, and by weeding and hoeing and manuring the soil round them. § 1. Watering. Mere superficial watering should be avoided. On this account handwatering should be effected in one of three ways :—either (i) a hollow a few inches deep should be made round each seedling and the soil in it loosened before each operation, or (ii) a hole of the right depth should be bored obliquely on one side and the water poured therein, or (iii) an amphora-shaped porous, earthenware jar should be buried on one side of each seedling and filled from time to time. In the last case the downward taper of the jar affords two important advantages ; a given quantity of water stands at a higher level than if they base were broad, and a large capacity is secured without making the vessel too long. The number of times water should be given will depend on the nature of the soil and locality, the requirements of the species, and the mode of watering. Although during the season of dormant ve- getation the plants need not be watered, yet, if that season coincides with the hot weather, watering will shorten it very appreciably both by making it begin earlier and end later. | Owing to its great costliness, watering should, as a rule, be limited to the following four cases, and then only when the attendant outlay is not prohibitory :— (i) When vegetative activity, beginning with the summer rains, continues throughout the cold weather and does not cease until the setting in of the hot weather. The season of repose may be delayed by watering towards the end of the cold and the begin- ning of the hot weather, so as to strengthen the seedlings in order that they might make a sudden vigorous start at the commence- ment of the next summer rains. (ii) When vegetative activity starts afresh in spring and con- tinues right up to the summer rains, ceasing only with the com- mencement of water. A copious watering may be given just when the new foliage is due, so as+o help the seedlings to make a good start, and the operation may be repeated during the hot weather each time there was any sign of languishing vegetation. (iii) In every case on the occurence of long breaks during the first half of the summer rains, in order to maintain a continuous 278 DIRECT SOWING, development of the year’s shoots. (iv) In November-December where winter rains do not prevail. § 2. Weeding and hoeing, and manuring. WEEDING AND HOEING.—The removal of weeds is absolutely necessary during the early part of the season of vegetation when new organs are being formed in every direction. During the rest of the season also the absence of weeds would be beneficial by favouring root-extension, and hence if the weeds are not required as a protection against injurious weather influences, they should, whenever practicable, be removed. Even if there are no weeds at all or none that are dangerous, the soil should be loosened round the seedlings at the beginning of the season of vegetation. The amount of space to clear round the seedlings will depend on their habits and requirements, the more or less invasive nature of the weeds, the suitability of the soil and locality for the seedlings, and the character of the climate. Thus the more shade-avoiding or hardier or rapid-growing the seedlings are, the more invasive the weeds, the more suitable the soil and locality for the species sown, the milder the climate, and so on, the more free growing-room must be given to the seedlings both in the air and in the soil. Generally speaking, it is seedlings that develop a long tap-root with a few short and thin side roots, which suffer most from contact with weeds in the soil, ¢.9., teak and sissu ; and the most danger- ous kinds of weeds are those which have a tendency to spread both in the soil and above ground and grow gregariously. Such weeds should, if possible, be pulled up by the roots. Shrubby species are most to be guarded against, and after them, amongst herbaceous plants, tall dense perennials. As loosening the soil necessarily clears it of weeds, and vice versd, the two operations of weeding and hoeing should, whenever possible, be combined into one. Manurine.—It will seldom be practicable to manure the seed- lings. But whenever it can be done a top-dressing of manure should be given at the commencement of the season of vegetation, at the same time as the combined weeding and hoeing up of the soil round the seedlings is effected. ARTICLE 4, ReEparrs. Wherever seedlings have failed to come up or have died off caus- ing blanks that would take too long to fill up by the meeting of EXECUTION OF MIXED SOWINGS. 279 the crowns of the surviving seedlings, there it is necessary to introduce new seedlings. This may be done either by sowing seed again according to any of the methods already described, or by means of planting. When tosow and when to plant will be ex- plained in Chapter VI; but it may be laid down as a general rule that, if no change of species is contemplated, seed will usually be sown to replace yearlmgs and even seedlings up to two years old. SECTION VIL. Execution of mixed sowing’. In describing the use of the sowing porcupine (p. 267) allusion has already been made to the sowing of more than a single species. It may be necessary to sow more than one species either because it is advantageous to grow a mixed forest, or because the species required is so delicate or so slow-growing as to require to be raised with nurses. If they are to be sown broadcast, the seeds of the several species must be mixed together in the right proportions. Otherwise it is only when the single species to be permanently maintained is ex- tremely delicate or shade-enduring, or the locality to be sown is exposed to very severe weather influences, or the habits and re~ quirements of the several species are unknown ‘and have to be ascertained at all cost, that the seeds may be thus mixed together ; and in all other cases the different species should be sown in sepa- rate lines, the following advantages being thereby secured : (i) The different species are never in each other’s way. Gi) Supervision is at all times easy. (iii) In repairing casualties there is never any doubt as to what species to sow or plant, and where and in what abundance. (iv) Cleanings and thinnings (to be treated of in Part ITI) become singularly simple operations. (v) Asa consequence of the preceding advantages the main- tenance of the mixture, in the correct proportions according to the age of the crop, can never present any difficulty. CHAPTER V. PLANTING. Success in planting depends mainly on :— (1) A judicious selection of the species to be used ; (2) Choice of the most suitable kind of planting material ; (8) Putting out this material at the right-time of the year ; (4) Careful and skilful lifting up, pruning and transport ; (5) The right quantity to put out and its just distribution over the area to be planted up ; (6) The most economical as well as effective mode of preparing the soil and putting down the planting material ; and (7) Adequate care of the plantation until it is established. SECTION I. Choice of species. Besides being adapted to the soil and other local conditions and to fulfil the end sought, as they should in any case be, the species selected should be such as can be planted by some one or more of the numerous methods of planting, and this too at a cost that is not prohibitive. In hard stony soil only such species should be used as concentrate their early vigour mainly on the development of the roots, for it is a well known fact that all planting material, immediately after being put into the ground, has a tendency to exhibit a disproportionate amount of energy in bringing out leaves and twigs at the expense of the reserve food stored therein, on the exhaustion of which the sum total of the parts above ground have acquired such an inordinate predominance over the root apparatus, that this latter becomes quite unequal to meeting the demands thenceforward made on it and the entire plant then succumbs. SECTION II, The various kinds of planting material. Planting material may be very different according to its origin, its outward form, its size and age, the mode in which it has been raised, and the agency through which it has been obtained. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF PLANTING MATERIAL. 281 Oric1n.—According to its origin planting material for foresters may be either seedlings, or individual rhizomes or root-cuttings or suckers, cuttings or layers. It is not every forest species that can be propagated by layers, still fewer by cuttings, suckers or root- cuttings, and only the grasses by rhizomes. In layering, it is best to do so directly in the forest, when there are already some trees on the ground suited for that method of propagation ; and, as a rule, the use of layers for forest purposes should be limited to that single case. Root-cuttings are awkward things to use and should generally be avoided, except the soil and locality be very favourable and it is only a question of covering the ground as quickly as possible, no matter what the class of forest raised is to be. For successful use of sissu root-cuttings see page 233. Rhizomes, provided they are young and not too large, are as suitable as seedlings ; otherwise these last are the very best class of material to use, both because they produce larger, more vigorous, longer-lived and sounder individuals, and because, cuttings of certain species excepted, they are invariably more successful. The exception made above in respect of cuttings refers to the few species which, like willow, figs, &c., are readily multiplied by that method of propagation. OurwarD FoRM.—According to their outward form planting material may be either rooted or without roots. Cuttings and layers may or may not be rooted, according as they have been previously schooled or not ; but the lower nodes of culms possess adventitious roots, which, when covered with soil, extend themselves and perform all the functions of roots. Transplants of course necessarily com- prise all rooted planting material. Transplants may be used with naked 1oots or have their roots enclosed in a ball of the original undisturbed earth in which they have grown. Plants from pots or baskets or tiles are special classes of transplants of the latter category. Then again transplants may be used more or less completely headed down or with the crown more or less entire. Only seed- lings and rhizomes with developed culms are so headed down. Lastly, the stems composing planting material may be used singly or in bunches or bouquets of two or more together. Size AND acEe.—The classification, according to size, of rootless cutting has been given on pp. 208-209. Transplants may be divided into three principal size-classes :—(1) small plants, those which are not more than a foot high; (2) muiddle-sized plants, those 282 PLANTING. which are between one and three feet high ; and (8) large plants, those which are three feet and upwards in height. Large plants which are over eight feet high, may be specially termed saplings. Yearlings may of course, according to the rapidity of their growth, be small, middle-sized or large plants ; but those yearlings, which have only recently come out of the seed, may for convenience’ sake, be designated germ plants. MobDE oF RaIsinc.—Seedlings may be self-sown from the forest or nursery-raised, the latter being qualified as schooled or unschooled according as they have passed or not passed through a period of training in nursery lines. Schooled seedlings may of course have originally been obtained from the forest. Similarly, the terms schooled and unschooled may be applied to suckers and rhizome- cuttings. In the case of ordinary cuttings and layers the terms ’ direct or schooled may be used. The properties of good transplants have been enumerated and explained at pp. 186-137 and the age of wood to use for cuttings and layers has been discussed in the same Chapter and Section on pp- 209 and 211. As regards unschooled suckers, the smaller the root on which they are produced are, the more successful are they likely to be. The character of their crown and stem must ap- proach less or more that given for transplants in general ; but as such suckers have hitherto obtained the whole or the greater part of their nourishment from the parent tree, what may be called their own root-appartus will necessarily be disproportionately small compared with their crown, and hence the more meagre the latter is and the thicker the stem for the rapid conduction of water, the better. The individual rhizomes of a clump are also dependent on the roots of the clump for their nourishment, although of course not to the same extent as suckers are dependent on their parent tree. Hence the larger and fuller the rhizome is in proportion to the culm it bears, the better the chances of success. The rhizomes should moreover be free from unsoundness, and have large, numerous eyes and an abundance of roots. Source or supPLY.—Planting material may be obtained by purchase, or extracted by one’s own agency from the forest, or raised ina nursery under one’s own supervision. Those obtained by purchase must be taken after very careful selection, especially if they have not been previously examined in the place itself in which they were raised, and lifted up and transported by one’s own agency. Unschooled seedlings from the forest are never sa good as nursery-raised transplants, since in the first place, owing SEASON FOR PLANTING OUT. 288 to the generally inferior condition of the soil there, the root- apparatus will be far from bushy and compendious and will neces- sarily suffer heavy mutilation in being taken out ; and, in the next place, as such seedlings cannot generally be removed except from those points where their number is in excess of the requirements of the local natural regeneration, they will have generally develop- ed too close together to be strong. Nevertheless if only germ plants are required, unschooled ones from the forest will be quite as good as those obtained from a nursery. SECTION III. Season for planting out. The best time of year to plant out is when the following con- ditions exist together :— (i) The soil and air moist and warm ; (ii) The planting material possessed of its maximum recuper- ative power and in full vegetative activity ; and (iii) A sufficiently long period of warm moist weather before the advent of the next trying season for vegetation. All three conditions are satisfied in every part of India under the influence of the S. W. Monsoon by the few weeks succeeding the setting in of the summer rains ; and for those species which come into activity only then, planting at this time is especially favourable for the simple reason that the plants still contain a large quantity of reserve material and have not yet expended all their pent-up energy of the hot dry months, during which they were reposing. In those districts where no frosts occur and October- November rains, not preceded by a break of hot bright steamy weather, also prevail, the planting season may extend right up to the last heavy showers that fall in September ; but it is always better to plant as early in the summer rains as possible, i. as soon as the soil has been saturated and continuous showers have begun to fall. This period will be different in different parts of India. Thus, for instance, to speak in a general manner, it will be the beginning of June for Assam, Bengal, Burma and the Coromandel Coast, the latter half of June for the Malabar Coast, the beginning of July for the interior of the Peninsula, the end of July or beginning of August for Berar, the Central Provinces, Oudh, the North Western Provinces and the western and hill dis- tricts of the Punjab ; some time late in August for Rajputana and the eastern districts of the Punjab ; and so on. 284 PLANTING. Except where irrigation or some other kind of adequate water- ing is possible, the entire work of planting, particularly in the case of plants lifted up with naked roots, should be done while rain is actually falling, for under no other circumstance could the neces~ sary immediate intimate connection between the roots and the soil be secured ; and wet weather should continue for a day or two at least after the plants have been put into the ground. Asso favour- able a combination of natural conditions seldom occurs more than once during the whole rainy season, it follows that when planting is to be done, a large gang of labourers should be kept ready to come out at a moment’s notice and complete the whole or most of the work on the first good rainy day after the soil has been satur- ated. SECTION IV. Arrangement of the planted material. In planting some definite arrangement may be followed or there may be no attempt at order at all. In the former case whatever other rule of disposition is followed, the planting is executed along straight, parallel, equidistant lines. ARTICLE 1. REGULAR AND IRREGULAR PLANTING COMPARED. The following are the principal advantages secured by putting out the planting material in a regular manner :— (i) Economy of labour and supervision and facility of execution. The points at which the material is to be put down are rigidly fixed by measurement based on the ruling sylvicultural and economical considerations. There is thus no time lost in having to choose the planting spots, the gang of workmen can be organised and drilled so as to yield the maximum outturn of work, nothing is left to individual caprice, and the men and work can be super- vised with the greatest ease. (ii) Economy in preparing and carrying the planting material, for the exact number of transplants, cuttings, &c. required is pre- yiously known. Giii) Easy appreciation of extent of failure or success. We have only to count the successes and failures along a sufficient number of lines taken here and there all over the area and obtain thereby the average proportion of success for the entire area or for separate portions of it presenting distinctive characterictics as respects soil, locality, surrounding vegetation and other conditions. Until the plants stand above the grass and wecds, it is extremely diificult to REGULAR versus IRREGULAR PLANTING. ‘285 find them all again unless they are arranged according to some definite order, and the task becomes impossible, if there is some self-sown advance growth already on the ground. (iv) Facilitation of maintenance operations. consequence of (iil}. (v) Rapid growth of the young plants, since they can nowhere get overcrowded before the entire crop as a whole stands in need .of a cleaning (See Part 11). (vi) Complete utilisation of pre-existing forest growth—A regular arrangement of the planting material allows of its being put down only where, owing to the absence or insufficiency of that growth, it is actually required. (vil) Possibility of utilising the area between the lines.—On the intervals grass may be exploited or field crops raised, the proceeds from the sale of which may be debited against the expenditure on planting, thereby turning to account and making the most of resources that would otherwise remain unutilised. (viii) Facility in mixing species——In reference to this the re- marks on p. 280 on mixed sowings should be read. This follows asa As against these very important advantages, regular planting presents certain disadvantages :— (i) It produces continuous alleys for the entrance and un- checked passage of winds, which must sweep away the dead fallen leaves and contribute powerfully to the evaporation of soil mois- ture. This danger can, however, be minimised by running the lines at right angles to the direction of dangerous winds, and planting closer and thereby creating protective curtains along the edge of the area and along roads and other cleared lines. (ii) Where large game abounds the animals generally convert the lines into beaten tracks. Thus the soil rcund the plants gets trodden down into a hard pan, and the plants themselves are knocked over or broken, if they are not also browsed down. (iii) The planted crop presents a uniformity of aspect and growth which is not favourable to the drawing up of the trees and the formation of clean long boles. These three drawbacks are of course real and serious ; neverthe- less the vast superiority of regular over irregular planting is beyond question, and the former should invariably be adopted, save where the area to be filled up by planting is so small that a regular arrangement becomes unnecessary or superfluous, and even difficult to follow, particularly if it comprises numerous little blanks in the midst of an otherv:ise complete young growth, 286 PLANTING, ARTICLE 2. THE MORE COMMON FORMS OF REGULAR PLANTING. On hilly ground the same disposition must be followed as in the case of sown patches (see pages 265 and 266). On level ground all figures with unequal angles or more than four sides, which would be extremely difficult to lay out, should be avoided. Accordingly, whatever the variation in smaller de- tails may be, the arrangement of the plants will always be referri- ble to one of the three following elementary systems :— (1) The rectangle (Fig. 98). (2) The square (Fig. 99), and (3) The equilateral triangle (Fig. 100). If in the square arrangement, a fifth plant is put down in the middle of each square, we obtain the quincunx form. The check pattern, of which Fig. 102 gives one form, is another variation of the square system. The fifth plant in every quincunx and the interior plants in each check in Fig. 102 are especially well-placed for protection against injurious climatic influences and for being drawn up in height and forming a long clean bole. Plants may also be put out in groups of three, four or five, each group forming an equilateral triangle, square or quincunx, and the whole being arranged on the square or rectangular pattern. In the following sub-article dealing with details, it will suffice to consider only the three elementary forms, assuming that only a single plant is put down at each angle. § 1. Respective numbers of planting spots in the three elementary forms. Tas RectancuLaR PatrEern.—In this pattern there are two different distances between the spots, wz. a and b, and in defining these distances, it is usual to say that the plants are put down a feet apart in lines b feet apart, or, more shortly a’ x Bb’. To determine the number of planting spots (see Fig. 98), let A and B be the two sides ofa rectangular piece of gyound to be planted up. Then f+ 1 = number of planting spots in each line B ; and on abl eS 55 of lines of spots ; and the total number of planting spots will be A ) B ) to Ao B (Gri (F x1 Ta 2 ea ee z NUMBER OF PLANTING SPOTS. 287 The three last terms aggregate just one half the number of planting spots along the perimeter of the entire area. When this area is large, they may, for all practical purposes, be neglected ; but if they are taken into account we may generalise the preceding formula into the following approximate rule :— When planting according to a rectangular pattern, divide the total area of the ground in square feet by the product of the two planting distances and half the perimeter in feet by the shorter of these distan- ces; the sum of the two quotients will be the total number of planting spots to be prepared. Tue Square Pattern.—Here a = 6b. Hence the number of planting spots, according to the formula given above, AB A+B Fas ae and we have the following general rule :-— When planting in squares, divide the total area of the ground in square feet by the square of the planting distance, and half the pert- meter in feet by that distance ; the sum of the two quotients will very nearly give the total number of planting spots to be prepared. In operating over large areas, the value of the two last terms becomes insignificant. Toe EquitarzraL TriancLe Parvern.—Referring to Fig. 100, we see that the distance between the consecutive planting spots along AD and lines parallel to AD is equal to the side of the equilateral triangle, whereas the distance between those lines (ab) is equal to the height of the triangle. If d = the former distance, then dsin 60° = 0°87 x d = the other. It is obvious that there will be two cases according as the fractional portion of e isa whole number ora whole number plus a fraction. For all practical purposes this fraction may be considered as one-half. Suppose first that = is a whole nuntber, then the number of planting spots in the lines will be alternately = and 4 + 1, and the number of lines will be B i O87 Xd +1. If this last num- ber is even, half the number of lines will contain = planting spots and the other half 4 + 1 spots, the total number thus. being 288 PLANTING. a(cerca +? Ma = (7 +1)} AB . = pee ++ ext? peeve vovcesscrereneevcenoce (i) If that number is odd, then, according as the odd line contains ‘A A oa 1 planting spots, the total number of planting spots will be 2A AB A B ze Loan (F +2) 44 =orxetattixan: @ or toad rt +1 a 4+1)= = Olina a 4 teat lai Next: suppose that 4 is equal to a whole number plus one-half, then the number of planting spots in each line will be the same and will be equal to 4, and the total number will be A A 5 ‘Giz +1)= eats sisemiaeeice saga ats asssberepenesaed (iv) As before, all but the first term in the four preceding equations may be dropped when the are. operated in is large, a small percentage for contingencies being, however, allowed for ; and if those equations are generalised into a single universal rule suffi- ciently accurate for all practicil purpose:, we may say that— When planting on the equilateral triangle pattern, in order to obtain the number of planting spots, w2 divide the area expressed in szuare feet by 0°87 times the square of the planting distance and in- erease the quotient by the quotient of half the perimeter in Jer divided by that distance. GenerAL.—In the subjoinel table figures are given showing at a g'anc the number of planting spots “that go to the acre for the most common planting distances in the three elementary forms of arrangement. Such a table saves much tedious calculation. The figures have been worked out by means of the three rules given above in Italics, and not, as is usually done, by neglecting all but the first term in each of the six preceding formule. This latter procedure is inaccurate. Besides that the first term alone always gives less than the actual number of planting spots, an appreciable quantity of planting material has to be rejected by the time it reaches the area to be stocked, or is lost in transit or during the planting. The figures in the subjoined table being exact for one acre, will give a small excess for larger areas, which excess is in- 289 SPOTS NUMBER OF PLANTING tended to cover the margin due to rejection or loss of plants after they have left the nursery. ogg} 86 aa bas he as ‘on me se a igs we | ay oge OIF eae eee eee wee oon eee eee wee eee OFS O8F OT oe loce loge a see: «|<. pate we aes oy bes ~ lorg logs |¢ otrlote |oog |o99 Pe ie sats _ si oe lope logs |g OSPF og¢ 089 OcL OFS ees eee aoe woe eee eee 080‘T 0c6 L fos¢i0s9 |oog |0r6 |086 |OTIT] °° = we a "* 109FT 1088‘T | 9 OL910TS [094 | OG0‘T |oLTT | oge't | oFe‘T | o eas a “* 1060°3 | ogs‘T | ¢ 0€8| OTOT | o6T‘T | OZE‘T | OLFT | 099'T | 0%6'T | 062% | °° +4 “* | 0ese |0gs's | F 0¢6| o9T‘T | oze‘t | 00G‘T | O89°T | 006'T | O6T'S’ | OT9'% | Ogee | °° “* l0T3F |ogg‘e | #8 "* 1ogeT | 06G‘T | OGLT | 096T | OS'S | 09G'S | OFO'S | OLL‘e |06z'F | ** | ooL‘e loget | e “1 sl org't | OOS | OFeS | 099°% | OL0'e | OG9‘e | OZe'F | OST‘s | O86‘S | OST‘s |oFT's | Fz ss] sr | ses 1 089% 1086'S | Oze'e |OFS'e | OLS | 099°C | O8F'9 | OLF‘L-| 008'SE| COTTT] 2 ee AN aie me * 1OL6'e | O8FF | OZT’E | 060°9 | OFE'2 | o8G‘s |o96.6 | °° ae AT ose oh ae ne - * 1089°L | OFTS |OTS'TT! OL8‘ST| OFGFT| ** se NTE et aI Ot 6 8 L 9 q y ig g BEES re “RO a ae ae ce} ; ; mehr Be | Bee Sutaq out 09 ‘aay Mors “Gaay UY COUVISTpP oN} ‘NUALLVd UVTADNVLONY | & & E 5 & & E oY} UO esov Ue UT syods ZuyULYId Jo sequiny Be 290 PLANTING. § 2. The three elementary forms uf regular planting compared. For the same spacing, z.¢., amount of growing room, between the planting spots we can put down on the equilateral triangle plan very nearly 1°155 times more plants than on the square sys- tem. This circumstance, combined with the fact that in the former arrangement each plant is surrounded by two more neighbours (6 instead of 4), implies earlier formation of the leaf-canopy, a fuller growth, longer and better-shaped boles, and productiveness at an earlier age, if not also in somewhat larger quantity. The equila- teral triangle arrangement has, however, also its drawbacks ; it is the most difficult of the three to lay out (see page 298), and it is impracticable or entirely superfluous in the midst of an existing useful forest growth. In this last case, the square system also results in much waste of labour and planting material, and, indeed, it is mainly when land perfectly. bare ot trees and shrubs has to be covered as quickly as possible with tree growth, that the square, and particularly the equilateral triangle, arrangement asserts its superiority over the rectangular method. In such areas this last pattern, especially if the disparity between the distance from plant to plant in the lines and that from line to line is very marked, has a tendency to cause an elliptical develop- ment of the crown and roots and, therefore, of the bole itself, This inherent defect of the rectangular method can of course be minimised by putting the lines close together, but in that case the system would approximate to the square arrangement and would cease to have a distinctive character. Nevertheless the rectangular system has its place in bare open areas when the conditions of vegetation are so unfavourable that a large proportion of casualties is expected ; close planting in the lines is in that case one way of providing against such casualties, and if these occur uniformly throughout the crop, the survivors may ultimately present the aspect of the square pattern. But it is when the area to be planted up already contains an appreciable and evenly distributed amount of utilisable and useful growth that the rectangular arrangement: possesses an undoubted superiority over the other two systems. It not only makes the mcst of this previous growth by leaving it plenty of growing room between the lines and allowing for whatever comes in the way of the lines being at once assimilated with the mass of new plants put down, but also economises labour and planting material and places DIFFERENT FORMS OF REGULAR PLANTING COMPARED. 291 the transplants in the best conditions for their future growth. For these reasons also the rectangular system should generally be followed in planting under a high nurse crop that is capable of producing its own seedlings or is to be cut over for coppice. The rectangular arrangement should be adopted also in the fol- lowing cases :-— (1) When an agricultural crop is to be raised between the lines of seedlings. (2) Where grass is a valuable commodity and its production cannot be at once or altogether stopped. (3) In pasture land where the presence of trees is required to foster and improve the production of grass. (4) When a nurse crop is put down, to be shortly followed by the species whose propagation is desired. (5) When the growth of weeds is so tall and dense that the plants put down cannot overtop it until they have attained a certain height and, therefore, a certain spread of crown. What is then required is only to prevent the weeds from invading the lines, and this end can be secured only by putting down the plants close together in the lines. If the square system were adopted, the planting would have to be so close, both for convenience of super- vision and for the safety of the plants, that it would require the cutting away of nearly the entire mass of weeds, not only once in order to put down the plants, but for several successive years afterwards until the plants became strong enough to be able to resist suppression. Such an operation would be as undesirable as it would be extravagan'ly costly. Tall weeds are very useful in affording shelter to young plants, and if they are shrubby their usefulness in this respect is turned to the best account by allowing them to form part of the leaf canopy until they are overtopped. SECTION V. Closeness of planting. The distance that should intervene between two consecutive planting spots will be detcrmined by the following consider- ations :— (i) The nature of the species used. The more delicate or the more slow-growing they are, the closer together must the plants be put. Sucker-producing species may be planted further apart, And so on. (ii) The time in which it is desired to produce a leaf-canopy. In purely pasture lands, there must of course be no leaf-canopy 292 PLANTING. and the plants must stand far apart. Ina poor dry soil, on un- stable slopes, and so on, the sooner the leaf-canopy is formed, the better. (iii) The age, size and vigour of the planting material. The younger or smaller or weaker this material is, the closer must it be planted. (iv) The kind of planting material used. Cuttings without roots will generally be put down closer than rooted plants ; plants with naked roots than plants with covered roots ; and so on. (v) The climate and locality. The severer the climate, the steeper the gradient, the more windy or frosty the locality, and so on, the closer must we plant. (vi) The degree of suitability of the soil for the species used. The less suitable the soil, the closer together must the plants be put down. (vii) The nature of the surrounding vegetation. The planting must be closer in perfectly bare treeless or shrubless land than in the midst of useful woody growth, especially if this consists of seedlings or seedling-shoots of valuable species, or of trees capable of producing a new generation of seedlings. If the surrounding vegetation is injurious and must be suppressed quickly, the plant- ing should be close. And so on. (viii) The object of the plantation. If protection against land- slips, erosion, avalanches, hot winds, &c. is required, we must plant close. If the early production of large poles is desired, then the plants should be put down further apart than it lofty trees with long straight clean boles were io be grown. In pasture Jands we want only a few trees, solely to afford shelter and to maintain a good crop of grass. In simply introducing a species for the first time or merely increasing its proportion, the planting. will be sparse. And so on. (ix) The exposed position of the area to be planted up. Thus the planting will be closer on the edge of a forest or along a road than in the interior. (x) The state of the demand. If small wood sells readily, we would obviously plant closer than if it had no value at all, If grass were valuable, there need be no hurry in suppressing it by close planting. And so on. _ (1) The number of plants put down together at each point. The object of putting down more than one individual at each planting spot.is to provide for one plant at least succeeding at every point. The chances of complete failure being thus minimised, MARKING OUT OF PLANTING SPOTS. 293 we may safely plant less close than if the plants were used singly. (xii) The ease and readiness with which failures may be ve- paired. The more difficult it is to undertake or effect repairs, the closer must we plant. In finally fixing upon the distance or distances at which single plants should be put down, it should be remembered that it is as great a fault to put down too many as too few individuals; for when the plants stand too close together, they remain underfed and, unless thinned out early, become so weakened that the annual sum of production falls below what the soil is capable of yielding, and, in any case, since the number of plants increases inversely as the square of the distance between them, there is an unnecessary waste of material and labour, and, therefore, also of money. Under any circumstances the distance from planting spot to planting spot in the square or equilateral triangle pattern ought never to be less than 2 feet or more then 12 feet, the most advan- tageous being perhaps from 4 to 6 feet. In the rectangular arran- gement, the distance between the lines will, usually vary from 8 to 15 feet, from 6 to 12 feet being most generally adopted, while that between the planting spots will range from one-sixth to four-fifths of the former distance, from one-third to one-half being the most common ratio. Exceptionally, in the case of fodder preserves or when there is an abundance of useful growth already on the ground, the distance between the lines may be 20 to 30 feet, with 5 and 10 feet respectively as the minima and maxima distances between the planting spots. SECTION VI. Marking out the planting spots. ON LEVEL GRounD. If the area is large, it should be divided into compartments of manageable size, each compartment forming a unit of work. It is always advisable to have the compartments in the form of squares or rectangles, the sides of which measure a chain or some multiple of a chain, or better still some convenient mutiple of the planting distances. By this means not only does the actual marking out, but subsequently also the planting becomes systematised, so that it is more easily, more economically and more efficiently executed and supervised, and its progress from day to day and hour to hour is exactly appreciated and regulated without trouble. If the perimeter of the area is of an irregular shape, in addition to the squares or rectangles as the case may be, in the interior, there will be triangles and trapeziums along the outside ; 294 PLANTING. but these figures are themselves geometrical shapes and will in any case rarely be so numerous, and never so large, as to disturb the mathematical precision of the lines of work. In each compartment the planting spots may be expeditiously and sufficiently accurately marked out in the following man- ner :— Along two opposite sides peg out the ends of the planting lines. Then draw a chain in a straight line between two opposite pegs, marking each planting spot with a single blow from a pick or by means of a stake driven into the ground. Chains of a special length should be used and the planting distances should be indicat- ed on it by means of small brass labels. The preceding plan requires workmen trained to drag the chain in a perfectly straight line between two given points. It is, how- ever difficult to teach the native of India, of the classes which supply our coolies and forest guards, the art or the necessity of chaining straight. A simpler and more certain plan for all classes of workmen will be as follows :— ; Instead of using chains that are dragged about, take strong lines of some material not affected by wet and of the same length as the side of the compartment, which should on that account not be large. To the end of each line a strong wooden pey should be securely attached, and knots of coloured wool should be tacked on along the line at the required intervals. In the square system of arrangement only a single line per workman is needed ; this should first be stretched along two opposite sides of the compartment in order to mark thereon the planting distances, and then at right angles to them successively between two opposite points marked out, until the entire compartment is completed. For a rectangular arrangement we want two lines to indicate separately the two different distances, or one and the same line may be used, the two different intervals being marked thereon with wool of two different colours. For laying out equilateral triangles three lines are re- quired, one to indicate the height of the triangle (the side x 0°87) and the other two, giving the length of the side of the triangle, to mark out alternately (a) the rows the first planting spot of which is on the edge of the compartment, and (b) the rows the first plant- ing spot of which is half the length of the side away from the edge of the compartment. Obviously the last two lines can be re- placed by a single one bearing knots of two different colours alternately, the interval between two successive knots of the two different colours being equal to half the side of the triangle. LIFTING OF TRANSPLANTS. 295 In areas of limited extent equilateral triangles may be laid out with the help of two straight bamboos or poles, each equal in length to the side of the given triangle. One of the poles is first laid on the ground in the middle of the area and pegs driven in at its extremities. Then both poles should be so placed on one side of this line as to form with it an equilateral triangle, the apex of which should be staked. Similarly the apex of the equilateral triangle on the other side should be marked. We thus obtain a nucleus of two triangles, by producing the sides of which either way and measuring off new distances, we complete the required network of equilateral triangles. The laying out of planting spots according to modifications of the square and rectangular system, as for instance the check pat- tern (Fig. 102), &c., will obviously be effected on the same principles as those systems themselves. ON BROKEN OR HILLY GRouND. Here the formation of square. or rectangular compartments is of course out of the question and work will obviously be done most conveniently by taking as the working unit either one side of a drainage basin or the whole of a small basin or the area between two small drainage lines. More- over the three elementary forms of arrangement of the planting spots (with their modifications), now rendered impossible by the slope of the ground, must be given up for the same disposition as that of sowing patches. SECTION VII. Lifting of transplants. The lifting up of seedlings to be planted out in nursery lines has been described on pp. 200-201. The procedure here is just the same. But, whereas in a nursery we command every condi- tion necessary for success, in putting out into the forest, on the other hand, the distance of transport may reach several hundreds of miles, the plants, after arrival at destination, may have to be kept for several days before they are used, and the suitability of the soil and locality and the propitiousness of the weather and other attendant conditions are factors, over which the forester can exercise little or no control. Hence much greater care must be observed in preserving the roots and in causing as little injury as possible to the plants, especially if they are large seedlings or are suckers, rooted cuttings and layers, all of which possess less tena- city than seedlings. Indeed it will often be necessary to take out large transplants 296 PLANTING. with a sufficiently large ball of earth, which is prevented from breaking by wrapping it round tightly with matting or coarse cheap convass. Ifthe plants are very large, a simple plan, which also saves a last transplanting, is to excavate a narrow trench round each individual near the close of the immediately preceding season of vegetation and to fill this up at once with rich manure, after passing a fold of canvass or matting round the cylinder of earth. All the roots extending beyond the cylinder of earth should be carefully pruned off. The manure will provoke a vigor- ous development of rootlets and root-hairs none of which will be able to penetrate beyond the manure. At the beginning of the next ensuing summer rains the plants can be taken out with no worse injury than the loss of a few, now unimportant, deep roots. ‘When the ball of earth is very heavy, boards should be placed under it and derricks used to lift the plants out of the ground. SECTION VIII. Pruning of the transplants before transport. The transplants must be pruned before transport in order to diminish their size and weight. ARTICLE I. TO WHAT EXTENT TO PRUNE. In a general manner it may be said that the less a plant is pruned the better, since pruning is synonymous with the reduction of its absorbing and assimilating organs. Hence pruning should be strictly confined to what is necessary or of obvious advantage, and limited to the removal of only those parts which the plants, in their condition at the time of being packed up, may lose without suffering any serious injury. To what extent a transplant should be pruned will depend, according to circumstances, on one or more of the following con- siderations :— (i) ts general contour and habit. If the transplant is healthy and vigorous, it has a shape and general aspect peculiar to itself, which we may call its normal form. Whenever a plant departs in a marked manner from its normal form (see p. 136), it requires to be pruned. For instance, if the crown is irregularly shaped, possessing too much vigour on one side or at certain points, it may be benefited by the suppression or reduction of the abnormally developed parts ; and when the crown has been pruned, the roots will also require being pruned in order to maintain the necessary PRUNING OF TRANSPLANTS. 297 equilibrium between the absorbing and transpiring organs. On the other hand, it may be the roots that show an abnormal mode of development, in which case first the roots and then the crown must be pruned. Then again, if the stem is very crooked, it may be straightened by being cut down to the level of a healthy and strong branch or bud. (ii) Extent to which the roots have been damaged in being lifted. If the injury is not so severe as to render the re-establishment of the plant uncertain or doubtful, the jagged and badly bruised por- tions of the roots should be taken off, necessitating a proportionate reduction of the crown. (iii) The size of the plant. The extent to which a plant is in- jured in being lifted is usually in proportion to its size. More- over, the larger a plant is, the longer will be the distance up which the sap will have to travel from the roots, and the more will the crown be exposed to be damaged by wind or other atmo- spheric influences. Hence the larger a plant is, the more pruning will it generally require ; and not only this, but the better will it be able to stand being pruned. (iv) The species to which the plant belongs. Different species can obviously bear different degrees of pruning. Thus conifers can suffer pruning least of all ; they not only, as a rule, possess few buds, but these are situated mainly at the extremities of the stem and branches, and they moreover secrete resin, which clogs the cut surfaces of the roots and renders them incapable of absorb- ing moisture from the soil. Pinus longifolia and deodar are striking exceptions to the general rule, but even they cannot stand being pruned to the same extent as most of the broad-leaved species. In the case of conifers the prunizg should ordinarily be limited to the removal of a hopelessly damaged leader, to the foreshortening or eutire removal of only the lowest branches, and to the trimming off of all badly bruised or broken portions of the roots. As regards broad-leaved species, there are many, which, like, teak, sal, Terminalia tomentosa, &c., producing as they do numer- ous vigorous collum-buds, can bear being completely headed down without any ultimate loss of growth. Some from among these species, like teak, sal and others, although they can stand almost any extent of pruning of the overgrouud organs, suffer very ap- preciably if deprived of even a small part of the younger portions of their root-apparatus. Such species are generally either those which, like teak, develop rapidly a very large and active transpir- 298 PLANTING. ing surface, or those which, like sal and sissu, bring qut new leaves at the beginning of the hot dry season, and must, on that account, have their principal roots inside the permanently moist and, there- fore, deeper layers of the soil. A third class of broad-leaved species, like the various kinds of figs, mulberry, willows, &c., being able to grow up from cuttings, do not mind the severest pruning both of the crown and roots. And so on. Bamboos may be cut down to the last or last but two long knots. (v) The soil and localéty. According to the humidity and fertility of the soil in which the planting is to take place, trans- plants may be pruned more or less severely. In a moist rich soil absorption can go on rapidly through a relatively small number of roots and growth is vigorous and soon enables the mutilated roots to recover and reform themselves completely. Hence, when planting in such soils, the roots may be pruned comparatively severely, both with reference to their own original abundance and condition and to the size of the stem and crown; whereas in dry or poor soils the pruning of the roots should be limited to the removal of the damaged, useless portions, while the crown, on the other hand may be freely reduced in comparison with the roots, in order to make sure that the transpiring shall not be in excess of the absorbing surface. Similarly, in unfavourable situations we would act just as we would do in the case of bad soils, and in favourable situations asin the of case good soils. (vi) The object to be fulfilled by the transplants. Suppose, to take an instance, that the transplants are to be put down under a standing copse, in order either to keep up a sufficient supply of seedling shoots, or to introduce or increase the proportion of a certain species ; in that case, rapid growth is not only not possible under the more or less dense cover of the copse, but is indeed not required at all, what is wanted being simply that the transplants shall do little more than merely live until they are cut back with the coppice, to become thenceforward a part of the new regrowth itself. Hence, if other circumstances do not forbid it, they may be pruned severely both in respect of their root-apparatus and their crown. On the other hand, if the transplants are to be put out under high forest, they ought, asa rule, to be pruned as little as possible. And so on. ARTICLE 2. How To PRUNE. ‘Whenever we prune, a clean section must be made—for plant- PACKING AND EXPORT OF PLANTING MATERIAL. 299 parts above ground, in order to prevent dew and rain lodging on the cut surface and hastening decomposition ; for the portions under ground, in order to allow water to enter the roots easily and pass rapidly upwards, a jagged or spongy surface diminishing or totally destroying the moisture-conducting power of the:wood-fibres. This is also a reason for making an oblique section, in order to allow water to flow off at once in the case of the parts above ground, and to produce a large absorbing surface in the case of the roots. Hence only very sharp tools should be used, such as the ordinary pruning knife, a light hatchet, or a pair of garden shears (Fig. 103), &e. The plant-parts to be pruned may have either to be merely shortened or to be cut off flush with the organ that bears them, Branches to be shortened must be pruned off just above a vigorous bud or daughter branch. Similarly, if the leading shoot, for any reason, has to be removed. In the case of conifers, the section will always be just above a branch or verticel of branches, accord- ing to the habit of the species. The training of one of the branches of the topmost verticel as the future leader must take place after the plants have been put out. In the case of bamboos, when the stems are large, it is always advisable to cut off at least half the entire length, and often even mote, leaving only 4 or 5 knots at the outside. Injured roots should be trimmed down to the required length, or, if already short enough, they should be cut off just above the damaged portion. Shears ought to be used only for small plant-parts, not exceeding say a third of an inch in diameter; the pruning knife answers for larger parts up to half an inch or more, but it has this disadvantage that its use neccessitates a certain amount of handling that is dangerous for roots. Hence roots should generally be pruned only with shears or with a hat- chet. This last must be used on a block of wood. It is the only tool with which thick parts can be cut off, especially when plants of some size have to be headed down. SECTION IX. Packing and export of planting material. The chief danger to which all planting material, before being used, is exposed is loss of moisture, which leaves the green parts by the process of transpiration and the remaining parts in con- sequerce both of direct evaporation and the suction power exerted by the transpiring organs. In parting with their moisture, green herbaceous parts not only become flaccid and shrivel up, but their 300 PLANTING. tissues become disorganised and, when a certain stage of disorga- nisation has been reached, begin to undergo decomposition ; while the root-hairs, if there are any, are killed outright by a few minutes free exposure. As regards the woody portions, they suffer a diminution of their peculiar absorptive and conducting powers in respect of moisture, and, as this diminution progresses, a point is ultimately reached at which the loss becomes permanent. Under the most favourable circumstances the vitality of the plants is diminished and their recovery rendered uncertain. Hence the necessity of special care in packing and transporting the planting material and in keeping it before it can be used. Ceteris paribus, plants with naked roots will require most care, particularly such as exceed the mean dimensions of the middle-size class or possess few root-fibres. ARTICLE 2. PACKING AND TRANSPORT OF SEEDLINGS. Whatever the method of packing or carriage, or the distance of transport, the plants should be packed with as little delay as possible after being lifted up, and they should be freely watered as soon as they have been packed up ; while during the transport they should be protected against evaporation. Not only the roots and stem, but also the crown, in order to check transpiration, should be shaded from the sun. The longer the transport, the greater will be the chances of injury and the more imperative will it be to so pack the plants as to reduce to a minimum their liability to be damaged. Hence the method of packing, and sometimes even of carriage, will be different according to the distance of transport. § 1. Transport over short distances. The directions which follow are intended generally to apply to distances not exceeding a day’s journey by any method of convey- ance except railways. SEEDLINGS TAKEN UP WITH A BALL OF EARTH. The main pre- caution required is to prevent the ball of soil breaking away from the roots. Hence they should be packed up as close together as possible, and any small intervals left between the individual balls of earth should be filled up with good light soil. If the plants are to be carried out in baskets, the bottom and sides of the baskets should be lined with such soil, so as to close all interstices. The baskets used should be as rigid as possible, otherwise they will be PACKING OF SEEDLINGS FOR SHORT JOURNEYS. B01 continually changing shape under the ever changing pressure inevitable during transport and thus produce rupture of the balls of earth, if not of the roots themselves. Special packing cases, with one side hinged so as to fall back and facilitate the removal of the plants, are much better than baskets. These cases may be converted into handbarrows carried by two coolies. When the nature of the ground permits, wheelbarrows or hand-carts, with a similarly hinged side, would be used with a great saving of labour, time and money ; and if the country is suited for bullock waggons, these would be the most economical means of conveyance for dis- tances exceeding halfa mile. The waggons should be deep and contain one or more sliding trays, so that several tiers of small plants may be carried one over the other. If the journey is to extend over several hours of day-light, it is advisable, although not absolutely necessary, to shade the plants with a piece of dark- coloured cloth or with a light cover made of tough leaves, such as those of Bauhinia Vahlii, teak, palms, &c. SEEDLINGS WITH NAKED RooTS. If the distance is very short and the weather wet, it will often suffice to lay the plants more or less loosely in long baskets or wheel or hand barrows lined with moss or soft green grass or leaves and twigs, which should also be spread over the roots aud lower part of the stem. Before putting the plants into the baskets it is often advisable, when the weather is uncertain, to dip the roots in water thickened with fine clay or cattle droppings, which forms a thin protective coating over them. For longer carriage it is a good plan to pack them horizontally in rectangular bamboo baskets with removeable covers, the lining of green soft stuff not being omitted. If the entire length of the plants does not exceed 2 feet, and men able to carry banghies are available, the plants may be packed upright in light iron buckets, which should then be filled up with water or, better still, with liquid mud. Forlong carriage, waggons with high sides, if their employment is practicable, are most to be recommended ; in them the plants will be laid horizontally on the bottom and on the trays, and pressed as tight as they can be packed together without being injured. The amouut of care and precautions to take will of course de- pend on the condition and general characteristics of the weather, and particularly on the nature of the species. Species developing rhizomes or capable of growing from cuttings will require least care. According to the size of the plants and whether their roots have 302 PLANTING. been dipped or not in liquid mud or manure, an ordinary man will carry from 200 to 1200, a wheelbarrow will take at least twice as many, anda 2-bullock waggon from 3,000 to 20,000 on a kacha road and very nearly double that number on a macadamised road. Hand-barrows should be used chiefly for plants, the length of which, inclusive of the roots, exceeds 3 feet. § 2. Transport over long distances. Such transport includes journeys lasting over a day, and carriage by rail or boat, for which we want a maximum of weight with a minimum of bulk. For some time to come we shall never have occasion in India to carry any large number of transplants further than a 2 days’ journey on coolies or in bullock waggons. Indeed, with any other mode of transport than by rail or boat, it will always pay to have separale nurseries for distances exceeding that just mentioned. Nor has Indian forestry or the country yet developed so far as to enable us to employ railway or water-carriage for any thing more than very small consignments of plants. Nevertheless this Manual would be incomplete without some description of the modes of packing and carriage suitable for long transport. SEEDLINGS ‘WITH A BALL OF EARTH. For journeys extending over several weeks, during which the plants can receive little or no attention, Wardian cases (Fig. 104) should be used. Itis obvious that the use of Wardian cases should be limited to the carriage of plants that are rare or quite new in the country into which they are being imported. For ordinary journeys by road or rail or river, which journeys seldom last more than a week, a less expensive mode of packing is required, since the plants can either be attended to almost every day, or need not be watered at all until they reach their destina- tion. The packing ‘should be effected in wooden cases after the same manner as for a day’s journey, except that the balls of earth should, in view of the longer transport and the severer jolting they will be subjected to, be packed closer together and with greater care, and the further precaution may be taken of covering the soil in the cases with moss or pounded charcoal. To prevent the plants from being bent down or broken, bamboo laths should be stuck in the soil by both ends so as to form an arch over the plants, cross-pieces being tied to secure rigidity. SEEDLINGS WITH NAKED RooTS. The plants may be (A) packed up in baskets or (B) tied together in bundles. Packed in either PACKING OF SEEDLINGS FOR LONG JOURNEYS, 303 way, they may remain fresh and moist, without being watered, for from 4 to 10 days. A. The baskets used should be round, with somewhat sloping sides. The first thing to do is to line the inside with moss or fresh green grass and leaves, and then with soft moist soil. Next, the plants should be arranged all round the sides, so that they lie obli- quely, with all their roots meeting ina mass in the middle; and finally the whole mass of roots, including an inch or two of the stems, should be covered over with soil similar to that in the lining. This soil should be well pressed down so as to leave no air spaces inside. If the plants are to stand a long hot or dry journey, they should be protected with a similar, but deeper basket sown or tied onto the lower basket. Such covers will not only protect the plants from strong light or drought and external injuries, but permit of just enough transpiration and assimilation to keep them healthy and give free ventilation. Before the covers are put on, moss and green leafy twigs may be piled up over the plants. This method of packing is especially suited to delicate plants, particu- larly yearlings and others containing a comparatively small pro- portion of well-lignified parts. Up to 2,000 yearlings may be packed up thus in each basket. B. When the plants are tied up in bundles, they may, accord- ing to their size, lie with all their crowns at one end and their roots at the other, or half the plants may be laid one way and half the other way. These two styles of bundles may be turned respectively the single-headed and double-headed bundles. The double-headed bundle will be described first, as it is specially suited for the lower categories of middle-sized plants, which are more often transported over long distances than those of a larger size. It is made up in the following manner :—Two to four or five withies or pieces of flexible creeping stems or strips of fibrous bark or strands of twisted grass should be laid parallel to each other on the ground, the number of bands depending on the length of the plants to be packed together. Across these bands should be evenly spread twigs of species with tough, not easily detached leaves, or, better still, large firm leaves, like those of Bauhinia Vahlit, Butea frondosa, teak, palms, &c. When twigs or fronds are used, the thick end of the stocks should project beyond the two outside bands ; and when detached leaves are used, they should be spread thickly over a number of thin rods or switches laid parallel to one another and at right angles to the bands. Along the middle wet moss or soft green grass and leaves should be spread. Over all 304 PLANTING. this the plants to be transported should then be so arranged that the roots lie in the middle over the moss or green grass and leaves, the crowns just stopping short of the end of the twigs or rods below. When a sufficient number of plants has been thus ar- ranged, the bands should be tightly drawn over the whole and tied up, forming a more or less cylindrical bundle. In these bundles the roots are completely withdrawn from the influence of the out- side air, and the crowns, being pressed together and covered at the end of the bundles by the projecting extremities of the twigs and rods, transpire as little as possible and are protected from physical injuries. According to the size of the plants the number in each bundle will range in round numbers from 100 to 1,000. The larger category of middle-sized plants and those of the higher classes are generally both too long and too strongly deve- loped in the stem and roots to be packed up in any but single- headed bundles. These are formed and tied up in the same way as double-headed bundles, except that all the foliage is on one side, and the roots, and therefore the packing of moss and other soft green stuff, on the other. Itis evident that the shape of such ‘bundles will be conical, the roots forming the apex, which should be well closed. The plants, especially the root portion, are not so well protected here as in double-headed bundles, and on this account plants above 24 feet in length exclusive of the roots ought to be transported over long distances only in very exceptional cases. A single bundle will contain from 50 to 150 middle-sized plants and from 15 to 50 large plants. It is obvious that yearlings, and other small plants of herbaceous and, therefore, tender constitution, are hardly adapted for being -packed up in bundles of either kind. ARTICLE 2. PACKING AND TRANSPORT OF SUCKERS. Suckers may be packed and transported in the same manner as seedlings, which they will practically resemble in every respect if they have been schooled. The main point to bear in mind is that the portion of the parent root removed with them should not dry up to the extent of losing the faculty of rapidly conducting water. Nevertheless, there are some species. e.g., sissu, the roots of which enjoy such remarkable vitality, that the parent root-segment can stand complete exposure in a moist atmosphere for many hours and even one or more days, if only the leafy portion is limited or has been freely pruned or even entirely removed. Suckers of such PACKING AND TRANSPORT OF CUTTINGS AND RHIZOMES. 805 species may be treated almost like cuttings and rhizomes. ARTICLE 3. PACKING AND TRANSPORT OF CUTTINGS. Cuttings always consist of sections of well-lignified branches. Hence, if they have been deprived of their leaves, they dry up so slowly that they retain their vitality as long as the buds and cam- bium remain alive. It is evident that those cuttings which are already covered with secondary bark (the very best protection we can have for the cambium and the buds), will possess the greatest vitality of all. Cuttings, therefore, generally require very little special care in being packed for transport. Moreover, being usually very straight, they take up little space and are easily arranged. For long or hot journeys they may be tied up in bundles like seedlings, or packed tight in covered baskets lined with moss or some other soft green stuff, especially if they still retain the greater portion of their foliage. Otherwise they may be simply piled up ina wheel harrow or waggon or in open baskets, if they are small, or made up into bundles like faggots and carried on the head or in an ordinary bullock cart. ARTICLE 4. PACKING AND TRANSPORT OF RHIZOMES AND RHIZOME-SHOOTS. Rhizomes that have not yet sprouted partake of the nature of seeds in that they contain within themselves all the elements for the formation and development of the roots, stem and leaves of the future plant. And even when they have sprouted, they possess this character to a more or less considerable degree. Where the resemblance with seeds ends and a difference begins is that, whereas the latter may lose without detriment the greater portion of their moisture, the former must always have their tissues very appreciably moist. Their vitality is generally greater than that of | cuttings in that their lower nodes, as well as the entire rhizome portion, contain numerous developed and embryo roots that can stand a great deal of exposure, and in this respect they resemble suckers. Rhizomes that have not developed aérial shoots may therefore be carried a day’s journey without any surrounding soil and without any further precaution than that of shading them from the sun. For long journeys they are best put into baskets as close as possi_ ble, the empty intervals being filled with fine soft earth, which 306 PLANTING. should also cover them up entirely. Protected from the light, they may be kept thus for weeks and even months. In the case of rhizome shoots, if they form little clumps and are mere switches not more than 3 feet long, they will retain their vitality in double-headed bundles much longer than seedlings. If they are larger, the rhizome portion should, for long transport, be surrounded with soil put in after they have been carefully ar- ranged. For short journeys they require no further protection than shading from the sun and freedom from contact with dry air. SECTION X. Care of transported planting material before use. It near always happens, at places situated at some distance from the nursery or other source of planting material, that more is received than can be put out at once; and even when the distance of transport is short, unexpected hot sunny weather or night-fall may put a temporary stop to the work of planting and leave on hand an appreciable quantity of unused material. Hence the necessity of knowing what to do in order to keep the plants in a healthy and vigorous condition untill they can be put out or are actually wanted. When a large consignment of plants is received from a distance, especially if they have gone through a trying journey, they should be unpacked without delay. Rooted plants should be at once put into the ground in long pits or trenches in a shady place and copiously watered ; plants that have been headed off or unsprouted rhizomes may be completely buried. Uuschooled cuttings may be thrown into water or buried in the ground either completely or up to the top second or third bud. From day to day only the quantity actually required should be taken out, and if the mate- rial cannot all be used up for some time, what is placed in pits or trenches should be kept well watered. Under exceptional circum- stances it may happen that a part of the material has to be kept over until the following season, in which event this surplus stock will have to be planted out as in nursery lines in temporary nur- series, care being taken to previously prune off all damaged parts and to throw away whatever is unfit to be kept. In the case of sudden sunny or dry weather intervening or night coming on, the still unused material brought from a neighbouring nursery may be similarly put into pits or trenches in the forest, or into little pools of water at hand, according to the time they are likely to remain unused. DIFFERENT METHODS OF PLANTING, 307 SECTION XI. Method of planting. Whatever mode of planting is adopted, the main object to aim at is so to put down the planting material that it will strike and establish itself as quickly as possible. Hence the method of plant- ing will in each case depend on the kind of material used, on its age or size, on the species to which it belongs, and on the nature of the soil and locality. The following scheme exhibits at a glance the different methods of planting ordinarily followed :— ( With a ball of earth (Ball planting) ... 1 in Pits ‘ With amloa eats without manure ... 2 (Pit planting) with manure lade. ao B | in Hoss eee ois 4 ie x a in single notches vee 5 ( . 4 in Norcuss | 2 in cross-cut notches do 6 ne 4 | in TRencHEs 7 % E on Mounps ... ses rs wa 8 3 Ay on PLATFORMS 9 Lon Ripces ... eee 10 LOn TREES is ee oe woe Ld In planting in the ground, rooted plants should be buried down to at least the root collum or even an inch or so deeper (in order to protect the collum buds and the sensitive base of the stem), and the roots should occupy severally more or less the same rela- tive position as before. Unschooled cuttings should he put down in the same manner as in nurseries (see pp. 208-210). And, in any case, all material regarding the success of which there is any doubt should be thrown away. ARTICLE 1. BALL PLANTING. PREPARATION OF THE PITS. Previous to making the pits the soil may, if necessary, be worked as deep and over as great a width as we 808 PLANTING. please in order to favour the rapid downward and lateral exteasion of the roots, and to preserve the transplants from surrounding stronger vegetation ; or only the soil at the bottom of the pits may be loosened after the pits have been excavated. In thus working up the soil, stones and other hurtful elements may be removed and fresh soil of good quality added. In the case of plants lifted up with a conical or semicircular transplanter (Figs. 49 and 50), the pit should, as already recom- mended in connection with nursery lines (p. 202), be made with a similar implement of the same shape and size. PUTTING DOWN THE PLANTS. When using the conical trans- planter, the necessary contact between the ball of earth and the surrounding soil should be effected, according to the stiffness of the latter, by beating with a light wooden mallet or by pressing with the foot. Unless the contact is thoroughly secured, the ball of earth must in the ensuing dry weather contract, the sides of the pit at the same time receding, thus exposing and even breaking the newly formed rootlets. If the pits have been made with any other implement, they will usually be considerably wider than the ball of earth. The interval should be filled up with good finely broken soil well rammed in, and the entire 1ing of new soil should be covered with turf, stones, &c., in order to protect it from drought and thus prevent it from shrinking and opening out along the lines of junction. If the soil has been dug up previously to the excavation of the pits, contact with the ball of earth is easily effected and more securely maintained. If the soil has not been previously dug up, but that at the bottom of the pits has been loosened, it is necessary, before putting in the plants, to press down this loosened soil ; other- wise it will settle, allowing the ball of earth to subside with it. In dry soils the pits should be deep enough to allow of a hol- low being formed round each plant to catch and retain rain water and also to facilitate watering. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. In this method success depends, first of all, on the proportion of the original mass of root fibres and hairs leftin the ball of earth. Now the larger the plants, the smaller must this proportion be, unless indeed the ball of earth was so large as to render the cost of transport, if not also of extraction and putting out, entirely prohibitory. Hence the method is rarely suited, as regards forest purposes at least, for any but small plants and the lowest category of those of middle size. BALL PLANTING. 809 In the next place, success depends on the completeness of con- tact between the ball of earth containing the roots and the sides of the pit. This contact is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to secure in stiff or hard soils, which undergo strong shrinkage or expansion according to the varying amount of moisture present. Hence the effectiveness of the method is necessarily in proportion to the free nature of the soil. Provided the two conditions just discussed are favourable, ball- planting is usually the most certain of all possible methods, since in it the roots suffer a minimum amount of injury. It yields ex- cellent results in sandy soils, whether these are moist and even wet or very dry or entirely wanting in cohesion ; also in frosty locali- ties and where destructive insect grubs abound. And it is the best method to adopt in areas in which the soil changes so abruptly from point to point that no one of the other methods of planting can be uniformly employed there. It is not adapted for shallow or stony soils. The well-nourished, soft-tissued and therefore delicate roots still contained within the rich original soil, continue growing in the same generous manner as before, but the moment they reach the rock or stony soil im- mediately ouside, they receive a suddent check, which is moreover aggravated by the extreme sensitiveness of the rocky and stony elements to the rapid sub-aérial fluctuations of temperature, and, if the subsoil is impermeable, also by the excessive moisture after a fall of rain. This sudden check is fatal to the vitality of the new roots and to the general vigour of the entire root-apparatus. But the effect on the crown is even worse, for the crown continues, even after the roots have ceased to grow, to expand rapidly at the expense of the reserve material in the plants ; and, when this is at length exhausted, the’ succulent, imperfectly lignified extremi- ties of the overgrown twigs and branchlets suddenly wither up and die. This reacts on the already weakened, diminished and unhealthy root-apparatus. The end of it all is that the plants either die di- rectly or reach such a condition of debility that they easily succumb to other causes of injury, or become hide-bound and unable to make any appreciable progress. Ball planting is also unsuited for very stiff soils, except such as remain constantly moist. The chief objection to the method lies, however, in the great cost not only of lifting up and transporting the plants, but of raising them, fur the large quantity of rich, highly prepared soil removed along with the roots has to be replaced, and the inevitable 310 PLANTING. ' wide spacing of the individual transplants necessitates large nur- series. Nevertheless by using only small plants (yearlings and even germ plants), the cost can be very considerably diminished, aud a further reduction can be effected by employing temporary instead of permanent nurseries. ARTICLE 2. PIT PLANTING WITHOUT MANURE. PREPARATION OF THE GROUND. As in the case of ball planting, the soil in which the pits are made may be previously dug up; but if it is judged necessary or desirable to loosen the soil beyond the actual spread of the roots, it is better to at once excavate a larger pit than is just sufficient to hold the roots. In rich loose soil the pits need never be more than a trifle larger, and the amount of extra excavation, especially in respect of depth, will in- crease with the stiffness, poverty, dryness and want of depth of the soil and the extent to which it is traversed by a network of refrac- tory invasive roots. In any case, the excavation must go below the depth reached by such roots. Deep narrow pits in soil free from stones would be most easily made with an auger (Figs. 94 and 95) or a boring machine (Fig. 96). The excavated earth should be collected alongside of each pit in three separate heaps, one consisting of the good soil taken from the top, the second of the inferior soil from below and the third of the stony element. All fragments of roots should be thrown away. The pits should, asa rule, be dug just before the plants are put in, as the excavated earth is likely to get washed away by rain. But if the soil is very stiff or full of sour humus, the pits should, if possible, be prepared some time previously, in order to freely ex- pose the excavated earth to beneficial atmospheric influences. Putting DOWN THE PLANTS. Kneeling on the edge of a pit, the workman should hold the plant in position with his left hand, while with his right he arranges the roots and covers them up gradually, first with the good soil, then with soil from the inferior heap. Roots getting out of position during this oper- ation are rearranged and the plant is from time to time gently agitated so as to allow the loose soil to slip in between and amongst the roots and leave no air spaces. The rest of the soil should now be put back into the pit until the plant is covered up to the point required. Should there not be enough of it, some more must be added from the surface immediately outside. After PIT PLANTING WITH MANURE, Sik the roots have been covered, but before the pit has been quite filled, the soil should be pressed down with the hand from time to time ; and when the pit is full, a final pressing with the hand or foot, whichever is more effective, should be given in order to prevent any subsequent settling, which would not only mean insuificient origin- al contact between the soil and the roots and the consequent, drying up of many of these latter, but also the ultimate exposure and, may be, death of the upper ones. Last of all, a part of the stony element may be spread over the already filled pit to inter-. cept evaporation from the soil below. In most parts of India it is advisable to plant a little deep, so as to leave a hollow over the roots to catch and retain rain water. In grasslands transplants are sometimes put down which possess mainly a long tap-root with scarcely any side roots, in order that they may at once get into soil beyond the reach of the dense net-work of the roots of grasses and other injurious vegetation. In their case the good soil should be put in at the bottom of the pit and the inferior portion above, so as to force all root-activity into the lower ex- tremity, where itis required. In Oudh, Captain Wood has planted in this manner sissu seedlings with a tap-root up to 6 feet long. The workmen must be provided with some tool, like a khurpa or trowel or small weeding fork o1 a light one-hand hoe, wherewith to break up clods (for only finely broken soil should be put back in direct contact with the roots) and, if necessary, also to clear out or enlarge the pits. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. This method is an extremely simple one, and is adapted for all sizes of plants, especi- ally for those of the two higher classes. It can be employed in almost any soil, very wet or very shallow soils excepted, in which indeed no method of pit planting can ever be successful. The roots being free and not confined, as in the case of ball planting, each plant is free to assume its own style of root-development in accord- ance with its surroundings. Tosum up, this method may be con- sidered as the best one to adopt under all ordinary circumstances, particularly when large plants are used or the plants possess a strong and extended ramification of roots. ARTICLE 3. Pit PLANTING WITH MANURE. Owing to the use of manure, the pits are necessarily made smaller than in the preceding case, both in order to save manure 312 PLANTING. and because the manure brings plant-food within easy reach of the roots. They may be made with augers (Figs. 94 and 95) or with conical transplanters with a long blade. The last mentioned tool would be the most handy, if the soil, as is often to be recommend- ed, has been previously worked up. In other respects the pro- cedure is similar to that in the preceding case. PuTTING DOWN THE PLANTS. The manure used must be either: - surkhi ash prepared from a loamy or clayey soil, or unburnt loam’ or clay mixed with wood ash or with any other manure. Clay and loam, or, expressed in more general terms, a clayey earth 1s employed instead of a sandy soil simply because the former retains the manure sufficiently energetically to prevent rain water from carrying it away and the plants from taking it up too rapidly and thus assuming an abnormal rate of growth, only to succumb as. soon as itis exhausted. This is also a reason for using only weak manures (Fig. 105, a) A handful of the manure is first put up against one side of the pit. The plant is then set up against this manure and another handful (6) is dabbed on, on the opposite side. The rest of the pit is now filled up with ordinary soil (c) and the whole is then pressed down with the foot in the direction indicated by the arrow. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. The use of the manure has the effect of an early and vigorous development of roots and the rapid striking of the young plants, a circumstance specially favourable for material raised in the rich well-prepared soil of a nursery. But it is evident, from the mere description of the method, that it is adapted only for small plants, or, at the out- side, for the lowest category of those of middle size, and it is an essential condition of the method that manure shall be available in abundance and at cheap rates. The method is especially suitable for putting out bamboos and teak and other species which, like the teak, develop at first a thick strong taproot with only a few insignificant side-roots. It is of course impracticable in shallow soils with a hard or impermeable bottom. ARTICLE 4. PLANTING IN HOLES. PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. The essential characteristic of this method is that the planting material is inserted into narrow holes made, according to the depth required, with an ordinary stake or the soil dagger (Fig. 82) or the stake dibber (Fig. 83) or the mal- let dibber (Fig. 84), or with some similar implement. The soil in PLANTING IN HOLES. 313° which the holes are made may, if necessary, be previously ploughed or dug up. When there has been no previous tillage, it may be necessary to cut or shave away strong weeds and bushes for a foot er so round the planting places. In any case, the holes will never be made except just before the planting material is put in. The depth of the hole may exceed the length of the portion of the plant to be buried in order to encourage the rapid downward extension of the roots, the soil from the bottom being replaced with good soil or manure. PUTTING DOWN THE PLANTS. If the hole has been made with the soil-dagger, it need not be filled up at all, but closed by push- ing the same implement into the ground an inch or two off, as shown in Fig. 106, and then, by simple leverage, pressing the intermediate earth up against the plant until the two opposite edges of the hole meet. To render the result more certain, the second hole may also be closed in the same manner as the first by a similar manipulation of the dagger. Otherwise the holes should be filled up with good soil or with manure. In putting down rooted plants into the holes, to prevent the thin flexible roots, especially the extremities, from being caught up against the side of the holes, the root should first be dipped into thin mud or manure, which will weight them sufficiently to enable them slip into the the holes without any mishap. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHCD. Under a canopy of high trees, in a naturally loose rich soil, this method will yield excellent results ; also if the soil has been previously worked up and the material used consists of cuttings of species that strike easily or of seedlings that belong to species which, like teak, produce a long vigorous taproot, but cannot generally be successfully transplanted except as germ seedlings. In these cir- cumstances, it can be used in almost any soil that is not liable to be overrun with strong weeds. In places free from climatic extremes it is specially well adapted for sandy soils in large open wastes, in recent coupes, &e. It is the only method employed for cuttings of the class of unpruned rods, and even posts may be put out by it in favourable soils. But the method requires much daring in the conception, combined with great judgment and resource in the execution. When it succeeds, the first cost is hardly greater than that of direct sowing, while the cost of repairs and maintenance is noticeably less. ’ 314 PLANTING, ARTICLE 5. NotcH PLANTING. This method resembles very closely that just described, from which it differs only in that in the latter it is a more or less round hole that is made, whereas here it is a cut of some length. PREPARATION OF THE GROUND. Just like holes, notches may, according as the soil is naturally loose and free from injurious weeds or is stiff or hard or traversed by the roots of strong weeds, be made either in totally unprepared soil or in soil that has been worked up. As before, contiguous weeds and bushes may have to be shaven away, even if the soil has not to be previously cultivated. The length and depth of the notches will depend on the size of the plants and the number put down in each. For small plants put down singly a hoe with a long narrow blade (Fig. 87) would be used with economy. In all other cases the notching ae (Fig. 85) should be employed. At each point either only a single continuous notch may be made, or two notches may be made in the form of a T or of a cross. The single notch and the cross-bar of the T should be made slightly obliquely, the latter inclined in the direction of the upright bar. In the cross-cut notch, both cuts should be oblique. Oblique notches are not only easier to make, but they facilitate the press- sing down of the earth after the plants have been put in. Purtine DOWN THE PLANTS. In the single notch more than one plant may be put down, whereas in T or cross-cut notches, it is usual to use only a single plant inserted at the intersection of the two notches. The notches are closed with the pressure of the foot, aided, if necessary, with the weight of the body. The plants should be put in as soon as the notches have been made, otherwise, owing to the drying up and hardening of the sides, it will be impossible to close them in a complete manner. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. This method posses- ses all the advantages of the preceding one, to which it is besides superior in that it cuts through a certain length of the soil and the roots that traverse it and thereby gives a better chance of develop- ment to the roots of the plants put down. On this account it may have a more extended application than that method. For instance, in stiff soils, where the latter would invariably fail, the notch method may sometimes succeed. In stony soils its employment is obviously restricted to those places where the narrow-bladed hoe can be used. TRENCH AND MOUND PLANTING. 315 ARTICLE 6. TRENCH PLANTING. PREPARATION OF THE GROUND. The trenches are prepared in the same way and with the same tools as trenches for sowing but of course considerably deeper. As in pit planting, the good top- soil should be kept separate from the poorer excavated portions, and that again separate from the stony elements. If necessary, the soil at the bottom of the trenches may be loosened. PUTTING DOWN THE PLANTS. In the case of seedlings, the good and next the interior excavated soil should first be put back into the trench, and the plants then put in, according to their size, either with a dibber or a notching spade or in a fresh excavation like a pit. Culms should of course be laid down flat, as already described on page 210. Unpruned rods also may be put down in the same manner, but will previously have to be notched at various points to encourage the development of roots, and the extremity will always stand out of the ground. Trenches may either be filled up to the top or be only partially filled. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. Trench planting is suited for dry porous soils and for localities where there is danger from sun or frost. But as it is an extremely expensive method, its employment must be confined to the reboisement of dry slopes where sowing or other methods of planting would not yield sufficiently quick results. For the same reason seedling material should not exceed the dimensions of the lowest category of middle- sized plants. The trenches also serve to catch and retain water coming down from above, and if culms and other cuttings have been put down, these form, with the shoots and roots that they develop, a single compact mass which holds the soil together and also impedes a too rapid subsurface drainage. ARTICLE 7. MouND PLANTING. PREPARATION OF THE MOUNDS. Hach mound may be built up directly with soil scraped or cut from the immediately surrounding ground, or with soil specially prepared to suit the species to be planted. The foot of the mound may be flush with the natural surface of the ground, or the mound may be surrounded with an excavation like a moat (Fig. 107), which, besides helping drainage, necessarily adds to the size of the mound and thus reduces the 316 PLANTING. amount of earthwork. Or the mound may be built up in a hollow (Fig. 108) in order to provide against drought. The height of the mound above the natural surface of the ground will seldom exceed two feet, but in very wet localities, where ‘also very high weeds grow, it may, if considerations of expense allow, attain 3 and even 4 feet. PUTTING DOWN THE PLANTS. If the mound is not too large, a plant with naked roots may be put in by cutting the mound across and inserting the roots between the two halves, which are then at once brought together again. If the plants are large or have a ball of earth round their roots, an excavation must be made at the top of the mound to receive them, and the plants put in without delay. Indeed, if the ball of earth is large, it may be put down first and the mound then built up round it, as shown in Fig. 109. ’ To consolidate the sides of the mounds they may be reveted with stones or covered with sods of turf. The sods should be as large as possible and cut in the shape of broad sectors of a circle; and, in order to anticipate the inevitable shrinkage, they should slightly overlap one another. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. This is the most expensive of all the various methods of planting, excepting per- haps the ridge system (to be described lower down). Hence it should be avoided outside the two following cases:— (i) When the soil is extremely wet and the cost of draining is prohibitive.—In that case the mounds should be built up directly on the natural surface of the ground, a surrounding moat if necessary, being made in order to supply the whole or a great part of the earth required to raise the mound as well as to diminish the absolute height to be built up. The India rubber tree has often been planted in this manner on mounds upto 4 feet high. The position of the roots in the mound guarantees them against damp- ing off, and they finally reach the wet natural soil only when the entire plant has become strong, large and woody enough not to suffer from the presence of excessive humidity. (ii) When the soil, although very wet and badly drained during ‘the rains, is otherwise dry In this case the mounds should be built up in a hollow and their apex should hardly stand up above the natural surface of the ground. The hollow surrounding the mound will catch and retain water for the benefit of the plant in the mound, which it will at the same time drain sufficiently for the purposes of root-aération, ON RIDGES AND TREES. MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS. 317 Experience in the Alps in Europe has shown that cattle do less dam~ age to plants on mounds than to those put out in any other manner. Mound planting will probably be found to succeed where frosts are very severe, the high position of the plants acting as a safeguard. It will invariable fail where the soil is very stiff or hard, or is shallow and rests on an impermeable bottom, or the ground has a pronounced slope, in which last case the mound would be washed away. Unless the species to be raised is a very rapid grower from its earliest age, only middle-sized or larger plants should be used. ARTICLE 8. RIDGE PLANTING. PREPARATION OF THE GROUND. The ridges are prepared in the same way as for sowing (p. 262), except that they should generally be made both higher and broader. . PUTTING DOWN THE PLANTS. The plants are put into the ridges with a soil dagger (Fig. 82) or other light dibbe: (Fig. 83), and with the same precautions as those described under hole planting (p. 313). . VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. This is a very expensive and wasteful method and is only suited for irrigated land or in the reboisement of dry slopes, in both which cases a trench should be excavated along the upper side, and the excavated earth used in building up the ridges. ARTICLE 9. PLANTING ON TREES. This method can be used only for the propagation of epiphytic species, such as most of the wild figs. By its means we obtain in a comparatively short time a lofty tree, and in dense torest, especially where the living ground-covering is very thick, admit the planted epiphyte at once to the full enjoyment of light. Unier very favourable circumstances the plants, which should be neither too small nor too large, may be simply tied inside a convenient fork of the supporting tree. But it is always safer to make an excavation at the required point, and to put the young fig into it with good soil. SECTION XII. Maintenance operations. The operations required to maintain a plantation until it is established may be one or more of the following :—protection against animals, frost, excessive insolation and dangerous winds ; 318 PLANTING, watering, weeding and hoeing ; training and repairs. The measures to take against animals and unfavourable weather influences are of the same nature as those adopted in the case of direct sowings, although less strict, since plants put out have, as a rule, all passed that tender age at which they are most liable to the attacks of enemies and least capable of resisting them. As regards watering, that operation will generally be less urgent in plantations than in direct sowings owing to the deeper rooting of the plants and their superior lignification. But? plantations may often be made in soils that are too dry for direct sowing, and in such places watering can seldom be dispensed with, especially during the first dry season following the planting. Watering can- not also be avoided when, owing to insufficient early rains, the plants have had to be put out so late that they have not struck sufficiently well to be able to resist the October-November heats and the severe cold of the immediately ensuing winter in Upper and Central India. In that case, the plants should be watered at least once after the rains have ceased. With respect to weeding and hoeing, as the plants are necessa- rily put down only after a part of the season of vegetation has already passed, any subsequent growth of weeds will seldom be very strong, and the transplants will at any rate have the start of them. Hence during the first season at least, weeding would usually be superfluous, except in the case of species which, like teak, are put out as mere germ seedlings and cannot survive root-contact with other plants. Until the transplants have begun to overtop the surrounding vegetation, they will, even if they do not absolutely require it, be greatly benefited by the complete removal, at the beginning of each growing season, of all vegetation immediately surrounding them. Hoeing is seldom necessary, but is always very desirable at the beginning of the first, two or three growing seasons in order to give the plants a good start, the effects of which are apparent all through the rest of the season. The hoeing and weed- ing should be combined into a single operation. Many of the plants may sicken and languish. If such belong to broad-leaved species, they may be revived by cutting them back. Many assume abnormal forms, which may affect injuriously their vigour as well as their capability of growing up into well-shaped timber ; these should be pruned in the same manner as plants in nurseries (p. 205). Casualties must be filled up on the same principles as in direct sowings. CHAPTER VI. DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED Whether to sow or to plant in any given case is a question that does not always admit of a ready or a certain answer, particularly in a continent like India with its every imaginable variety of soils and climate and its enormous number of woody species, including more than four hundred important ones, some of which are distri- buted over a wide horizontal as well as vertical range and often undergo, with change of station, almost specific modifications of both habit and requirements, The essential difference between the two artificial methods of creating or regenerating forests lies in the fact that in the one the seeds and, after them, the resulting seedlings are exposed to every possible risk and danger in the most exaggerated form, whereas in the other we use only material that has either not to pass through (cuttings, rhizomes and root-suckers), or has successfully passed through (seedlings), the most critical period of plant-life, viz., that including the seed and germinating stages and the time im- mediately following germination ; and not only this, but in many cases the plants are of an agé and size to be on the point of be- coming established. But, on the other hand, whereas in direct sowings the seedlings are able to adapt themselves, from the mo- ment they are produced, to the surroundings in which they are to pass all their existence, in planting, on the contrary, the seedlings and other schooled material, after being carefully fostered and more or less forced, or at least after having been growing under favour- able conditions, receive first of all a shock to their growth in being lifted up, transported and handled about while being put into the ground, and may then be given perfectly dissimilar surroundings, to accustom themselves to which a severe call is made or their adaptiveness, some species being frequently unequal to this effort. The difference between direct sowing and planting is least, and even absolutely slight, when germ plants are used of species that germinate readily. Bearing the preceding facts in mind, we may now proceed to compare the two methods from the several points of 320 DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED. view of (i) soil and locality, (ii) absence or presence and abundance and size of advance growth, (iii) amount of shade and shelter available, (iv) the nature of the species to be used, (v) special prevailing extraneous causes of injury or destruction, (vi) quantity and quality of labour at one’s command, (vii) mode of develop- ment of the crop, (viii) early realisation of marketable produce, (ix) early formation of the desired type of forest, (x) object to be fulfilled, and (xi) cost. , I. Soil and locality. In very moist or wet soils, in those which are stiff, cold and exposed to frost, as well asin those which are very free, easily dried up or poor at the surface, also in all soils that are liable to be overrun with a tall rank growth of grass and other weeds, planting must be the rule. And similarly, where extremes of climate pre- vail and endanger the existence of the tender young seedlings or the rainfall is very irregular or limited to only a short period of the year, planting will in most cases give better results. On the other hand, if the soil and locality are of an average. character, 7.¢., neither too wet nor too dry, neither too stiff nor too free, neither too warm nor too cold, neither entirely devoid of vegetation nor yet thickly overgrown with weeds, and so on, sowing may prove as successful as planting, and being cheaper, would be preferable. Again, the soil may be so changeable, that if we planted, large seedlings would have to be put down at one'point, middle-sized ones at another, small ones ata third, pit planting would be required here, ball planting there, and so on, the condi- tions varying to such an extent as to confound the most experienced and careful judgment. Out of such a dilemma there is only one mode of escape, and that is to sow. Lastly, the ground may be rocky or so covered with boulders that planting would be a physi- cal impossibility. Even if pits could be excavated in the rock, they would fill with water in the rains and cause the roots of the transplants to damp off; while amongst the boulders no room could be found for their numerous spreading roots or their single long tap-root, as the case may be. On the other hand, the young seedlings sprung from direct sowings will develop in proportion to the suitability of their surroundings; where there is hard rock, there they will send down a few slender roots that will insinuate themselves into the most minute crevices they may meet, while amongst the boulders those roots, into which the entire energy of the plants is concentrated, will soon force their way between the DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED. 821 loose stones and ramify and spread themselves out in proportion to the quantity of soil they find there. II. Absence or presence, abundance and size of advance growth. If there is no such growth or if it is open or very young, then the question of sowing or planting will be decided entirely on other considerations, particularly those of soil and locality and the nature of the species to be used. Otherwise, it will generally be neces- sary to put out plants of about the same size and vigour as the existing growth, for sowings would stand very little chance of escaping suppression, and they would be allowable only in the event of extremely shade-enduring or rapid-growing species being used or of the previous growth being completely cleared away from wherever the seeds are sown. TII. Amount’ of tree-shelter available. As regards such shelter we may have either— (i) Bare open land, that is, land neither containing any trees nor bordered by them ; or (ii) Land fringed with trees affording lateral shelter, but con- taining itself no trees ; or - (iii) Land enjoying shelter both overhead and laterally. 1. Bare open land. In completely bare open land there is nothing to check wide and sudden fluctuations of temperature both of the air and of the soil, or to diminish the action of dangerous winds, or to prevent marshiness in the rains or to oppose erosion ; and if the soil has been for any purposse loosened or broken up, there is nothing to check the multiplication of insects, Hence in such land the early formation of a leaf-canopy is always necessary and becomes all the more urgent with widening area or increasing distance from standing forest. Consequently planting will be the rule, save in the very exceptional case (a) of the species not standing being transplanted and being at once hardy, rapid-growing and ot quick and easy germination, and of the soil and climate being at the same time favourable, and (6) of irrigation being available. For instance, in those parts of the teak region in which frosts are unknown, that species, as it cannot bear having its taproot injured, but shoots up rapidly and stands drought well, may generally be sown directly. In the Changa Manga plantation, where irrigation was available, sissu was sown, 3822 DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED: just as it was also sown at Shahdara near Lahore, on the low banks of the Bias, 2. Land with only lateral tree-shelter. The effectiveness of such shelter will depend on the width of the area and the height, width, closeness and position of the flanking belt of forest. We will therefore consider separately the case (a) ot narrow bands cleared through standing forest, (4) of small scattered blanks, and (c) of large clearings. Narrow BANDS CLE\RED THROUGH STANDING FOREST.—Such bands may have tall standing forest on both sides or on one side only. In these bands the action of frost and of dangerous winds is mitigated or completely checked, the sun’s heat is tempered, wide and sudden fluctuations of temperature both above and under ground are prevented, rain falls directly on the young plants and washes off the dust clinging to their leaves, the deposition of dews is unimpeded and leavy, the moisture of both the soil and the air is fairly well preserved, and the covering of dead leaves is retained in its place and is able to decompose and form humus. Besides, such lines do not afford good breeding places for insects. Under these circumstances, if there is danger of stool-shoots or suckers springing up from the stools and roots of the exploited trees, it will generally be a matter of indifference whether we sow or plant as long as other considerations do not rigidly fix the choice for us. If the appearance of stool-shoots and suckers in unavoidable, then we must plant, save in the very exceptional instance of an extremely shade-enduring species that is able ultimately to pierce the dense low cover of coppice, when we may, for the sake of economy, sow. SMALL SCATTERED BLANKS. These may be places where pre- vious artificial or natural regeneration operations have failed, or they may be little openings caused by windfalls or other accidents, or they may be clearings purposely made with the object of re- generation. In the first case, the proved difficulty of regeneration will compel us to plant. In the other two cases, the existing shelter will be far more effective than in cleared bands of the same width, and the extent of the opening may be so slight as to render possible the early restoration of the leaf-canopy. Here then we must plant or.sow according to the abundance and size of the advance growth (Condition II) or, in the absence of advance growth, according to the necessity of getting up a strong new generation early or late (Condition 1X). But if the blank has existed long enough for the soil to have begun to deteriorate, then it will DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED. 323 generally be found preferable to plant. Large CLEARINGS. Such areas may be quite recent clearings, or fields just given up, or long-abandoned cultivation sites. If they are the first then the choice between sowing and planting will depend on the number and vigour of the stools capable of producing shoots, the abundance and size of the advance growth, if there be any, and the nature of the soil, locality and species ; and it will be found that the instances in which direct sowing is to be recom- mended will be almost as numerous as those in which there is no alternative but to plant. If the area has just been thrown out of cultivation, then the soil will be in a high condition of tilth, and, in the absence of climatic extremes, sowing may succeed quite well enough with a hardy quick-growing species. If the areas belong to the third and last category, it will be found that under the constant unimpeded action of hot and cold winds, frost and insolation, the soil has become hard and impoverished, and grasses and other weeds, both herbaceous and woody, have taken posses- sion of it; so that the introduction of a forest crop is possible only on the condition that the soil is thoroughly worked up and cleaned, or that strong plants, able to cope with and master the weeds, are brought in. Hence in such places planting will be the rule, direct sowing being adopted only in the case of species posses- sing exceptional vitality and tenacity and able to grow up rapidly. 3. Land sheltered by trees. The effectiveness of the shelter will depend upon the number and size of the trees affording it, the depth and closeness of their crowns, the species to which they belong, and the number of tiers of growth composing the leaf-canopy. The effect of such shelter is to maintain the soil loose, rich and moist, to keep down weeds, and to mitigate frost and other injurious weather influences, if not to render every condition favourable for germination and the prosper- ous vegetation of young seedlings. Hence where sufficient shelter exists, sowing may be just as successful as planting, and being less costly, would in that case be preferable. The slow progress of sowings can be no bar to their adoption, since they can be under- taken as many years as we like before the sheltering crop is removed. IV. Nature of the species used. In deciding between direct sowing and planting we have first of all to consider whether the future crop is to be pure or mixed. 1. When a pure crop is to be raised. Assuming that the single species to be propagated has been pro- 824 DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED. perly chosen, we must examine the circumstances attending the first appearance and early growth of thatjspecies. These are— (i) Form of root-system of the seedlings. If the young plant develops a strong tap-root with little or no side-roots of any size, its transplanting, unless effected, as in the case of teak, before the tap-root has had time to attain an excessive length, or unless each plant has, like sissu under the Wood system, been raised in a tube from which the long taproot can be taken out entire, cannot but be accompanied with the loss of a large proportion of the most active portion of its root-apparatus. Some species suffer less than others from so notable a diminution of their absorbing organs, while some are never able to recover from it- As regards the last class and those species which recover with difficulty, we must either sow or use germ plants, and the final choice between these two methods will be determined by the other characters of the species. In the case of those species, the young plants of which do not mind a severe curtailment of the taproot, or which naturally develop a bushy mass of roots, the question between planting or sowing must be decided on other grounds. (ii) Facility of germination and character of the young plants. If the seeds of any species germinate freely and the young plant is resisting enough for the prevailing conditions, sowing, as it is more economical, may often be preferable to planting. Otherwise we must plant. The more delicate the young seed- ling is, the older must be the transplants used. In the case of hardy species the choice between the two methods of regeneration will depend principally on the rapidity of growth of the young plant. If growth is very slow, we must plant. Species which develop early a strong crown will generally be adapted for direct sowing, as the young plants, having a root-appa- ratus strong in proportion, will be able to maintain themselves against most weeds and against unfavourable weather influences. 2. When a mixed crop is to be raised. The preceding considerations hold good here also, and in addition full weight must be given to the influence the various species may exercise on each other in virtue of their different capacities for enduring shade, their different rates of growth, their different root- systems and the suitability of the local conditions for them severally. To put a weaker species on the same ora better footing than a stronger one, it may be found a good plan to plant the one and sow the other at one and the same time. DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED, 825 V. Special extraneous causes of destruction. We may say generally that seeds have more enemies than seed- lings, and that young seedlings run greater risks than older plants, which are at the same time more tenacious and resisting. Hence in respect especially of such causes of destruction, planting stands superior to direct sowing. A species that could otherwise be sown successfully, may have to be planted, because either the seed or the very young seedling is the favourite food of animals abundant in the locality. VI. Quality and quantity of labour available. Planting always demands more skill, closer supervision and greater care than sowing, and it must be accomplished within a much more limited time (see p. 284, para. 2). Consequently success in planting depends on the possibility of obtaining a suffi- ciently large trained body of careful workmen at a moment’s notice, and this in proportion to the unfavourableness of the pre- vailing conditions of vegetation. VII. Mode of development of the crop. It is a fact proved by experience that a forest formed entirely of transplants seldom attains the same height as one raised directly from seed. The transplants, having been carefully raised and se- lected, and being, when put down, all of one and the same age and more or less the same size and strength, start up all together with more or less equal vigour and, as they grow up, keep more or less on a level with each other, so that there are no smaller neighbours to push up the taller and more promising individuals without nar- rowing and weakening their crowns by lateral pressure. The consequence is that the useful stage of the struggle for existence is not only necessarily a brief one, but must perforce be still further shortened by the forester himself in order to relieve the victors at once from the pressure of their all but equally-matched neighbours. On the other hand, the more prolonged struggle in a sown crop inevitably keeps back individual plants and results in diminished production, unless the forester intervenes early and frequently and maintains unchecked the growth of the stronger individuals, a task easy enough in itself, but requiring large establishments and money. VIII. Early realization of marketable produce. In plantations, the plants used being already of a certain size and strength, they are, from the very beginning, given more grow- é 826 DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED, ing room than seedlings of the same size in direct sowings. The ‘consequence is that they maintain a more unhampered development for a comparatively long time, a result towards which the fact of their being all selected plants, and therefore endowed with a high degree of tenacity, also contributes very largely. In a direct sow- ing, on the other hand, the struggle for existence not only begins early, but goes on between plants of various heights and of various degrees of vigour. Hence, although in a plantation the stems taken collectively may attain a given stage of development earlier, yet scattered individuals reach a marketable size earlier in a direct ‘sowing. Moreover, whereas in this latter numerous stems, especi- cially those which overtop their neighbours, may at all ages be xemoved without leaving any very pereeptible or long-open gaps in the leaf-canopy ; in the former, until a certain comparatively advanced age has been reached, the component stems are nearly of one and the same size and strength and there is seldom any real reason for cutting out one individual rather than another, and not only this, but as the removal of any one from among them pro- duces an opening in the leaf-canopy of the same size as the crown taken out and, therefore, requiring some time to close up, there is every inducement to delay the first intermediate felling. Lastly, the early produce furnished by a crop resulting from a direct sow- ing generally consists of longer, straighter, and less branched and knotty pieces than similar produce derived from a plantation, a no small advantage in a country like India, in which there is such an enormous demand for small poles for round rafters, and the hot bright sun and several months of drought favour knotty growth. IX, Early formation of the desired type of forest. Planting will of course produce the desired crop sooner than sowing, and the advantage in favour of the former will be all the greater, the larger the plants put out are, the more slow-growing in its earliest stages the species used is, and the more unfavourable for tree-vegetation the prevailing conditions are. X. Object to be fulfilled. The object in creating a forest may be very various. Thus, it muy be to raise a few scattered trees as quickly as possible on permanent pasture lands, in which case planting out the largest material practicable under the given circumstances will be the only advisable course ; or it may be to introduce, or increase the pro- portion of, a given species in an already existing high forest, in which case the choice between sowing and planting will depend on DIRECT SOWING AND PLANTING COMPARED. 327 the nature of the low growth, useful or otherwise, that is already on the ground ; or it may be to introduce a similar mixture into a copse or to assure therein a continuous supply of seedling shoots in order to maintain the quality of the regrowth, in which case planting will be the general rule ; or it may be to raise a protec- tive fringe of trees, where again planting will be almost invariably adopted ; and so on. XI. Cost. In comparing the relative cost of the-two methods,.two things must be borne in mind. In the first place, it is certain that plant- ing is, asa rule, subject to fewer failures, and hence involves a smaller outlay on repairs, the figure for which may often, in case of indifferent success, equal and even several times exceed the first cost, so that the first cost alone is not a sufficient criterion by which to gauge the expensiveness of either’ method ; and, in the second place, we know that as respects the first cost itself; the smaller the planting material is, especially if it consists of seedlings, the more nearly does planting in its results approach direct sowing, and that with increasing size or age of the transplants that figure increases, not in arithmetical, but geometrical ratio. But the ques- tion of cost must, under any circumstances, be subordinated to that of success, and becomes a deciding factor only when success is to be obtained by either method ; and then. too, if direct sowing is cheaper, the choice will depend also: om the answer returnable to the question—Does the greater rapidity of results secured by plant- ing at least compensate for the higher expenditure it involves? If it does not offer a sufficient compensation, we must sow, otherwise planting would be the method to adopt. In India we have as yet no trustworthy data for comparing the relative cost of the two methods. In their absence the following figures, taken from Gayer and referring to Bavaria, will be found both interesting and useful. The average daily wage of a work- man is taken at 8 annas. Conifers sown in Bene de furrows, width of cultivated interval 4’ Rs. 6-8 per acre Scots’ pine or silver fir sown in strips 2 wide, ‘uncultivated interval 4’ ws oy ©6884 Og Conifer yearlings planted 2! apart in lines 4” apart etl Liye ESTRTBE ace oss 2-3 year old silver fir or Scots’ pine planted 40” x 40” 1... 32-18 4, ,, Ball-planting 3-4 year old silver fir, &c; distance of trans- port moderate... » 1624 , 4, Planting middle-size broad-leaved “seedlings f forced ae re- ; peated cutting back, 4’ x 4’ n 24-50 45 Mound-planting of silver fir, 4’ x 4" see yy 28-44 Planting large seedlings (6-8 years old), 56” x 56” me 1 ee CHAPTER VII. NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. We know that in natural regeneration by seed the new crop must spring up exclusively or almost exclusively from self-sown seed. Now this seed may come either (i) from trees standing im- mediately overhead, or (ii) from trees standing outside the area to be sown, or (iii) from trees standing both inside and outside that area. Except in an isolated wood that is so small as to be com- pletely worked over in a single operation, the first case can, strictly speaking, never occur, since the trees surrounding the area to be regenerated must necessarily contribute a less or greater proportion of the seeds falling upon it. Hence the first and third cases must be considered together. When the ground is to be sown with seed coming in from out- side, the regeneration felling, 7. e. the felling, of which the imme- diate result is the production of the new crop, will be a clear one or only a partial one according as the young crop can dispense with, or requires, being nursed ; whereas, if the parent trees stand overhead, that felling must necessarily be partial, and the original crop can be entirely removed only when the new generation has been completely obtained. We thus have, broadly speaking, two principal modes of obtaining natural regeneration by seed, viz. (a) by means of clear fellings, when the original crop is required neither as parent nor nurse, and (6) by means of partial fellings, when the original crop is both parent and nurse, or at least nurse. Now clear fellings may be made (i) over large areas of irregular shape, or (ii) in long narrow bands, or (iii) over very limited areas (forming gaps or wells in the forest), thus giving rise to three dis- tinct methods of regenerating by self-sown seed, which we may term respectively the method of clearings, the method of cleared lines and the well method, Partial fellings, on the other hand, may either (i) be made in auniform manner over the entire area to be regenerated, or (ii) observe a strict uniformity only over homogeneous portions (groups) of that area, each separate portion being treated on its own merits, or (iti) be executed uniformly THE UNIFORM OR NORMAL METHOD. 329 over successive narrow strips into which the area may be divided, or (iv) merely remove a tree or two without any order from scattered points all over the area. This gives us four more methods of natural regeneration by seed, which may be designated respectively the uniform, the group, the strip, and the jardinage methods. In the first three of these methods the entire original crop ultimately disappears within a definite limited number of years, whereas in the last there is never any point of time when that crop canbe said to have ceased to exist and to have been com- pletely replaced by a new generation. The various methods of natural regeneration by seed, as ex- plained above, may be exhibited synoptically thus— ( ¢ Over the entire area of crop Only over individu- al component ae geneous groups, each }GROUP METHOD we @ group being treated | onitsown merits. J \ UNIFORM OR NORMAL METHOD .. 1 Successively over long narrow strips into which the er STE METHOD we 8 Lis divided. Effected without any uni- ) formity whatsoever, a tree | or two being removed from PartTIAL A Effected uniformly at each operation A various scattered points all sae wf over the area in which new | seedlings are desired. J Fruuinas rc Over wide areas ... METHOD OF CLEARINGS .. 5 Q In long narrow strips... METHOD OF CLEARED LINES 6 CLEAR Forming mere gaps or \ wells in the forest \ wou METHOD wand SECTION IV. The uniform or normal method. In this method each operation of the regeneration series is carried out more or less uniformly and simultaneously over the whole of a crop, the result sought being its replacement by a young generation presenting a general uniformity of age, density and composition. Hence the first name given to the method in 330 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. question. In tke event of complete success the ultimate result must be the formation and maintenance of a normal forest, and such success postulates the existence of normal conditions of growth. Hence the second name adopted. The whole process of regeneration naturally divides itself into three distinct stagesas follows :— I. The preparatory stage, during which the soil is prepared to to receive the seed, and the parent trees to stand isolation and to bear a large quantity of good seed ; II. The sowing stage, the sequel of which is the sowing of the ground and the’production of a sufficient number of seedlings ; and Ill. The after-stage, during which the growing seedlings are gradually admitted to an increasing enjoyment of light, dew and other beneficent atmospheric influences, until at last the entire original crop is removed. _ And we have thus a series of three distinct kinds of regeneration fellings :—(a) the PREPARATORY (6) the srED and (ec) the AFTER- FELLINGS. ARTICLE 1. THE PREPARATORY FELLINGS. I. Object of the preparatory fellings. In a regular crop sprung up from seed and growing under nor- mal conditions, the trees, up to the time they reach the age of fertility, consist of a long thin bole surmounted by a small crown by no means rich in branches or foliage. In other words, they are then in the worst possible condition to produce good or abundant seed, and, indeed, in the case of most species, even the most shade- enduring, unless such trees were isolated and allowed to extend their crowns, they either could not bear any seed at all or would furnish a few barren or weak ones. Then again, in effecting this isolation, unless they were gradually thinned out, the moment they ceased to support one another their fragile stems would either bend or break under the force of the wind and the pressure of the crown, weighted or not with rain or snow, and many of the trees, owing to their very limited root-apparatus, would even be up- rooted. Besides this, the sudden exposure would kill many of the trees by calling forth, in the sub-aérial portions at the expense of the reserve matier, an outburst of activity with which the roots could not keep pace, so that when this reserve was exhaust- ed, the limited and weak root-apparatus could not meet the PREPARATORY FELLINGS IN THE UNIFORM METHOD, 331 ‘demands of the overgrown crown, the result being starvation as well as over-transpiration. The object of the preparatory fellings with respect to the parent crop is hence to gradually give the trees increasing room both in the air and in the soil, and thus to allow the crown and the roots to expand in a proportionate manner and the bole to become strong enough to resist being broken, As regards the soil, under a dense canopy of trees it will, in the Himalayas generally, and in tropical evergreen forests invariably, be found covered with a thick layer of fibrous or charred humus and unreduced vegetable débris. Seedlings produced on such-a surface would either be poisoned or, being unable to get down deep enough into the true mineral soil below, would wither up when the loose mass in question had lost all its surplus hygroscopic moisture in the dry season. The opening out of the leaf-canopy in the preparatory fellings, by admitting heat and a free circula- tion of air under the forest, hastens the reduction and decomposi- tion of this obnoxious covering. But other special measures have also to be undertaken, as an integral part of the preparatory operations, to further this natural process. It. Number of the preparatory fellings. In no case.should the crop be opened out suddenly to such an extent as to endanger the stability and vegetation of the trees an1 the fertility of the soil and its freedom from a growth of masterful weeds. Hence the almost invariable necessity of giving to the future parent and nurse trees spreading room only gradually, that is, of making more than one felling. The number of preparatory fellings will hence depend— (i) On the component species. The more liable the trees are to be broken or blown or bent down, or to suffer from sunstroke or too sudden isolation, the more gradually and cautiously must the leaf-canopy be opened out, and hence the more frequent must be the fellings. So again, the more rapidly the crowns expand and completely reform the broken leaf-canopy, the oftener must it be reopened. Ina mixed forest, both because the leaf-canopy closes up again earlier and certain species often require to be specially favoured, the preparatory fellings will generally be more numerous than in pure forest. (ii) On the soil. The richer the soil is, the greater will be the danger of a strong growth of weeds, and hence the more gradually must the trees be thinned out. 332 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. (iti) On the climate and locality. The caution to be observed will be in proportion to the extremeness of the climatic factors. A very favourable (forcing), as well asa very unfavourable climate and locality, will require the fellings to follow each other at short intervals. (iv) On the actual density of the crop. The closer the trees stand together, the more likely are they to be thin and lanky, weak-rooted and wanting in vigour, and hence the necessity of frequent light operations. (v) On the predominant age of the crop. The more advanced the age of the majority of the trees beyond that of first fertility, the greater, as a rule, will be the necessity of obtaining the desired results in a limited time, and hence also for often repeating the felling. (vi) On the condition of the crop. The more numerous damaged or unsound trees are, the more frequently must the woodcutter be admitted in order to utilise them quickly and favour the develop- ment of the rest. (vii) On the necessity of obtaining the desired results as quickly as possible. The crop to come under regeneration may be very young and hence require special forcing to induce early and abundant fertility. So also, if the position of the crop in the forest necessitates its regeneration without delay. In either case, the only possible mode of attaining the end sought, without risking the safety of the crop, is to thin it out frequently, but ech time lightly. (viii) On the question whether a seed felling can be made every year or: only at intervals of several years. In the latter case, the preparatory fellings will usually have to contribute, to an appreci- able extent, towards making up the deficiency in the annual yield during the interval between two seed fellings ; and hence, in order to spread the produce of the preparatory coupes over as many indi- vidual years as possible, the fellings should be light and come round again frequently. To summarise what precedes, repetition of the fellings may aim at-securing one or more of the following objects :—(1) forcing early fertility, (2) preparation of weak trees for isolation, (3) preventing strong weed growth from taking possession of the soil, (4) timely utilisation of decaying trees when numerous, and (5) supplementing insufficiency of outturn when several years elapse between one seed felling and the next. In extreme cases a single preparatory felling may suffice, or PREPARATORY FELLISGS IN THE UNIFORM METHOD, 883 none at all may be necessary ; but usually the number of these will vary from two to four, repeated at intervals of from 4 to 6 years. III. When to begin the preparatory fellings. The time to begin the preparatory fellings will. depend on the number of such fellings to be made, combined with the following considerations :— (i) The component species. Different species grow up with different degrees of rapidity, reach different statures which they attain at different ages, enjoy different terms of longevity, become fertile at different ages, require different degrees of insolation and different periods of release from an overcrowded state in order to acquire a sufficient spread of crown to come into full bearing, and soon. Thus trees, which attain the best marketable dimensions at an early age, or which become fully fertile late, or which naturally grow crowded together, and so on, require to be prepared from an early age. In a mixed forest, the time for the commencement of the fellings will be determined entirely by the exigencies of the principal species, and if there are more than one such species, by the exigencies of that one among them, which becomes fertile last of all, or which, being the slowest grower or the most shade-avoiding, requires to be given a start over its fellows (see pp. 128, II and ID). (ii) The soil, influencing, as it must, the rapidity and vigour of growth of the trees, their longevity, their bearing age, their habit, their requirements in respect of light, and their fruitfulness and the quality of their seed at different ages. For instance, in favourable soils, in which the trees will be naturally vigorously developed, the commencement of the preparatory fellings will generally be delayed. The condition of the soil as a seed-bed will also be an important factor for consideration. Its suitability in this respect will depend not only on its inherent properties, such as its stiffness, hardness, hygroscopicity, richness, &c., but also, in a very great measure, on the condition of its surface. The stiffer or harder or drier or poorer the soil, the thicker the undecomposed layer of dead leaves covering it, or the denser the growth of weeds and brushwood on it, the longer will it take to get ready for sowing and the earlier must the preparation be begun. (iii) The climate and locality. In hot sunny localities the leaf-canopy is generally naturally open and the trees are seldom so 33k NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. narrow-crownel as to require much encouragement to become prolific seed-bearers ; hence there preparatory fellings may, and often must, be made comparatively late. On cool or moist aspects, in temperate climates, under clouded skies, &c., on the other hand, the earlier these fellings are undertaken, the better. (iv) The actual condition of the crop, t. e., its density and the age, height, soundness, vigour and shape of the component trees. The denser the crop, the younger or lankier or weaker or more unhealthy the trees, the earlier must preparation for regeneration commence. So also in an old crop, in which the trees have already begun to contract their crowns, there is no room for delay. The preceding considerations being borne in mind, the prepara- tory fellings must not, as a rule, be taken in hand until the stems of the principal species have near ly attained exploitable dimensions ; and they must give the future parent trees sufficient time to spread out their crowns and come into full bearing by the time the seed- felling falls due. The first one will thus precede this felling by an interval which may vary from 2 to 20 or even 80 years, but the more usual period will be from 10 to 15 years. IV. What to remove in the preparatory fellings. The main point to bear in mind is never completely to isolate the trees, but to make numerous gaps in the leaf-canopy, larger or smaller according to the prevailing conditions of growth, but always small enough to enable them to close up within a few years, before the soil can suffer from exposure. In making these gaps it is neither the oldest nor the youngest, nor yet the weakest or the most vigorous that should be removed, but those which differ most from the predominant age or size-class.| We must endeavour to produce a crop composed of trees of more or less one and the same age, size and vigour, and as many of which as possible shal] come into full bearing when the seed-felling falls due. As regards species, all undesirable ones should be got rid of or reduced to the minimum compatible with the required fulness of the leaf-canopy. After leaving enough seedbearers of each of the better kinds to reproduce their species in sufficient abundance in the new crop, the surplus should consist of promising individuals of those most in demand. Hence in making the preparatory fellings, the following princi- ples should be observed :— (i) Wherever a gap already exists, nothing, as a rule, should be felled. PREPARATORY FELLINGS IN TNE UNIFORM METHOD. 335 (ii) A sufficient number of individuals of every desirable species present should, as far as itis feasible, be left standing to assure its reproduction in the required proportion in the future crop. This proportion is not necessarily the same as what should exist at the end of the rotation, when obviously those possessing the highest market value should be most largely represented ; but provided the crop contains a sufficient number of seedlings of these species to enable them to secure the desired majority afterwards, the remaining seedlings should belong preferentially to those species which are most valuable from a purely cultural point of view. Ofcourse one and the same species may both command the highest market value and lend itself to the most profitable growth of the crop, as, for instance, sal compared with nearly all its possible companions, and deodar compared with the firs and blue pine. In the case of teak, its soil-improving companions should form the majority of the young seedling crop, so long as there is enough of it present to give as many stems as possible, up to about 80 per acre, when the crop becomes ripe for the axe. (iii) Subject to principle (ii), as many stems as possible of the more valuable species should be preserved, each in proportion to its selling price and the demand for it. (iv) Of two equally promising individuals of the same species, that one should be preserved which belongs to the predominant age or size-class, unless the difference between them is very slight, in which case the larger of the two will of course be kept. (v) All trees with low spreading crowns should, if possible, be got rid of. But if their removal creates too large a gap to close up within a reasonable period, or if the neighbouring trees are too young or too little developed to become fertile in proper time, they must be spared, the undue spread and lowness of their crowns being corrected by judicious lopping and pruning. With one and the same density of growth, the ground is better lit in proportion to the distance of the mass of foliage above it. A low crown generally means also a deep crown, anda high crown one that possesses little depth and lets abundant light filter in through it. Moreover, a deep and spreading crown has, in the soil below, its counterpart in a deep and spreading mass of roots, which, under the most favourable circumstances, must oppose the growth and establishment of seedlings within the area they occupy. (vi) The taller the crop and the more raised above the ground the leaf-canopy, the smaller must be the gaps made; and vice versé. The reason is evident from what has just been said under (v} 336 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. Moreover under a high leaf-canopy, the light is more uniformly distributed over the ground below, whereas under a low cover there are bright lights intermixed with deep shadows. (vii) The younger the trees are, the larger must be the open- ings made in the leaf-canopy, and vice versd; firstly, because younger trees spread out more rapidly, and, secondly, because the younger the trees are, the more forcing do they require in order to attain early and abundant fertility. (viii) In a mixed, as opposed to a pure, forest the fellings may usually be heavier, since in the former the number of stems is generally larger, gaps are more quickly closed up, the fertility of the soil greater, and accidents less dangerous (See pp. 109-114 passim.) (ix) All trees that cannot live or at least remain sound up to the first few years following the seed-felling, should, if their re- moval does not create too large a gap and they cannot absolutely be dispensed with as seed-bearers, be taken out. (x) Trees with heritable defects should, as far as possible, be got rid of. (xi) 1f the trees to be removed are not to be grubbed out, or belong to species that throw up root-suckers, the fellings should not be so heavy as to encourage the production of stool-shoots and root-suckers. (xii) In temperate and in tropical evergreen forests, where heavy brushwood at once springs up on the admission of only a moderate amount of light, the fellings should be very cautious. V. Selection and marking of the trees to be felled. As the number of trees to be preserved must always far exceed those to be felled or lopped, it is obvious that, in the interests of economy both of time and money, it is these latter which should be marked. The best time for selecting the trees to be marked is when the entire crop is in full leaf. It is then that the various species are most easily recognised, and itis only then that the soundness, vigour and spread of each individual tree can be correctly appre- ciated. The marking party should work in successive sweeps backwards and forwards, beginning with the most convenient edge of the coupe. Much time will be saved and distraction of attention from the work of selecting the trees avoided, by previously marking out the sweeps by means of straight parallel lines with the aid of PREPARATORY FELLINGS IN THE UNIFORM METHOD. 337 surveying instruments or even simply of flags. The lines may be defined, for easy recognition, by means of blazes or splashes of whitewash on trees sufficiently close together or of splashes on the ground or the herbage and bushes covering it. Hach sweep should be just wide enough for the officer conducting the work of selection, as he moves along the middle, to have an unobstructed view of the trees on either side of himself; so that the width in any case will vary with the class of forest concerned. To assist that officer in keeping his bearings two men should walk on a few paces ahead, one along each edge of the sweep. The selecting officer’s attention should be directed first of all only to all suppressed, unhealthy, deformed and overtopping trees. If, after these have been marked, it is found that their removal will still leave the growth too close, then others should be selected in accordance with the principles already explained in the foregoing sub-article. A different mode of marking should show which trees are to be felled by the base, which are to be only lopped, and which are to be grubbed up by the roots. The first class should always be marked in two places, one as near the ground as possible, the other at about breast-height, so that there may always be an indicative mark left on the stump wherewith to check the wood-cutters. It is always advisable to mark the trees uniformly on the side on which the sweeps follow each other, so that the marks may be seen di- rectly from the next sweep taken up. To facilitate the recognition of the selected trees, both for the marking party and for the wood- cutters who are to come in later, a ring or splashes of white-wash may also be put on those trees. It is unnecessary to add that, as the trees are selected and mark- ed, they should be measured and their species and size (girth or diameter, and also height, if necessary) recorded. VI. Execution of the preparatory fellings. As the trees to be left not only stand close together but are not to be felled for a long period of years to come, too many precautions cannot be taken to reduce the amount of damage inevitable in the felling and export operations. The fall of the trees should be directed with care and judgment, and, if necessary and practica- ple, the larger and heavier crowned trees should be lopped, in order to diminish the momentum with which they come down and to restrict the area over which they can do damage. It is always advisable, when the state of the market permits of 338 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED, it and the safety of the ground is not thereby threatened, to grub out the trees instead of merely felling them by the base. The price of the extra wood thus obtained may not only compensate for the additional expenditure incurred, but also even cover a great part, if not the whole, of the working expenses of the pre. paratory operations generally. But the success of the operation is not to be measured only by the money returns it directly yields, but also, thanks to the way in which it loosens and breaks up the soil, by the great help it gives to natural regeneration, saving, it may be, a final large recourse to expensive artificial metheds. In- stead of first felling a tree in the ordinary way and then grubbing out the stump and principal roots, it is best to at once expose and undermine the main roots and bring the entire tree down by cut-~ ting these through. Where carts may be admitted without injury to the standing crop, the trees may be converted where they fall and removed only after conversion ; otherwise, after being lopped and rough-dressed, they should be carried out without delay to the nearest road side. Pari passu with the felling and conversion operations, all low brushwood should be removed with the help of grubbing or hoe- axes (Figs. 14-17). Ifthe ground is covered with a thick layer of undecomposed or half-decomposed dead leaves, cattle, should be driven over the area backwards and forwards (see p. 49 para 3), or the débris should be crushed and mixed up with the soil with the aid of drags (Fig. 41), hoe axes (Fig. 16 and 17), pickforks (Fig. 40) or with hoes similar to those represented in Figs. 86 and 87. Bad swamps should, if practicable at a reasonable outlay, be drained. ARTICLE 2. THE SEERD-FELLING. I. Object of the felling. If the preparatory operations have been judiciously carried out, there will always be a more or less considerable reproduction on the ground when the time for the seed-felling arrives, and that felling will then really be nothing more than a supplementary operation to complete the sowing so happily begun during the preparatory stage. But in accordance with the original assump- tion of ideal uniformity underlying our description of the present method of natural regeneration, we will assume that the prepara~ tory stage has simply resulted in the formation of a crop composed THE SEED-FELLING IN THE UNIFORM METHOD. 339 of trees that are about to come into full bearing and in the con- version of the soil into a more or less good seed-bed. Now arises the necessity (1) of giving the soil, which cannot but have deterio- rated since the last preparatory felling, a final preparation, and (2) of opening out the leaf-canopy for the benefit of the seedlings now about to make their appearance, without however risking the springing up of a mass of weeds and coppice-shoots, or the entry of injurious atmospheric influences, or the conversion of the soil into a breeding ground for destructive insects. This end it is the object of the seed-felling to accomplish. But the seed-felling may sometimes be required to fulfil also another object. Owing to the time allowed for preparation being too short, or for any other reason, the crop may be too dense to allow of abundant seeding. In that case, the seed-felling, by open- ing out the leaf-canopy, must serve to encourage fructification. II. When to make the seed-felling. The great rule to follow is to allow only the shortest possible in- terval to elapse between the conclusion of the felling and the appearance of the new crop, so that the soil may not, in the mean- while, have time to deteriorate or the leaf-canopy to become too close again. Hence the seed-felling should be made only when a good crop of seed has already formed or, if the time available for work is limited, is at least indicated with certainty. The seeds of some species ripen many months before they can germinate at the commencement of the next season of vegetation ; e.g. teak, deodar, Pinus longifolia, Quercus incana, Hardwickia binata, Terminalia tomentosa, Acacia modesta, Pterocarpus Marsu- pium, the various Anogeissus, §c. In regard to them the felling should be made only after the seed has ripened, and, if the seed is shed early enough, even after it has reached the ground. In the former case the soil will be in the highest state of preparation when the seed falls, in the latter the further great advantage will accrue that the seeds will be pressed into the soil by the felling and export operations; and in either case, there will be no room left for error as to the sufficiency and quality of the seeds, and every tree will contribute its full quota towards the sowing of the ground. When the time is too short to wait until the seeds are ripe or if the season when the seeds ripen is unfavourable for felling and export operations, as in the case of sal, Quercus semecarpifolia and dilatata, Mesua ferrea, eng, &c., the only indication to follow is the 840 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. flowering, and, in some instances, even the mere appearance of the inflorescence buds, which may, after a little practice, be readily recognised from purely foliage buds by their larger size and greater fulness. These are many contingencies, such as fires, attacks of insects, frost and adverse weather influences, which may render the most abundant flowering abortive, but, ordinarily, expectation will not be entirely disappointed, especially if the process of fructifica- tion is a rapid one and occurs at a favourable time of the year, as in the case of most of the species just enumerated. When the object of opening out the leaf-canopy is, besides admitting light for the benefit of the future seedlings, also to help fructification, then the felling must perfcrze be made as soon as the inflorescence buds make their appearance. Some species seed abundantly almost every year, although very much more so in occasional favourable years than in others, e. g. teak, sal, Acacia arabica and Catechu, $c. Others, although they seldom fail to produce some seed annually, yet seed profusely at regular or irregular intervals, e.g. Pinus longifolia, deodar, &c.; while others again seed only gregariously and then extremely abundantly after the lapse of many years, there being no seeding, or next to none, during the intervening period, e. 9. Hardwiekia binata, Dendrocalamus strictus, &. It is a fact worthy of special note that, even in the case of the first group of species, seeds produced in years of great profusion not only possess more vitality and produce stronger plants, but germinate more freely and in much larger proportion than those produced in intermediate years. This differ- ence is most conspicuous in the case of the third class of species mentioned above. Hence, for every species without exception, the absolute necessity of limiting the seed-felling to the years of pro- fuse or gregarious fructification, as the case may be. In a mixed crop, the year for felling should be fixed with special or exclusive reference to the principal species, and if there is more than one such species, with special reference to the most valuable of them or to the one which is required in greatest.abundance or to that one which is most difficult to regenerate. In conclusion, it is necessary to add that, however careful and cautious one may be in selecting the year for making the seed- felling, the judgment may sometimes be deceived, or at least ex- pectations may not be fully realised, in which case a second seed- felling may have to be made on the very next favourable occasion that offers. This will especially happen in mixed forest containing THE SEED-FELLING IN THE UNIFORM METHOD, 341 more than one principal species, the first felling having served for only one of them. Ill. Severity of the seed-felling. The amount of light admissible inside a seed-coupe must satisfy the aggregate requirements in each case, and will hence vary ac- cording to those requirements. It will depend :— (i) On the species to be reproduced. Thus the seedlings of some species suffer more than others from immediate contact with weeds and brushwood, the abundance of which in each case will mainly be proportionate to the amount of light reaching the ground. Then again, some species require more shade than others in order to be prevented from throwing up a mass of shoots from the stools and roots of the individuals cut. So also in mixed forest the amount of light admissible into the coupe will be regulated especially in the interests of those species whose propagation is most desired, or of some one of the principal species the reproduction of which is peculiarly difficult. Lastly, if an advance growth of any species has come up as a result of the preparatory fellings, the seed-felling must obviously be more nearly adapted to the requirements of the rest, in proportion to the sufficiency of that advance growth and to the importance of the latter class of species or the difficulty of their regeneration. In this case, the seed-felling must serve as a mild after-felling for the advance growth. (ii) On the age and condition of the parent crop. The younger or more vigorous the component trees are, the more speedily will they expand their crowns and narrow or close up openings made in the leaf-canopy by the seed-felling and hence the more open may or must be the felling. At the same time it must not be for- gotten that with the same density of the leaf-canopy, light is more effective and there is more room in the soil under lofty than under low deep crowns. (iii) On the nature of the soil and locality. Due consideration must be given to the brightness or heating power of the sun, the clearness and dryness of the atmosphere, the character of the aspect, the severity or mildness or absence of frosts, the violence, constancy, direction and harmfulness of dangerous winds, the frequency and abundance or fitfulness and scarcity of rain, &c. Some soils are more liable to drought than others, or to be overrun with rank growth of weeds and brushwood, or to be infested with insects, and soon. In respect of gradient it must not be forgotten that the steeper a slope is, the larger is the amount of side-light that can 842 ‘NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. enter the forest through one and the same density of the leaf- canopy, and the greater is the danger of erosion. ; (iv) The effectiveness of the preparatory operations. In pro- portion to the effectiveness of the preparatory operations will be the certainty and completenes of the sowing of the ground, the suitability of 'the soil as a seed-bed anda nourishing medium for the young seedlings produced, and the fitness of the parent trees for the office of nurse and for maintaining the fertility of the soil. Lastly, a considerable amount of advanee growth may come up during the preparatory work and not only justify, but even eall for, a free style of felling. To determine the degree of sevetity of the seed-felling in any given case is thus a work requiring much experience, a thorough knowledge of prevailing conditions and a nice discrimination ; but the following general rules, which embrace the cases of most fre- ‘quent occurrence, may be usefully laid down :—~ A. The felling must be dark whenever the soil has to be pro- tected against erosion, slipping away, excessive drying up, loss of fertility and overgrowth by noxious weeds ; or the seedlings have to be guarded against frost, drought, excessive insolation, hot winds aad other injurious atmospheric influences, and against in- vasion by weeds and inferior species and destruction by insects and fire ; or the parent trees have to be saved from being blown down or broken and from excessive transpiration and fire. In other and more specific terms, the felling should be dark :— (1) On all naturally dry soils ; (2) On all very free soils. (3) On all rich soils that are liable to be overrun with a rank ‘growth of weeds and brushwood. (4) On very poor soils. (5) On ali steep slopes. (6) On all southerly, and, in those parts of India which are exposed to hot winds, also on westerly aspects. (7) Imall localities in which dry, scorching or very cold or very violent winds blow. (8) In all frosty places. (9) Wherever insects in the soil are likely to abound. (10) In crops composed of superficially-rooted trees. (11) In all places in the Himalayas in which vegetation starts anew very early in spring, when frosts can still occur. (12) Wherever the new generation is delicate or slow-growing THE SEED-FELLING IN THE UNIFORM METHOD. 343 or wanting in tenacity in struggling with neighbouring plants of inferior species. (13) In all old crops, in which the crowns of the trees have ceased to expand, and especially if they have begun to contract. (14) Inall crops composed mainly of trees with long thin boles and narrow crowns. (15) In all cases in which the production of a good crop of seed is uncertain. (16) In mixed forest, in all cases in which the seeds of the principal species germinate with difficulty and the number of the resulting seedlings is, therefore, not necessarily in proportion to. the abundance of seed produced. (17) In mixed forest, when a bright felling would give an un-. desirable predominance to. certain species at the expense of the rest. (18) Where forest fires are to be feared.. B. On the other hand, a bright felling can be made only- provided nota single one of the preceding eighteen conditions exists. There are, however, four exceptions to. this rule, in each. of which the seed-felling must be bright— (1) When the seedlings to be produced can survive only under the influence of more or less direct sunlight. (2) In places inclined to be swampy. (3) 1n a crop composed of trees with very low crowns. (4) In mixed forest when a fairly abundant advance growth of some of the component species is already on the ground. A dark seed-coupe may be defined as one in which the neigh- bouring trees at least touch one another when agitated by a slight. breeze; and the darkest coupe would be one in which the crowns. touched each other without being swayed by the wind. The. brightest coupe (perfectly theoretical for India, it must be ad- mitted) would be one in which no more trees were preserved than would just suffice to sow the ground to the desired extent, the. seedlings being able to do without nurses and the soil requiring no. protection. In a mixed forest composed of species possessing very different requirements, the severity of the seed- felling at any particular point will be specially suited for the species whose reproduction is actual-. ly required there. And it is hence possible for one and the same coupe to be dark at certain points and bright elsewhere. Missing Page Missing Page 46 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. the soil must be prepared in a more complete manner. All weeds and brushwood that can be pulled up by the roots should be so extract- ed; otherwise they should be grubbed out by the crown of the roots with grubbing or hoe-axes (Fig. 14, 15, 16 and 17). The methods of preparing the soil described on pp. 248-9 under (1) and (IL) are both applicable here. If circumstances require or permit of it, the soil may even be worked up with powerful ploughs. When the noxious undergrowth or dead vegetable covering is extremely thick and abundant it will suffice, in order to reduce expenditure within resonable limits, to prepare the soil in regular lines of square patches or plots of 4-12 feet side and numbering from 80 to 200 to the acre. VII. Repetition of the seed-felling. It may happen that the ‘expectation of an abundant crop of good seed has not been realised, or that the seeds have been destroyed, or that, although the seeds have germinated, the seedlings have died off wholesale ; under such circumstances a second felling must be made at the next general fructification. Or it may happen that the original felling was designedly made with caution in order to be prepared for possible accidents during fructification, but that in the sequel the seeding has proved successful ; here a supplementary operation is obviously required to complete the first imperfectly- made one. In either case, the principles to be followed are the same as those laid down in the preceding sub-articles. Sucha supplementary operation may also be required in a mixed crop in the interest of some species that has failed to benefit by the origi- nal one. ARTICLE 3. THE AFTER-FELLINGS. I. Object of the after-fellings. The object of these fellings is to give to the new seedling crop, part passu with its growing requirements, further room for expan- sion in the soil, and an increasing share of light, primarily, and of warmth, dew and direct rain, secondarily, without however opening out the leaf-canopy to such an extent as to expose the seedlings to injury by drought, frost, excessive insolation, hail, movements of snow, storms, heavy rain, or hot or cold winds, or to destruction by insects or to invasion by a dense growth of masterful weeds, brush- wood, and coppice shoots. THE AFTER-FELLING IN TNE UNIFORM METHOD. 847 II. Number and periodicity of the after-fellings. The extreme case of only a single clear after-felling would be justified only if (1) the seedlings were very hardy and able to grow up and close over the ground in 3 or 4 years at the outside; (2) the climate were mild and forcing and the soil incapable of deteriorat- ing under exposure during so short a period and not liable to be overrun with a heavy growth of weeds; (3) the species were un- able to produce stool-shoots and root-suckers at the age of exploita- tion ; and (4) there were no risk at all of fire. Such a coincidence of so many circumstances of an exceptional character can rarely, if ever, occur, and it will hence be always necessary to effect the removal of the parent stock gradually and spread it over more than one operation. Strictly speaking, indeed, an after -felling should be made as often as any considerable number of seedlings require more grow- ing room in the soil or more light above ground; and this would mean making sucha felling nearly every year. Such frequent repetition is however impracticable ; nor is it really necessary, for seedlings that have not yet entered the stage of rapid upward growth, can stand a considerable amount of cover for a short period without suffering any appreciable loss of vitality. Moreover, felling and export operations recurring every year would give no time to the injured seedlings to recover. Hence, there will always be a short interval of years between two successive fellings, the length of this interval being directly proportional to the shade- enduring capacity of the seedlings, and inversely proportional to their hardihood and rapidity of growth, the favourable nature of the soil, locality and climate, the absence of invasive weeds and brush- wood, the openness of the seed-felling, and the severity of the im- mediately preceding after-felling. And the number of the after- fellings will depend on the interval of time at which they shvuld be repeated, on their severity, and on the amount of stock left standing in the seed-coupe. Usually the interval between one felling and the next will be 8-5 years and the number of the fellings, including the first and the final ones, will not exceed 4-5. III. When to make the first after-felling. The first after-felling cannot be made until— (i) The seedlings have become thoroughly lignified. Without such lignification they could neither recover if bent or crushed down in the felling and export operations, nor conduct water 348 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED, rapidly enough from the roots to the crown to meet the increased waste by transpiration due to the brighter illumination, nor resist the extreme atmospheric influences let in by the opening out the leaf-canopy overhead. (ii) The seedlings have developed a sufficiently long tap-root and numerous side-roots so as to be able not only to obtain the nourish- ment they require, but also to be more or less independent of the upper layer of the soil, which, we know, dries up in the hot weather andis liable to wide and rapid variations of tempera- ture. (iii) The young seedlings of broad-leaved trees have developed a sufficient number of strong collum-buds, which alone can give them the faculty of shooting up again as often as the over-ground por- ‘tion dies down. (iv) The young conifer seedlings have begun to develop a true shoot, i.e, have ceased to consist merely of a thin stem crowned with nothing more than the tuft of cotyledonary leaves. The following circumstances will also regulate the time for the commencement of the after-fellings :—~ (a) The abundance of the new generation. The more plenti- ful the seedlings are, the better will they be able to afford pro- tection to one another and also to the soil, and to prevent the establishment of a growth of masterful weeds. And not only this, but in proportion to their abundance will be the number that. can be spared for inevitable casualties. Hence, if seed- lings are few and far between, the first after-felling must be delayed. (b) The natural abundance or scarcity of invasive weeds and brushwood. The more abundant such growth, the later must the first felling be made, provided of course other more important con- siderations do not order otherwise. (c) The age of the standing trees and of those removed in the seed-felling with special refenence to the maximum coppicing age of the component species. With a number of stools present still able to throw up coppice shoots, it would be highly unadvisable to make large openings in the leaf-canopy before the seedlings have acquired a certain amount of strength. As opposed to Europe, where hardly any trees coppice atall after the age of 60 years, many of our species coppice vigorously after they are more than a century old, e.g. Terminalia tomentosa, sal, &e. (d) The richness of the soil. The greater the fertility, the THE AFTER-FELLINGS IN THE UNIFORM METHOD. 849 later, as a rule, ought the first felling to be made, for in proportion thereto will be both the rankness of the noxious undergrowth and the shade-enduring capacity of the seedlings. (e) The nature of the climate and locality. The wider the extremes that prevail, the lenger must the first after-felling be delayed. (f) The shade-enduring capacity of the component species. The more shade-avoiding the predominant or principal species, the sooner must a felling be made. (9) The hardihood of the component species. The hardier the species are, the earlier, provided there is no danger of a strong growth of weeds, brushwood and coppice shoots coming up and the soil does not require much protection, must the seedlings begin to be uncovered. . (h) The rapidity of growth of the seedlings. The more rapidly the seedlings grow, the more light will they require even simply to continue healthy, and the sooner, therefore, must they be ad- mitted to an increased enjoyment of light. But this very rapidity of growth enables them to meet their crowns and close over the ground quickly, thus diminishing the importance of the nurse crop. It will thus be seen that even in the case of one and the same species no hard and fast rule can be laid down to fix the exact time when the first after-fellings shall be made; in each particular instance, the special circumstances prevailing can alone indicate when it should be undertaken. In the absence of local experience, the following golden rule, which will at any rate save the commis- sion of serious, if not fatal, errors, should be observed :— If the seedlings are thriving, have a healthy colour, possess abundant foliage, strong shoots and large full buds, we may be sure that the existing amount of cover is doing them no harm; but if they are stunted, or thinand lanky, have spare foliage, small weak buds and almost abortive shoots, and present a yellowish appearance, or if they are found bending over to one side in the direction of an opening in the leaf-canopy, it isa clear sign that they require more light. Usually the first after-felling will not be delayed beyond the third year succeeding the seed-felling. IV. When to make the last after-felling. The last felling should be made only when the great body of the seedlings has everywhere become established .c., has entered 850 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. the stage of rapid upward growth, are out of all danger from pre- vailing injurious weather influences, and can join crowns and close over the ground within the next two or three years ; and it should never be delayed until they have got beyond the early sapling stage, otherwise the damage caused by the felling and export opera- tions would be so great as to entail considerable loss of production and heavy expenditure on restoration operations. The terms “ the great body of the seedlings” have been used advisedly, for the conditions of vegetation can never be so uniform as to justify us in expecting every point of the coupe to become completely stocked with seedlings all in one and the same stage of growth. The pre- sence of small scattered blanks or incompletely stocked places or patches of younger growth ought never to be allowed to delay the final felling, if the rest of the new generation demands it. This felling will thus generally follow from 10 to 20 years after the seed-felling. V. What to remove in the after-fellings. In a general manner it may be laid down that whatever trees interfere with the growth of the seedlings or are not required for their protection should be removed. But, in actual practice, this general rule is subject to certain qualifications imposed by the condition of the parent crop and the nature of the soil, climate and species. All the circumstances which demanded a dark seed coupe will also prevail to enjoin moderation in the after- fellings. Ifthe interests of the parent crop or the preservation of the soil or the necessity of keeping out drought and climatic extremes require it, the seedlings must, for the time being at least, be sacrificed to the extent of being temporarily kept back, without however actually suffering in their vitality. Usually it is over the strongest and weakest seedlings rather than over those of average size and vigour that the leaf-canopy will require to be opened out—over the first, in order to allow them to continue to develop rapidly and close up quickly over the ground, also because their greater vigour proves their greater har- dihood ; over the second, in order to save them from immediate certain death. Provided the safety of the seedlings and of the parent crop and the preservation of the soil are not thereby endangered, all trees that have ceased to increase in value must be taken out. Such will include all dead, unsound and badly mis-shapen trees, those in their decline, and those which have ceased to make any appreciable THE AFTER-FELLINGS IN THE UNIFORM METHOD. 351 increment. Similarly, those trees should also be got rid of, which belong to species that are already sufficiently represented in the new generation and more of which would be detrimental to its growth. Moreover, if there are any individuals young enough to send up, when felled, an abundant crop of coppice shoots, these should be removed as early in the series of after-fellings as possible, ‘because the later they are felled, the more difficult will it become, under the continually diminishing leaf-canopy, to prevent an abun- dant regrowth from them. Trees with low or large spreading crowns should also, if circumstances permit, be taken out. Wherever reproduction has failed or has come up in an incom- plete manner, and wherever in mixed forest, although seedlings may be numerous enough, certain species are insufficiently represented, there seed-bearers of the proper species should be carefully pre- served in order to produce seed and protect the soil, as well as to act as nurses later on. This rule cannot of course apply to the last after-felling, and its importance diminishes with each successive felling of the series. The principle of the last after-felling is to remove every surviving tree of the original parent crop; for it any trees were left, very ‘serious damage would ensue from their subsequent exploitation to the close-grown saplings forming the new generation. Neverthe- less, if the market requires timber of specially large girth, the more promising, sound and well-shaped trees must be left to attain such dimensions. But when this is the case, every endeavour should be made to select the trees in question along roads and other export lines or in groups, so as to minimise and localise the inevitable damage to the young crop. VI. Selection and marking of the trees to be felled. In selecting trees for the preparatory and seed-fellings the atten- tion had to be directed mainly or solely to the condition of the leaf-canopy ; here by far the larger share of it must be given to the new growth on the ground to see where it wants more light and where it has enough. Hence it is more convenient here also to mark the trees that are to be felled rather than those that are to be left standing. The necessity for selecting and marking the trees while every tree and seedling is in full leaf is more urgent here than even in the preceding series of fellings, for at no other time would it be possible to judge whether the reproduction of the several species, and even of all the species taken together, was sufficient or in- 352 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. sufficient, whether at any point it was or was not being injured by the cover,?whether it was languishing or vigorous, nay sometimes even whether it was alive or dead. The selection of the trees should be effected in accordance with the principles enunciated in the preceding sub-article, and the work should go on from sweep to sweep asin the case of the preparatory and seed-fellings. The system of a double examination recommended for the seed-felling (see p. 345) may be adopted here ; but it will seldom be justifiable, except perhaps in the first or first two after-fellings. The width of the sweeps will be determin- ed by the distance, on either side of him, up to which the selecting officer can conveniently and accurately note both the condition of the young growth and the density of the cover overhead. VII. Execution of the fellings. The execution of the after-fellings is a complex operation con- sisting of several distinct works as follows :— 1. The actual felling or curtailment of the crowns of the pa- rent trees ; 2. The removal of epicorms ; 3. The eradication, cutting back or topping off of inferior growth interfering with the reproduction of the more desirable species; 4, The cutting back of badly injured seedlings of the better broad-leaved kinds to enable them to reform themselves ; and 5. Completion of the regeneration by artificial methods. 1. Actual felling and lopping of the parent trees. Whatever the species, the felling must take place during the season of vegetative repose. Itis then that the seedlings, being fully lignified and also containing their maximum quantity of re- serve matter and still possessing all the advanced buds that are to form the next season’s flush of foliage, are most elastic, take least hurt and recover most quickly from injury. If the seedlings and trees are out leaf, so much the better. But where continuous frosts prevail in winter, all work should be stopped during the prevalence of the frost, during which the frozen seedlings will necessarily be extremely brittle. On the other hand, felling in the snow, provide d the gradient is not too steep and there is no hard frost going on, is always to be recommended, for the seedlings could not have any better protection than the covering of snow. Thus, according to the forest region, the best time for felling may comprise late THE AFTER-FELLINGS IN THE UNIFORM METHOD. 853 autumn and early winter, or late autumn and the whole of win- ter, or the whole of winter and the first few weeks of spring, or the latter half of the cold weather and the whole of the hot weather, and so on. In felling or lopping the trees, the same procedure should be followed as inthe preparatory and seed-fellings ; but here, on account of the young reproduction, it will not always be possible to grub out the trees, although in a financial sense the operation may be remunerative, and the lopping of trees before felling them must be much more general. 2. Removal of epicorms. Epicorms make their appearance only in bright seed-coupes and in consequence of the after-fellings. Their removal is necessary only when, owing to the exploitation of the affected trees being still very remote, they are likely to produce knottiness in the bole and by strengthening themselves at the expense of the crown, to render the trees stag-headed. If the trees are to be felled within a period of five years or so, the retention of the epicorms will do little harm. The tools used for removing epicorms should be either light hatchets with a broad cutting-edge, or bills (Fig. 127), or pruning hooks, or saws with a narrow, yet stiff, blade and fine, but strongly set, teeth. Of these various tools the first two, being more expe- ditious and easier to use and making a perfectly clean section, are to be preferred. Pruning hooks, of which Fig. 2 represents an excellent pattern, have their place only when the epicorms are very small and break off easily, and the advantage they offer is that with them the operator can reach a great height above himself. The cutting-edge forming the extremity of the tool represented in Fig. 2may be used like a chisel from below upwards. The saw may also be attached to the end of a pole, as shown in Figs. 110 and 111. Bow-saws buckle less and are more convenient and less fati- guing than saws of other patterns. In using the hatchet or bill- book, the blow should be delivered from below upwards, otherwise, however sharp the tool may be, the branch is almost certain to be wrenched or torn off, with a piece of the bark and even wood of the bole adhering. Under any circumstances, the epicorms should be taken off flush with the bole and with a perfectly clean section so that the wound may close over quickly before decomposition has time to set in. In order to reach the epicorms, the workmen may employ light B54 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. ladders (those made of unsplit bamboo are the best), or simply a strong straight pole or bamboo, either with short bars of wood passed through atthe requisite intervals or triangular pieces of wood nailed alternately on two opposite sides. To prevent all chance of slipping, both ends of the pole or bamboo should be shod with a strong two-pronged fork (Fig. 112). Climbing irons should never be used, as the points penetrate right into the sap- wood and give rise to unsoundness there. 3. Eradication or reduction of inferior injurious growth. Wherever regeneration has failed, if there is still time left for its appearance and establishment, there the soil should be cleared asin a seed-felling. Sometimes an important species may be absent or insufficiently represented in the midst of an otherwise complete reproduction ; here also, if there is time and any hope of the defect remedying itself, the ground should be cleared in patches for the reception of seed. It will often happen that seedlings are kept back or threatened with suppression by weeds, brushwood and coppice shoots, and even by larger, older and denser and more rapid-growing seedlings of inferior or otherwise less desirable species. Weeds and brushwood should be pulled or grubbed up by the roots; and an overcrowded condition of the seedlings themselves may also be remedied in the same way by taking out the harmful and least desirable individuals. Seedlings of species that cannot bear too close contact of roots or crown with neighbouring individuals should have the soil completely cleared round them over a radius of 6-12 inches. Where the growth is not too crowded, obnoxious individuals should not be killed, but merely cut back or even only topped off. Cutting back is necessary, if the seedlings to be fostered are very small or are of comparatively slow growth, or if the thicket re- quires a little thinning out. Topping off will suffice, if the seed- lings to be freed are already of some size or are on the point of shooting up rapidly, and the growth requires to be kept dense below. The height at which plants should be topped off, will depend on the height and condition of the seedlings in whose interests the operation is required and on their own rapidity of growth. Thus, if those seedlings are about to start rapidly up- wards, their too forward neighbours should be just reduced to their level ; if these latter are pushing up more quickly, then they should be cut down proportionately lower. The great rule to observe in these operations is, while never letting the obnoxious seed- THE AFTER-FELLINGS IN THE UNIFORM METHOD. 855 lings get ahead of their neighbours, always to keep the growth below the level of these latter full enough to push them up and to protect the soil and prevent its being overrun by a strong growth of weeds and brushwood. The work just described should be done only by a thoroughly trained and experienced establishment, never by contract or by daily labour. 4. Restoration of injured seedlings. Seedlings that cannot be dispensed with, but which are so badly injured as to be unable to grow up into well-shaped and healthy plants, should be cut back to enable them to reform themselves. They should be taken off as near the ground as possible and with a clean section. The tools to use are pruning knives (Figs. 114 and 121 represent two most effective patterns or strong shears (Figs.115 and 116). But if the stems are too thick for such implements, they must then be cut through with a single blow from a light hatchet or bill-hook, as shown in Fig. 122. 5. Completion of the seedling crop by artificial methods. Recourse must be had to artificial regeneration in the follow- ing five cases :— (i) To stock complete original blanks. If such blanks are small, there is always a chance of their becoming sown by the surround- ing forest; in their case, therefore, it is generally advisable to wait, before undertaking artificial regeneration operations, until the last or last-but-one after-felling, when, if self-sown seedlings have in the meantime failed to make their appearance, plants of more or less the same size and vigour as those forming the surroun- ‘ding naturally-produced young crop should be put down. Other- wise the blanks should be sown up immediately after the seed- felling, if sowing is justifiable, or planted up with the class of seedlings most likely to assimilate themselves quickly with the coming self-sown crop. (ii) To restock places where natural regeneration has completely failed. Here we must plant seedlings of about the same size and vigour as the surrounding growth, for itis an essential condition that the new crop should not show too great a disparity in its several parts. This work should be taken in hand only at the last after-felling, unless it is considered hopeless to wait until then or unless the species used is delicate or shade-enduring. (ili) To fill up places where the regeneration is incomplete. Here 356 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. artificial regeneration need seldom be undertaken before the last after-felling. The natural growth in the midst of which the new plants are to be put down being pretty advanced, the necessity of using transplants of equal size and vigour is still more neces- sary here than in the preceding case. (iv) To increase the proportion of a species that is insufficiently represented in the naturally produced crop. Here we must always plant, adopting a rectangular pattern in order to economise labour, money and seedlings. If the species in question is shade-enduring and delicate, rather smaller plants than those composing the natural growth should be used. All the planting spots should be cleared of every kind of growth. The planting cannot be commenced earlier than just after the last-but-one after-felling. (v) To introduce a new species or one that has no fertile repre- sentives in the parent crop. If sowing is permissible, it must generally be taken in hand immediately after the completion of the seed-felling. Otherwise, as soon as the leaf-canopy is open enough, seedlings of the’ size most likely to be successful must be put down. ARTICLE 4. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. In order that the procedure sketched out in the preceding articles may be feasible in its entirety several necessary conditions must be present. Firstly, the forest should be pretty regular, and this it can be only if the main factors of production, viz., the soil, the climate and the species, are everywhere the same. Secondly, the age of complete fertility should not be very different from the age of exploitability ; if complete fertility is delayed beyond the latter age regeneration obviously becomes impossible, and if the trees become fully fertile very early, advance growth makes its appearance before the preparatory fellings can be made and these and the seed- felling disappear entirely out of the series of regeneration opera- tions ; moreover, the preservation and fostering of the advance growth then becomes the function ofa totally different kind of felling. Thirdly, regeneration ought to be completely under con- trol and capable of being effected within a very limited period of time; if the required number of seedlings does not appear soon after the seed-felling has been made, the soil suffers from exposure and gets overrun with a heavy growth of weeds and thus regenera~ tion becomes even more difficult and uncertain than it was before; VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE UNIFORM METHOD, 857 moreover, ina mixed forest, it ought to be possible to regulate effectietly the proportionate distribution of the various desirable species in the young crop. Fourthly, the species and the loca- lity should be such that the trees, on the forest being opened out by the seed-and the after-fellings, are neither blown down nor injured by isolation. J%fthly, the species should be able to form a complete leaf-canopy, and thus protect the soil, up to at least the age at which the seed-felling is to be made. Sizthly and lastly, the whole or almost the whole produce of the fellings should be readily marketable. In a pure, or more or less pure, crop, the mere fact of the main species being gregarious proves at least that the first and fourth conditions always, and the fifth generally, are present ; and hence it is only necessary to ascertain whether the other three conditions also obtain to determine whether the uniform method is or is not applicable. -If it is applicable, the formation of regular crops en- sures the permanence of the main species. In a mixed forest the consideration of the problem is more complex. A mixed forest may be composed either (A) to a great extent of a single strong gregarious species, or (B) mainly of two such species, or (C) mainly of more than two such species, or (D) of numerous species, none ‘of which shows any tendency to become gregarious. (A) If the mixed forest is composed toa great extent of a single strong gregarious species, we have a case resembling that of a pure forest, with the exception that the presence, however restricted, of the companion species renders the regeneration more certain and complete. Butitis necessary that the gregarious species should be one which possesses a high market value and for which there is an extensive demand ; otherwise the uniform age and height of each crop would only favour this exclusive species at the expense of the more valuable ones, already in far too small a minority, and the present method of regeneration would be inap- plicable. (B) If the forest consists mainly of two strong gregarious species, neither of which is much sought after, whereas some of the rest have a high market value, the inapplicability of the uniform method is more clearly indicated than even in the first case, for here the other trees havetwoadverse species much stronger than themselves {o struggle against, instead of only a single one. But if one at least of these gregarious species is valuable and sells readily, the method may be adopted, provided the two species have totally 358 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. different requirements (Pinus longifolia and the grey oak, deodar and oak, &c., for example) and all other conditions are favourable The uniform nature of the crops will enable the forester to favour the more extensive distribution of the more valuable of them, while utilising the other to shelter the ground. (C) If there are more than two strong gregarious species, we not only get a more complex case of hypothesis B, but the uni- form method itself generally ceases to be applicable owing to the difficulty of reconciling the conflicting requirements of so many different masterful species. (D) When the crop is composed of numerous species none of which has any tendency to become gregarious, the uniform me- thod will be altogether inapplicable. To resume what precedes, the special combination of circum- stances which constitute a justification for adopting the uniform method seldom occurs in India. When it does occur, the method will receive its widest application in pure forests and in mixed forests composed principally of a single valuable gregarious species, only a restricted one in forests consisting of more than one grega- rious species, and none at all in other classes of mixed forests. Provided the gradients are not too steep, or the soil or aspect unfavourable, or the elevation too high, it is generally extremely well adapted for Pinus longifolia pure or mixed with Quercus in- cana, for Quercus incana and semecarpifolia pure, and for deodar pure or mixed (especially with oak). Under certain circumstances it may be applied to forests of sal, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Mesua Jerrea, &e. Occasionally, but very rarely, it may suit even teak. One great and, at present, insurmountable obstacle to the adop- tion of the method in this country, in many tracts for which it is otherwise suitable, is the fact that in respect of timber the demand is usually limited to only one or two of the component species, and in respect of both timber and firewood it is equal to only a small fraction of the annual production. No doubt trees that cannot be sold, but must be got rid of for cultural reasons, may be killed by girdling and allowed to rot and crumble to dust stand- ing ; but this isa method of getting over the difficulty that is prac- ticable only where the majority of the trees composing the forest are saleable. Where the uniform method is applicable, its employment brings with it many very important advantages. As the work of regene- ration is not allowed to spread over the whole forest at once, but is in each year confined to a definite area which is only a very small THE GROUP METHOD. 359 fraction of the entire extent of the forest, labour can be properly organised, directed and supervised, thereby securing the maximum of efficiency and economy, the damage to the forest growth, inevitable in all heavy felling and export operations, is localised and minimised, and is, therefore, easily repaired, and labour-saving contrivances, such as sawing machines, sledge-roads,. slides, tram- ways, floating, &c., can be adopted for the conversion and export of the large accumulation of produce at one spot. In the next place, as the coupes may be made to follow each other on the ground in the order of their dates, the export line which has served this year will have only to be slightly extended to the next coupe to do‘duty again the following year; andso on. Then again, as the successive coupes form a regular gradation of ages, the youngest crops will be situated in one place, so that if, a part of the forest has to be kept open for grazing or for any other purpose, all the older areas, in which the crops are old and tall and strong enough to run no risk of injury, may be thrown open. Lastly, the lines on which work is to proceed can be previously laid down with such systematic regularity that little margin is left for individual discretion or caprice, so that foresters of only average intelligence and training may be employed to carry it out. SECTION V. The group method. However irregular a forest may be and ill-suited for the adop- tion of the uniform method, if we examine it closely enough, we shall nearly always find that it consists of a number of smaller or larger homogeneous parts or groups, each of which separately may be regenerated by the usual succession of serial fellings, the uni- form application of which to the whole forest, were it suffici- ently regular, would constitute the uniform method. In this way we arrive at the group method, which thus differs from the uniform method mainly in that it deals with much smaller units, the areas subjected to one and the same class of felling being scattered about intead of being all in one place and forming a single continuous mass of forest. Whereas in the uniform method fairly con- spicuous differences of soil, area, species and growth are not unfre- quently overlooked in the formation of the annual coupe, in the group method each group is treated on its own individual merits.* * Those who are acquainted with the history of forestry in France will observe that the parcellaire in an amenagement used, not very long ago, to be an attempt to reconcile the group and uniform methods, parcelle and group being nearly synony- mous, 860 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. The differentiation of a forest into dissimilar groups results from one or more of the following causes :—difference of aspect, eleva- tion and gradient, different degrees of exposure to dangerous winds, differences in the depth, physical characters, chemical composition and moisture of the soil, differences of subsoil, &. An important consequence, flowing from the great principle of independent treat- ment on which the group method is based, is that no group is taken in hand for regeneration unless circumstances are ripe for it, unless, in other words, its success is from the very beginning assured. We are now in a position to consider the extent and manner of application, in the present case, of the three classes of serial rege- neration fellings. ARTICLE 1. THE PREPARATORY FELLINGS. It will nearly always happen that when a group is taken in hand, a more or less complete advance growth has already made its ap- pearance, rendering preparatory fellings entirely superfluous. In some groups, however, it may be found that the trees require encouragement in order to become good seed-bearers and nurses, and that the soil is not in a fit condition for the reception and ger- mination of seed and the prosperous growth of the resulting seed- lings ; in such groups the preparatory fellings cannot be dispensed with, but they will assume a different character according to the~ special conditions obtaining. For instance, in one case, although the trees in the group itself may be thin and weak-crowned and un- able to sow the ground for many years to come, yet the surrounding groups may contain good seed-bearers capable of sowing most, if not the whole, of its area, in which case the preparatory operations as such will be limited mainly to improving the soil, and in any felling that may be made, the preparation of the trees as seed- bearers and nurses will be entirely subordinated to the constant maintenance of a protection-affording leaf-canopy and to the thin- ning out of the forest growth for increased production. This thinning will do nothing more than remove only weak, suppressed or unhealthy and unsound trees and those that are low-crowned, and the leaf-canopy will never be opened out to the same extent as under similar conditions in the uniform method. In a second case, the stock in the group to be operated upon being the same as be- fore, the surrounding groups also may contain unfertile trees; in TNE GROUP METHOD. 86L this contingency the preparatory fellings will be made on the very same principles as in the uniform method. This will also be the case, if the group is so large that the surrounding forest cannot exercise any influence on its vegetation and reproduction except over only a very small fraction of its area. And soon. Hence it may be laid down as a general rule that, unless the group is very large, the amount of felling to be effected inside it will depend not only on its own condition, but also on the density of the surround- ing groups, the share they can take in its regeneration, and the ex- tent to which they themselves can bear being thinned out in order to let in light sideways. In other words, under no circumstance should the leaf-canopy be opened outin any marked degree or over any considerable area, a limitation that is not difficult of obser- vance, since the essential character of the method is not to under- take regeneration operations except where conditions favourable to success are already indicated. We thus see that preparatory operations lose here nearly all the great importance which necessarily attaches to them in the uniform method. Often they can be dispensed with, and where they are required, they assume more the character of an ordinary thinning (see Boox IIL). ARTICLE 2. THE SEED-FELLING Like the preparatory fellings, the seed-felling also may become un- necessary owing to the presence of advance growth. Where there is no advance growth, there of course it cannot be omitted; butin pro-~ portion to the diminishing size of the group and the consequently in- creasing certainty of complete sowing from outside, it gradually dwindles down to a mere preparation of the soil, the effects of which need not last beyond the following two or three years. Consistently with the principle, always to be observed in the group method, of keeping the leaf-canopy everywhere as full as possible, the seed- coupe, except when the area of the group is extensive, will be darker than under similar circumstances in the uniform method ; for in addition to the various considerations which regulate the severity of the felling in that method, we have the two following :— (i) Lateral illumination. If the surrounding groups are open enough, a considerable amount of sidelight will find its way inside through them ; and, if the growth in those groups is very dense, it will always bear being thinned out, thereby saving to a certain the leaf-canopy in the enclosed group. 362 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. (ii) Protection to adjoining groups. If these have, owing to work or accidents, become open, their safety demands very light fellings in bordering forest, particularly on the side of dangerous winds and a powerful sun. This will be no disadvantage for the group in which the seed-felling is to be made, since the balance of the light required will come in laterally. Another important point to note in connection with the group method is that the seed-fellng may be undertaken even in the total absence of fertile trees within the area of the coupe, provided such trees stand immediately outside, especially to windward. Hence, regeneration may often be commenced at an earlier age than it could, under similar circumstances, be undertaken in the uniform method. ARTICLE 3. THE AFTER-FELLINGS. These are the only fellings of the regeneration series that can never be dispensed with. More so than even in the seed-felling, the character of the surrounding groups must be allowed to exer- cise its full influence on the progress and establishment of the seedlings and on the extent of the fellings. Thus in a small group surrounded on every side by dense forest not yet under regene- ration, the after-fellings must be made with a freer hand than would, under similar circumstances, be permissible in the uniform method, and the last after-felling must be made comparatively early, since the surrounding forest will make up for any deficiency of overhead shelter caused thereby. The object of these severer and earlier fellings is to let in light sideways into the bordering. forest and thus serve for it as preparatory and seed-felling com- bined, so that beginning with a small completely regenerated group as a centre, the regenerated area may go on extending itself in every direction. On the other hand, in a large group, enclosed by others the regeneration of which has already been completed, the after-fellings, must, as compared with an equivalent case in the uniform method, be lighter, more frequently repeated and spread over a longer period, especially along its edge, which, indeed wilk from the very outset enjoy lateral illumination. The procedure will be slowest and most cautious of all if the surrounding groups contain only an open crop with little or no reproduction on the ground. What has just been said may be shortly resumed thus :—In making the after-fellings in the group method, while you must THE GROUP METHOD, 363 follow generally all the rules laid down for the execution of similar fellings in the uniform method, you must give full weight to the action and reaction of neighbouring groups on each other. Ac- cording to the nature and intensity of this mutual influence will be the frequency and severity of the fellings and the period over which they should extend. ARTICLE 4. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. The principal characteristics of the group method are as follows:— (1) The regeneration fellings are undertaken only over advance growth or where Nature gives unmistakable promise of success by herself preparing the way. (2) Every group is made, to the utmost of its capability, to directly assist the vegetation and regeneration of the adjoining groups. (3) Regeneration begins comparatively early, certainly earlier than in the uniform method. (4) The leaf-canopy is constantly maintained as full as possible, consistently with the unimpeded growth of the trees and the seedlings, so that the fertility of the soil is maintained at its maximum and injurious weather influences are effectually kept out. (5) The entry ofeach group upon its regeneration and its passage from one stage of regeneration to the next is a gradual process, admitting of no violent changes, such as necessarily occur in the uniform method, in which every portion of a coupe is rigidly subjected to one and the same operation. (6) The treatment of each group according to its own special requirements, and the absence of uniformity of age or height, except over very limited areas, are specially favourable to a mixed growth and to the just apportionment to each species of the place due to it, so that every valuable or useful species is given a chance of attaining its widest distribution and largest dimensions. (7) As the groups undergoing one and the same class of rege- neration fellings are necessarily detached from one another and constitute severally only a small fraction of the aggregate area, failures due to unavoidable accidents or bad work are localised, and do less harm and are more easily repaired than if all the groups formed one continuous area. (8) The method admits of considerable elasticity of execution, 864 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. so that it is adapted to a fluctuating market, provided that the demand never falls below a certain minimum and takes in most of the classes of produce the forest can yield. (9) As we mostly wait for nature, and never try violently to push her along, the aggregate time required for regenerating a large area composed, as it must always be, of groups of various ages, is generally longer than in the uniform method; but, on the other hand, the regeneration of any individual group, when it has once been taken in hand, is usually a rapid process. (10) The scattered fellings necessitate a long and intricate system of roads. (11) Being the most analytic and detailed of the various methods of natural regeneration, its application demands the high- est degree of skill, care, watchfulness,- activity and industry, and hence more specialised and stronger establishments than any other method. (12) Owing to characteristics (10) and (11) it is also the most expensive of all the various methods. ~ Characteristics 1-8 are unmixed advantages of the highest order. Characteristic 9 is in no sense a disadvantage, for while the new generation is gradually making its appearance, the annual increase per acre, thanks to the constantly full leaf-canopy, and the early commencement of regeneration (Characteristics 4 and 3), can still goon undiminished. Nor is characteristic 10 invariably a disad- vantage, for under no other method of regeneration that is applicable toa forest in which conditions vary from place to place, could export be rendered easier. Characteristics 11 and -12 are certainly drawbacks in the present backward condition of the country. The group method is peculiarly suited for forests in which the soil, locality and species and the condition of the crop exhibit wide divergences at short intervals. A forest may contain numerous places, where, owing to the deterioration of the soil, or to damage to the stock by snow or fire or animals or from previous unrestrict- ed enjoyment, or to the presence of groups of very much younger trees than the predominant age-class, &e., it may be necessary to begin regeneration at once before the operations can be extended into the immediately adjoining areas, thus laying the foundation for the group method. Itis especially in mixed forests and in those, whether mixed or pure, in which advance growth begins to come up long before the trees are large enough to be felled, that the method will find its most obvious application. THE STRIP METHOD. 365 SECTION III. The strip method. DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD. In this method also we make preparatory, seed and after-fellings, but the coupes do not extend over large irregularly-shaped areas or coincide with well-defined homogeneous groups, as in the two preceding methods respectively, but forma succession of long parallel strips of equal width run- ning right through the forest or division of the forest, as the case may be. To take the simplest case, let us suppose that strip I (Fig. 116), having gone through the preparatory and seed stages, ' is now to be subjected to after-fellings ; then strip II will form the seed coupe and strip III the preparatory coupe, the area beyond being untouched forest, the regeneration of whichis in due course to follow. Thus in each coupe in its turn the successive regeneration fellings follow one another in the same order as in the uniform method and are based on the same principles ; but here also, as in the group method due weight has to be given to the possibility of lateral shelter and illumination and to seed coming in from border- ing trees. Asin the group method, the preparatory fellings and even the seed-felling may become entirely superfluous ; but where- ever they have to be made, should a group of advance growth be met with, this group must be treated as in the group method. The degree of assimilation in this respect with the group method will be in proportion tu the absence of homogeneity in the forest. If an interval of several years elapses between one effective seeding and the next, no seed-felling will obviously be made in the intermediate years, but each year a new strip will be brought un- der preparation, and when the next seeding occurs, the seed-felling will be made at once over as many strips as have been under pre- paratory fellings during that interval. When such is the case, after-fellings will not, like the preparatory ones, progress by single strips each year, but will be made over the entire number of strips sown simultaneously. As seed-fellings always yield a large quan- tity of produce, the deficit caused by their stoppage during any year must be chiefly made up by repeating the after-fellings more frequently than they would otherwise be made. The width of tho strips will of course depend on the soil, climate, configuration of the ground, component species, frequency and abundance of seeding, difficulty of germination, &c. In a general manner it may be said that the width will be in direct proportion to the ease and certainty with which regeneration can be accom- 366 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. plished. It may vary from 100 to several hundred feet, but when the forest is wanting in uniformity and the fellings assume some- what of the irregular character that characterises them in the group method, it ought generally not to exceed the height of the crop through which the strip runs. If any dangerous wind blows, the strips will run at right angles to it and, beginning from the further end of the forest, will succeed one another in the opposite direction. Otherwise they will be so aligned, as to take in the several parts of the forest as nearly as possible in the order of the urgency with which their regeneration is demanded. If a hill is situated inside the forest, this order will generally be secured by following more or less closely contour lines (Fig. 117). The work of distribution will often be facilitated by adopting two or more series of successive strips as shown in Fig. 118, a procedure that indeed becomes obligatory when the forest is so narrow or so large that a single strip could not include the aggregate area of one year’s fellings. These separate series of strips, besides satistying cultural exigencies, should be so located as to serve separate markets and possess separate export lines, thereby securing easier distribution of the produce and higher selling rates. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. This method enjoys all the advantages of the uniform method, while, owing to its always keeping the ground well covered, it prevents the risks which, in that method, necessarily accompany failure in regenera- tion. It can also be adopted in storm-beaten localities where the uniform method would result in wind-falls on a gigantic scale. In these two respects, and in that it can be adapted to the regenera- tion of even irregular forests by narrowing the strips and utilising every patch of advance growth, it resembles the group method, to which it is superior in that the work is concentrated within a well- defined narrow strip of ground, which, if level enough, would itself form the most advantage ous export line. It is particularly suitable for forests in which a more or less complete advance growth comes up, without any. special seeking, during or soon after the middle age of the crop (as in most forests of sal, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Hardwickia binata, Terminalia tomentosa, $c.) ; in which case a single clear after-felling will often be all that will be required, Lastly, the strip method requires much less skill and care, and not more labour, than the uniform method. Its adoption, however, like that of the uniform method, presupposes a demand for all or most of the produce the forest can yield, as itis not so elastic as the group method. JARDINAGE OR THE SELECTION METHOD. 367 SECTION IV. Jardinage or the Selection Method. DESCRIPTION OF THE. METHOD. In this method one or two, some- times even more, trees are taken out from various points scattered over the entire forest or, if the forest is large, over a considerable portion of it, wherever the advance: growth or the condition of the forest requires their removal. There is thus never any point of time at which the original crop can be said to have ceased to exist and to have been replaced by a new generation and the process of rege- neration is not, as in other methods, confined to a.definite period, but is intended to go on without any intermission except what necessarily results from an. intermittence in the production of seed. The consequence of such procedure is that the various age- classes get all inextricably intermixed and no rotation for the crop is possible. The essence of the method is never- to uncover the ground, and hence the rule is to-permit only the-slightest opening out of the leaf-canopy anywhere, consistent with the appearance, establishment and growth of the new seedlings. In every high forest left.to itself numerous patches of advance growth always make their appearance (i) under-old:trees whose crowns have begun to contract and become lighter, (ii) in the midst of an open crop of large: poles, and (iii) wherever else, owing to any other cause, the conditions of light and cover are favourable. It is over such patches of advance growth that the jardinage fellings are chiefly made. The opening out of the- leaf canopy over each patch not only encourages. the- development of the seedlings composing it, but has also the-effeet, thanks to lateral illumination, of causing it to. extend itself in every direction. Thus the question of lateral illumination acquires far-more import- ance here than even in the group method. The size-of the gaps to be made in the leaf-canopy will in any case depend mainly on the extent and condition of the patches-of advance growth, on the nature of the species, on the mildness or severity of the climate, on the character of the soil, and, in hilly country, also on the steep- ness of the gradients and liability to. landslips and:erosion. The more unfavourable prevailing conditions are for the maintenance and growth of forests and especially for the appearance and establishment of new reproduction, the smaller must the gaps be, and in extreme cases not more thana single tree may be taken out from any point, even where the crop is dense. The trees to fell will include (a) those that are dead, dying or 368 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. unsound, or are unlikely. to continue sound till the next exploita- tion ; (b) perfectly sound ones which stand over advance growth and have attained exploitable dimensions, and (c), if the quantity of timber obtained from classes (a) and (6) make up less than the annual yield, also the less valuable and less promising individuals of smaller size which interfere or threaten to interfere with the growth of the trees of the future in over-crowded places.* Trees falling under class (a) must be marked first, the balance being taken from the other two classes. If the balance to be made up is small or even nil, no drawback will ensue, since the removal of so many trees of class (a) willin any case let in the amount of light required. The thinning out of over-crowded places is designed directly to help the growth of the more valuable individuals ; at the same time it indirectly contributes towards the appearance of advance growth. Ifwe do not thin, nature herself will effect the thinning, but not until the surviving stems have lost much time and some of their vigour in gradually suppressing their neighbours, and these, being dead and more or less decayed, have lost most of their value as timber. Moreover, in a natural thinning there is no guarantee that it will be the most desirable species that will van- quish in the struggle. Hence, even if there is no sale for the stems that require removal, they can at any rate be got rid of by girdling, the slight expense of which operation will be covered several times over by the improved production of the forest. If the forest is of limited extent, it is impossible to avoid going over the entire area every year ; but if it is sufficiently extensive, ‘it should be divided into 5-20 coupes, which will be worked succes- sively in rotation, so that each coupe may enjoy complete rest tor a number of years, during which the young growth will have time to recover from the felling and export operations and continue to push on unmolested. Numerous coupes, by concentrating the fellings, will also facilitate export and supervision. The number of coupes will be directly proportionate to the extent of the forest, the quantity of sound exploitable stock, the slowness of regenera- tion, the shade-enduring capacity of the component species, the time which the seedlings take to establish themselves, the amount of unavoidable damage in the exploitations and the tardy recovery of the stock therefrom, and the caution which the nature of the climate and locality and the mode of growth and the sensitiveness to injury from exposure of the species in question impose on any *See also uuder Ordinary Thinnings in Book III. JARDINAGE OR THE SELECTION METHOD. 369 interference with the leaf-canopy. On the other hand, when the number of dead and deteriorating trees islarge, as may well hap- pen in the class of forests handed to us by past improvidence, the fellings must pass quickly through the forest until such material has been utilised. As the jardinage operations necessarily spread over a compara- tively large area and take place in the midst of close growing stock of all ages, the felling and export must be effected with very great care. Where young growth of broad-leaved species has been badly injured, it should be cut back to enable it to reform itself properly. Recourse to artificial methods will rarely be needed except to introduce an absent species or to increase the proportion of one that is insufficiently represented. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. Since regeneration never ceases anywhere, the regeneration and the education of the forest, two operations that are never coincident in any other method, must here go on hand in hand together; and jardinage is therefore not merely a method of regeneration, but really a complete method of treatment. It is nature’s own method, for in it nothing is done to force her out of the lines she has laid down for herself; only the way is rendered easier for her to follow upon these lines. From what precedes it will be seen that jardinage is not the rude and primitive method of treatment which most European books decry as fit only to be employed there where no other method is practicable. Understood in its true sense, it takes front rank side by side with the three preceding methods already described. In- deed, an intensive jardinage borders so closely upon the group method that the boundary line between the two is scarcely to be distinguished, and the latter is thus seen to be really the connecting link between the uniform method on the one hand and jardinage on the other—an attempt to treat every portion of a forest on its own merits while striving as much as possible to localise the various age-classes. Allusion has just been made to intensive jardinage. While the system may be made as intensive as one likes, so that it practically merges into so elaborate a system as the group method, it can, on the other hand, be made as simple as possible and reduced to the extraction of only a few trees a year belonging to asingle species out of many composing the forest. Moreover, as the fellings are made solely over advance growth, only as many trees as are re- 370 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. quired at any time need be felled, whereas the other methods, which include preparatory and seed-fellings, are totally impracticable in the presence of a widely fluctuating market. This extreme elas- ticity of jardinage makes it of special value to us in India with its ruined inaccessible forests and the absence of a market for any but a few species of timber trees, so that the employment of any other method of natural regeneration by seed is, in the majority of cases, entirely excluded, at least for the present. Other important advantages afforded by jardinage are— (Gi) Constant maintenance of the leaf-canopy in as full a condz- tion as the prevailing conditions allow. Hence jardinage is the best, and often the only method to employ in forests or belts of forest kept up for the protection of slopes, for shelter against storms, cold and hot winds, &c., and in forests exposed to climatic extremes, as at high altitudes, on the crests of ridges, in the midst or on the borders of deserts, &c., where an open growth would be fatal to the very existence of the forest as forest. In all such forests trees belonging to class (a) alone will, asa rule, be taken out. (ii) Constant maintenance and improvement of the soil. This is a consequence of (i). Whence the special applicability of jardinage in forests growing on very rocky, stony, shallow or dry soils. (iii) Continued greater or less freedom of the soil from invasive weeds and brushwood. This is also a consequence of (i) and renders reproduction easy and reduces the risk and destructiveness of forest fires. (iv) Certainty of regeneration. Advantages (i), (ii) and (iii) all contribute to this end, whichis further assured by the time for regeneration being unlimited and by the fact that the leaf-canopy is interrupted only after, never before, young growth has made its appearance. (v) The little skill and experience required in the application of the method. The working of the forest may be reduced almost to mere rule of thumb. Thus the entire working of a forest may often be expressed in a short formula like the following:— “In each coupe cut out 500 teak trees 6 feet and upwards in girth, those nearest their decline being preferred.” If an intensive form of jardinage can be applied, the rule will prescribe the number to be cut in each diameter-class and it may also fix the respective pro- portions of the various species in each class. And so on. The advantage here considered is of immense importance in a backward country like India, where for many years to come the net revenue JARDINAGE OR THE SELECTION METHOD. . 371 per acre will be too small to enable us to maintain a full esta- blishment of highly-trained, and therefore highly-paid, men. The amount of skill required does, it is true, become slightly greater with the increasing intensity of the jardinage ; but that is no draw- back, since increasing intensity of treatment implies improved markets and a rising net revenue, conditions which justify a larger expenditure on better trained establishments. Against these enormous and unique advantages only two dis- advantages can be adduced. In the first place, owing to the regeneration being spread over the whole area of the forest, pro- tection becomes difficult and the admission of grazing into any part of the forest becomes impossible ; and, in the second place, owing to the exploitable trees being scattered, felling and export cost more than when the trees are all close together, and supervi- sion has to be exercised on a more extensive scale. The opponents of jardinage, carried away by their prejudice against the system, bring against it also other far heavier charges. They say (1) that in consequence of the frequently recurring opera- tions, the trees and young growth get badly injured, the result being a very large proportion of unsound and misshapen trees and loss of production; (2) that the irregularity of the stock is the cause of knotty, crooked, unsymmetrically developed timber, which therefore seasons badly and is liable to warp and split; and (3) that the “necessary absence of thinnings and unregulated regeneration” result in a faulty distribution of species, and that even if individuals of the more valuable kinds chance to survive, they do so after having exhausted and permanently weakened themselves in the struggle from which they have emerged success- fully. These charges are easily answered, for they are all based ona petitio principit. In the first place, isit the truth that the jardi- nage operations are more frequently recurring than the suceessive fellings made in any other kind of treatment? Of course not. The opponents of jardinage only take into account the regenera- tion fellings in the other systems of treating a forest, whereas they must bring into the same line the thinnings made at short inter- vals. Thus the frequency of the operations in jardinage not being greater, why isit impossible to effect the felling and export with just as much care as in any other method? The indictment brought against jardinage, and just proved to be baseless, owes its origin to the fact that the method being relegated in Europe to steep mountainous country, the felled as well as the standing wood gets 372 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. badly injured owing to the nature of the ground. But in such localities would any other method of regeneration do less damage? Obviously not. In the second place, to deal- with charge (2), why should forests under jardinage produce worse timber than any other class of forests situated under the same conditions of soil, climate, species and quality of vegetation? “When such conditions are as favourable in jardinage forests as in those to which the method previously described are always applied, the select trees never have anything more than their whole crown, if so much, free, the boles being closely surrounded from first to last by the younger growth which fills up the intervals between these trees, certainly more closely than can occur in a crop in which the trees, being of one age, are more or less of the same height’and vigour. Now why should boles formed under such conditions be more knotty and crooked than under the conditions obtaining ina one-age crop? The charge is really too absurd to deserve even being noticed. Here again the particular circumstances found in those steep and inhospitable regions to which jardinage has been banished are generalised for jardinage everywhere. Ifin those same regions any other of the vaunted superior methods were applied, what would be the result? Not even the production and maintenance of a forest composed of a large portion of crookéd and knotty trees, but the complete disappearance ofall forest growth. In the third and last place, “the necessary absence of thinnings” and “un- regulated regeneration” are pure assumptions. In the cold, bleak, sparsely populated and inaccessible regions where alone European foresters will give jardinage a chance, small timber has obviously little or no value, and thinnings would be an expensive surplus- age ; but adopt the method ina forest commanding a ready market for all it can-produce, and thinnings would be just as essential an adjunct of jardinage as of any other system of regeneration, only they must be made on a different principle (see Chapter on Ordina- ry Thinnings in Book III). SECTION I. The method of clearings. DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD.—In this method a wide area is completely cleared, regenaration being expected to follow imme- diately from seeds entering from outside. The seeds may be brought in by one or more of the following agencies. (i) Wind. The extent to which the wind can in any case be relied on will depend on its velocity and direction at the time the THE METHOD OF CLEARINGS. 373 seeds ripen, and on the transportability, ze. weight and shape, of the seeds. Seeds will of course be carrried furthest when the wind blows down a slope. (ii) Gravitation. For this cause to be effective the coupe should be situated at the foot of, or on, a slope, with fertile trees standing above. If itis ona slope, the seeds should be caught in the ground and not go on rolling or slipping down to the bottom ; so that the steeper the gradients are, the rougher must be the hillside, or the smaller, lighter, flatter or otherwise clinging the seeds. Gii) Surface drainage. Heavy rain falling on saturated soil will always tend to wash down seeds to lower levels and the quan- tity arrested in any place will depend on the obstacles presented by the roughness of the ground or an abundant covering of herbs and shrubs, on the size, weight, shape and nature of the seeds, and on the amount of overflow. Ifthe soil has been hardened and cleared ofall low vegetation by heavy grazing or fire, the seeds will mostly be washed away into the streams and hollows, especially if, like teak, they cannot anchor themselves quickly by early germination. Those seeds which are carried into streams that spread out over wide areas, will be deposited in slack water and left high and dry when the flood waters subside into the regular channels, as happens ona large scale in respect of sissu and Acacia Catechu where Himalayan streams debouch into the plains, and of tamarisk and Acacéa arabica in the Indus valley. (iv) The alternate ebb and flow of the tides. This cause is effective on low coasts and in estuaries and deltas of rivers. In addition to the effectiveness and certainty of action of the causes just considered, successful regeneration presupposes a suit- able soil and favourable climatic conditions. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. From the foregoing it is evident that this method cf regeneration can be resorted to only in those very rare instances, in which all the prevailing conditions are exceptionally favourable. As it is impossible, or next to im- possible, to say for certain whether they are so, the risk run in its employment is so great that a slight error of judgment may result in the utter ruin of the coupe, and even if the best happened, it might be more than a quarter of a century before the ground got covered again. Subsequent resort to artificial regeneration would, owing to the deterioration of the soil and the presence of weeds, be ex- tremely difficult and costly. The frequently flooded islands and low ground in the deltas of our great rivers, the chaors and kachus of 374 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SERED. the Indus, the low islands of Acacia Catechu and Zizyphus at the base of the Himalayas, the easier slopes occupied by Pinus longi- folia, &e. may offer occasions for employing this method; but before attempting to generalize it in any given locality, careful and cautious experiments must be made to place its efficacy be- yond all doubt and independent of all contingencies. SECTION II. The method of cleared lines, DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD.—In this method long narrow belts of uniform width are completely cleared through the forest and the bordering trees are expected to sow them. The width of the cleared belts is generally limited to the average height of the forest through which they are cut, so that the seeds have to be carried only avery few feet either way in order to reach the middle. On level ground the lines should run at right angles to the diree- tion of dangerous winds. In hilly country, however, considerations of quite a different nature must determine the direction of the lines. When the gradients are moderate and there is no danger of the cleared lines degenerating into watercourses or of the young growth on them being injured by the slow ylacier-like downward movement of lying snow, it is advisable to make them follow lines of steepest descent, thereby securing the following advantages :— (1) the trees, as they are felled, will not have to come crashing down the hill side through standing forest that is to be preserved ; (2) as most of the wood and timber will slip down to the lowest point of the slope, z.e., into the valley below, their conversion, and particularly their export, will be singularly facilitated ; (3) the downward rush of the trees and logs will prepare the ground for the future sowing by destroying all injurious undergrowth, loosening the soil, and pulverising and mixing up with it any over- lying accumulation of half-decomposed leaves and other vegetable debris, which would otherwise be a real obstacle to the regeneration. But if there is danger in following lines of steepest descent, the cleared lines must obviously run more or less horizontally ; and in that case, they ought to succeed each other from the top down- wards, so that the new generation may never have trees coming down crashing through it; and an intact belt of forest should be left above all in order to sow successively all the clearings made below. This topmost parent belt itself can of course never be cut away and it must, therefore, be regenerated by jardinage ; its THE METHOD OF CLEARED LINES, 875 exposed situation near the ridge will nearly always render any other mode of natural regeneration impossible. On level ground the produce of the coupe should, as far-as possible, be taken out by the cleared line itself, in order that the traffic may loosen the soil, break and crush down injurious weeds, comminute and force into the mineral soil the top layer; if there is any, of undecomposed vegetable débris, and press fallen seeds into the ground. Grubbing out the trees, if the price of the extra wood obtained at least covers cost of extraction and the. requisite labour is available, would be a further powerful help towards pre- paring the soil for successful sowing. The coupes need not succeed each other on the ground year after year in the respective order of their dates, but at intervals of years varying with the readiness and certainty of reproduction, the favourable nature of the soil and climate, and the rapidity of growth of the seedlings. Asarule, the forest on both sides of a cleared line should be left intact as long as the reproduction on it is not assured, and the successive coupes must then form a number of separate groups, the number depending on the interval elapsing between the clearing of one line and that of the one immediately adjoining it. VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD.—The advantages this method offers are numerous. Rain falls directly on the ground and on the young seedlings; heavy dews can form and direct sunlight and a genial warmth are admitted without risk of frost or excessive insolation ; air circulates freely without any entrance being given to dangerous winds ; the roots of the young plants are not prevented from extending themselves and drawing nourishment from the soil by the more extensive and more powerful root- apparatus of large trees standing in their midst; the felling and export operations need never interfere with the new: generation, except in so far as they may injure advance growth, which indeed it is impossible to leave unharmed whatever method of felling we may adopt; the felling and export operations themselves afford the very best preparation for sowing that can be given to the soil, and save resort to those special costly measures which are nearly always an indispensable accompaniment to other methods of natural regeneration by seed ; and, lastly, the almost mathematical regu- larity and extreme simplicity of the work of regeneration demand but little skill and experience on the part of the forester to con- duct it toa successful issue. Moreover, the new crop becomes established earlier than in any other method of natural regenera- 376 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. tion by seed. But an essential condition for success is that the species to be reproduced should be at least fairly hardy and tena- cious and fructify abundantly nearly every year, and that their seeds should germinate readily. If there is already some advance growth on the ground, the chances of success are then completely assured. In consequence of the rapidity with which the new generation must make its appearance, if itis to appear at all, there is the danger in mixed forest of undesirable species gaining an undue predominance in the new crop. Moreover, the complete uncover- ing of the ground favours the appearance and establishment of coppice-shocts at the expense of seedling growth ; stool-shoots can be prevented by grubbing out the felled trees, but there is no way of keeping out root-suckers. Hence the method of cleared lines is suited only for employment in pure or almost pure forests where the principal species is pre-eminently gregarious. When the ad- vance growth is more or less complete, this method becomes undistinguishable from the strip method. SECTION III. The well method. In this method small clearings, up to half an acre or so in ex- tent, are made here and there throughout the crop to be regene- rated and in this respect itisa sort of exaggerated jardinage. Purely natural causes will often produce such large gaps—storms, ravages of elephants, &. As far as regeneration alone is con- ‘cerned, the conditions for success are certainly more favourable here then in the method of cleared lines, since there is effec- tive shelter on every side, and whichever way the wind may blow or the ground slope, the area must get completely sown. But, on the other hand, in regard to convenience and economy of conver- sion and export and the restriction of damage caused by those operations, it is so far inferior to that method, that its employment as a system must be confined to those forests in which, owing to the difficulty of securing natural regeneration, either because of the steepness of the slopes or the extreme character of the soil and climate, only small and scattered clearings can be made with safety. Like the method of cleared lines, the well method can yield successful results only with species that seed abundantly, reproduce themselves freely, ‘ grow gregariously, and do not mind a certain amount of smothering in the midst of a rank growth of weeds. It will replace jardinage only where the drip from over- hanging trees is heavy and when the seedlings require from the THE WELL METHOD. 377 beginning more warmth than they can get under a complete cover. Hence, as the main means of regeneration, the well method will always be of only exceptional application, but as a complement to other systems, it may often be employed with advantage. Thus, for instance, a forest may be so badly damaged at certain points that the best thing todo there would be to utilise at once the injured stock and begin its regeneration forthwith ; and so on. CHAPTER VIII. REGENERATION BY COPPICE. Regeneration by coppice, in its broadest sense, may be effected by means either of stool-shoots or of root-suckers or of culms or of pollards, or of any of their combinations. Regeneration by stool- shoots is that most commonly employed, since all broad-leaved species can grow up againin this manner, whereas only a limited number of them can send up root-suckers and only the bamboos produce culms, while pollarding is an entirely exceptional mode of treatment. SECTION I. Regeneration by stool-shoots. Success in regeneration from the stool depends on ten main factors as follows:—(1) the species, (2) the soil, (3) the climate, (4) the age of the stems cut back, (5) the healthiness and sound- ness of the stools, (6) the longevity of the stools, (7) the manner of cutting the stools, (8) the season for cutting, (9) the location of the coupes, and (10) the presence of stores. 1. Influence of the species. The conditions that regulate the relative facility with which the different species grow up again from the stool have already been fully studied on pp. 75-78, to which the student is referred. , 2. Influence of the soil. The soil affects reproduction from the stools by its fertility an | suitability for the species in question and the repeated sudden temporary arrests of vegetation it may bring about (see pp, 14-75). 8. Influence of the climate. This influence is fully described on pp. 74-75 under the head of “Repeated temporary arrests of vigour of crown.” The more vigorous the growth is during the intervals between these tem- porary arrests of vegetative activity, that is to say, the more forcing the climate is, the stronger will be the production of the stool- shoots. 4, Influence of the age of the stems cut back. This influence has been studied in detail on pp. 73 and 91-2. REGENERATION BY STOOL-SHOOTS. 879 The older the stems are up to the limit when they contain their maximum number ot dormant buds, the stronger will be the buds and the larger the shoots they produce. Mere number of stems will never make up for deficient age in this sense, for we want not merely an abundance of shoots, but also strong shoots that. will push up rapidly as soon as they are produced. Obviously the limit of age here referred to will depend on the species, soil and climate. If the crop is actually often cut back before this limit is reached, this is simply because postponement of the exploitation until that period would result in diminished average annual re- turns. 5. Influence of the healthiness and soundness of the stools. Unsoundness or an unhealthy condition of the stool generally spreads into the daughter shoots, more in some species than in others, hardly at all, however, in teak, sal, Terminalia tomentosa and Arjuna, and many of our more valuable trees. In any case, the foot of a stool-grown tree must always contain a part of the dead, decomposing portion of the parent stool, and the larger and the more badly cut this latter has been, the larger and more decomposed will be the portion of dead and rotting wood therein enclosed, and the greater the chance of unsoundness spreading into the foot of the tree and affecting the number and vitality of the dormant buds it contains. 6. Longevity of the parent stool. No trustworthy data are available to show what relation exists between the natural term of life of a tree never cut back and the period of time up to which it can go on shooting up again as often as it is cut back. Inithe case of certain European trees, as the ash, maple, birch, &c., the latter term is certainly shorter, seldom lasting beyond the second or third coppice exploitation, whereas in the case of some others, notably the European oak (Quercus Robur and pedunculata, and many of our Indian species, such as teak, sal, Terminalia tomentosa, &c., no limit has yet been observed to their continued reproduction from the stool. That soil and locality influence toa very great extent the duration of the coppicing faculty, there can be no manner of doubt; but in what way the peculiar attributes of the different species act in this matter, al- though in a measure suggested on pp. 71-79, still remains a ques- tion to be cleared up by future study. 7. Manner of cutting the stool. This includes {1) the height of cutting, (2) the section to give 880 REGENERATION BY COPPICE. to the top of the stool, (3) the iools to use, and (4) the actual mode of effecting the cutting. ‘Heiaur or ourrinc. The stools should be cut as near the ground as possible. The following are the advantages of cutting back flush with the ground :— (i) The bark below that level, being protected by the surround- ing soil, is thinner and softer than in the exposed parts of the stem and thus.allows the dormant buds to come through more easily. (ii) The most numerous and vigorous dermant buds le in the portion of the stem inside the soil, where, protected from drought and atmospheric extremes, they have been multiplying rapidly since the formation of the original collum buds in the first year of seedling life. (iii) ‘The shoots, coming up out of, or immediately in contact with, the soil, develop roots of their own and become at once independent individuals, at the latest in their second year, and thus continue growing up rapidly even after the reserve matter of the parent stool has been exhausted. On the other hand, shoots that come up at some height above the ground, never become independent stems, but remain all their life mere branches of the original stump, most of the roots of which die soon after the tree has been cut down, so that when the reserve food in the stump has been exhausted, the shoots suffer a sudden check of growth. (iv) The shoots resting up against the soil are less easily broken off. When the shoots first come out, they are connected with the parent stool only by a sort of articulation, and hence break off very easily. Shoots that spring up at some height above the ground, besides having no support, are more exposed to the wind. Moreover, while such shoots remain fragile for many years, until they have formed several concentric layers of wood common to themselves and the parent stump, the others soon anchor them- selves firmly in the soil by means of the numerous new roots they send out in every direction. (v) Stools cut flush with the ground soon get concealed under the soil, which retards their inevitable decomposition, and the rapid growth of their numerous daughter shoots causes the most sensitive portion of the section, viz. the region of the cambium and sapwood, to be quickly covered up, thus excluding further atmos- pheric action. Where stools are cut high, the shoots, as a rule, spring up from some point much below the section, which there- fore always remains exposed to the weather. (vi) Owing to the greatest thickness of a tree being at its REGENERATION BY STOOL-SHOOTS, 38st base, the shoots that spring up from that region form a circle wide enough to enable several of them to survive. Hence cutting by the base serves to increase very considerably the number of stems at each exploitation. The result of such increase is seen in an ever~ widening circle of clumps which may all be traced to the original stool at the centre ; the circular arrangement of couse becomes eventually obscured, when several circles, widening out round their respective adjacent original stools, begin to intersect one -another. The number of stools inerease in geometrical progression at each successive exploitation, and an originally open forest may hence become rapidly denser till the crop is complete. Itis ob~ vious that if the stools are cut above a certain height, no increase in their number is possible, for at each exploitation the very same tree has to be cut over again. (vii) As a consequence of all the preceding advantages, each stool cut flush with the ground produces a thick spreading clump and centiibutes very powerfully to the early formation and closing: up of the leaf-canopy and the protection of the seil, which is laid- bare at every exploitation. (viii) As a further consequence of the preceding conditions, when the stools are cut back flush with the ground, the trees re- main sound and healthy right down to the base, and thus not only yield a larger quantify and higher quality of timber, but farnish better stools for the production of the next generation. Moreover, the coppicing power of the trees is thereby prolonged. Some species can throw up shoots from the lowest point of the crown of the roots, and this even if the central portion of the stool has been removed and the main roots completely disconnected from each other; é.g. Zizyphus spp., Acacia Catechu, teak, &. If wood is valuable and the price of the additional wood secured covers or even nearly covers the cost of the special operation, stems of such species, from about 6 inches and upwards in dia- rheter, should be cut inside the ground or stubbed out altogether, according to the circumstances of the case, théreby securing the production of shoots which are equal in aspect, stability, and soundness tothe best seedlings. Itis unnecessary to stub out smaller stools, as their insignificant size cannot interfere with tho soundness and health of the future coppice, and moreover the small amount of wood in their underground portion would hardly ever be worth the trouble or the expense of getting out. There is only a single exception to the general rule laid down regarding the height at which stools should be cut, and that occurs 882 REGENERATION BY COPPICE. when the area, to be exploited is subject to. be flooded or to become marshy. Excess of moisture in contact with the dormant buds would, besides killing or weakening most of them, prevent the necessary amount of heat and air reaching the survivors, and if floods entered, the force of the flood waters would break off the, coppice shoots. Hence in such localities, the stools must neces- sarily be, cut just above the highest level reached by the water and in land that becomes at all marshy, even from irrigation as. in Changa Manga, stubbing. out cannot be thought, of. SURFACE OF SECTION 0E THE STOOL. In cutting the stool above ground two main points should never be forgotten, (1) the edge of the stool. should everywhere be as near the ground as possible, so that every shoot may come up in contact. with the soil; and (2) water should be able to run off directly it falls and nowhere collect on the stool. , Hence.on a slope the section of the stool should run parallel with the surface of the ground; while on level ground the stool should be slightly higher in the middle and slope away thence in every direction to the circumference. In either ease, the surface of section should be even and smooth, without any hollow that may catch water. - When the stool is cut inside the ground, the surface of section need not be very even, so long as no. water can collect over it. When the stool is completely stubbed out, cutting through the top. of the main roots in, the least troublesome and fatiguing manner, 2.e., obliquely, also gives the very best section for the purposes of the coppice. Toots to use. Only cutting tools should be used, viz, axes and hatchets with broad blades, bill-hooks, pruning knives and shears. Saws are entirely out of place, as they leave a ragged, woolly surface, which absorbs water like a sponge and_ hastens decomposition. The weight of the tool should be adapted to the size of the stem to be cut; atool thatis too heavy penetrates little, but gives violent shocks, which rupture the delicate root. fibres and hairs and may altogether prevent any promising re- growth from coming up, The advantage of a bill-hook (Fig. 119) is that it is light and requires much less room than the axe to wield ; but a hatchet is almost as good and its use is more easily learnt. Pruning knives, of which Fig. 120 gives an excellent pattern, may be used with stems up to 13 inches thick, and shears (Figs. 114 and 115) with stems up to # inch thick. It is superfluous to. REGENERATION BY STOOL-BHOOTS, 383 add tnat tools should at all times be sharp enough to cut oné’s finger, and for this reason they should never be struck into the earth, and a grind- or whet-stone should invariably accompany the workmen out in the forest. Tae Actual curtinc. The felling of the tree and the shaping of the stool should never, if it can be helped, be two distinct opera- tions, but every stroke of the axe, hatchet or bill-hook intended for bringing down the tree, should also contribute towards shaping the stool, and vice versd. This recommendation is especially im- portant in India, where every woodcutter, unless specially restrain- ed, will first fell the tree high above the ground, and only then think of cutting back the stump and shaping the stool, so that if the stem is at all thick, he takes atleast thrice as much time as he would do if he combined both objects i in a single operation. Cutting as low as is required for coppice will be found a little irksome at the commencement, but untrained men will soon get into the way of working properly, and an ordinarily skilful man will accomplish the double work almost as quickly as if lie had nothing more to do than to merely fell the tree. In finally trimming off any unevenness or irregularity in the stool, the blows should always be delivered from outside inwards, inclined at an angle of 10-15 degrees with the citeumferenca ¢ ; otherwise either the stool will split or the work progress slowly and the tool be quickly blunted. in whatever way the work is done, every endeavour should be made not to split the stool or to separate the bark from the wood. A split stool dries up quickly and decays more rapidly than a whole one, and wherever the bark separates from the wood, the dormant buds get broken off or killed, rain and dew collect in the crevices and decomposition progresses rapidly downwards along the cambium. To minimise the shaking of the roots, small stems should be cut through in as few sharp blows as possible, and to prevent their being split, they should be supported, on the side opposite to that on which the blows are delivered, with a portable block of wood pressed up against them. For this purpose a tool shaped something like a tent mallet (Fig. 121) will be found very convenient. Stools felled flush with the ground should be at once covered up by dzawing the soil and dead leaves over them. This protects them from the sun and, to a certain extent, also from decomposi- tion. When the stools are cut inside the ground or completely 384 REGENERATION BY COPPICE. stubbed owt, good soil should be placed immediately over the cut sections and the rest of the hole filled up with earth free from wood chips, which would only attract insects and induce rot by their decomposition. It is obvious that the eoupe should be gompletely cleared of fallen produce before the buds begin to expand previous to the appearance of the shoots, 8. Season for cutting, Coppice grown for bark must, if the steaming process is not resorted to, be cut during the first burst of vegetative activity, as it is only then that the bark can be stripped off without being injured ; and stems for wattling and wickerwork must obviously be cut before they are fully lignified, that is to say, soon after the first half of the season of vegetation. Otherwise, the great rule is never to exploit outside the season of vegetative repose, during which the trees possess their largest number of resting buds and contain the maximum quantity of reserve material. The very best time for cutting is the week or two preceding the re-awakening of vegetation, for the cambium, being then gorged with formative sap and released from pressure at the section of the stool, at once forms a strong cementing callus between the bark and wood and effectually prevents their subsequent separation. And the worst possible time is when the new foliage is completely out, as all the reserve food has by that time been exhausted. In any case, as short a time as possible should intervene between the commence- ment of operations and the swelling up of the buds, and work should be stopped as soon as the sap begins to rise and cut surfaces weep or bleed profusely, Where spring brings out the new shoots of the year, the time for felling extends from the beginning of December to the beginning orend of March. But where several days of continuous frost prevail in winter, the exploitation must necessarily be put off until the season of frosts is over; if the cambium is frozen at the time of the cutting, the blows of the woodman’s tools must destroy the connection between the bark and the wood, and if the frost occurs afterwards, the expansion and solidification of the cambium, followed by liquefying thaw, must equally cause a separation. No work is of course possivle in lying snow, When vegetative activity is called forth anew by the summer rains, only night frosts can oceur and the coppicing may go on uninterruptedly from December to May. Not unfrequently there REGENERATION BY. STOOL-SHOOTS. 385 may be occasional falls of xain, in the period from Christmas to April, heavy enough to provoke the appearance of shoots on stools that have already been eut ; but this circumstance need not inter- fere with the progress ef the work (since the standing trees will continue to be at rest just as if no rain had fallen), only the pro- duce should be eleared out as fast as it is cut. Within the total peried suited for coppice operations in the given case, the work nmaust of course be undertaken when labour is available in sufficient abundance. 9. Location of the coupes. The most fruitful sources of injury to stool-shoots are violent or very cold or het er dry winds, frosts, excessive insolation and export operations. Winds are to be feared chiefly on account of their violence, which is inereased by accompanying rain; the rain weights the shoots and to the rush of the wind is added the impetus of the rain drops, and the shoots are either broken off at their insertion or bent and distorted and their upward growth arrested. Very hot or very cold winds are dangerous when they blow before the shoots are thoroughly lignified. To secure protection against a dangerous wind the coupes should be long and narrow, run at right angles to it, and follow one another in the successive order of their dates to meet it, so that there may always be untouched forest between it and the young coppice and it may blow over the shortest dimension ef the coupes, and thus be unable to get down as low as the new shoots. The best protection against frost and excessive insolation also is to narrow down the coupes. An additional preventive measure is to so direct the coupes that the early morning sun shall not shine upon them in case of frost, and from north to south in ease excessive insolation is to be provided against (seé pp. 253-4). It may even be found necessary te keep standing forest for several years on both sides of every coupe, and in that case the order of the coupes will be the same as that described on p. 372, para. 8, and their width may have to be reduced to 100 feet and even less. Narrowing the coupes will also serve to diminish the damage caused by felling and export operations; but a further measure is always indispensable, and that is to make every coupe abut on a road, so that the produce may never have to he carried through adjoining standing forest. Lastly, narrow coupes will also check, toa certain extent, the 386 REGENERATION BY COPPICE. growth of weeds, and, at any rate, protect the soil from rapid dete- rioration and diminish any tendency to waterlogging during the heavy rains. 10. The presence of storés. Against all the injurious influences of weather and soil referred to above the preservation of stores affords considerable protection. But such protection can never be as effective as lateral protection on narrow lines, nor must we forget the fact that stores often injure the new regrowth in their immediate vicinity by their cover and by their much stronger and larger root-apparatus. Never~ theless the presence of a few seatheed stores, from 10 to 20 and even 80 to the acre, according to the height and spread of their crowns and the unfavourable character of prevailing conditions, will allow of the doubling and even trebling of the width of the coupe without exceeding the limits of safety. Itis necessary to add here, in respect of the influence of stores on the undergrowth, that in our climate of extremes, contrary to what happens in the temperate countries of Europe, the sum total of good more often outweighs that of evil. Stores may be preserved fof 1, 2, 8 and even more rotations of the coppice, and then they may be termed respectively stores or standards of the first, second, third...class. When first isolated, their spread of crown and roots is never considerable énough to inflict any appreciable damage on the coppice ; they begin to be+ come dangerous only after the middle of the second rotation of their life. To minimise the dangerous influence of stores, the majority of them may be selected along the edges of the coupes, especially on the windward side, just enough being left in the midst of the coppice to afford the necessary protection, and, if required, also to sow the ground. To save damage, stores are exploited simultaneously with the rest of the stock; but if the rotation is long, dead, dying or deteriorating trees should be utilised at once, if they are not to bé kept until they become quite worthless. The role that stores play in replenishing the coppice by means of the seed they shed, belongs to the subject of Section VI below. SECTION II. Regeneration by root-suckers. This subject may be considered under the same main heads as the preceding one. REGENERATION BY ROOT-SUCKERS. 387 1. Influence of species, soil and climate. This influence has been studied on pp. 78-79, to which the student is referred. 2. Influence of the age of the stems cut back. In reference to this the student should read Condition XV on page 92. He will there see that trees generally continue to throw up root-suckers long after they have ceased to be able to. produce. stool-shoots, 3. Healthiness and soundness of the parent tree. Provided the tree is neither in fts decline nor half-dead nor in full decay, suckers will always be produced ; and, indeed, as often said before, a certain amount of want of vigour increases the. tendency, of a tree to develop them, although there can be no doubt that a strong healthy: tree will, when cut down, throw up stronger, if not more numerous, suckers thana weak tree similarly treated. Local decomposition of the roots is not necessarily opposed to the production of an abundant crop of healthy suckers, unless of course the rottenness is due to fungoid disease, which we know is contagious. 4, Life of forests reproduced successively by means-of root-suckers alone. We have no data for determining the relation this period bears to the natural longevity of the species concerned, but it is pro- bable that itis more prolonged. In the case of sissu, we know that this species can go on reproducing itself thus for several centuries, for on no other hypothesis can be explained its presence (since sissu can reproduce itself from seed only on flooded land) on flat ground which is now several hundred feet above the nearest stream and at least two. miles. away from the main drainage line. of the stream basin. 5. Manner of cutting. If the trees are still young enough to grow up again from the stool; it is evident that unless the stool is grubbed out or cut below the level of the lowest dormant buds, a very: large proportion: of the reserve food will be used up in the formation of stool-shoots, thus reducing by: so much the number and vigour: of the root-suck- ers produced. If simply cutting down the trees has not the effect either of producing a sufficient number of suckers or-of: getting them to come up over a sufficiently wide area round each- 388 REGENERATION BY COPPICE. tree, the roots: in the ground should be woutided or broken by running a strong plough through the soil or by driving picks or’ grubbing axes into it at various points. If necessary, roots may’ be exposed and wounded and then covered up again with good soft soil. As the development of suckers requires.a considerable amount of root-aération, very often, especially in heavily grazed’ forest, it will be found that-it is the hardness of the soil at ther surface that interferes with successful reproduction ;in that case, breaking up this superficial crust may be the only measure re~ quired. 6.. Season for cutting: Here too the best time for felling the trees is the season of vegetative repose. But, contrary to what we have seen obtains: in regard to exploitation for’ stool-shoots, the abundance and vigour’ of the sucker reproduction’ will be greater, the earlier in that season the felling takes place, for the longer the interval of time between the removal of the aérial portion of a tree and the: actual springing up of the suckers is, the greater will be the number’ of new adventitious buds able: to form. on the roots. Amd the most favourable moment for felling will generally occur’ immediately after the cessation of vegetative activity, while the soil is still. warm and moist enough for the necessary chemical changes,. resulting in the formation of new buds, to take place. Never- theless, if the season of repose is very long and. there is reason to fear that severe protracted drought will kill many of the roots, the felling must be delayed until. near the end of the season. 7. The location of the coupes‘ and the presence of stores. The remarks made under these two heads in the preceding: Section hold good here without any modification.. SECTION III. Comparative value of stool-shoots and root-suckers. In the first place, suckers may be produced from almost any point of the area within which the roots of the parent tree have spread ; whereas stool-shoots, it is superfluous to say, cannot, at the outside, stand more than 3-4 feet apart fromeach other. Hence (1) almost every sucker produced has sufficient room to grow up into a pole, if not into a formed tree, whereas on the very largest stool, even if it has been cut inside the ground, hardly half a dozen shoots can REGENERATION BY MEANS OF CULMS, 389 survive beyond the sapling stage; and (2) suckers can be relied upon to rapidly fill up an open forest. In the second place, suckers are practically independent stems from the moment they make their appearance. In the third place, suckers, owing to their very origin, come up perfectly straight from under the ground itself, and being free to develop equally en every side, form concentri¢ rings of uniform thickness throughout, and thus continue to grow up straight ; whereas a stool-shoot, unless it originates from an adventitious bud (a comparatively rare contingency), or is the result of underground exploitation, necessarily starts horizontally and describes a more or less broad curve in assuming a vertical position, and then the parallel growth of its sister-shoots, and especially the presence, on one side, of the parent stool, compels its roots to spread out in only a single directien outwards, so that the strong curve at ihe base of the stem is maintained almost as long as the tree lives, and the irregular structure of the wood renders several feet of the thickest part of the bole unfit for sawing. In the fourth place, stool-shoots, unless they spring up on very small stools (not more than a few inches in diameter), are almost always unsound at the base; whereas trees originating as suckers are, like seedlings, generally sound right down to the crown of the roots. In the fifth place, trees nearly always retain the power of pro- ducing suckers much beyond the age at which they cease to be able to grow up again from the stool. In the sixth place, as suckers can come up during the existence of the parent tree, which can furnish them with nearly all the nourishment they need, they require less illumination to form and grow up than stool-shoots, and are therefore less affected by the presence of stores, which may themselves be the parents of the suckers. We thus see that, provided they belong to economically or culturally valuable species, suckers are nearly always more desi- rable than stool-shoots. SECTION IV. Regeneration by means of culms. Amongst woody species this method of regeneration is possible only with bamboos. Before rules for work can be laid dewn it is necessary to study the peculiar mode of growth of bamboos in general. 390 REGENERATION BY MEANS OF CULMS. ARTICLE 1. Mopz oF GROWTH OF BAMBOOS. On emerging from the seed the bamboo seedling isa simple’ plant consisting of a leafy shoot, fibrous roots and a short compara~ tively thick intermediate portion, from which in the following year the first rhizome is developed. This rhizome at once grows up into a leafy shoot, and from this time forth the plant is a compound one and the formation and growth of the clump begins. In the third year one or more new rhizomes are produced from the “eyes” or underground buds of the original rhizome, and every successive year, until the clump flowers, new rhizomes are similarly produced upon those’ of the previous year. Asa cule, all the eyes do net develop into rhizomes; many remain dormant and some of these may later on grow out under favourable conditions, as when the existing number of unsprouted rhizomes is insufficient to utilise the entire quantity of constructive materials available. According to the abundance of food present and the richness of the soil, one or more of the rhizomes produced upon the same parent rhizome start away-at once to develop into a leafy shoot or culm, while the rest remain dormant and are incapable of sprouting until there is spare food in the clump for them. Some of the shoots, owing to insufficient nourishment or accidental destruction, become aborted after they have begun to develop. Thus aborted, they do not usually die, but their rhizomes, like the dormant ones, may and often do give out new rhizomes if accident places thena under sufficiently favourable conditions. Each successive year the new culms formed are taller and thicker than those of the preceding year and this constant increase of size continues as long as the maximum dimensions attainable by the species in the given soil and locality have not been reached. After this, barring minor differences in different years owing to the varying character of the seasons, the maximum dimensions are maintained until the clump fructifies and dies. 1t is hardly neces- sary to add that a culm cannot grow thicker, each part of it, as soon as it is fully formed, being as thick as it will ever be. Since the rhizome has to form completely first, the culm itself ‘does not appear above ground until some weeks of the growing season are over (in the case of full-sized culms not until towards the middle of the season), and it accomplishes the whole of its growth in 3-5 weeks, before it has produced any leaves at all. Whence, we may ask ourselves, does it obtain the large amount of MODE OF GROWTH OF BAMBOOS, 891 formative material necessary for such rapid growth? Having no leaves while this growth is going on, and consisting, - as it does, mostly, of hard. woody tissue, it can itself elaborate but little by means of its green superficial covering. The conclusion is thus inevitable that most of the requisite nourishment comes from the rest of. the clump, and especially from those in closest connection with it, viz.(1) the parent culm, and (2) that from which this latter has been produced. This conclusion has heen amply proved by numerous experiments.. If the whole of a clump in full pro- duction is cut back, even during the season of repose when. the rhizomes contain. their maximum.amount of reserve materials, the new growth will not. contain a.single thick culm, bus consist only of a dense mass of switches, proving the insufficiency of the supply of food to produce any larger growth. The falling off is more conspicuous, the closer to.the ground the clump is cut, away, for the numerous branches, which high-cut stumps throw. out, elaborate no inconsiderable quantity of food for the production of new shoots. It will be only gradually and after several years that the clump will again produce full-sized shoots, the shoots of each successive year being bigger than those of the previous year, just as in the case of a clump.developed normally from.the seedling. This de-~ monstrates another important fact, wz., that the larger the parent culms are, the larger, up to the limits of full size, will be the daughter shoots. This same fact may be proved in a more direct manner thns:—Cut away all the thick culms by. the base leaving only the switchy shoots, and the production of the following season will be entirely. switchy ; then, on the other hand, cut away every- thing except 1-3 of the large shoots, and in the next. season’s growth there will still be found one or more thick culms. A culm in its first year possesses but few branches and hence a very limited leaf-apparatus, and itis not until its third season that it attains.its. fullest development in branches and foliage. For this reason, and also because the shoots of the year are very. inr sufficiently lignified, a culm in its. second. season requires for its own use a large part of the food it is able to. assimilate, and it is only in the third year-that it can spare for the rest of the clump all the constructive materials it elaborates.. Being then in almost as close connection with the shoot of the year as the parent (two- season-old) culm itself is, it contributes quite as much towards the growth of the former as this latter does. Hence for the develop- ment of the new rhizome and resulting shoot its preservation is not less essential than the preservation of the dizect mother culm itself. 892 REGENERATION BY MEANS OF CULMS. Indeed it is a well-established fact that even if this latter is cut away, the rhizome already produced upon it will nevertheless con- tinue to grow on and develop into anew shoot with the help of constructive materials derived from the grandparent. A clump that has free room for development on every side will go on expanding until the whole of it flowers and dies. On the other hand, in a complete crop, each of the individual trees and clumps composing it can occupy no more space than what is left for it by its immediate neighbours. So long as this space is not yet completely utilised, a clump will go on expanding and producing new shoots year after year. When, however, there is at last no more room left, further useful growth will be impossible unless some of the neighbouring culms are removed by death or the woodcutter. Besides expanding by the production of new shoots along the outside, a clump becomes gradually more and more crowded by the development of new shoots also in the midst of the old ones, some species, which form short rhizomes, being especially given to this tendency. Such tendency will be exaggerated in poor, and particularly in shallow, soils, owing to the elongation of the rhi- zomes being restricted by the small quantity of food available. We are now able to understand why the culms of each succeed- ing year are, barring accidents of season, fires, &c., larger than those of the preceding year until the maximum size of the species in question in the given soil and locality has been reached. As year succeeds year there is an increasing number of stems to ela- borate constructive materials for the new growth, and the increas- ing size of the stems thus brought about obviously reacts in the same direction. Ifat any stage of its growth we restrict the further expansion of the clump by cutting out, as soon asit ap- pears, everything in excess of the fixed limit, the size and number of the shoots will continue practically the same from year to year. If each succeeding year we curtail more and more the spread of the clump, the result will be that the size as well as number of the shoots will go on diminishing every year. What precedes may be stated in the form of an aphorism thus :—Overcut and the pro- duction will fall off both in size and number of shoots ; cut out the exact amount of the annual production, and the clump will yield the same results year after year ; give rest or cut out less than the annual sum of production, and the size and number of the shoots will go on increasing from year to year until the maximum figures are attained. MODE OF GROWTH OF BAMBOOS, 393 Although it can in a general manner be said that the strongest clumps will produce the largest shoots, such a statement is not strictly true, for a given amount of constructive materials present in a clump may form a single very large shoot or several of only ordinary or even small size. The real criterion of vigour in any case will always be the aggregate sectional area of all the shoots produced in the year in question measured at about 1 foot above the soil. Hence shoots of the year which grow singly apart from one another and thus have each at its disposal all the spare food elaborated by its immediate neighbours of the preceding two or three generations, will be thicker than those which come up close together and divide between them this food. The age at which a clump begins to produce shoots of market-~ able dimensions varies very greatly with the species and the soil. The larger species will of course begin to be productive much earlier than the rest. For one and the same species the nature of the soil always makes an enormous difference. In a well-manured, well-watered garden soil several generations of culms will come up in a single year, with the result that the time requisite for the at- tainment of a given size of shoots is shortened in proportion. Thus, whereas out in the forest Dendrocalamus strictus takes, under the most favourable conditions, 8 years to produce saleable shoots, in a nursery it may reach this stage of growth in its third, and sometimes even in its second, year. As the natural term of life of a clump varies, according to the species, probably from 20 to 50 years, it is evident that for a very considerable term of its existence it remains unproductive.* Before closing this summary description of the mode of growth of bamboos, a peculiarity must be noticed which affects to no little extent the work of the wood-cutter. The bending of the rhizome to grow up vertically upwards is continued in the shoot itself after this latter has come up above ground and is often to be noticed even when the shoot has attained a considerable length. The result is that the shoot, even if produced quite outside the edge of the clump, bends inwards and enters in amongst the foliage of the shoots of preceding years, so that when it is cut, there is al- ways some difficulty in disengaging it from the interlacing mass of branches and twigs. The difficulty is greatest in the case of shoots which originate in the middle of the clump, and if the clump is at all crowded, some of the shoots inside cannot be taken out ex- * This fact also demonstrates the expediency of forcing early productiveness in plantations by putting out only strong nursery plants, 394 REGENERATION BY MEANS OF CULMS, cept in short pieces. Resume. The principal facts discussed in the preceding para- graphs may now with advantage be brought together and briefly stated thus :— I. The bamboo plant, from being at first a single individual: becomes a compound entity or clump, the clump expanding itself by the production of new shoots. In the open this expansion has no limit and ends only with the death of the clump, and the number of new shoots follows a steadily increasimg series from year to year, In aclose forest a similar expansion occurs until the clump has occupied nearly the whole of the space: available to. it. This is the culminating point ; thenceforward the rate of expansion and the number of culms produced each year diminishes, and when all the available space has been occupied, no new growth is possible except in replacement of casualties.. ll. During the ascending phase (of expansion) the size of the shoots produced in successive years goes on increasing from mere switches to the maximum dimensions attainable by the given species in the given soil and locality ; and when these dimensions have been reached, no further improvement is possible. III. Newculms are produced almost exclusively upon the shoots of the youngest generation with the cooperation principally of the shoots of the immediately preceding generation, so that the removal of older shoots, especially those from the fourth generation backwards, will have no appreciable effect on the size and number of the new shoots. As the amount of new production will be proportionate to the amount of foliage, and as the same amount of foliage will be borne by a few properly-spaced culms as by a larger number more crowded together, the thinning out of the oldest and crooked and weakest shoots will have no effect on the vegetation of the clump or the aggregate basal area of the new culms. IV. The aggregate basal area of the new culms being the same, their individual size, within the maximum limit attainable by the species under prevailing conditions, will be greater, the smaller their number is. V. The larger and more vigorous the parent culms of the two last generations are, the larger will be the new shoots which they will produce. VI. Newculms keep coming up even in the middle of the clump, so that, saving the case of a few exceptional species which throw out very long runner-like rhizomes, the clump tends to be- come so overcrowded that the safe extraction of the shoots becomes MODE OF EXPLOITATION. 395 increasingly difficult, often even impossible, with the advancing age of the clump. VII. The same difficulty exists in a measure even for the shoots produced along the outside of the clump, owing to the habit these shoots have of bending up inwards, soon after they have come out of the ground, and entering the inextricable tangle of interlacing stems and branches. ARTICLE 2. MopDE OF EXPLOITATION. The first thing to be done is te determine the age at which a clump may commence to be. expleited. Since it is chiefly the last two generations of culms which contribute towards the production of new shoots, it is obvious that exploitation may not commence until the clump contains at least three generations of shoots of the largest size, until, in ether words, such shoots have been appearing for at least three consecutive years. To begin to work a clump earlier would inevitably result in arresting its growth and throw- ing it back for years. In order to avoid all possible risk it will nearly always be advisable, especially in dry and poor soils, not to touch any clump until large shoots have been appearing in it for full four years running. The limitation here laid down applies of course only to the ex- ploitation proper, and therefore does not exclude those preliminary thinning operations, the object of which is, by keeping the clumps sufficiently open and thereby giving the individual culms free spreading room both in the air and in the soil, to encourage the early formation of large shoots, and thus curtail the long period of waiting during which the overcrowded unthinned clump would go on producing an excessive number of only small unsaleable culms. These thinnings also prepare the clumps for easy and sys- tematic exploitation. It may here be said once for all that whether we merely thin or carry out the regular exploitations, every shoot that is removed must be cut as near the ground as possible ; the effect of leaving stumps that do not die for years would be exactly the same as if no thinning at all had been effected. The time for commencing the exploitations having arrived, it is necessary to know how much and what to cut out at each exploita- tion. Since the exploitations may either be annual or recur at longer intervals of two or more years, we have two distinct cases io consider under this head. 396 REGENERATION BY MEANS OF CULMS. 1. Exploitation annual. Theoretically it should be sufficient to leave standing only tho Jast two generations of shoots, together with whatever else is too thin or too crooked to be marketable. Actually, however, there is no advantage of any kind in sparing crooked or unsound or weakly shoots, and the clumps must in any case be kept open enough for the unhindered appearance of numerous strong new shoots and the easy extraction of produce. Hence, in practice, it is always necessary to remove some at least of the shoots of those two genera- tions,* obtaining the requisite compensation by preserving an equal number of older healthy, straight and well-spaced shoots that are still in the full vigour of vegetation. The spacing of the culms left must in any case be proportionate to the requirements of the species concerned and the nature of the soil and climate in question. The main principle to observe from the very beginning in the exploitation of a clump is that while it is still expanding, nothing should be done to check its increasing vigour, and then, when it has attained its maximum development, to keep unimpaired its powers of vegetation. Both objects are fully secured by adhering to the rule laid down in the immediately foregoing paragraph. During the stage of expansion, the number and size of the shoots of successive years forms, as we know, an increasing series, so that the number and size of the shoots preserved in successive years, in following the rule of exploitation laid down, will form a corres- ponding increasing series, thereby fully providing for the conti- nued expansion and increasing vigour of the clump. Then, when in course of time the clump has attained its maximum develop- ment, the average number and size of the shoots of each genera- tion will remain the same from year to year, and thus the quantity removed each year will be an exact measure of the annual pro- duction and the maintenance of the equivalent of the last two generations of shoots will guarantee a sustained yield. As it is often impossible to recognise with certainty all the shoots of the last but one generation, it will be safe in practice, for the purpose of ascertaining the number of shoots to be left in the clump at the successive exploitations, to take double the number of the current year’s shoots. In the foregoing paragraphs it has been assumed that the clumps to be exploited are taken in hand from the earliest years ; but ac- tually the mass of our bamboo forests are not, or cannot he, brought * These shoots will furnish all the requirements of basket makers, who require the soft, flexible, imperfectly-Jignified culms of the current season, ANNUAL EXPLOITATION. 397 under systematic culture until they have already been worked for many years or at least have been for a long time in full produc- tion. In the case of such forests the first thing to be done is to bring about a proper spacing of the productive culms, always an expensive and laborious operation that must be effected by the agency of the owner of the forest, but one which cannot be dis- pensed with if cutting on any scale is to be done; it is only when the clumps have been thinned out properly that they will begin to produce up to their full capability and will be safe against mutila- tion whenever any shoot has to be taken out. The principles to be observed here, in the thinning as well as in all subsequent oper- ations, are the same as those already prescribed above. If a clump has been overcut, they will enable it, without requiring a preliminary period of rest and absence of revenue, to acquire the necessary increase of vigour and power of expansion, just as in the case of a young clump that has not yet reached its maximum development ; and if, on the other hand, it has not been cut up to its actual capacity, their immediate effect will be to at once render available a mass of produce hitherto remaining unutilised and to place the clump in the best possible conditions for thenceforward yielding the largest and most useful production of which it is capable. Every bamboo cutter should be provided with a stiff narrow- bladed saw, beside the usual light one-hand axe. The saw will serve to cut down close to the ground all those shoots which can- not be reached with the axe, and without it it will be impossible to thin out overcrowded clumps. Annually recurring exploitation requires competent workmen honestly and strictly supervised, and, therefore, in most cases necessitates departmental agency. Nevertheless, if local labour is abundant and competition is keen, it will be possible to dispense with departmental working by adopting a system of licensing picked men and allowing only these to be employed in the bamboo exploitation ; the fear of forfeiting their license will effectually compel the men to work in accordance with the prescribed rule. Annually recurring exploitation obtains from a bamboo forest its highest utility ; it injures the clumps least, it yields the largest outturn and it furnishes the greatest number of large-sized shoots. 2. Exploitation recurring at a fixed interval of several years. Despite the immense superiority of well-directed annually re- curring exploitations, this method has not received anything like 398 REGENERATION BY MEANS OF CULMS. the attention and consideration it deserves, and the restrictions and conditions it imposes have led many foresters to adopt longer intervals than that of a single year between the successive exploi- tations. In adopting these long intervals the essence of every method, whatever its detailed procedure might be, is to preserve only the shoots of the current year (these being easily recognised by the least experienced), and, in order to compensate for the small number of parent shoots left, to give the clumps sufficient time to recover from the overcutting effected at each exploitation. Thus the question to be decided in each case resolves itself into deter- mining the interval at which the exploitations should recur, that is to say, the length of the rotation. A rest of only 2 years would seldom suffice for the complete recovery of the overcut clumps, unless indeed the demand was considerably under the amount of the annual production. As far as can be judged from present experience, a third year of rest is usually ample to restore the clumps to their normal vigour and rate of production. A longer rest than one of 3 years is not per- missible in view of the overcrowding that must enivitably follow with its highly undesirable consequences.* As said above, the essence of every system of exploitation at longer intervals than that of a single year is to spare only the shoots of the youngest generation. As these may come up irregu- larly, preserving only them and no others can never guarantee an effective distribution of the shoots or the securing of vigorous and healthy parents for the coming generation. Moreover, ifa clump is weak or has not, from some accidental cause, produced many shoots during the past season, the removal of all the large shoots of preceding generations cannot but prove disastrous to the future of the clump. A better plan would hence be to preserve in each clump a certain fixed number of shoots and to select them outside the latest-produced generation as well, if the full number of desirable and properly spaced shoots cannot be found amongst these Jast. In following this procedure clumps containing not more than the fixed number of shoots to be left will not be touched at all, and the work of the cutter can be at once checked by the mere counting of the shoots left standing. * The practice has sometimes been adopted of allowing cutting for two years running, with only a single year of rest before beginning work again, and in order to prevent the entire disappearance of the current generation of shoots, these aro priced higher than older shoots. Such a system is, however, only an ingenious device for increasing the revenue at the expense of the production, while making a pretence of aiming at conservation and scientific culture, s POLLARDING. 399 Exploitation at Ionger intervals than that of a single year is attended with several capital disadvantages, the principal of which are absolute impossibility of keeping the clumps properly thinned out and withdrawal of a very considerable portion of the produc- tive area from exploitation ; hence reduced yield, inferior size of the shoots, difficult extraction, and much damage in exploitation. Although the system has many powerful advocates and is also very largerly practised, its necessity has still to be justified. If the demand is insignificant in comparison with the annual production, the principle of giving rest is entirely redundant, and if, on the other hand, the demand is large enough to require careful conser- vancy and working, prices will always be high enough to pay for the careful style of cutting required by the system of annual ex- ploitation. Moreover, in the latter case, exploitation at longer intervals than that of one year would mean heavy overcutting in the open areas. SECTION V. Pollarding. Pollarding can be considered only by courtesy asa mode of reproduction, for by it new individual trees are not produced, but merely a new crop of branches, which never cease to remain a part of the crown of the original parent stem. 1. Formation and exploitation of pollards. A pollard may be formed by taking off the entire crown of a tree or only the leafy portion of the larger branches. As the procedure is the same in both cases, we will consider oaly the first. When a tree is decapitated, new shoots generally spring up at various points along the whole length of the stem, but they are most numerous and strongest near the extremity of the stump. In forming a pollard, these branches alone should be preserved, the rest being broken or pruned off. The height at which the tree should be headed down will depend on the object of the pollarding. At the first exploitation the shoots are either cut away close to the trunk ora foot or two away from it. The result of the former method of exploitation, several times repeated, is the forma- tion of a thick knotty head at the extremity of the trunk, rich in dormant buds (Fig. 128). In the latter method, the new shoots come up on these stumps of branches, and the succeeding exploita- tions differ from the first in that the new shoots are cut off flush with the parent branch and the pollard then assumes the appearance shown in Fig. 124. This second method of pollarding is the better 400 POLLARDING, one, as it gives the shoots a broad base from which to spring up, and thus prevents overcrowding, enables them to grow up more rapidly, and facilitates their exploitation. In either case, the system of re- moving -the shoots at their point of insertion cannot be continued indefinitely, as the head of the trunk or the stumps of the branches, as the case may be, ultimately become extremely knotty and covered with thick bark, whereby their reproductive power is very considerably reduced. When this stage is reached, the larger shoots should be cut off some distance above their point of insertion, as in the original second mode of exploitation, and new parent stumps formed. At each exploitation the entire poll may be removed or only a selected number of shoots. As far as the pollarding is concerned, it is of no consequence at all which plan is followed, provided the cutting does not take place during the season of vegetation, in which case of course some shoots must. be left in order to elaborate enough reserve food for the following season’s growth. The complete clearing of the pollis obviously less troublesome, and is most easily effected with a light axe or bill-hook. For the removal of selected shoots not more than an inch thick strong shears (Fig 115 and 116) constitute the best tool ; for larger shoots a pruning bill should be used. The exploitation may be annual orcome'round at intervals of two or more years, according to the size of shoots required and the object of the pollarding. Thus if an abundant supply of ten- der succulent leaves is required, the exploitation ought to be annual or, at the outside, biennial. So again, if various sizes of shoots are required, a complete clearing may be made at regular intervals of several years, the intermediate exploitations being only partial. 2. Value and employment of the method. As said before, pollarding is not a mode of reproduction, but a definite method of exploitation. Its adoption is often necessary because no other mode of regeneration or exploitation would fulfil the object required, and it furnishes much better shoots for wicker work than can be obtained by any other method. Owing to the great number of shoots growing together on one and the same stump, they are thinner, longer between the nodes, and less well lignified, and, therefore, more flexible than shoots springing up on stools and roots. The very much brighter illumination enjoyed by the elevated mass of shoots forming the pollard enables it to produce much more leaf and wood, during the first few years at MAINTENANCE OF A SUFFICIENCY OF COPPICING STOCK, 401 least, than a clump of shoots growing up on a stool of no greater diameter than the stem of the pollard. It only remains to add that pollarding is hardly suited for the production of timber, although the stump may yield a short log of thoroughly well lig- nified wood and some of the shoots may attain,the dimensions of small poles at a comparatively early age. Ordinarily pollarding will be adopted in the following cases :— (1) In large wastes, where pasturage is the main object and tree growth is maintained principally to secure a large and conti- nuous supply of wholesome grass and leaf-fodder. The pollards are always able to shade the ground, are more easily exploited for leaves than unmutilated trees, yield a larger supply of fodder than stool-shoots, and are never liable to be browsed upon, except by camels, like these last. (2) In plantations supplying material for wattling and wicker work. : (3) In plantations of mulberry, &c. made for the feeding of silk worms. By pollarding we obtain the largest outturn possible of tender juicy leaves, which are safe from the ravages of deer and cattle. Here evidently the exploitation should be annual and partial. (4) In fields, where the crops require to be sheltered and leaves and twigs are wanted for manure and fodder or for mixing with stored seed. In this case, the trees should be such as are in full leaf in the cold and hot seasons and do not hurt the crops by their poisonous properties or their root-system. The stems will supply the farmer with firewood and small timber. But for the purpose here discussed trees, which, with the exception of a tuft of leaves at the top, are kept constantly pruned, are much more desirable. Such trees do little harm to crops owing to their insignificant shade and drip, their much narrower and less dense spread of roots, and the greater dispersion of their dead leaves; and they produce larger and sounder timber, which is usually prettily mottled in species possessing a heart-wood. (5) In periodically flooded land, where stool-shoots would get broken or killed, or even come up with difficulty (see p. 381, last paragraph.) SECTION VI. Maintenance of a sufficiency of coppicing stock. Owing to the advancing age of the original parent stock, or to bad cutting, or to employing too long a rotation, or to floods, or to 402 MAINTENANCE OF A SUFFICIENCY OF COPPICING STOCK, frost and other destructive weather influences, &c., the trees at various puints may cease to be able to coppice or may be able to produce only a very weak regrowth. At such points the stock must obviously be renewed by means of seedlings. RaizomEs.—In the case of bamboos this loss of coppicing power does not take place partially and locally, but occurs all at once at the final gregarious seeding, when the entire original crop dies and the ground gets profusely and sucessfully sown naturally. But although there is no delay in the appearance ofthe new generation, the young crop can yield no marketable produce for a consi- derable number of years. Hence itis advisable once for all to artificially replace the clumps that die out sporadically, and also those that have become weak or have been badly damaged or are not thriving. After the lapse of one generation or so, there will then be numerous clumps of different ages and self-sown produc- tive ones will never be wanting. PoLiLAkDs.—As regards pollards, since they are seldom kept long enough to be able to seed, their replacement must necessarily be effected artificially as they individually die off or become un- fit for preservation. CopPiICE OF STOOL-SHOOTS AND ROOT-SUCKERS.—If there are no stores, seeding will be uncertain, or at any rate far too rare and ineffective to be depended on. Hence the renewal of the cop- picing stock will nearly always necessitate recourse to artificial means. Sowings progress so slowly, that, to have any success at all, they would have to be made many years previous to the coppice exploitation ; butat that early age a copse is generally so dense, that the seedlings would seldom survive under the heavy cover. Hence planting will be the rule. According to the circumstances of the case, either large schooled seedlings will be put down im- mediately after the exploitation and at once headed down, or small seedlings will be planted one or two years before the exploitation, the forest, if necessary, being sufficiently thinned immediately overhead. In the latter case, the scedlings will not be headed down, but will be cut back with the coppice. In either case, the regrowth from the seedlings will generally have to be protected during the whole of the ensuing rotation against suppression, and it will be only at the beginning of the second rotation that they will form an integral part of the coppice. In the case of a stored copse the end desired is attained either by self-sowing after the coppice exploitation, or, that failing, by the use of large or middle-sized schooled transplants imme- MAINTENANCE OF A SUFFICIENCY OF COPPICING STOCK. 403 diately after that exploitation or of small seedlings one or two years previously. Yor'self-sowing, a sufficient number of healthy large-crowned trees should be reserved, even if they have ceased to make any further useful increment. The growing individuals from among these trees will be retained as stores throughout the new rotation, while the rest will be removed at the end of one or two years, during which the sowing, if it is to succeed atall, must take place. Owing to the usual closeness of the undergrowth, any seedlings that may come up at any time afterwards, before the leaf- canopy again becomes open enough just before the next exploitation, would generally be at once suppressed. Those young seedlings, which do come up in time, will have to be specially protected against suppression. The planting will be effected as in the case of simple coppice, but the conditions will be more favourable here, by reason of the longer rotations adopted for stored coppice and, therefore, of the more open condition of the underwood near the epoch of its exploitation. A special instance, peculiar to stored coppice, of planting after the exploitation requires separate notice ; as a rule, no seedlings will be found under the parent stores, and the gaps. produced by the removal of these latter may have to be planted up. The seedlings used must necessarily be very large, the surrounding regrowth being already from one to two years old. On this account such work is generally very expensive and should be restricted within very narrow limits, save when the species thus propagated commands a very high price and grows well in the locality. In all the various cases referred to here, seedlings coming up in small groups have the best chance of surviving and fulfilling the object for which they are wanted. In bare exposed places it may be found useful to get up early some sort of temporary shelter by putting down cuttings in the shape of posts. In very wet land also cuttings may prove better than seedling transplants. CHAPTER IX. THE THREE GREAT SYSTEMS OF REGENERATION COMPARED. We will now pass in rapid review the comparative merits and demerits of artificial regeneration, of natural regeneration by seed, and of regeneration by coppice. The comparison must necessarily be altogether general, without any reference to the various special methods comprised under each system, the advantages and dis- advantages and the conditions for the employment of which methods have already been studied in detail. In connection with this comparison one important fact must not be lost sight of. Although artificial regeneration may be effected under a more or less complete leaf-canopy as well as out in the open, nevertheless in the former case it loses to a very great extent its distinctive character, since self-sown seedlings usually come up at the same time and form an integral part of the new crop. Hence in the following review artificial regeneration will be generally assumed as occurring out in the open. ; Another important point to remember is that regeneration by coppice is in itself only a secondary or derived system, for it presupposes the creation of coppicing stock by some method of regeneration by seed. Artificial Regeneration. Natural a by Regeneration by coppice. seed, 1. Possible with allspe- Possible with all species. Practicable only with cer- cies, tain species, although these include almost all we have. 2. Notdependentonthe Entirely dependent on Atthe utmost, possible presence of parent trees; the immediate presence or only within the spread of therefore pussible in com- at least neighbourhood of the roots of the parent trees, plete blanks of any magnie seed-bearing individuals ; which must also be young tude, hence impossible in blanks enough to coppice ; hence of any extent. less far-reaching even than natural regeneration by seed, a 8. Not dependent on Entirely dependent on Totally independent of local seeding or even on seed years. any seeding at all. seed being procurable in the given yeur. 4, Dependenton a suffi: Like artificial regenera- Possible in the most uns cient rainfall and on a gene- tion- favourable years. rally favourable season, or on irrigation, 5. Generation canfollow The constitution of the Regeneration is the im- THE THREE GREAT SYSTEMS OF REGENERATION COMPARED, Artificial Regeneration. generation without any plank interval; but there is always a period of waiting, while the young crop is establishing itself. 6. Completeness of the new generation mathemati- cally regulated. 7. Hence possibility of organising annually recur- ring work of a single kind, and of making the forest as regular as possible. 8. Hence great simplici- ty of work—generally a siugle clear-felling immedi- ately followed by sowing or planting. 9. Hence all the work of any year can be concentrat- ed ata single point overa comparatively small area, thus making execution and control easier and mere ef- fective, felling, conversion and export more convenient and cheaper, and sales rea- dier and more remunerative. 10. Hence calls for only a moderate amount of skill on the part of the forester, if we except the case of an originally blank area, which indeed, as said above, could be stocked with forest under no other system, Natural Regeneration by Seed. new generation is always a gradual process, being the accumulated results of seve- ral years’ work, and often even of several years’ seed- fall. Completeness of the new generation always uncer- Work in any year depends on the characteristics of the season, and hence the an- nual operations cannot be prescribed in detail before- hand, but must vary from year to year with the ab- undance and effectiveness of the seeding. Hence also the impossibility of con- atituting a strictly regular forest. Work complicated by the generally numerous fel- lings, differing among themselves according to the condition of the parent erop and the success of the seeding and depending on so many contingencies that have to be constantly watched ; also by the fact that the annual yield has to be made up not only from different classes of fellings, but from several separate areas, Owing to its dispersion and complexity, work is slow and tedious and dif- ficult to organise and con- trol, and the net value of the produce of the felling is thereby unfavourably affected Jardinage excluded, calls for a very high degree of technical skill and savoir faire. 405 Regeneration by Coppice. mediate consequence of « single clear-felling, and the new crop may be said to be established the very first year. Completeness of the new generation exactly anticipat- ed, being at least equal to that of the parent crop, and, if there is room for spread- ing, always greater. More effective than even artificial regeneration, thanks to (4) and (5). Extreme simplicity of work—only a single clear fellings, Work being even simpler and equally concentrated, the same advantages are secured asin artificial re- generation and in fuller measure, The wholesale style of felling, which is itself the immediate cause of the re- generation, calls for little exercise of technical skill and judgment. 406 Artificial Regeneration. 11. The plants being originally so spaced as not to interfere with each other, and coming up, as they do, in more or less prepared soil, enjoy an unchecked development from the very commencement. This is true even of a crop in- troduced under cover, for the whole area being sown or planted up ina single operation, the cover is re- moved before it can do any harm, even to individual plants. The annual rate of growth is thus pretty steady and is very high. But, on the other hand, the wider spacing of the stems and their generally equal height and vigour, prevent the trees from being drawn up as high as they would be, if the stock were denser and there were neighbours to con- stantly force them up. But as a compensating circumstance, the trees attain a large girth early, and therefore become ex- ploitable long before self- sown trees can. Thus the yield of an artificially- raised crop is generally larger than that of a self- sown one. 12. Owing to the rapid growth explained under (11), artificially-raised crops begin to give marketable produce earlier than self- sown ones, but not so early as coppice. 18. If the exploitation of an artificially-regenerated forest is economical, its constitution is very much more expensive than that of any other. Natural Regeneration by Seed, In the case of every crop there is very considerable loss of production, owing to the protracted regenera- tion, and the prolongation, by the cover overhead, of the seedlings and early sap- ling stages. Moreover pa- rent or nurse trees have not unfrequently to be kept in the interests of the new crop, long after they have ceased to make any useful growth. But on the other hand, if the seedlings are kept back by the parent crop, the trees composing this latter, being early forced by the preparatory and other regeneration fel- lings, expand rapidly, when every cubic foot of added timber means a proportionately large addi- tion to the value of the tree, and may thus more than compensate for the obstructed development of the tiny seedlings. But this will happen only under exceptionally favourable conditions of climate and soil, and, as a rule, the annual yield of a self-sown crop will be less than that of an artificially raised one, especially one that has been planted. See under artificial re- generation. Much less expensive than artificial regeneration, even where the soil is specially prepared to receive seed. THE THREE GREAT SYSTEMS OF REGENERATION COMPARED. Regeneration by Coppice. Coppice at first grows very much faster than seed- lings or any kind of trans- plants, both per se, and on account of the comparative- ly wide intervals between the parent stools &c,; and it is cut before the growth becomes slow. Hence, con- sidering only the amount of production, irrespective of the class of wood or timber obtained, coppice yielda the largest outturn per acre per annum, Yields marketable pro- duce very much earlier than even artificially- raised crops. The production of cop- pice rarely requires any preparation of the soil and few or no repairs. Hence, in spite of the low cutting and shaping of stools, re- generation hardly costs more than the mere felling of the tree, If we bear in mind the almost mathe- matical regularity of the coupes, the convenience of export, and the concentra- THE THREE GREAT SYSTEMS OF REGENERATION COMPARED. _ Artificial Regeneration. 14. The high cost of re- generation makesthe system suitable only where quick results are desired owing to an active demand and high prices. 15. Unsuited, by reason of the uniformity of growth, for the reconstitu- tion of mixed forests, except such as are compos- ed of not more than two strong gregarious species which are also the most valuable. 16. Owing to (3) (5) and (6), exploitations, 7.e., the extent of the coupes, can, within the capability of the forest, be exactly ap- portioned to the moat fluc- tuating demand, 17. Artificial regenera- tion, when undertaken after a clear-felling (see introduc- tory remarks at opening of Chapter), gives unchecked play to frost, drought, insolation, winds, &¢.; so that where, as over ex- tensive regions of India, climatic extremes prevail and the soil is dry and hard during the greater part of the year and rapidly deteriorates, the system would generally be inap- plicable, except at a cost that would be deterrent even with a very active demand and very high prices. 18. Thanks to the rapid growth of the plants weeds can be early suppressed, Natural Regeneration by Seed. As the demand for tim- ber increases and prices rise, a point is reached after which, except in a very favourable soil and climate, natural regeneration by seed must result in finan- cial loss. Par excellence the system for reconstituting mixed forests. Except in jardinage, the felling cannot be regulated in accordance with an ir- regular demand, that is constantly subject to very wide and sudden fluctua- tion. While securing natural regeneration by seed, the leaf-canopy can be main- tained as full as we like, thus giving complete protec- tion to the seedlings and the soil. Hence self-sow- ing offers the only means of regenerating foreats, where prevailing condi- tions are exceptionally unfavourable, as over 60 wide and extent of India, The slow growth of the seedlings in blanks and in clear fellings renders the 407 Regeneration by Coppice. tion of work, we see that the coppice system is the cheapest of all. Suitable in any condi- tion of the market, provid- ed the demand includes only such classes of pro- duce as coppice can furnish. More unsuited for mixed forests than even artificial regeneration, especially if one of the species produces also root suckers, Gives least elasticity of all to the annual exploita- tions, for the smallest quantity that can be cut must be sufficient to effect the removal of every com- ponent crop before it gets beyond the coppicing age. Regeneration by coppice necessarily involves a per- iodically-recurring uncover- ing of the soil and its con- sequent temporary dete- rioration and possession by masterful weeds. Hence, if the soil is very poor or naturally very dry, or the rainfall very slight and the climate otherwise very dry, or the cold very severe, or snow heavy, or the ground steep or inclined to slip, and soon, there the cop- pice system is to be avoid- ed, But it is right to state that, excluding the higher and inner Himalayas, cop- pice in India grows up at such a pace that its in- feriority to selfsown high forest in respect of the con- ditions here discussed is not by any means go marked as in Europe, Weeds suppressed more quickly, than in any other system of regeneration in 408 Artificial Regeneration, 19, The warm, open, loosened soil and the con- centration in one place of an enormous quantity of food in the shape of plants of more or less the same spe- cies and condition of growth, favour the multiplication of destructive insects. .20, Can be undertaken, as sowings or year-old plant- ing, under more or leas complete cover, 21. Owing to its rapid development, the forest reaches early .a stage of growth at which the equa- lity of height of the trees prevents the removal of certain from among them for the expansion of the rest, without opening out the leaf-canopy too much and leading to the dete- rioration of the soil. At this stage, the crop, not being fit to be thinned, al- though unable to grow without being thinned out, must be felled. Hence com- paratively short rotations. 22. The plants being all of one and the same age and, therefore, of nearly the same stature and vigour, and necessarily standing apart from oue another, the individual trees are unable to draw one another up to the full heights attainable by their respective species, and the boles remain short and become knotty from epicorms, and often also misshapen. In addition to this, the shortness of the rotations prevents the at- tainment of any consider- able girth. Thus artificial regeneration gives timber of only moderate dimensions and quality, and a larger proportion of fuel than na- tural regeneration by seed. Natural Regeneration by Seed. suppression of weeds difficult. The multiplication of des- tructive insects kept down by the very opposite con- ditions to those which exist in an artificially-raised crop. Can do with still less illumination than artificial regeneration, since the re- quirements of the slow- growing selfsown seedlings are obviously comparatively insignificant, The unequal growth of the individual trees per- mits of the maintenance of a much larger number of stems than in an artificial- ly-raised. crop of the same age, so that the forward trees can be constantly given more growing room until they have nearly at- tained their largest dimen- sions. while still remaining sound, and this without over opening out the leaf- canopy to any dangerous extent. Hence possibility of very long rotations. The plants come up close together and grow up some faster than others, thereby constantly pushing one another up, until the more forward ones have reached the maximum height attainable by their species. They thus furnish long, straight, clean-fibred, more or less cylindrical timber, which the long rotations permit to acquire the largest girth possible under the prevailing con- ditions of soil and climate. Hence if we wish to obtain the most considerable quan- tity of the best and largest timber, we will adopt natural regeneration by seed. And in respect of all classes of wood general- ly, the very long rotations THE THREE GREAT SYSTEMS OF REGENERATION COMPARED. Regeneration by Coppice. which made, clear fellings are In respect of ravages by insects stands midway be- tween the two seed sys- tems—a loosened soil is wanting except when the trees are cut inside the ground, and the leaf-canopy is rapidly reformed. Impossible unless a con- siderable amount of direct sunlight reaches the ground, Requires by very much the shortest rotation of the three systems, owing. to the limited age up to which trees can generally coppice, to theimmediate appearance of a new generation, to the great early rapidity of growth, and to the usually increasing unsoundness of the stems. The very, short rotations necessearily prevent the production of more than a very moderate quantity of timber. This timber ig furnished by the stores, which, towering above the undergrowth, enjoy an isolated existence from the close of the very first rotation, and it is therefore tougher, harder, stronger, and more durable than timber otherwise grown. But as stores generally begin to decay early at the base, they are usually felled before they can attain the largest dimensions attainable by their species, Moreover, the isolation in which they develop, dwarfs them and renders their boles even THE THREE GREAT SYSTEMS OF REGENERATION COMPARED. 409 Artificial Regeneration. Natural Regeneration by Regeneration by Coppice. : Seed. results in the largest pos- shorter and more knotty sible accumulation of stand- and mis-shappen than those ing produce and, therefore, of trees grown in artificially- in the largest measure of raised crops. If only’ fire- annual enjoyment. wood is wanted, then other circumstances not being pro- hibitive, the coppice régime is to he preferred owing to the greater rapidity amd cer- tainty of regeneration, the early réalisation of matket- able produce, the facility and extreme regularity of work, the large annual in- erement of production, and the very low cost. The preceding comparative review of the three great systems of regeneration shows that no one of the three can be said to be the best in every case. It may happen that in even one and the same crop the first gives the best results at one point, the second at another, and the third at a third, so that while some one of them must be generally adopted, the results would be incomplete with- out the supplementary help of one or both of the rest. Hence no hard and fast rule can be laid down as to when one system should be employed and when another, and the best plan will always be to so combine any two or all three of them, as to secure to the fullest extent the respective. advantages offered by each, while ob- viating, or at least minimising, their attendant disadvantages. We have already seen instances of such combinations under the uniform method (pp. 354-356), and also in describing coppice regeneration (pp. 401-3). A further instance would be the partial artificial restocking, with some hardy species, of more or less exposed ground under old open forest, in order to facilitate natural sowing when the seed-felling falls due. For the benefit of the student we may briefly summarise the various possible combi- nations as follows :— I. Artijictal regeneration with natural regeneration by seed, in which case the former may (i) precede or (ii) follow or (iii) be simultaneous with, the latter. Il. Artificial regeneration with coppice, of which combination there will be two separate cases according as stores are or are not kept. TII. Natural regeneration by seed with coppice. If the former is the main system adopted, than coppicing is resorted to in order to restore damaged seedlings and to keep back inferior growth 410 THE THREE sYSTEMS OF REGENERATION COMPARED. (pp. 854-5); if itis the coppice system that is used, then self- sown seedlings will be sought and utilised to maintain the coppice- producing stock in its fullest abundance and vigour (pp. 402- 3). IV. Combination of all three systems. Necessary only in stored coppice (for illustration see p. 403). One great rule for general guidance can, however, always be laid down. As natural regeneration, whether by seed or by cop- pice, costs little or nothing at all, we should in every case, especially in a vast country like India, where we can only work on broad lines without venturing into any great detail, endeavour to make it our stand-by and have recourse to artificial methods only as supplementary expedients, using these latter as our principal means only when the end sought cannot be attained by any other, as when extensive blanks have to be stocked or where seed-bear- ing trees are wanting or when the species it is intended specially to propagate cannot reproduce itself in any thing like adequate proportions, &c. As respects natural regeneration by seed, some advance growth of the valuable species will rarely fail to make its appearance before the seed-felling falls due or the crop is yipe for the axe. Often this advance growth will be all but complete, and, at the worst, it will always be abundant enough to save a considerable amount of artificial work, even when no seed felling is undertaken and direct sowing or planting is at once proceeded with. BOOK Il. MAINTENANCE AND TREATMENT OF FORESTS. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. The sylviculturist’s work does not end with the creation and establishment of a forest crop; in order that the crop in question shall fulfil in the most complete manner the object of its existence, it must be constantly treated in the way that. will conduce most effectively to the realisation of that object. On page 109 we have already, summarily enumerated the three distinct purposes, one of which at least every forest is called upon, in the economy of man and nature, to fulfil. In the immediately following pages we will confine ourselves to the case of forests grown solely for the market, omitting all referenec to that of forests maintained for the landscape and only incidentally dealing with that of forests, the réle of which is to afford protec- tion. The productiveness of a crop will obviously depend on five sets of circumstances, viz., (1) the amount of protection afforded, (2) the climate, (3) the soil, (+) the constituents of the crop, and (5) the way in which it is made or allowed to grow up. All five sets of circumstances necessarily act and--react on each other, and no one of them can be considered without involving a consideration of, or reference to, the rest. In respect of protection we will concern ousrselves in this Ma- nual only with the prevention and suppression of fire in forests, as the other branches of the subject fall under the special heads of Law, Police, Administration, Zoology and Botany. The influence of climate on the growth of forests has been pretty fully considered in Part I at pp. 26, 53-61, 86 and 89, and the extent to which climatic. influences may be qualified by cover is explained at p.9. Regarding the modifying action of forests on climate it is enough to say here, without devoting a special chapter to it, that it consists in the moderation of extremes of temperature and therefore in the narrowing of the daily and annual range, in the raising of the mean in cold and its lowering in hot localities, in increasing and maintaining atmospheric mois- ture and hence in increasing and prolonging dew-deposition and, in most cases, also rainfall, in tempering winds and diminishing their velocity, and, as a consequence of all this, in the prevention of sudden or wide fluctuations. This modifying action of forests will obviously be effective in proportion to their height, density and evergreen nature. 414 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. The soil isa much more important factor in sylviculture than climate, for whereas the latter leaves us no choice at all as to the species to cultivate in any given locality, the action of man is all powerful in most cases in extending or restricting, favouring or checking the growth of all or any of those species. The care of soils will, therefore, be briefly treated in a special Chapter after Fire-Conservancy. The rest of the Manual will be devoted to a description of the various operations and combinations of operations by means of which the growth of a forest can be regulated so as to enable it to realise to its fullest extent the intention of its owner. CHAPTER I. FIRE-CONSERVANCY. ‘The term which heads this Chapter is an unhappy one, for it means, not what it implies, but the very opposite, viz., the pre- servation of forests from fire. But long use in official reports and professional parlance has given it the stamp of currency, and na shorter and more appropriate equivalent expression, unless indeed it be fire prevention, has yet been devised. To Sir Dietrich Brandis is due the honour of having first urged, with his characteristic energy and indomitable perseverance, the necessity of taking special measures for the prevention of forest fires, and to the Central Provinces Administration is due the honour of having first adopted them and practically. demonstrated the possibility of success. An historical interest will for ever attach to the name of the Bori forest, at the foot of the Pachmarhi block of the Sathpuras, where in the cold weather of 1865 the first at-. tempt at fire conservancy was made by Lieutenant, now Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Doveton, acting under the orders of Major Pearson the first Conservator of Forsts in those Provinces. For various reasons little general interest was taken in the subject for-several years, so little indeed that two successive and completely success- ful attempts made in Garhwal, N.W.P. by that talented officer, Mr. Richard Thompson, in 1866 and 1867, were passed over without the slightest official notice having been taken of them. It was only in 1871 that measures for protecting forests against fires be~ gan to be generalised, and it was not until 1872 that they were extended to the majority of the several provinces of India.. SECTION I. Necessity for keeping out fire. Fires injure forests in various ways. firstly, they destroy fallen seeds and, if they rise high enough, also fruit still hanging on the trees. Secondly, they kill all yearlings not possessing any collum buds and most of those possessing such buds; also a larger or smaller proportion of older plants, according to the amount of combustible matter on the ground, the number of casualties being greatest if the species are coniferous. Thirdly, the plants, that are not killed, are thrown back in their growth, are. rendered unheal- 416 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. thy, unsound, stunted, crooked and knotty, and become an easy prey to, and serve for the multiplication of, insects and fungi. Fourthly, this deterioration of individuals may, and often does, become permanent and perpetuated in the offspring, resulting in the formation of defective varieties. Fifthly, the production of vegetable mould is effectually prevented, the slight amount of useful mineral matter rendered immediately available in the ash being a very poor compensation for the much larger quantity of other substances dissipated, and being to a great extent blown away by the wind or washed away by the first few heavy showers of rain. Siathly, the exposure of the soil, consequent on the burning of the weeds and brushwood on it and of the vegetable débris covering it, hardens it, dries it up quickly, produces rapid and wide fluctua- tions of temperature in it, makes it refractory to fertilising influ- ences, and renders it liable to erosion or at least to the washing away of the better portions from the surface. Seventhly, seeds falling on such soil find a most uncongenial bed, and any seed- lings tnat_ may come up are unable to extend their roots to any depth, remain ill-fed and succumb easily to drought, excessive insola- tion. or frost. Highthly, the intense heat of the fire bakes the soil, and may vitrify the surface of stones and rocks and delay their disinte- gration and decomposition. WVinthly, owing to the hardening of the surface soil due to the heat and the exposure, rain-water falling on it cannot penetrate it easily, and so rushes over itin a large volume, all the more rapidly because of the absence of any weeds or bushes or covering of dead leaves capable of checking it, the result being inordinately swollen rivers, which fall as suddenly as they rose. Tenthly, another result is that, as the water has no time to sink, in any considerable quantity, into the ground and most of it goes away at once into the rivers, the level of springs falls very low, and springs that would otherwise be abundant or permanant become exiguous or dry up entirely. Lastly, the heavy floods in the rivers may cause them to erode and overflow their banks, spread devastation far and wide over the country on each side, and cut out every year a new channel for themselves. Thus fire conservancy is at the very root and foundation of all forest conser- vancy, and is the first object of all to secure before any forestry can be attempted. And the necessity for adopting special measures to secure pro- tection from fire is so much the greater on account of the numer- ous wide-spread inducements that exist for the firing of our forests, The first and foremost of these is the interest whioh INTENSITY AND VIOLENCE OF FOREST FIRES, 417 graziers have in obtaining a crop of green grass in the height of the hot weather, four or five weeks or even more before the begin- ning of the S. W. monsoon (see p. 38, para. 2). The next is the increased facility for moving about in a burnt forest and for look- ing out for forest produce and game. In respect of this latter the burning of the grass and bushes reduces the amount of cover, there- by confining the animals to a few isolated spots of limited extent. Then again, firing is the easiest and cheapest means of clearing away from near cultivation low thick undergrowth giving cover to des- tructive animals, The reduction of cover also lessens the risk to human life from wild beasts. And soon. Besides these direct inducements to fire the undergrowth, which are a perpetual menace to the safety of our forests, a very fruitful source of danger is the constitutional indifference of the millions of strolling smokers of the Indian pipe or chilam of earthenware or rolled-up leaves, the use of which requires nothing less than a piece of burning char- coal or cowdung. Besides preventing the dangers and disasters enumerated above, fire-conservancy has the effect of reducing both the density and height, that is the actual quantity, of the grass produced each year. New shoots come upin less abundance and grow up with less vigour on the clumps still bearing the old decomposing shoots of preceding years, and many stumps thus grow gradually weaker and ultimately die. Moreover the dense matted rotting mass formed _ by the dead grass is very unfavourable for the production and survival of new seedlings of herbaceous species in general and of the tender single-bladed grass seedling in particular. Indeed, it is an established fact that in many cases certain species of grasses are to a great extent killed out, the survivors being generally short and wiry kinds and forming more or less isolated clumps. This diminution of the natural crop of grass is most conspicuous in dry climates, and in stony, naturally dry soils. Ina moist climate and in rich moist soils it is hardly perceptible, owing probably to rapid decomposition and to the immediate washing away, by the heavy rain, of the deleterious products of decomposition. The necessity of fire conservancy in regard to its influence on the distribution of species will at once appear from a perusal of pp. 36-42. SECTION II. Intensity and violence of forest fires. The intensity and fierceness with which a forest fire burns de- 418 - PIRE-CONSERVANCY. pends on a great many combined circumstances, the principal of which are :— (1) Density and height of the grass. The presence of grass is the greatest obstacle there exists to the success of fire cOnservancy.. If the grass in a forest could be suppressed or removed, the only danger left would be that of a pure leaf-fire, and such a fire would be comparatively light, would be a standing menace to the forest during a much shorter time of the year, and, except on a steep slope, would be extremely easy to circumscribe and extinguish. In a forest fire the density of the crop of grass is of far greater consequence than its mere height, Where it grows in isolated patches, the grass generally burns with difficulty, unless there is a strong and steady breeze blowing. This is especially the case if the grass is not yet quite dry ; and, under any circumstances, the flames flare up so irregularly along the advancing edge of the conflagration that the fire can usually be beaten out with ease. A thick crop of grass, although visibly green, will often burn steadily and fiercely along the whole line before a very slight breeze, and the fire may even defy any direct attempt to getit under. On the height of the grass depends, besides the total quantity of. combustible matter present, also the force of the draught of air rising from below up- wards. It hence influences directly the length of the tongues of flame and the height to which they can rise, and, but in an inverse ratio, also the rate of progress of the conflagration, so that if the fire becomes severer and more unapproachable with the increasing height of the grass, the rapidity with which it advances is, by way of compensation, proportionately diminished and the chances of circumscribing it are in the same measure increased. From what has just been said it must not be inferred that, because in short grass the fire does not flare up high, it cannot therefore damage the forest growth beyond a moderate distance above the ground. With the burning grass barely more than a foot high, the heat vertically over it may be intense enough to set ablaze the entire crowns of trees 80 feet and upwards in height. Another very imporant point to draw the attention of the student to is the rapidity with which fire spreads when the grass is short without being quite spare. Before an ordinary breeze, fire in such grass may sweep on at the rate of 3 to 4 miles an hour, and driven by a steady wind, still very far short of a gale, it may rush forward at double that speed. (2) Dryness of the grass. It is evident that the more mois- ture there is in the grass, the greater will be the difficulty with which it will take fire, the less rapidly and less regularly will it INTENSITY AND VIOLENCE OF FOREST FIRE, 419 burn, and the less heat will it give out. It is equally evident that the longer the season during which fires can occur is, the drier will generally be the grass on any particular date and the longer will it be found in a perfectly dry, and, therefore, its most highly inflammable, state. The difference in the length of ‘the fire season in different parts of the country is very striking. In many forests in the Punjab and Central India extensive conflagrations may in any year occur as early as the beginning of October, and the season does not close until the setting in of the S. W. Monsoon rains, which event takes place in June in Central India and not until July—August in the Punjab. In many sal forests, on the other hand, fires are possible only during two or three months out of the twelve. The length of the fire season of course depends primarily on when the grass dries up. Grass always dies down and dries up after fructification is complete. The drier and warmer the soil and climate are, the sooner will the ears ripen and the stalks dry up. But the grass may also die and dry up prematurely from the effects of frost. In either case it becomes fit to burn earlier out in the open than under the cover of trees. (8) Abundance of fallen leaves. Outside the Himalayas, in forests liable to conflagrations, the climate is warm enough to cause shed leaves to crumble and decompose almost in a single season, so that when such forests are continuously preserved from fire for several years, no more than the fallen leaves of a single season can accumulate to feed any fire that may occur. In the cool air of the Himalayas, on the other hand, especially in forests containing conifers, decomposition and disaggregation are so slow that the ground may be covered with the accumulated unreduced fallen leaves of several years, forming a close mass more than a foot thick and burning like tinder, very gradually ‘and with little or no flame. Seedlings standing in such rubbish are bound to be burned to death. As regards a pure leaf-fire generally we may say that even before a high wind and with the leaves packed loose and high, the flames will seldom rise up more than a few feet, rarely scorching the crowns of anything taller than small poles. (4) Size and nature of the leaves. As just said above, some leaves, like those of conifers, take several years to decompose, and consequently form a thick accumulation of combustible matter on the ground. Besides this, resinous leaves are obviously more highly inflammable than those that are non-resinous. Large thick fibrous leaves, like those of teak, not only form a thick loosely-packed mass, which flares up high and fiercely, but indivi- 420 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. dually burn for a long time, so that they are often carried up and dropped in an ignited condition a considerable distance off, some- times beyond even 200 yards. And so on. (5) Violence and constancy of the wind. The actual burning of the dry grass and leaves converts a mild breeze into a high wind, anda brisk wind intoa gale. A steady wind drives the long tongues of flame along the ground, and creates a lateral blast of such intensity as to set fire to grass even a hundred feet beyond the visible reach of the flames. (6) Absence or lightness of dews. The severest forest fire will at once of itself go out at nightfall where heavy dews prevail. In sheltered situations, in the cold weather, dew may begin to form even before sundown and not be evaporated until past noon. In some places in India dews prevail right through the rainy. season and on to the end of April and even the middle of May, and are, for many months, so heavy that the trees drip all night long and during the early morning, in the same manner as after an abundant fall of rain. In other places, at the extreme end of the scale, they are never heavy and are limited, outside the rainy season, to the three or four months following the close of the 8. W. Monsoon. ; (7) Heat of the sun. Where the sun is powerful, the grass dries up early, dews are light, begin to be deposited late in the evening, are quickly evaporated, and prevail during a limited time of the year. The heat also directly assists a conflagration. (8) Sloping ground. Fire naturally progresses most rapidly up a slope, and more rapidly the steeper the gradient is, provided of course the ground is not so steep as to be unable to bear a com- plete crop of grass or to supporta thick continuous mass of dead leaves. On the other hand, burning fragments roll or slip down a slope, and thus aid the rapid spread of fire as well as render its extinction on the lower side of the slope extremely difficult. On a declivity dead twigs, leaves, &c., accumulate against the upper side of the foot of the trees, and, in burning themselves, char and kill that side of the stems, the fire often working its way through far enough to bring down a tree. (9) Nature of the component species. Some trees take fire, even ina green state, more easily than others; some suffer less direct damage or recover more readily and completely than others; . and so on (see pp. 36-42). The resinous cones of conifers can carry down fire over a whole hillside. Hollow bamboos in com- bustion burst with great violence, and in Berar burning fragments, PREVENTIVE MEASURES. 421 assisted no doubt by the wind, have been known to be flung toa distance of 500 yards. (10) Nature of the soil. Forest fires are fiercest in a loose dry soil, and mildest in a compact or hygroscopic soil. When the soil is compact, no current of air can rise up from its interior to fan up the flames; and when the soil is moist, this current of air is so charged with steam that, if it does not put out the fire above, it at least moderates its intensity. From the foregoing discussion it is easy to see that the danger and severity of a conflagration will be very different according to the prevailing conditions. In some forests the occurrence of fire is physically impossible; in other classes of forests large areas remain safe for several years together without any special mea- sures of protection at all; in others again the whole area must, unless it is specially conserved, burn regularly every year; and amongst these last, different forests will require different degrees of care, vigilance, and intensity of protection. Whereas in some forests a conflagration will usually sweep over as much as 20 square miles in the 24 hours, in others, even during the driest season of the year, scarcely 5 square miles will be burnt in as many days ; and indeed, in the Himalayas, an average of 100 acres burnt in 24 hours isan unusually heavy casualty. In one instance, in the Mundali deodar forests, only 80 miles inside that range of moun- tains, a fire, after smouldering on for five days in a deposit of dead leaves about 2 feet thick, spread over barely half an acre of the hillside. On the other hand in Central India, the grass standing in a continuous mass, a fire occurring in the hot weather can seldom be put out before it has extended over several thousand acres. Hence in comparing statistics of fire conservancy in the diffe- rent forest regions of India, or in drawing, from particular instan- ces, general conclusions regarding the success or failure, adequacy or inadequacy, and cheapness or expensiveness of particular measures and methods, we cannot be too careful to make full allowance for the peculiar circumstances of each case. For in- stance, 1,000 acres burnt in fire-conserved sal forest along the foot of the Himalayas will undoubtedly prove more inefficient pro- tection than 10,000 acres burnt in the open low teak forests of the Central Provinces. SECTION III. Means of prevention. The means for preventing fires in a forest naturally group them- 4:22, FIRE-CONSERVANCY. selves under three main heads as follows :— I. Measures for preventing fire from entering from outside ; II. Measures for preventing fire from spreading from one part of the forest to another ; and ILI. Police, and putting out conflagrations which it has not been possible to prevent. ARTICLE 1. PREVENTION OF ENTRANCE OF FIRE FROM OUTSIDE. ‘The measures for preventing the ingress of fire from outside must naturally vary with the conditions described in Section II, and with the condition of the surrounding country. If the land is cultivated right up to the edge of the forest, then it is obvious that no conflagration could possibly occur immediately outside the forest and there would be no danger to it except at the hands of incendiaries or through sheer wanton carelessness on the part of the cultivators. Again the grass outside may be browsed down so close to the ground as to leave nothing to burn. Excepting these two cases, in which an outside fire would be impossible, jire-breaks of some kind are absolutely necessary to effectually stop the fur- ther progress of a conflagration approaching the forest. A fire-break, which may be either natural or artificial, ora natural one rendered more effective by the forester, may be— (1) A stream wide enough and sufficiently free of grass and other combustible matter to prevent the passage of fire. Accord- ing to the prevailing conditions the minimum width of the stream need be only a few feet or may have to be several hundred yards. (2) A sufficiently wide belt of swampy ground, the vegetation on which can never burn. (3) A sufficiently wide and dense belt of some evergreen shrub, like Adhatoda Vasica, the prickly pear, &c., which grows close enough at the base to prevent grass from springing up in its midst. An advancing conflagration will generally burn some distance into the belt, but with constantly diminishing force until it quite goes out. (4) Asheer cliff, the forest to be saved being on the upper side. (5) Aroad. In most parts of India, however, the widest road would be too narrow to stop a fire. (6) A close-planted belt of broad-leaved trees, which remain in full leaf throughout the season during which fires can occur. Such belts can be really effective only in the Himalayas at altitudes PREVENTION OF ENTRANCE OF FIRE FROM OUTSIDE. 423 above 4,000 feet more or less, and perhaps in very damp climates also. Hvenin the south of France: they fail to. stop fire unless the ground below is kept clear of bushes and dead leaves. Under’ any circumstances, their employment cannot be generalised in India. In the first place, the species used would have to be ever- green;in the second place, the soil along by far the greater portion of the boundary of our forests would be found unsuitable for the growth of such species; and, in the third place, the cost of raising and maintaining such belts, except they were formed of valuable fruit trees, which would bear very little unless planted so far apart as to be unable to suppress a growth of grass and an- nual weeds, would be entirely prohibitive. (7) Lines of sufficient width cleared of all combustible: matter. The clearing may be effected either (i) by cultivating the soil and raising field crops thereon, or (ii) if possible, by allowing the grass to be browsed down to the roots, or (iii) by having the grass cut as close to the ground as possible, or (iv) by means of fire. The first method is of course possible only in the neighbourhood of population, where the soil is suitable for permanent cultivation and is clear of trees: it not only costs nothing, but may in most cases return some revenue, and should, therefore, be adopted wherever the required conditions exist. For the second method to be feasible it is necessary that all the grass should belong to fodder-yielding species and that the cattle should be sufficiently under control not to stray beyond the limits fixed for them. The system is capable of generalisation round the stone-fenced reserved forests of Ajmir and Merwara, where pastures are limited. The high cost of cutting all the grass close to the ground renders the sited method impracticable except where the entire, or-all but en- tire, crop is suited for haymaking or thatching, and there-is a ready demand for such grass. When the village population are accus-. tomed to lay by a store of hay for the six or eight months of the- dry season, it is often possible to have several miles of line cleared in this manner in return merely for the free gift of the grass. The fourth and last method is the one of most general application. Indeed, there is scarely a single forest requiring protection from fire, in which at least nine-tenths of the lines have not to be clear- edin this manner in order to secure the necessary economy of time, money and labour. A line cleared thus is called a fire-line or fire-trace. From the latter term we obtain the verb to fire-trace and its derivatives. Fire-tracing isan artin itself and will be treated separately in detail in Article 3. 424 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. (8) Various combinations of 1-5and 7. The most usual one wilt be a fire-trace flanking one side of a stream or one or both sides of a road, in order to inerease the width of the fire-break to the minimum of safety, and, in the case of a road, also to isolate it from the standing grass and to prevent any risk from careless way- farers, who often rest themselves by the side of a road or saunter along carrying a burning fire-brand or torch or a lit hubble-bubble- For the sake of economy the fire-trace flanking a stream need not always remain on one and the same side of it, but may cross it at various points in order either (a) to keep out of a heavy growth of grass, or (6) to get into grass that dries up early, or (ce) to follow easy ground, or (d) to take a short cut at bends of the stream and thus to reduce the amount of work to be done (Fig. 129), or (e) to take the line past a belt or large mass of close-grown forest or bushes into which fire cannot penetrate at the time of the fire- tracing operations, thus doing away with the necessity of clearing a guide line (see p. 426). In fire-tracing along one side of a road, it is obvious that the very conditions of the combination rigidly fix the side which the fire-trace should never leave. ARTICLE 2. LocALISATION OF INTERNAL FIRES. When a forest is large, it is always expedient and nearly always necessary to divide it into blocks completely isolated from one another, so that ifa fire broke out in any one of them, it could not possibly spread into those adjoining. This division can only be effected by means of a system of fire-breaks similar to those described in the preceding Article. But whereas, in devising a system of fire-breaks to exclude fire coming from outside, the boundary line cannot obviously be deviated from, in the present case the forester is at full liberty to choose the most economical and effective lines that offer. For instance, he will make the most of streams, water-courses and swampy places, ridges and spurs, roads existing and to be made whether for traffic or for inspection, open grasslands, belts of evergreen species and of others facilitating fire-tracing or oppos- ing any kind of obstacle to the progress of fire. The crest of a ridge or spur, if it is regular enough to be everywhere easily accessible, offers the safest alignment of all for a fire-break, for fire could not possibly be blown across it on to the other face of the hill, however rapidly a conflagration rushed up towards it. And here it may be necessary to warn the student against run- LOCALISATION OF INTERNAL FIRES. 425 ning fire-breaks along the face of a hill or along the bottom ofa narrow ravine or valley. Itis needless to say that cliffs should generally be avoided, for if on the one hand, fire could not possibly climb up from below, on the other hand, there would always be the risk of burning brands and other fragments being blown down from above, unless a very broad fire-trace were cleared, or a suffi- ciently wide belt of some evergreen shrub, tree or climber grew along the upper edge of the cliff. Although a truism, still it is necessary to add that at no point of the length of a water-course, too narrow to serve by itself asa break, ought more than one bank to be fire-traced. As regards a road both or only one side of it should be cleared of combustible matter according as it is a frequented public thoroughfare or the traffic is light or strictly regulated; and when only one side is fire-traced, it should be that from which the wind blows. It is obvious that the more nearly perpendicular to the direction of the strongest winds a fire-break is, the broader must it be. Hence in the interests of economy, if artificial breaks are in question, they should diverge from that direction as much as the topography, system of export, the shape and lie of the forest, and other prevailing conditions will allow. The smallness and hence the number of the fire-blocks will be directly proportionate to the value of the standing stock, to the intensity of treatment to which the forest is subjected, to the ease and inexpensiveness with which the division can be effected, to the amount of traffic passing through the forest, and to the difficulty with which, owing’either to insufficiency of labour or inaccessible ground or to the conditions described on pp. 417-21, conflagrations can be put out. The size of the blocks in different forests will thus be very different, but asa rule it vught not to exceed 10 square miles in remote forests of no great value or 1000 acres in valuable forests on which thereis an active demand. Except in small coppices, in which each annual coupe will generally form a separate block, a smaller minimum than 200 acres will seldom be required. The width of the intervening fire-trace may be insufficient to revent in all circumstances fire from crossing over from a burning block to the next one ; and even if the width is in itself sufficient, the trace may not at the time be effective, because of fallen dead leaves strewing it or from its not yet having been completely cleared, or for any other reason. In sucha contingency, if the conflagration cannot be put out before it reaches the trace, the only plan to follow is to fire the grass along the trace in the burn- 426 BIRE-CONSERVANCY. ing block, so that this fire may spread towards and meet the ad-. vancing conflagration. The lighting of such a fire is technically turned counterfiring and its object is to prevent the larger confla- gration, in view of its intense heat, from attaining a too dangerous proximity to the intact block. The subject of counterfiring will be dealt with in more detail in a subsequent section. ARTICLE, 3. Fire-TRAcine. Expressed briefly and in the most general terms, a fire-trace is cleared by cutting and sweeping away all inflammable matter from over a certain width along both of its edges, and then firing all the intervening grass and other combustible stuff, the burning being regulated and controlled by a gang of men stationed along each edge and provided with bunches of stout leafy twigs, with which the spreading flames can, when necessary, be beaten out. The two cleared lines, one along each edge of the fire-trace, which serve both as an alignment to the men and to prevent the fire from get- ting beyond the trace into the forest to be preserved, may appro- priately be termed guide or check lines. In fire-tracing operations it is necessary to know (1) in what direction to run the traces, (2) what width to give them, and (3) how to prepare them. I.—Direction for a fire-trace. The direction in which a fire-trace should run is generally fixed for it by existing natural features or roads or the boundary it has to follow. But sometimes, as when there are no lines on the ground to determine its direction or the choice lies between two or more such lines, then full consideration, within the measure of discretion allowed by other circumstances, should be given to the quarter from which a constant wind blows. Ifthe trace ran at right angles to the line of such a wind, its firing would become extremely difficult, if not practically impossible, for it must be remembered that the force of the wind would become more than doubled by the burning of the grass on the trace, and the violence of the fire and the length of the flames to leeward of the trace would consequently necessitate avery broad guide-line, the cost of which might be entirely prohibitive. In close-standing fairly dry grass only four feet high the flames may, when only a stiffish breeze is blowing, reach across a guide-line 16 feet wide and set on fire the grass beyond. WIDTH OF FIRE-TRACES. 427 It is evident that the more a fire-trace deviates from the per- pendicular to the direction of a constant wind, the easier, more economical and less fraught with risk dees its clearing become. But in observing this obvious rule, there is one danger that has to be avoided. It must first be clearly ascertained that the wind in question is really a constant one, and that it has no tendency to veer completely round all of a sudden. Should the wind change in this way while the trace was being fired, the flames would rush along in the direction of the unburnt length of the trace, and in a few minutes, perhaps even in a few seconds, extend so far as to get entirely out of hand and then spread away into the forest. Such an eventuality is most to be feared in dry, short wiry grass, in which the fire may travel aleng atthe rate of four miles an hour before avery moderate wind. Hence, unless there is complete certainty that the prevailing wind is not subject to sudden changes, and there is some latitude for choice, it is always advisable to let the fire-trace make a small angle (10 to 15 deg.) with the direction in which it blows. The full force of this recommendation will be perceived when we come to treat of the method of firing traces. II.— Width of fire-traces. A trace may be intended to serve as a complete fire-break in it- self, or its object may be simply to arrest toa certain extent the progress of a forest conflagration and to serve as a base from which, to counterfire. In the first case, it should be broad enough to prevent the most violent fire from crossing it in any circumstance; in the other, its width should be merely sufficient to arrest the pro- gress of a fire at most points and to make it easy to light rapidly, and with the minimum of labour to control, a counterfire in order to meet an advancing conflagration. It is evident that all boundary traces should be of the former class, while internal ones may be either the one or the other, according as the staff of watchers is or is not sufficiently numerous and well-distributed to start counterfires promptly before the conflagration to be restricted can reach the trace in question. It may be objected that all traces without exception should be effective fire-breaks ; but it must be remembered that the broader the traces are, the more expensive are they to clear, and, what is a far more important consideration, the larger is the area ab- stracted from protection, for as the aggregate length of internal traces ina valuable and well-exploited forest is always great, a few additional feet of width would necessarily involve a consider 428 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. able addition to the area deliberately burnt. And then it must also be borne in mind that whereas we cannot rely on the grass outside the forest being saved, but must even assume that it will certainly burn right up to the boundary traces, we may consider a confla- gration inside the forest as only a contingency that may not occur at all, so that internal traces of a greater width than what would suffice with counterfiring to check the spread of the conflagration would be a superfluity, involving needless expense and needless sac- rifice of a portion of the standing stock. So much being said, it may be laid down that the width of a boundary or other trace, the object of which is to effectually arrest the progress of a conflagration, will depend on the height, closeness and infiammability of the grass, the nature, abundance and size of the fallen leaves, the density of the leaf-canopy, the violence and direction of prevailing winds, the intensity of insolation, the slope of the ground, and the dryness and porous condition of the soil. To these conditions, in the case of traces requiring counterfiring, rust be added the rapidity with which fire travels in the forest in question and the promptness with which counterfires can be started and run along them. It will thus be seen that the width of a fire-trace is a figure vari- able not only from forest to forest, but from locality to locality of one and the same forest. In some places a width of 10 feet may suffice, whereas in others even 600 feet may not prove sufficient in all circum- stances. Hence in each particular case the existing conditions should be fully studied and the width adapted to those conditions. A trace that is not broad enough will defeat the very object for which it was made, while one that is broader than necessary will be a cause of unprofitable expenditure of money and needless sac- rifice of forest growth that ought to be protected. Nevertheless a small margin of safety is always permissible. III —Preparation of fire-traces. In the preparation of fire-traces the following points have to be considered :—(1) width and clearing of the guide lines, (2) necessity or otherwise of clearing the traces of all woody growth, (3) season and time of day for firing and number of times to fire, and (4) the process of firing and how to conduct it. 1— Guide-lines. In preparing a fire-trace the main difficulty is so to control the firing as to prevent the flames from spreading beyond the trace into the areas to be preserved. GUIDE LINES. 429 The first point to consider is whether guide lines canin any circumstance be dispensed with. One may already exist in the shape of a watercourse or road or broad well-beaten track running along one edge of the trace to be cleared ; or the trace-may be flanked for some distance by a belt or patch of green forest or bushes which fire cannot enter. In none of these cases is there any necessity for specially preparing a guide line, except in so far as a little partial clearing may be required at those points here and there, where these natural barriers are too narrow or covered with dry grass or otherwise insufficient to stay the progress of fire. Occasionally in short grass and with well-trained fire-tracers, when the wind is not unfavourable and the forest to be protected lies only on one side of the trace, the burning may be effected with-. out a check-line. This has been done under the Author’s supervi- sion in the Central Provinces, when the entire boundary trace of a forest of roughly 50 squares miles was so cleared for about Re. 1 per running mile, the daily wage of a man being 4 annas. The exceptional cases just described being left out of account, a guide line must be cleared along one or both edges of a trace according as the fire is to be controlled and put out along one side or along both sides of it. The former is the case when the area on the side on which the fire is allowed to spread unchecked is not to be protected and contains no property the safety of which would be thereby endangered. When only a single guide line is employ- ed, a serious risk is incurred for which it is necessary to be pre- pared. If during the firing a gale should suddenly spring up and carry the fire rapidly ahead of the burners, it is quite possible that the conflagration may be subsequently turned back, by a change in the wind, in the direction of the protected area and enter it at a point where the fire-trace has not yet been cleared. To provide against such a contingency the right season and time of the day ought to be chosen for the fire-tracing operations. But this point will be dealt with in its proper place lower down. The width of the guide lines in any case will of course vary with the height, density and inflammability of the grass on the trace, with the force and direction of the prevailing winds, and with the readiness with which the area adjoining can take fire and burn. Thus local knowledge and experience can alone determine in any given case the minimum safe width to adopt. But subject to not very important modifications imposed by local conditions, the following empirical rule may be laid down :—The width of guide lines should be more or less equal to the height of the grass through 430 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. which they are cut, increased by 3 feet. Whether the rest of the trace be cleared or not of trees and shrubs, no such vegetation should be allowed to stand on the guide lines, for the burners must have free room for unimpeded circula- tion and for wielding the leafy branches with which they beat out the fire and prevent it from spreading beyond the trace. The trees and shrubs may be got rid of entirely by grubbing out, if the operation is inexpensive and money for it is available ; otherwise they must be felled once for all and the resulting coppice shoots cut every year. If there are no thick stems in the way and the ground is suffi- ciently level and not stony, a scythe will be the most expeditious implement to employ in clearing the guide lines of its grass and other vegetation. Otherwise a sickle must be used. According to the width to be cleared, men may be placed singly or two or three abreast at convenient distances apart. The grass cut off the guide lines should be thrown up in a con- tinuous mass along the edge of the standing grass on the traces. There it will dry and become inflammable rapidly and thus facilitate the firing of the trace: without sucha cushion of dry grass it would be extremely difficult to fire the standing grass on the trace, and in the most favourable circumstances this grass would never take fire and burn regularly. Even when the standing grass is too green to burn, the combustion of the cushion of dry grass will cause the green grass in contact with itself to be consumed and thus widen very materially the guide line and render the second attempt of firing the trace a safe and easy matter. If the grass on the guide lines can be ‘sold, advantage should be taken of this circumstance to reduce the cost of fire-prevention, and the best plan then would be, if that were feasible, to get the purchaser to clear the lines. The unsaleable portions should of course be thrown up against the edge of the standing grass as described above ; and if there is not enough to form the requisite cushion and at the same time supply material for the fire-brands or grass torches (p. 437), a slight additional width should be cleared on the inside to obtain the balance. The guide lines should be cleared while the standing grass is still green and sufficiently in advance of the firing to allow the cut grass to become completely dry and inflammable. To ensure permanence for a fire-trace, as well as for economy’s sake to follow as straight and short a line as possible every-where, it is advisable, whenever practicable, to mark out the edge or edges SHOULD TRACES BE CLEARED OF ALL WOODY GROWTH ? 431 of the trace by means of a trench. Such a trench, if wide enough, may render unnecessary the clearing of a regular guide line, the precaution being taken either to beat down the grass along the inside edge or to cut it over in a narrow strip just sufficient to form a dry, easily inflammable cushion and supply torch material. The trench will of course require to be kept up, but the cost of its maintenance added to its initial cost with interest, will, if due judgment has been exercised, never equal the outlay on clearing regular guide lines every year. 2.—Should fire-traces be cleared of trees and shrubs ? In favour of keeping fire-traces free of woody vegetation it must be admitted that if they are so cleared, the grass and other her- baceous growth on them, owing to frost or drought or earlier seed- ing, &e., will die and dry up everywhere sooner and more uni- formly than in the adjoining forest-covered area on. either side, and thus facilitate their firing and minimise, if not entirely remove, the risks attending that operation. Moreover, on a completely ‘cleared trace the grass will come up more abundantly and uni- formly and hence get entirely burnt off, instead of being left un- consumed in patches, in the vicinity of bushes, whenever a steady breeze has been wanting during the firing. When such patches are left, the least that requires to be done is to fire the trace a second and even a third time, and in the meantime the connection maintained by them between the forests on either side is a con- stantly threatening element of danger. But if the arguments in favour of clearing fire-traces of all woody growth are great and incontestable, on the other hand three very important considerations may, and often do, militate against its being carried out: firstly, the great cost of such an operation, since all stools, woody rhizomes and sucker-producing roots have to be grubbed out or otherwise the annual coppice must be cut down every year with infinite labour during the growing season ; secondly, the immense sacrifice of forest growth involved, if the traces are atiall wide ; and, thirdly, the far greater obstacles to easy and quick firing offered by the abundant bushy growth that must soon come up from seed and often even from the roots of felled or adjoining standing trees. Moreover such open lines might give ingress to dangerous winds. Besides this, as will be seen from the next Article, whether the traces are cleared or not, it will seldom, 432 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. if ever, be possible to do away with the necessity of a second, third, and even fourth firing. When, however, a cleared line of sufficient width already exists defining the boundary of the forest, the necessary trace is there ready to hand, and then the charge for clearing it is of course not one that is debitable to fire-conservancy. In discussing the present question it is a mistake to suppose, as is so often done, that cleared traces escape being covered over with a deposit of dead leaves and that they thus save the trouble and expense of having to sweep away this highly inflammable stuff during the season of leaf-fall. Leaves shed by bordering trees are always wafted on over the trace in sufficient abundance to make it dangerous. 3.—Season for firing the traces and the number of times to fire them. A trace can be completely cleared in a single firing only under one of two conditions ; either the grass on it should everywhere be dry, or, if it is not all quite dry, a steady breeze should be blowing during the firing operation to cause the combustion of the still moist portions. Now we know that the simultaneous drying up of the grass on any considerable length of trace is a rare, if not an impossible, occurrence, while such a wind as is necessary to assure the combustion of grass that is not uniformly dry and is yet not too strong for the safe conduct of the firing, cannot be expected to blow at our pleasure. To wait until all the grass on the fire- traces became combustible would mean the daily and even momentary risk of an outside conflagration entering the forest by way of the portions already dry. Indeed such waiting would mean even more than this, for by the time the grass on the traces had everywhere become dry enough to burn, that on the preserved area would also have become inflammable, so that there would always be the danger, if the fire on the burning trace got out of control, of its spreading away unchecked into the forest. Hence a safe rule to follow in practice is to commence firing a trace as soon as there is enough dry grass on it to enable it to burn ina more or less continuous manner ; whatever grass remains unburnt must be got rid of by a second, and, if found necessary, also a third and even a fourth firing. These subsequent firings need not cause any alarm on the score of expense, for they must in any case be undertaken in order to clear the traces of dead fallen leaves. lt is obvious that different considerations determine the time for firing boundary and internal traces, for the former must be made SEASON FOR FIRING TRACES, 433 sufficiently effective for the time being before there is any danger at all of fire entering from outside, while the latter need not be ready until just before the grass inside the forest has become dan- gerous. Taking up first the case of boundary traces, we note that in preparing them one of the three following distinct sets of condi- tions has to be dealt with :— (1) The trace may be flanked by a road or a watercourse, which thus itself constitutes a part of the width of the trace. Now we know that during the early part of the fire-conservancy season, conflagrations can neither spread rapidly nor are so violent as not to be stopped by a comparatively slight obstacle. Hence there is no need for any hurry, and, unless strong constant winds blow towards the forest, the trace need not be fired until most or all of the grass on it has become inflammable. (2 The grass on the entire or partial width of the trace may dry up appreciably earlier thanin the forest. This may be due to the trace being on a well drained ridge, or to the fact that the bound- ary of the forest is demarcated by a cleared line exposed to every weather extreme while the area to be preserved is covered with more or less canopied forest. Here also there is no need for hurry and the firing may be delayed until all or most of the grass on the ‘trace, or at least on the portion of it devoid of tree-growth, is fit to burn. We havea special and the simplest instance of the present case when the area outside the forest is not to be protected against fire and the grass on it dries up early. (8) The grass on the trace may not become inflammable before that immediately inside the forest. This is a real difficulty to over- come, especially if the grass on the trace, from being in moisture soil, remains green longer than in the adjoining protected belt. If there is no cleared line to mark the boundary of the forest, one should be made without delay so as to bring about, if possible, the earlier drying up of the grass on the trace. But if that measure should prove ineffectual or insufficient, one or both of two remain- ing expedients may be adopted. The green standing grass on the cleared portion of the trace may be beaten and crushed down with poles or light wooden rollers (according to the broken or even nature of the ground), so that it may dry early and burn more easily and completely in its now recumbent position. This opera- tion may be found too costly and not indispensable, but the follow- ing simple device, carried out with care and intelligence, will answer in every case. Starting originally with somewhat wider 434 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. guide lines than are demanded by the other circumstances of the case, the cushion of cut grass should be well and evenly laid, the standing grass along the edge being beaten down, if necessary, to facilitate the operation. The result of firing this cushion will be to increase very appreciably the width of the guide line, and if the firing is delayed as long as possible consistently with the safety of the forest, in most places a broad belt of the standing grass -will also be consumed. The guide lines thus widened ought to present a sufficient obstacle to the passage of fire until the re- mainder of the grass on the trace, or at least most of it, is dry enough to be fired. If there is danger in waiting until the whole of the grass is dry, the second firing should be undertaken before such danger arises, and the trace must be finally cleared by a third firing. Occasionally a fourth firing may be found necessary. ‘We now come to the consideration of the time for firing internal lines. It has been said above that they need not be ready until the grass in the forest is so dry as to render the direct attack and extinction of a conflagration a difficult or at least an uncertain matter. But, on the other hand, it is evident that the earlier they can be cleared, in order to minimise the risk to the forest in the event of the fire on the trace getting out of control and crossing the guide line, so much the better. Hence if the grass on the trace dries before that on either side of it, it should be burnt with- out delay, or at any rate before the latter becomes inflammable. But it is seldom that the grass on an internal trace is fit to burn thus early, for such traces generally flank either a watercourse or a road cut through as heavy forest growth as the average of the area to be protected. Nevertheless the fact of such road of water- course forming one side of the trace diminishes very considerably ‘the risk of late firing and in most cases enables the forester to wait until the grass on the trace is nearly all dry. Here we see proved the great importance of clearing the trace on the windward side of the watercourse or road, which at first, until the grass in the forest is nearly dry, serves as an internal fire-break itself, and later on, when the trace is fired, acts, if wide enough, as the very best possible guide-line. If the width of the road or watercourse is insufficient for this latter purpose, a few feet of the standing grass will of course have to be cleared along it early in the season, formed into the usual cushion and burnt as soon as it is dry. This, really the first, burning will invariably extend in many places beyond the cushion of cut grass, and at some points even over the entire width of the trace, and thus render the subsequent or main TIME OF DAY FOR FIRING TRACES, 435 firing operation an easy matter. If at certain points the bed of- the watercourse is overgrown with grass, such grass must also be cut early in the season, spread out evenly and fired as soon as it is. inflammable. Only one more case of internal traces, viz., that in which the grass isto be cleared on both sides of a much frequented road, remains to be considered. The firing of the grass on the wind- ward side of the road falls under one of the cases discussed in the preceding paragraph, so that we are concerned here only with the part of the trace to leeward of the road. Itis evident that the firing of this part of the trace must offer no little difficulty if the grass on it does not dry before the adjoining protected grass. The enly way to overcome this difficulty is to clear early in the season a wide guide line, form the cushion of cut grass carefully, beating down if necessary the standing grass on which it is to be laid, and firing this cushion before, if possible just before, the grass in the forest becomes inflammable. By this means the guide line will be sufficiently widened to prevent any risk at the second firing, which should be undertaken as soon as most of the remaining grass is in a condition to burn. It will generally be possible and advan- tageous to effect the first firing of the trace on the windward side of the road simultaneously with this second firing of the lee side, thus'combining the two operations into a single one and economising both time and money. From what precedes it will have been observed how essential to the success of fire-conservancy the proper choice of the time for firing the various traces in a forest is and on how many changeful circumstances, that require to be carefully and intelligently noted and studied, that choice depends. How often do we not read, in the Annual Progress Reports of our Forest Department, of large conflagrations due solely to fire having got out of control and spread away into the forest from a trace that was being cleared, Most of these conflagrations might have been avoided had the traces been fired at the right time.. 1t is evident that the less experienced and steady, and the less inured to face a high-blazing mass of grass the fire-tracers are, the greater is the necessity for care and judg-. ment in choosing the right time for firing. 4, Time of day for firing. The time of day during which to fire-trace will depend on the season of the year, the nature of the Cold and Hot weather in the locality, and the absolute and relative condition of the grass in 436 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. the forest and on the trace. We must fire during the day time in the following several cir- cumstances :— (a) If dews are heavy and the grass is too wet to burn between sundown and an hour or more after sunrise. Ifthe grass in the forest is not very inflammable aud the wind permits of it, the firing may be commenced from the time the dew has disappeared and continued as long as the grass is dry enough to burn. But if the grass in the forest is in a dangerous condition, it is safe not to begin firing until past noon, so that nightfall with its heavy dews and low temperature may not be far off in case the fire from the trace got into the forest. (5) If the grass on the trace is dry, whilst inside the forest it is not yet inflammable. (c) Ifthe grass everywhere takes fire with difficulty. (d) Ifthe grassis everywhere green and it is essential to increase the width of a check line or the effectiveness of roads or watercourses by burning a cushion of cut grass as explained above (pp. 430, 434 and 435). (e) When no guide lines are cleared, for it would be impossible during the night to follw the line to be burnt. For safety’s sake, unless the grass everywhere, or at least in the forest, was green, the firing should generally commence in the afternoon. We must fire only at night in the following cases:— (a) When the grass has everywhere become more or less readily inflammable, especially in steep hilly country with sharp crests and ridges. (6) When, there being no dew, high winds render work during the day dangerous. (c) In the height of the hot weather, when it is impossible for any one to face a grass fire during any other period of the twenty four hours. In every other case the work of firing should begin late in the afternoon or an hour or two before nightfall, according to the nature of the season and the condition of the grass in the forest ; and it should be continued as late into the night as the men can hold out or the dew, should dews still prevail, will allow the grass to burn. It is evident that in the most favourable circumstance the appearance of dawn should be a signal for closing work forthwith. 5.—Firing the traces. The simplest and most expeditious way to set fire to a trace is to ACTUAL FIRING OF THE TRACES, 437 take up loosely a bundle of dry grass, holding it by the upper and smaller end, and when it has been fully lighted at the lower end, to trail it along over the grass to be burnt, the wrist being twisted about in opposite directions. This motion of the wrist is necessary not only to keep the bundle of grass in constant active combustion, but also to drop at short intervals, in the midst of the grass to be consumed, blazing fragments of the burning bundle, without which a continuous line of fire could not be established and the trace thereby rapidly and easily cleared. The burning bundle of grass will, for the sake of convenience, be called a fire-brand oy torch. In firing a trace for the first time, at whatever other point also the grass may have to be lit, a fire-brand must always be drawn along the cushion of dry grass formed on the edge of the grass to be burnt. When a sufficient length of this cushion has been lighted, the fire must of course be allowed to spread away over the trace, but should be put out on the outside before it can get across the check line into the area to be protected. It should be beaten out or brushed back with thick hunches of leaves or stout leafy twigs, which bunches may aptly, for shortness, be termed brooms. The best brooms are made by tying together 5-10 leaves of the date palm ; these are often still serviceable after a long day’s work. Fail- ing date palms, the smaller branches of any broad-leaved forest tree with numerous agglomerated tough leaves possessing strong petioles may be used ; the leaves should be fully mature, and if they are caducous, their shedding time should be still remote, otherwise they will shrivel up or disarticulate and fall off after very little use. Such brooms do not, however, in the most favourable circumstances, last long and have to be renewed several times during a single firing operation, thus necessitating the detailing of several men exclusively for the cutting and constant supply of the requisite quantity of broom material. A few brief remarks are necessary regarding the use of the fire- tracer’s broom. Asa rule, no attempt should be made to beat out or brush back the fire until it has begun to ereep outwards away from the cushion of dry grass, most of which has by such time been consumed or has at least ceased to flare up. To attack it earlier would mean totally unnecessary exposure of the broom-men to fa- tigue, intense discomfort and even suffering, without in any way accelerating the work, for the fire would be burning too fiercely in the cushion of dry grass for much impression to be made on it by the efforts of the men. In beating out the advancing fire, the broom should be brought down with a sort of oblique sweeping 438 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. motion directed towards the trace, thereby not:only smothering up the fire, but also brushing away on to the trace burning fragments that must otherwise only cause it to flare up anew before the broom could be brought to bear onthem again. If the broom were brought down vertically, these burning fragments would ‘be scattered about in every direction and some might fall amongst and set on fire the standing grass or accumulation of dead leaves just outside the trace. The-force with which-the broom should be brought down will of course depend on the violence of the advancing fire, and the more violent it is, the closer together must the broom-men be ranged along the edge of the trace. Indeed, when the conflagration is very violent at any point, several men must beat it out, bringing down their brooms rapidly-one after another so as to give the fire no chance of reviving. The fire in the cushion of dry grass may be so fierce thatthe men, while waiting to attack it, may be obliged to stand in the midst of the grass and bushes beyond the guide line. To protect themselves then, and also when they advance.and attack the fire, they should screen themselves behind a bunch of leaves er twigs held in the left hand. Without such protection the men would-be exposed to extreme discomfort, and would often-be unable to approach the fire near enough to attack at. Indeed they should never be without such fire-screens. In beating out a violent fire care must be taken that when the broom is lifted back to strike again, fragments of burning grass.or leaves are not thrown backwards from it into the protected area,.a by no means unusual occurrence. If, while a trace is being fired,.a dangerous wind should spring up, the work should -be stopped at once. It is false economy to go on with the operation on the plea that the men being all out on the spot, their services must on that account be utilised. Should the fire spread into the forest, as itis bound to do in nine cases out of ten, the diminished area actually protected would mean an appreciable increase in the cost of protection per acre. If the grass in the forest is very dry, the first occurrence of any symptom of a whirlwind should be the signal for stopping work at once. In fire-tracing the effect of a large mass of fire to produce a strong draught of colder air towards itself should never be forgotten and should be made the most of. A few remarks on this subject will not be out of place. The air being still, ifa single line of fire is burning, the flames will all ascend vertically, the draught from opposite sides beng equal; but if a second line of fire parallel to, ACTUAL FIRING OF THE TRACES. 439 and not far from, the first be now lit, each line of flames, instead of rising up straight, will bend towards the other under the influence of the markedly preponderating draught from the off side, the space between the two: lines being obviously too narrow for the production of any appreciable draught towards either fire. Next, let us suppose that a wind is blowing while-a single line is burning; the flames must in that case be bent forward in the direction of the wind the deflection from the vertical being propor- tionate to the velocity of the latter. Ifthe second line of fire is now lit to windward of the first, the wind will, on reaching this new line, be more or less forced upwards, partly owing to a rise of temperature, partly and more especially in.consequence of. encounr tering the broad ascending column of air over the two fires. So much of it as is able to traverse the new line of fire and reach the first across the narrow interval separating the two lines will have too high a temperature to recetve much aeceleration from the eombustion of this further line, and even this acceleration must, as the two fires approached. each- other, diminish to such an extent as to be unable to oppose the draught of air coming in from the other side, which would then be ultimately strong enough ta bend. the flames in its own direction. We thus sce that by a very simple and inexpensive device the- long flames, which rise when. the cushion of dry grass along the edge of a trace is set on fire, can be turned away from the broom-men even if a contrary wind is blowing. From the above considerations we derive-the following practical. rules :—If the air is still, an inner parallel line of fire lit a few yards away from each edge of the fire-trace will cause the fire along the edge to bend away from the broom-men. A single line along the middle of the trace will, however, suffice if the width of grass to be burnt does not exceed, say, 40 feet, and none at all will be necessary if it should be less than half that figure. If a wind is blowing across the trace, an inner line of fire should be run close to the lee edge of the trace; no such. line will be re- quired for the opposite side of the trace. Lastly, it must not be forgotten that if, during more or less still weather, a line of fire is drawn round any area of small extent, converging currents of air will be produced which will bend all the flames inwards and hasten the complete burning of the enclosed area.. During the firing ofa trace one or two men should always fol- low the firing party at a short distance behind, in order to put out or brush or throw away still smouldering fire that is in dangerous. 440 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. proximity to the preserved grass on either side. Often large pieces of dry fallen wood, and even portions of standing trees take fire ; if allowed to burn on, they would prove a serious menace to the safety of the forest, should a strong wind spring up ora tree ora large branch be burnt through and fall across the trace. The burning portions should be at once completely cut out. The men should be armed each with a broom, a sickle, a ight axe and a pitch-fork, and they should be expert at climbing trees. They should leave behind them nothing that is dangerous and ought to be put out. Fire-tracing is very dry and exhausting work and the men must have a constant supply of good drinking water with them. One or more men should be told off specially to bring this supply from the nearest source. In some districts pools of good drinking water are met with at numerous points along the traces during the cold weather, when the main part of the fire-tracing work must be accomplished ; there the men could wait fora drink until the nearest pool was reached. In very dry localities wells must be sunk at certain intervals ; but we shall have to say more about this lower down. It remains to advise the student regarding the actual firing of the traces. We will begin by describing in detail the procedure to follow in the first firing of a trace on more or less level ground with a specially prepared guide line on either side. The student will then be able to understand without difficulty the brief remarks that will follow (1) on the first burning of traces on more or less level ground, wherein the fire has to be controlled on one side only, (2) on the first burning of traces on steep or hilly ground, and (3) on the second and subsequent burnings of traces that have not been completely cleared by the first firing. I, First BURNING OF LEVEL TRACES ON WHICH THE FIRE Is TO BE CONTROLLED ON BOTH sIDES.—The distribution of the men and the mode of firing will depend on the direction of the wind relative to the trace. The wind may blow either (a) in the direction itself of the trace, or (6) obliquely to it, or (c) more or less at right angles to it or (d) there may be no wind atall. Itis evident that the first case will be of rarest, the second of most frequent, occurrence, (a) Direction of mind and trace coincident.—It is evident that the work should march against the wind, otherwise the fire would run along with the wind in the direction of the unburnt portion of the trace and would thus be very difficult, if not impossible, to con- ACTUAL FIRING OF THE TRACES, 441 trol. The men should be distributed equally on both sides of the trace. Unless the trace is narrow or the grass short, an interme- diate line of fire should be lit on each side to accelerate and facilt- tate the burning of the cushion of dry grass on that side. If the trace is narrow, no intermediate line of any kind will be required or a single line of fire run along the middle will suffice. A single torch-trailer is enough for each line of fire. The day’s work should begin where the previous day’s work was closed, or on the edge of a cross road or watercourse at which the fire can be controlled and prevented from sweeping backwards. When a sufficient length of the cushion of dry grass (the same length on both sides) has been lighted, the men trailing the brands should move off at right angles and meet in the middle of the trace. The cross-line of fire thus lit will sweep backwards rapidly before the wind, amalgamating in its progress with the fire advancing inwards from the sides of the trace. Another length of the trace will next be fired in the same manner, and then a third, and so on. In this way the trace will be burnt in successive sections of more or less rectangular shape. If the wind is not changeable or too strong, a fresh section may be taken in hand before the fire has swept over the whole of the preceding one. (5) Wind blowing obliquely across trace ( Fig. 126, an to vight).—More men should be ranged along C D than along A Bin proportion to the inflammability of the grass on the trace and to the strength of the wind and the approach toa right angle its direction makes with the line of the trace. The firing should here also be carried on counter to the wind, 2. e. from A C towards B D. The party along A B should each time advance their line of fire only when the grass along C D has burnt far away enough from the edge to remove any risk of the fire, as it sweeps onwards from A B, reaching across the burnt portion and setting ablaze the grass beyond C D. The position of the party on A B with reference to that on C D will thus depend on the force and direction of the wind and on the inflammability of the grass on the trace, that is to say, on the rapidity with which the fire lit along A B rushes across the trace. Hence it may sometimes be permissible for the party on A B to keep ahead of the men working along C D, when the wind is not changeable and the condition of the grass prevents the fire from travelling very quickly. No inner line of fire is required on the windward side (A B) of the trace, but one can seldom be dispensed with on the lee side. Hach time a new length of grass is lit along C D, the fire-brand should be run back obliquely inside 442 FIRE-CONSERVANCY:. the trace to meet the inner parallel line of fire and even beyond it, thus closing the quadrilateral aCDa and drawing the flames away from the broom-men. Owing to the greater difficulty of beating out fire to lee of the wind, the grass:along C D should, as a rule; be fired in shorter lengths at atime than the grass along A B; which may, under favourable conditions, be fired in léngths of 30 yards and more atatime by a party of no more than four or five men. (c) Direction of wind more or less perpendicular to trace (Fig: 126, diagram to left).—The strength of the firing parties. will be still more umequal here than in the preceding case, one fire-brand: man and from two or four broom-men being sufficient for the wind- ward side of the trace. With the exception that this latter party: should always keep well behind their comrades on the other side- and that shorter lengths must be fired at a time or both sides, the work should be conducted in the same manner as in the preceding: ease. The distance which the smaller party should keep behind: the other will vary with the force of the wind, with the rapidity with which fire travels through the standing grass, with the height to which the flames rise, and with the quantity of inflammable leaves strewing the ground or still remaining on the bushes. Such leaves are of course carried up in a burning state and may then be wafted away and dropped in the same condition amongst the grass beyond the check line. A safe rule to observe is to light up 2 new length of grass along A B only when the immediately opposite line of fire has been beaten out along the check line on C D and the inner and outer lines of fire lit along that side have met. (d) The air quite still—The procedure to follow is the same as that described under (A),. except that if the trace is broad, one or more intermediate lines of fire must be lit between the pair of lines along each side of the trace with the object of creating strong lateral draughts to accelerate the burning.. Il. First FIRING OF LEVEL TRACES ON WHICH FIRE IS TO BE CONTROLLED ON ONE SIDE ONLY.—The fire may have to be con- trolled on one side only either because the area on, the other side is not to be protected or because the trace on this latter side is flanked by a broad clear road or watercourse or a dense belt of green bushes which the fire cannot cross. The first of these two cases has been already referred to at pp. 429. There is little to add to what has been said there. Every effort should be made to keep the fire along the guide line constantly in advance of the ACTUAL FIRING OF THE TRACES. 443 rest of the burning grass, and so long as this is secured, fire-trac- ing offers no greater difficulty here than when the fire has to be controlled on both sides. Hence the rule of burning against the wind is of even still greater importance here than when the fire has to be put out on both sides of the trace. Hence also the necessity of always drawing the fire-brand obliquely backwards into the trace each time.a new length of the cushion of dry grass is fired. An inner paralled line of fire can never be dispensed with except when the wind drives the flames away from the broom- men, in which case indeed such a line would be worse than a super- fluity as it would only cause the fire to spread away too rapidly. The distance of this inner line of fire from the cushion of dry grass will depend on the force and direction of the wind, being shortest in still weather and greatest when the wind blows perpen- dicularly across the trace. The day’s work should not be closed until a cross road or watercourse or some other equally effective barrier to fire has been reached, otherwise the fire that has spread away from the trace may be subsequently turned back and find its way into the preserved forest across the still uncleared portion of the trace. All the preceding remarks apply also when a road or water- course or impenetrable belt of bushes flanks one side of the trace, but with this addition that a line of fire (not of course requiring any broom-men to beat it out) must be run along that side and advance at the same rate as if the fire had to be specially put out on that side also. III. First BURNING OF TRACES ON STEEP OR HILLY GROUND.— In hilly country a trace may run (a) along the crest of a main ridge, or (0) along the crest of a spur, or (c) along the bottom of a long gulley or ravine, or (d) more or less along the line of steepest descent on a flat hill-side or (e) more or less along horizontal con- tours. Before proceeding to consider each of these five cases sepa- rately, a remark of common application to them all must be made, viz., that everything likely to roll down in full combustion on to pre- served slopes below, such as cones, dry billets of wood, &c., should be removed before the trace is fired. It should also be remem- bered that fire will progress upwards even against the wind, and the rapidity of its progress upwards may be alarmingly great even in a still atmosphere, if only the grass and vegetable débris strew- ing the ground be abundant enough and readily inflammable. 444 FIRE-CONSERVANCY., (a) Trace following the crest of a main ridge.—Where the crest is broad and flat and more or less horizontal, the work of firing it will not differ in any essential particular from the procedure to be followed on level ground. But where the crest is narrowed into a more or less sharp edge forming the middle line of the trace, only a single inner line of fire along this sharp edge should be lit, whichever way the wind may blow, and even if the air be quite still, If the slopes on only one side of the ridge are to be protect~ ed, no line will be lit along the crest, should a very violent cross wind be blowing from the other side. It must not be forgotten that if the ridge is very sharp or one side of itis scarped, the highest line of the ridge will form one side of the trace. (b) Trace following the crest of a spur.—This case differs from the preceding only in that the trdce would here run for the whole of its length on more or less steep gradients, and should for this reason he fired from the top downwards. Otherwise the procedure is the same. (c) Trace running along the bottom of a long gulley or ravine.— Here, as a rule, one side of the trace will be flanked by a water- course. The firing should begin at the highest point. No inner line of fire is required. As soon as the fire from the guide line has burnt down far enough, the grass on the edge of the water- course should be fired. If there is no watercourse, its place along the drainage line should be taken by the second guide line, which will now be required. (d) Trace running up amore or less flat hillside—On easy slopes the procedure will be the same as that on level ground, except that the firing must begin atthe highest point. But the ground may become too steep to permit of any inner paralled line of fire being lit, in which case a zigzag path should be made cut- ting across the trace from side to side, and, in order to help the broom-men on the lee side of the trace, an inner line of fire should be run along that side of the path. Where the ground is very rough or steep, the path will often help the men to reach the more inaccessible portions of the guide line. In case the fire is to be allowed to spread away on one side, this path should obviously lie to windward of the guide line, if the wind blows towards the area to be preserved ; and it will itself become the single guide line required, if the wind blows away from that area. The extent to which the path should zigzag will of course depend on the steep- ness of the hillside. ACTUAL FIRING OF THE TRACES, 445 (e) Trace running more or less horizontally.—Such a trace, if it is not meant to flank a much frequented road, will always be a boundary one. Here, as in the plains, the firing should progress against the wind, the risk of disaster in case the fire got out of hand, especially if this happened on the lower side of the trace, being very much greater than on level ground. If a road or path does not already exist along one edge of the trace, a narrow path, constituting a permanent check line, should be made. "When the fire is to be controlled on only one side, all that has to be done is to run a line of fire along the road or path, a new length of it being lit only when the preceding one has burnt far away enough for there to be no danger of its setting ablaze the grass on the other side. If the road or path is broad and the forest to be pro- tected lies above it, then the grass along the lower edge should be lit as rapidly as possible and two and even more fire-brand men may be employed for the purpose. When the slopes both above and below the trace are to be protected, a second guide line must be prepared, and the fire along the upper of the two lines should - always be kept well in advance of the other. Obviously no inter- mediate line of fire will be required. The second guide line may also be of a permanent character in the shape of a narrow path, or it may be prepared by simply clearing away the grass and the fallen leaves, twigs, &c. strewing the ground ; local conditions wil} determine of which kind it should be. As a rule, the party along the upper guide line should be the stronger of the two. IV. SEconD AND SUBSEQUENT BURNINGS.—The first firing has often to be undertaken when the grass on long.sections of a trace is still green and does not hence burn except along the edges where the cushion of dry cut grass has been formed. More fre- quently the green grass stands in more or less large patches, especially in the midst of bushy growth. Itis evident that all incompletely cleared traces should be rendered effective as early as possible by means of a second burning. The urgency of this operation wiil be in proportion to the length of the unburnt sec- tion, to the size, number and contiguity of the patches (a few of them standing sufficiently near to each other might form an easy line for fire-communication between the grass on either side of the trace), and to the inflammability of the grass both inside and out- side the trace. It will also depend on the quantity of dry leaves shed by the trees. These dry leaves are first quite sufficient to connect the patches of standing grass with each other and with the grass outside the trace, and later in the season become abund- 446 FIRE-CONSERVANCY, ant enough to litter thickly even the most completely cleared por- tions of the trace. Long unburnt sections of a trace should be cleared in the same manner as if they were being fired for the first time, the precaution being taken of previously sweeping all fallen leaves off the guide lines towards the edge of the grass to be burnt. This second firing will, as shown before (p. 430), be less trouble- some and risky than the first operation, since to the original width of the guide line is now added the cleared belt formerly occupied by the cushion of dry grass and also by some of the standing grass beyond. The burning of the patches is very much easier and seldom requires more than a single man to fire them one by one. This man will find more occupation tor his broom in sweeping the dry fallen leaves together round the patches than in beating out fire. The second burning may not suffice to clear the traces com- pletely, as many patches of grass, on traces running through low- lying land, may be still too green to take fire. A third burning will then be required. Indeed, in moist localities the grass may never become dry enough to burn, or may become inflammable so late in the season as to require a fourth and even a fifth burning before it is completely cleared. The forester need not to be alarmed at the idea of so many repeated operations, for even if all the grass has been burnt off in the first one, the countless dead leaves shed by the trees, abundant enough, if left undisturbed, to form a layer from six to eighteen inches thick, must in any cir- cumstances be got rid of by fire. As often as they accumulate to any dangerous extent, they should be swept towards the middle of the trace in small heaps and fired. When the leaves are falling thickly, the same trace may have to be gone over at least once a week, IMMEDIATE SUPPRESSION OF FIRE ACCIDENTALLY LEAVING THE TRACE.—In spite of every precaution and conscientious care the fire will occasionally get across the check lines, whether it be from the wind becoming suddenly very strong or gusty, or because the firing has been delayed at that particular point until the grass has become too dry or the weather too hot for the broom-men to face the fierce conflagration along the cushion of cut grass. The moment the fire has escaped beyond the guide line it should be vigorously attacked at once at its two extremities (Fig. 128, ¢ e), the broom-men ultimately, at the moment of putting it out, meet- ing at (4), where it has been making headway. It is no use .attempting to overcome it in any other manner, for labour spent in putting it out at any other point but its two extremities will be ACTUAL FIRING OF THE TRACES, 447 labour lost, as the fire will only blaze up again almost as fast as it is beaten out. If found necessary, the fire along the guide lines should be extinguished and the whole strength of the two parties concentrated on the spreading conflagration. The fire should be attacked without any intermission, so as not-to allow it flare to up again where it has once been beaten out; the party at each ex- tremity should accordingly divide itself into two sections, one resting while the other is working with all its might. The plan here indicated will seldom, if ever, fail, and where it fails, no other. will succeed. STRENGTH OF THE FIRING PARTIES.—The number of men to employ ia the first firing of a trace will depend principally on the force, direction and changeability of the wind, on the height, denseness and dryness of the grass both inside and outside the trace, on the quantity of fallen leaves littering the ground, on the experience, endurance and courage of the men, on the temperature and dryness of the weather, on tke steepness and broken nature of the ground, and on whether the fire has to be put out on only one or on both sides of the trace. On level ground, when the fire is to be controlled on one side only, from 6 to 10 men will generally suffice ; if the fire has to be put out on both sides, from 4 to 10 additional men will be required. On pronounced slopes a few more men must be employed than would suffice in otherwise similar circumstances on level ground. From what precedes it is evident that, as a precaution against possible accidents, the firing parties may sometimes have to be stronger than the necessities of mere fire-tracing may require. For the second and subsequent burnings the employment of any but members of the patrolling establishment (see next Sub-article) should be avoided as much as possible. At the beginning the patrolling work is light and comparatively unimportant and the nearest patrols can always be brought together to complete the clearing of the traces. When necessary, a few extra hands can pe added for the day. IV.—Fire Police. Besides establishing an effective system of fire-breaks, the traces have to be kept clear, trespass, especially on the part of shikaris, has to be prevented, incendiarism has to be watched against, and conflagrations must be at once noticed and put out or circum- scribed by counterfiring. All this can be done only by establishing a system of watch-stations, the men posted at which must also 448 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. patrol along the fire-traces, particularly the more frequented roads and boundaries marching with populous villages. The number of patrols will of course depend on the extent to which the forest is frequented by squatters, woodmen and wayfarers. It has been found by experience that the minimum length that can be efficiently patrolled by a single man under the most difficult circumstances is about one mile. The maximum may be 10 or more miles distri- buted over several inter-communicating traces. Some lines may have to be patrolled daily once or oftener, others it will suffice to visit only once a week orso. But whatever the disposition of the men and the length of their beats, the distribution of the watch-stations at which they live should be such that each man meets both his right and left hand neighbours at least once in the twenty four hours, and receives from one and passes on to the other the news of the day relating to everything connected with the fire-conservancy of the forest. This news thus reaches the very same day the man in charge of the whole work, and, if neces- sary, also the highest resident supervising officer. Besides details communicated verbally (for itis out of the question to expect patrols to be able to read and write), a ticket may be given by each man impressed with his distinctive number and denoting, by means of a difference of colour, whether all is well in his beat or a fire has occurred. The manin charge of the fire-conservancy will thus receive every day a ticket from every patrol. If so much elaboration is found unnecessary, there need be no distinctive numbers and one and the same ticket may be passed on from the first to the last man to prove that the chain of communication has been kept up. The verbal details communicated will comprise such facts as the following—whether a portion of a trace is to be re-fired on that or the following day and at what time, what por- tions require re-firing, how many men are wanted for the purpose, whether a portion re-fired has been completely cleared or not, and soon. Andin the same manner orders can be passed back from the head man in charge. In this way every man will have full intelligence of what is going on in the forest and the distant glare of a burning trace will not, as is often the case, be mistaken for a conflagration and uselessly bring out to it troops of men from far and near. The watch-stations at which the patrols are located should occupy commanding vantage points and be always built up in the tops of trees, where the men will feel themselves secure against ferocious animals and from whence they will be able to survey the WATCHING AND POLICE, 449 forest for a great distance round. The life of a fire patrol is soli- tary enough and devoid of the smallest amenities which make life endurable ; they should therefore be located by twos at the com- mon point whence their beats start in opposite directions. In some cases, as when traces and roads cross one another, it will be possi- ble to locate three and even four men at one and the same station. Where water is scarce or at a prohibitive distance from a station, a well should be sunk, if the water-bearing stratum is not too far below the surface. When costly wells have to be sunk, the eco- nomy of putting several men together becomes obvious. In forests where squatter villages exist, the services of the squat- ters, under the responsibility of the headmen, should be enlisted for patrol work. These services may be secured for some slight. privileges entailing no loss of revenue or harm to the forest, or in consideration of a small sum of money or of trifling presents in case of successful fire-conservancy. This system has been adopted with singular success in Berar, where the Author has known an unpaid squatter evince as much concern on a merely glowing match being dropped in the middle of a perfectly clear foot-path as the forest officer himself might have felt if he sawa flaming one thrown in the midst of dry grass. One of the most important duties of the patrol establishment is to overcome, either unaided or with the help of other men, confla- grations that it has unfortunately been impossible to prevent. When the grass is short and is not everywhere quite dry and the air is cool enough, the fire may be beaten out with brooms ; other- wise counterfires must be lit from the nearest base lines so as to circumscribe the confiagration on every side on which it can spread. When it is decided to beat out the fire, it should be attacked by one or several parties according to its extent and the length of fire to be put out. Hach party, as soon as it has commenced operations, should divide itself into two sections, one moving off to the right, the other to the left, and care must be taken that the fire does not re-kindle at any point where it has once been beaten out. If the conflagration is small enough to be put out by a single party, it should be attacked at the middle point of its windstruck edge, so that the extinction is completed by the two sections of the party joining hands somewhere near the middle point of its lee edge. To adopt any other plan of attack would oblige the men to face a roaring mass of advancing flames, thereby not only exposing them to extreme discomfort, but also rendering their efforts more 450 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. or less ineffectual. If the circle of fire is too large fora single party, the several parties employed should be distributed so that each section may be fully utilised and none may have to work against the wind. The distribution of the men must be effected with a full knowledge of the ground and the forest, the most being made of neighbouring roads, paths, watercourses, cliffs, traces, belts of evergreen bushes, fringes of eanopied forest, &. Where an impassable watercourse or road is close by, it is obviously waste of money and energy to try and save the narrow strip of grass that intervenes ; and where the fire is likely to spread most, there the main effort should be made; and soon. As in the case of fire escaping from a trace, the brooms should be used without ces- sation and half the broom-men should be resting while the other half is working with all its might and main. Counterfiring requires a still more complete knowledge of the ground, for the absence of this knowledge will not only lead to a wasteful distribution of the men, but may result in portions of the forest being fired that need not have been sacrified at all, and even in the causing of a new and more extensive conflagration. If a base line from which to counterfire exists in the shape of a clear road or watercourse or trace, or of a belt of evergreen bushes, &c., the grass along the edge of it should be fired as rapidly as possible, the fire being beaten out with brooms wherever it is likely to burn back across the line into the forest on the other side. When no continuous base line exists, the nearest ones, together with any large patches not covered with grass and leaves that may lie in the way, should be connected by check lines cleared as quickly as possible, and to prevent delay the firing party should follow only at a short distance behind. Not unfrequently we may combine the two methods of over- coming forest conflagrations, beating out the fire along the wind- struck edge, where the grass does not burn up high, and counter- firing elsewhere. It will have been observed that in order to overcome a confla- gration a great number of men are required, generally many more than the available number of patrols (all the patrols cannot obvi- ously absent themselves from their beats); and for this reason standing arrangements must be made with neighbouring villages, workmen, squatters and graziers to come out to a fire at the first alarm, full remuneration being of course given when necessary, Every one should be armed with a sickle and.a light axe, which tools the patrols themselves should constantly carry about with them. GENERAL REMARKS, 451 A sufficient supply of water should always accompany the men. In many parts of the country the men would take out most of their own supply with them in gourds. Parched gram may be distri- buted amongst the men, and if there is any probability of their being kept out a long time, sufficient quantities of flour, salt and dal should be sent out with them. When a conflagration has been got under, small parties of men should be at once sent round the perimeter of the burnt area to put out all burning trees, branches and other fragments, which are likely to endanger the safety of the surrounding forest. V.—General. There is very little more left to say regarding fire-conservancy. The first essential to success is to gain and retain the good will of the people ; with it the most elaborate and costly measures will prove futile, for nothing is easier than to fire a forest, without any fear of detection. With the sympathies of the people on the side of the forest staff, although they may not willingly acquiesce in the restrictions which necessarily follow in the wake of fire-con- servancy, cheap, often gratuitous, and spontaneous, help will be obtained in fire-tracing and putting out conflagrations and in the prevention and detection of offences. These sympathies may be won by small concessions, made from time to time and in no hag- gling spirit, which concessions cost the forest proprietor little or nothing and hurt the forest still less. Itis essential that the staff in charge of a forest under protection from fire should possess per- fect tact and temper. We must here draw attention to the great importance of com- piling a fire-conservancy map for every forest under protection.. Such a map should show every fire-trace. When a trace follows a road or watercourse, it should be represented on the proper side of it. Not unfrequently a fire-trace is taken across a road and espe- cially a winding watercourse, in order to save distance or to get into grass that is easier to burn, or to utilise a natural barrier of evergreen bushes, &c. Asa permanent record for constant useful reference all such vantage points and lines, as they are discovered, should be noted on the map. On the map should also be marked by distinctive colours or symbols all other barriers, natural or artificial, which require little or no clearing to serve as effective fire-breaks or which, although of no real use as fire-breaks, offer special facilities for counterfiring. The prevailing - directions of the wind during the course of the fire season, especially during the most dangerous part of it, should be indicated by means of arrows. 452 FIRE-CONSERVANCY. The widths of the different fire-traces should be shown by means of figures or in any other convenient manner. All watch-stations should be marked, as well as the various beats. The number of patrols located at the several stations should be indicated either by means of figures or symbolically. The scale of the map should of course be large enough for the convenient representation of all these details, and in order not to crowd too many lines into the map, only the principal topographical features should be shown and hill-shading, if employed, should not be too close. The map should always be posted up to date. With the help of such a map any one would be able to grasp at once the conditions of fire con- servancy in a given forest and the manner in which the work was being carried out. A man coming in charge would not have to grope about in the dark until, after several years of study on the ground and perhaps several disastrous failures, he had mastered all the details of the work. Supervision would become singularly easy, work would be thoroughly and efficiently organised, mistakes and weak points at once detected and remedied or strengthened, and everything reduced to a system. Improvement could rapidly follow improvement until the fullest advantage was taken of natural aids to minimise risks, and to save labour, time and expenditure. As a useful record for instructive reference a copy of the fire map for each year should be filed. At the close of the season all areas burnt during its course shouid be indicated on it by a light wash of Indian ink or some colour. In conclusion, we cannot impress too strongly on the student the necessity of keeping fire out of every one of our forests, even at what might be considered a high rate of expenditure per square mile. This rate need never, under the most unfavourable circum- stances, exceed Rs, 40, which is equivalent to only 1 anna per acre per annum or less than Rs. 7 in a hundred years. This trifling outlay, which is smaller than the cost of an acre of plantation or direct sowings only a few years old, will give a complete new self- sown crop of nearly mature trees, besides whatever produce may have been taken out during the interval as various individuals one after another succumbed in the struggle for existence. And then we must remember that the acre of plantation or direct sowings itself can come to nothing without continued protection from fire. CHAPTER IL. ATTENTIONS TO GIVE TO THE SOIL. These attentions have for their object the bringing of a given soil to, and its maintenance at, that condition of physical and nu- tritional fitness, which will enable the crop actually on it to yield the highest outturn of which itis capable. Direct means to at- tain and maintain this condition, such as form a necessary part of agriculture, are of course out of the question in forestry, except on the most restricted scale. The forester must rely mainly on the employment of indirect means. These consist essentially of pro- tective measures, which are nevertheless, if wisely carried out, quite sufficient not only to preserve the productive capacity of any soil in question, but also to augment it. The productiveness of a soil depends principally on its depth, its compactness, the amount of moisture in it, and its richness. Depth. No amount of attention can modify to any great extent the depth of a soil, but existing conditions can of course be almost indefi- nitely improved and deterioration can be effectually prevented. In a very shallow soil, whether it is well or poorly stocked, we must studiously refrain from making clear fellings and from other- wise exposing it and thereby causing it to dry up, impairing the formation of humus and hindering the fertilising action of the atmosphere. Regeneration should be effected slowly and under cover, fellings should be light, and all advance growth, and, if necessary, even undershrubs, should be carefully preserved. Es- pecially should this be the procedure on a thin layer of,soil resting on boulders, particularly if these be limestone or dolomite. When once this layer of soil has disappeared, the strictest protection is required to restore it ; and even then the process is an extremely slow one, since what little soil is formed every year in loco by the weathering of stones and rock-surface is easily washed away by rain. For this reason every scrap of spontaneous vegetation ap- pearing, from the first stage of mere scattered tufts of grass to the last stage of undershrubs and shrubs, should be most carefully preserved. The spontaneous vegetation should be supplemented 454 ATTENTIONS TO GIVE TO THE SOIL, by scattering seeds of grasses and hardy gregarious weeds and un- dershrubs. Ultimately when all this precedent vegetation has ren- dered the place suitable for tree-growth, this last should be intro- duced by sowing or planting at points where soil has collected or has been brought together for the purpose. The protection of unstable soil on slopes and the fixing of drift- ing sands are subjects that have already been adequately treated, the former at pp. 233-9, the latter at pp. 228-33. ‘Compactness. A certain degree of freeness of the soil, sufficient for unimpaired root-aération and exposure of its interior to fertilising atmospheric action, isa most important factor of productiveness. To prove this we have only to observe the vast difference in development of plants of one and the same species and age grown in thoroughly loosened soil and in one that has been subjected te no kind of cul- tivation at all. ' Soil constantly under a leaf-canopy and covered with dead leaves and low vegetation cannot, like bare-exposed land, be hardened by the pelting action of rain or by the sinking of water through it ; while the decaying and decayed leaves at the surface and the root fibres and hairs in the interior have a direct effect in loosening it very appreciably throughout its mass. Very stiff soils should never be exposed and regeneration thereon should hence be effected under cover. Amount of moisture. The moisture in a soil is the most important factor of its pro- ductiveness. Without sufficient moisture, the richest soil will be sterile, and with a constant supply of it the poorest soil will grow magnificent forests, We have already, at pp. 235-6, shown how energetically the soil on forest-clad slopes holds water in store for the benefit of the vegetation on it. This is still truer of level land under forest To enable the soil to retain as much moisture as it can contain we re- quire the presence of a constant leaf-canopy, a form of crop suited to local conditions, avoidance of large clearances, and, whenever possible, regeneration under cover and preservation of the entire covering of humus, dead leaves and grass on it. When it is not possible to maintain a complete leaf-canopy, the requisite protection ‘should be afforded by utilising, wherever the leaf-canopy is inter- rupted, advance growth, stool-shoots and suckers of tree-species, ATTENTIONS TO QIV£ TO THE SOIL. 455. and where these are absent or insufficient, also shrubs and under- shrubs, and even grasses and herbaceous weeds.. We know that winds accelerate the evaporation of soil moisture in avery marked manner. They should hence be kept out of forests as much as possible, and in exposed places, such as the edges of the forest, sharp ridges and peaks, saddle-backs, the sides of roads, &c., their effects should be diminished by raising fringes several yards wide of evergreen trees or at least of trees that retain their leaves throughout the whole or the greater part of the hot weather. These fringes.should be worked either-as coppice or by jardinage, or be felled only after obtaining a complete advance growth, supplemented, if necessary, by: artificial means. The fringes will also break the force of the wind and, by. throwing it up, prevent it from. entering under the trees beyond. Hillsides, as we know, dry up: very easily, firstly, because the gradient accelerates drainage, and, secondly, because the wind impinges directly upon them; and the-steeper the slope is, the more immediate is the result. Hence, on all steep hillsides we should have either jardinage or regeneration in groups,.and we should carefully preserve all shrubby growth as well as weeds not interfering with reproduction. Where there is no danger of erosion, the soil may be hoed up, the-clods checking: surface drain-. age and retaining a very large quantity of water for some time after the last shower of rain has fallen or the snow has melted, as the case may be. Although the cost of a single hoeing is heavy, yet the effects last for many years, and if the cost is distributed over those. several years, the average figure per annum becomes trifling indeed compared with the amount of good secured. But the most effective method of utilising atmospheric: precipitation on a dry slope is to excavate short horizontal trenches, each line of trenches breaking bond with the lines immediately above and below it (see p. 261, para. 3 and p. 258. para. 2).. Irrigation and drainage need not be referred to-here, as we have already, at pp. 239-40 and 223-8 respectively, said all that need be given in this Manual regarding such work.. Richness. Obviously no direct manuring on any appreciable:scale is possi- ble in forests.; but, on the other hand, some new soil is always formed by the weathering and disintegration of rocks and stones, and the dead leaves and. other vegetable disjecta restore to the soil, in the most highly concentrated and utilisable form, mineral mat- 456 ATTENTIONS TO GIVE TO THE SOIL. ters absorbed by the trees from the entire thickness of soil pene- trated by their roots. Moreover the decomposition of these disjecta, and the loose condition of the soil brought about by their decom- position and that of the innumerable dead root fibres and hairs in its interior, help it to fix no inconsiderable quantity of carbonic acid and nitrogen from the air. Nevertheless, as we have seen before, the decomposition of the vegetable disjecta may be so slow that it may produce an acid humus if too much moisture be present, or the undecomposed portion may form so thick a layer as to prevent any natural repro- duction from taking place. These drawbacks do not, however, often exist, and we have explained in various places what measures to adopt in order to overcome them when they do exist. Briefly speaking, these measures are either the remeval of a portion of the undecomposed layer, or mixing it up with the mineral soil below, or driving cattle or pigs over the area, or the free admission of air throughout the decomposing or incompletely decomposed mass by turning it up and by opening out the leaf-eanopy above, if this be too thick. General. From the preceding remarks it will be seen that all the factors which jointly compose the productiveness of a forest soil are in- creased and maintained by one and the same measures, wiz., the maintenance of an unbroken leaf-canopy and the preservation and proper decomposition of the decayed and decaying leaves, &c., lit- tering the ground. CHAPTER IIL REARING OF THE CROP. After a crop has been created and established, various operations are required in order so to regulate its development that during every period of its existence it puts forth the full vigour of which it is capable under the prevailing conditions of soil, climate and species, and fulfils to the utmost extent the object of its existence. At times they come in as a corrective, at others their purpose is to remove hindrances to the prosperous growth of the crop, at others again their effect is to directly foster this growth, and occasionally they may combine any two or all three of these purposes. Some of these operations may be essentially unproductive, yielding no pecuniary return for the money and labour spent on them, while others, although they may be unproductive in the absence of a good market, nevertheless yield produce of less or greater value, which we have already termed zntermediate major produce as distinguish- ed from that of the regeneration fellings, which we have termed principal major produce. The first condition for the prosperous growth of a crop is of course a suitable soil ; but we have already seen how the produc- tiveness of a given soil depends on the kind of crop on it, so that it depends toa great extent on the manner in which the growth of the crop is regulated. Hence in the operations which are now about to be described the care of the soil should never be left out of sight. The double purpose to be thus served by these operations may often make their execution extremely difficult and call for the greatest circumspection and judgment on the part of the forester. Although these operations influence in no little degree the growth of a crop and increase both the quantity and quality of the yield, still there are unfortunately very few forests in India in which they can be attempted at all, and even amongst these there is only an excessively small proportion in which they can be carried out in a complete manner. The reasons for this are manifold. 1n the first place, most of our forests are in too ruined and open a condi- tion for work of the kind to be possible there ; in the second place, money can seldom be spared for directly unproductive operations that are necessarily very costly: in the third place, there is either no 458 REARING OF THE ESTARLISHED CROP. market at all for most of the intermediate produce or its selling price is so low as not even to recoup cost of felling and removal ; in the fourth place, the exercise of rights and especially the whole- sale concessions made to grazing interests leave us but few forests. in which we can adopt any intensive system of treatment ; and im the last place, our establishments are as yet too small and, in many cases, also too little instructed and experienced, to cary out opera~ tions which require close and constant attention and the highest skill. Such being the case, it might be considered sufficient to de- scribe these various operations in a summary manner. We are, however, of opinion that a Manual which professes to treat of general principles, would be incomplete without a more or less full discussion and exposition of so important a branch of sylviculture. The minuter developments of the theory of thinnings, on which alone a large volume could be written, have obviously not been touched upon. The young crop requires a different kind of treatment from the older one. For all practical purposes we may divide the period from the establishment of the crop to the commencement of its regeneration into three distinct stages, each requiring a separate method of treatment. The first stage lasts as long as there is no very marked differentiation between neighbouring stems. Then comes the second stage, which gives place to the third only when the component trees have begun to show a strong tendency to expand themselves laterally. In each individual case, when the one stage ends and the next one begins depends on the constitution of the crop and the purpose it has to fulfil, and on the nature of the soik and the climate. In the first stage, we protect and complete the crop, while also strengthening it in order to enable the stronger individuals to bring themselves clearly into evidence. In the second stage, we endeavour to regulate its composition and development during the phase of rapid elongation before the component trees have assumed a tendency to expand themselves laterally with vigour, while in the third we undertake to control and foster the growth of the crop when the component trees have begun to show this tendency. This last stage can of course be precipitated if the early produc- tion of stems of a certain diameter is specially required, but then per contra length of stem and bole has to that extent to be sacri- ficed. During the first stage, the fostering operations to be undertaken are (a) care of advance growth, (>) general protection against ex- POBTERING OPERATION IN A YOUNG CROP. 459 tranéous causes of injury, and (c) strengthening and completing of the crop. During the second and third stages the respective operations to be effected are cleanings and thinnings. These various operations will now be described in the following three Sections. SECTION I. Fostering operations in a young crop. During the early life of a crop we must protect it against causes of injury extraneous to itself, directly foster its growth, and rid it of those elements, which, while undesirable in themselves, not only occupy room that would be more profitably filled by more valuable individuals, but also harm these last. The great utility of advance growth in regeneration operations has been proved over and over again in Book IL; butin order that it may continue to form a useful and desirable element of the crop it requires to be specially looked after. Otherwise it either becomes stunted and bushy and incapable of shooting up when the parent crop has been removed, or, if it has come up in a crowded condition, it forms thin, lanky, small-crowned, hide-bound individuals equally incapable of grow- ing up into tall vigorous trees. ARTICLE 1. CaRE OF ADVANCE GROWTH. In treating of regeneration fellings for natural reproduction by seed, we have in various places explained how to utilise advance growth. The réle played by such growth is, however of such immense importance, that it is necessary to consider the subject in detail in this place. Although it is very difficult to judge how any given advance growth is likely to turn out, nevertheless certain general indica- tions are never wanting, with the help of which, aided by local ex- perience, a fairly correct appreciation can always be arrived at. These are— (a) The species to which it belongs.—We are here concerned al- most exclusively with advance-growth of shade-enduring species, for seedlings of shade-avoiding trees will hardly begin to put in a permanent appearance until the crop presents the openness of a seed-felling. Many species, such as Terminalia tomentosa, Hard- wickia binata, sal, &c., still retain, after many years of suppression, the faculty of shooting up again on being uncovered, especially if they are at the same time cut back. 460 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. (b) Soil.—The influence of soil is very great indeed. In rich and moist soil, ceteris paribus, the faculty of completely recovering after-continued suppression is retained much longer than in poor dry soil. This is more marked, the more superficial the root- system of the species in question is. A moist sub-soil is of great help to most species. (c) Age of the advance growth.—The power of recovery is in direct proportion to the age of the advance growth, as long as the stunted stage has not yet been reached. (4d) Condition of the leaf-canopy.—This is the most important influencing factor of all. The quality of advance growth depends mainly on the proper density of the leaf-canopy overhead since the time of its appearance. As a rule, the best advance growth is found along the edge of a forest, in gaps, and under a canopy that is full of small openings ; in other words a moderately dense leaf-canopy is more favourable for the appearance and survival of advance growth than no leaf-canopy at all, which may be just as detrimental as a very dense one. As explained several times in Books I and II, it is of great moment whether, the density being one and the same, the leaf-canopy is formed by tall, lanky, small- crowned trees or by skort-boled trees with deep crowns. Other important points to note are the intensity of lateral illumination and the time during which the advance growth has been under the influence of the cover in question. (e) Whether the advance growth in question consists of scattered seedlings or forms a group.—As a rule, only a group of seedlings has any real value, but seedlings standing too close together are as little to be trusted as those that are too far apart. The size of the group has little influence on the quality of the seedlings. ({) Size, form and appearance of the buds, leaves and twigs, and thickness and aspect of the bark.—This is self-evident (See page 137, para. 2) NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE FOSTERING OPERATIONS.—The care of advance growth must begin from the moment it makes its ap- pearance under an old crop. In order to help it, whatever has to be done afterwards to foster seedlings that come in as the result of the regular regeneration fellings, must be done here also—pro- tection against outside injurious influences, thinning out, filling up, cleanings, the introduction in its midst of desirable species that are absent or insufficiently represented. But the most important thing of all to do is to take advantage of the thinnings and the regular regeneration fellings for making locally, over and round it, PROTECTION AGAINST EXTRANEOUS CAUSES OF INJURY. 461 after-fellings according to the group method. In executing these special local fellings we must not of course neglect thejinterest of the parent crop as a whole, and large old trees should accordingly be removed in preference to younger ones. GENERAL RemarKs.—Treated thus advance growth will furnish most valuable material with which to form the future crop. It is a free gift from Nature, which we ought thankfully to accept and turn to the best use. It helps regeneration operations to a wonderful extent, conduces to the desired mixture of species, and is equally useful whether we adopt natural or artificial regenera- tion. If neglected, the most promising advance growth will be- come stunted and bushy and will later on prove no slight impedi- ° ment to natural regeneration by seed. ARTICLE 2. PROTECTION AGAINST EXTRANEOUS CAUSES OF INJURY. These causes are frost, excessive insolation, winds, weeds, includ- ing grass, animals and parasites. Frost.—Where regeneration is effected under cover, a certain number of the parent or nurse trees must be preserved beyond the period that they would be kept if it were only a question of admit- ting the seedlings to a sufficient enjoyment of light and other bene- ' ficial atmospheric influences. Considered from a purely sylvicul- tural point of view, these trees should belong to species possessing light folliage ; but as it may often happen that there are in the upper crop a number of trees of the more valuable species which are still growing and to which a slight increase of diameter would give a considerably enhanced money-value, the trees to be preserv- ed as nurses are selected on other than mere sylvicultural grounds. Economical have to yield to cultural considerations only in so far as that, if the individuals to be maintained have broad and thick crowns, their number must be limited. Where the coppice system is employed, stores must be kept, even if only firewood is required, and the rotation ought to be long enough to enable the coppice to get up well above the height reached by the severest frost. In all naturally regenerated crops scattered individuals of fast-growing hardy species should be encouraged to push ahead. In stocking complete blanks with a delicate species, a nurse crop of one or more hardy species should be raised in advance, or some hardy, very quick-growing species should be mixed. In the former case, if artificial means continue to be employed, the preliminary species 462 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. will be worked out and regenerated first, so that the nurse crop will always be ready when the times comes for exploiting the de- licate species. Other measures for preventing frost or minimising its effects are draining and piercing the forest with properly directed cleared lines, which create a continuous draught and thereby prevent cold air from collecting and standing in the hollows. EXCESSIVE INSOLATION.—Hxcessive insolation injures, firstly, by drying up the soil, and next, by causing over-transpiration or even stopping all vital processes. The first danger is prevented by main- taining a sufficient number of parent or nurse trees until the com- ponent individuals of the young crop have so nearly met crowns everywhere and closed over the ground as to shade the soil effect- ively. The same measure will also prevent the second and third dangers, but in extreme cases it may be advisable not to remove all the nurses until the young crop has reached the sapling stage and has quite closed ever the ground. In any case the degree and du- ration of the protection required here is much less than in the case of frost. Winps.— We have several times before this seen that extreme temperatures hurt most when air is im motion and that the injuri- ous effect of hot or cold or dry winds is in proportion to their velocity. Hence when dangerous winds prevail, as they do in most parts oi India, the only practical way of diminishing their harm- fulness to young forest growth covering a large area is to check their velocity. This may be done either by interposing a screen of trees, or by means of trees sprinkled all over the area, as in stored coppice and in regeneration by seed under cover. In the former case, the screen has to bear the full brunt of the wind and must, therefore, be broad, tall and dense enough,-and be composed, if possible, of trees that are in leaf all the year round or at least. during the season when shelter is required. In regeneration under cover, a sufficiently wide belt of the original crop on the wind- struck edge should be preserved in the condition of an after-felling until the young crop behind is able to take care of itself ; and if it is not full enough, the young growth under it should be supple- mented and filled up with large transplants of some fast-growing | hardy species. In the reboisement of large blanks the necessary screen should be raised in advance. In every case, the annual coupes should march against the wind and be as narrow as practi- cable. Qn hillsides a permanent fringe of forest, worked as con- servatively as possible by jardinage, should be maintained along DIRECTLY FOSTERING VEGETATION OF YOUNG CROP, 463 the highest edge of the forest. In the mixed crop, besides main- taining a protective screen, every effort should be made to obtain a sufficient and evenly-distributed proportion of individuals of one or more hardy and quick-growing species, which should be allowed to just keep ahead of their delicate neighbours. Weeps anv. Grass.—On rich, moist soils, young seedlings, par- ticularly of species which are naturally slow in establishing them- selves, are kept back for long years by weeds and especially grass. In some soils and climates, low shrubby species become even more dangerous than grass, since their root-system i is stronger and their erowns more spreading and invasive. In all such cases, if the money and labour are.available, the noxious vegetation should: be got rid of toa sufficient extent to enable the seedlings to shoot ahead rapidly and close over the ground, thereby suppressing their enemies. It will generally be found most convenient and econo- mical to clear out by the roots all this harmful growth along narrow parallel strips from: 6 to 10 feet apart, wherever the seed- lings have no fair chance of making headway. Insects anD Parasites.—As regards monkeys and destructive quadrupeds, they must either be destroyed or their numbers kept within bounds. Against insects we have only the following prac- ticable remedies :—mixture of species, associating a sufficient number of broad-leaved trees with conifers, maintaining the leaf- canopy as close as economical and sylvicultural' considerations will allow, keeping the soil and forest free of dead: and dying: trees and dead wood, encouraging every insectivorous creature-that is not otherwise harmful, and securing by every means in our power a healthy and vigorous growth. Im the case of fungus attacks very prompt measures are necessary. The trees attacked should be at ence felled and burnt; and, if necessary, the soil in. which they stood should be isolated by means of a deep: circular trench. Flowering parasites, like Loranthus, figs, &c:, are easily overcome in the regular fellings, which should remove trees infested by them: If these trees are too numerous to be all felled together, the- worst cases should be got rid of first, and the expurgatory operations repeated. as frequently as possible until the forest has been practi- cally cleared of the pest. ARTICLE 3. DIRECTLY FOSTERING THE GROWTH OF THE CROP: When the young crop is too dense or too open or is interspersed 464 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP, with blanks, the forester must step in and bring about the proper _ degree of density. CROP TOO DENSE.— When standing too close together, the young plants not only press up against.one another above ground and prevent the development of a sufficiently large assimilating surface in each individual, but also rob each other of nutriment in the soil and hence remain starved. If this state of things is allowed to continue too long, especially in a poor soil, the yonng plants be- come permanently weakened, and no amount of subsequent thin- ning out will do them any good. If they are broad-leaved species, they will generally recover, but only after heavy expenditure of time, money and labour that might have been avoided by timely intervention on the part of the forester. To provide against over- crowding the young crop must be thinned out as soon as it is observed to form too close a thicket. The superfluous plants should be pulled up or dug out by the roots, if they can be utilised in filling up open places elsewhere; otherwise (and in this case, they will be selected from among the weakest stems) they should be cut off close to the ground with strong shears of the pattern represented in Fig. 116. A strong, sharp sickle or the forester’s pruning knife (Fig. 121) will also answer, but will not be so ex- peditious The operation should be repeated periodically as often as overcrowding occurs again by the expansion of the surviving individuals. If the crowded state has been allowed to continue for some time and the stems have become excessively lanky, the necessary relief should be given very gradually and cautiously, otherwise the thin isolated stems would not only bend down, even under their own weight, but suffer from too sudden exposure to atmospheric influences and light, the portion above ground grow- ing too fast for the roots. But oftenest the best thing to do is to clear parallel paths about three feet wide and a few feet apart through the young crop, and trust to a sufficient number of the plants along the edges recovering their vigour and growing up into strong saplings. In some cases of very heavy overcrowding another set of similar paths may be cleared at right angles to the first, thereby cutting up the young crop into a number of little squares. Where broad-leaved species have been cut back in clear- ing the paths, the shoots they send up may be stronger and grow up more vigorously than the seedlings in the preserved lines or squares, as the case may be, and thus help in forming the future forest. The clearing of parallel paths hence admits of two pos- sibilities, one at least of which is, humanly speaking, sure to be CLEANINGS. 465 realised. Besides this immense advantage which it offers, it also demands less labour, supervision and skill than the process of thinning out the crop everywhere. But it will have its place main- ly in crops composed for the most part of shade-enduring indivi- duals, OPEN crop.—Young saplings not sufficiently protected by trees overhead, especially in poor soils or in one that has deteriorated at the surface, often get arrested in their growth for years and sicken and remain smothered up in the midst of a dense thicket of master- ful shrubs and undershrubs. The remedy to adopt is to fill up the young crop with some quick-growing and hardy species possessing a light cover, thereby enabling it to close over the ground rapidly and suppress the noxious vegetation. The introduced individuals will mostly be required only temporarily as nurses, until the mairi elements of the crop have acquired vigour and grown sufficiently to form a more or less complete leaf-canopy by themselves. Some- times indeed they may be valuable enough to be admitted per- manently into the crop. The young nurses may of course, if uncommon foresight has been exercised, be raised contemporaneous- ly with the crop requiring their aid; but itis usual to introduce them later, occasionally by sowing directly, more often by plant- ing. In the latter case, the transplants are generally put out in lines rather far apart, sometimes in an irregular manner in the midst of the seedlings to be nursed. When sowing is resorted to, the nurse species should be sown either in lines alternating with the others, or mixed with them indiscriminately if the entire crop has been raised artificially, or in broken lines or plots in the midst of self sown-seedlings. SECTION II. Cleanings. Cleanings are operations by. means of which all the hurtful and otherwise undesirable elements are weeded out in a timely man- ner. Jt is seldom that a single operation suffices, for in no place must the leaf-canopy be ever opened out too much. Annual re- petition would of course be the best thing in the interests of the crop, but such frequency is obviously out of the question and the only practical plan is to repeat the operation at fixed intervals, the length of which will depend on the rapidity of growth of the young plants. , The hurtful elements to be removed in each operation are— 466 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. (a) Climbers.—These should be pulled or dug up by the roots wherever they occur; they should not be allowed to shoot up again. (b) Invasive gregarious shrubs.—These should be cleared away round a sufficient number of good seedlings, which they overtop or press up against. If the crop is still low they should be cut a foot or so below the level of those seedlings. The main point to aim at is to enable the seedlings to meet crowns and close over, and suppress, the shrubby thicket as quickly as possible. But if frosts are to be feared, the cleaning must be very cautious and gradual. (c) Individuals of inferior dense-crowned species overtopping valuable seedlings—Such individuals, if the seedlings do not re- quire any further protection against them, should be cut offa little below the level of the latter. Otherwise their crowns should be circumscribed by judicious lopping. (d) Individuals of inferior, dense-crowned, faster-growing species Standing onthe same level as valuable seedlings and pressing up against them.—Such stems should generally be cut back. If they shoot up again, so much be better, for they will only help to push up these latter until the next cleaning takes place. (d) Coppice-shoots when overtopping or pressing up against valuable seedlings ——Seedling-shoots have the same value as seed- lings and should receive the same amount of respect. The obnox- ious growth should be dealt with in the same manner as (c) and (d). : (e) Stunted bushy growth interfering with the development of seedlings—Such growth should be treated like (6) But if there is no fear of frost, and it belongs to valuable broad-leaved species that are absent or insufficiently represented at those points, some of it should be cut back to throw up a vigorous regrowth capable of shooting upin height. Stunted coniferous growth must of course be weeded out in any case. The undesirable elements in a young crop are— (a) Coppice-shoots where there is a sufficiency of seedlings of the required spectes.—They should be got rid of, if their removal will improve the growth of their neighbours or even if the value of the produce they can yield will at least cover the cost of their removal. (6) Individuals of inferior species, where there is sufficient cover and shelter without their aid and they are not required as a perma- nent element of the crop.—The stems should, as a rule, be simply bent down to the ground, or broken or cut off a little below the height of the surrounding growth, so that they may help to main- CLEANINGS, 467 tain a complete covering over the soil and continue to support, their neighbours, without hindering the expansion of their crowns. If their support is not required and they are large enough to sell well, they should be cut by the base. (c) Stunted bushy growth in the midst of abundant seedlings of the required species. By lightly pruning this stunted growth, the seedlings should be encouraged to shoot away rapidly ahead and, by expanding their crowns, to close over it. It may then be re- moved altogether, if its sale at least covers the expense of ex-. traction. (d) Seedlings in which a thick brush of shoots has taken the place. of the leader—lf there are no better seedlings near by fit to form. a permanent part of the crop, the brush should be cut off just above a strong bud. (e) Forked plants.—Although forking never becomes permanent except in species possessing a distinct verticillate or opposite branching, still it always results, to a certain degree, in arrested growth. Hence forked stems should be weeded out; but when there are no better ones to take their place, there is no alternative but to keep them, the forking being got 1id of by cutting away or breaking off all the branches of the fork except the strongest. Saplings of broad-leaved fast-growing species may, however, be cut back. (f) Plants possessing constitutional defects —These defects are twisted fibre, a squat habit, and umbrella-shaped crown, &c. As far as these defects can be recognised at so early an age and pro- vided no large gap is produced or dangerous atmospheric influences admitted, the individuals presenting them should be weeded out. GernersL.—From the preceding remarks it will be observed that cleanings may be begun, in a certain limited sense, even in a crop that is not yet established, especially if it is composed wholly or very largely of mixed spontaneous growth. Usually, however, the first cleaning does not become necessary until after the crop is quite established and has entered the phase of rapid upward development. In a pure crop the operation begins late, need not be repeated frequently, and is very simple, being chiefly restricted to the re- moval of sickly, inferior-grown or badly damaged individuals, which overtop or press in laterally their healthy, well-shaped and sound neighbours. In a mixed crop the work is very much harder, is costly, re- quires constant close attention, and cannot be repeated too fre- 468 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED GROP, quently. While the attention shéuld be directed chiefly to the principal species, the interests of the auxiliary ones and the,vast influence for good they can exercise on the growth of the crop as a whole must not be lost sight of. Even the accessory species must receive their due share of regard, instead of, as often happens, war to the knife being waged against them. One great rule should, however, be invariably followed. In apportioning to each species its part in the crop, all other considerations should yield the place to cultural requirements. It is evident that, whether the crop be pure or mixed, all growth not rising much above the ground should be carefully preserved. It does no harm to the trees of the future, and it protects the soil and the stems of those individuals and prunes them and forces them up in height. SECTION III. Execution of the preceding operations. The execution of the various operations described in Sections I and II requirés constant and close attention, together with no slight amount of skill and local experience. Whenever possible, the Forest Guards themselves should do the work with their own hands, being encouraged, by means of special rewards, to take a pride.in the well-being of the young crops in their beats. They should be made to understand that cultural work is at least as im- portant a part of their duties as police and supervision of labour. However large their beats and little intensive the cultivation of their forests may be, a light axe and a sickle shonld form an es- sential part of their equipment, and they should not consider their daily rounds completed until they have cut several climbers or re- lieved several scores of promising young plants from actual or imminent suppression. In this manner, at the end of the year, hundreds of thousands of fine individuals of the coming generation will have owed their flourishing condition to their assiduity. Where all the work cannot be accomplished by the Forest. Guards alone, they should be assisted, during the appropriate season, by men who have year after year been employed on such operations. The following implements would be used with advantage :— (i) For cutting out by the roots, picks, pick-forks (Fig. 40), axes, grubbing axes (Figs. 14 and 15) and hoe-axes (Figs. 16 and 17). (ii) For cutting close to the ground, light axes and bill-hooks, EXECUTION OF PRECEDING OPERATIONS. 469 and long-handled shears ( Fig 116). and the forester’s pruning knife Fig. 121), the last two where there is not enough room to wield an axe or bill-hook. Gii) For cutting up to the height of one’s head, light axes and bill-hooks, and pruning knives (Fig. 113). (iv) For pruning and lopping, axes, pruning bills (Fig. 127) and special saws (Fig. 110 and 111). The best time to undertake the various operations is generally the beginning of the season of vegetation, when both the vigour of the plants and the extent to which they can injure or be injured can be most easily recognised. Plants relieved of any hindrance to their growth at this time have before them the entire season for their unchecked development. But as it is not always possible or convenient to carry out such a vast amount of work within the few days during which the plants are preparing to put forth their vigour, it may be allowed to go on all the year round, but more especially during the period from April to December in places where frosts occur. SECTION IV. Fostering operations in an advanced crop. If the work described inthe preceding Sections has been well done, the crop will not only have become thoroughly established, but will also have been formed and moulded in a general manner on the lines on which it should grow up. All subsequent opera- tions will have for their principal object the completion, in a special manner, of this work by giving to the stronger individuals, selected in accordance with both cultural and economical exigen- cies, the increasing growing-room they constantly require. This growing-room may be afforded gradually to all the more promis- ing individuals of the crop in view of the prosperous vegetation and growth of the crop as a whole, or it may be given in conspi- cuously liberal measure and by large instalments at a time toa few of the best and most valuable trees the growth of which it is de- sired to force. We have thus two distinct kind of Tarynines, which we may qualify respectively as ORDINARY and PLENARY. We may also have to employ direct measures to correct defects in the shape and length of the boles of trees or to restrict their crowns in certain directions. These measures are PRUNING and LOPPING. 470 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. ARTICLE 1. ORDINARY THINNINGS. The object of ordinary thinnings is to give to the individuals forming the principal part of a crop increasing expanding room both in the soil and in the atmosphere above, in proportion to their increasing requirements, the grand result being the improved vegetation and enhanced growth of the individual trees as well as of the forest collectively. Even if a forest were left to itself, the strongest individuals would in time prevail by gradually hemming in or suppressing and ultimately killing out all the rest. But this victory would be the result of a more or less prolonged struggle, during which they could mot themselves escape suffering a certain amount of check, if nothing worse. Itis to prevent this undesirable consequence that thinnings are made. Thinnings are thus operations intended principally to favour the stronger individuals and to help them to get rid of their rivals before these can do them any harm. The word “principally ” has been used advisedly, for it not unfrequently happens that the stronger individuals are neither the most promis- ing nor the most valuable or desirable as regards species, and must, therefore, be made to yield the place to their weaker neighbours. I. Advantages offered by thinnings. Thinnings offer the following important advantages :— (a) By opening out the leaf-canopy, they stimulate the growth of the individual trees as well as of the crop asa whole. It has been established by direct experiment that a certain minimum number of well-developed stems per unit of area, the number varying with the different conditions of growth, contains absolutely more wood than a larger number of stems standing closer together and, therefore, possessing less vigour of growth. (6) They give us the most practical and effective means of re- gulating the growth of the forest and the formation of the boles of the trees according to our requirements. Their influence on the length, diameter and shape of the bole increases both the quantity and the usefulness of the timber in each tree. (c) By strengthening the trees, they redue the extent of damage caused by violent or hot or cold winds and by the weight of super- incumbent snow. . (d) By removing all dead, dying, unhealthy and unsound trees and inducing a sound healthy growth, they diminish the se- ORDINARY THINNINGS, THEIR: ADVANTAGES. 471 verity of forest conflagrations, keep down the numbers of wood= eating insects.at the lowest limit possible, and restrict, if not entirely prevent, the attacks of destructive fungi. (e) They augment very remarkably the sum total of production of a given area. Trees under suppression have practically ceased to increase in size, while their presence not only prevents their neighbours from spreading out as freely as they might, but may even weaken them through overcrowding. They are thus not merely superfluous, but positively harmful. Their removal would, therefore, have the twofold effect of immediately realising a not inconsiderable amount of more or less valuable produce, which would otherwise have been entirely lost, and of giving increased growing room to their vigorous neighbours, which would not be long in expanding themselves and completely filling up this addi- tional space. What is true of trees under suppression is also to a greater or less extent true of those which are beginning to be suppressed. Remembering these facts, let us consider what hap- pens in any given forest-covered area. We know that at any given age itis not capable of yielding more than a certain maximum quantity of wood ;. so that if at that age this maximum quantity is standing on the ground, no further increment is possible. But if some of the weaker individuals be now taken out, we know that the remainder will at once spread themselves out until the addi- tional room made for them is once more filled up and the maximum production is again standing onthe ground. Thus it becomes obvious that thinnings not only yield a large outturn of valuable produce, but also constantly maintain on the ground the maximum crop that the area in question is able to support at successive ages. We have as-yet no rigorously accurate data regarding the total yield of thinnings ; nevertheless German foresters believe them- selves justified in asserting that it isin their country from 20 to 3) per cent of the total yield of the crop,* and that if the rotation be rightly chosen, it may aggregate as much as from one-fourth to one-third the yield of the regeneration fellings. Considered: absolutely, it reaches its highest figure in conifer forests and on -rich soils ; but considered relatively to the total yield, it is propor- tionately higher on poor soils. The average annual yield of thin- * Gayer’s figures have been adopted here, but Heyer says-that, with a well-chosen rotation, the yield of thinnings will average from one-fourth to one-third the entire yield of the crop, and from one-third to one-half the yield of the exploitable crop. Bagneris in France goes further and states that for some species the outturn from thinnings may sometimes equal that of the regeneration fellings; but it is to be remembered that in that country preparatory regeneration fellings are classed ag thinnings. See Appendix A. 472 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. nings begins to diminish after a certain limit of age has been passed, which limit is of course different in different soils and in different classes of forest. (f) They induce early fertility and increase the production of seed dy enabling the trees to develop a strong crown and affording them more or less effective illumination. The result is the early appearance of advance growth, whereby the regeneration of the crop is singularly facilitated and the time required to obtain a new crop is very appreciably shortened. (g) They enable the forest proprietor, when trees bearing valu- able flowers and fruit, such Terminalia Chebula and _belerica, Bassia latifolia and butyracea, &c., are present, to secure every year, from an early age, a not inconsiderable income from the sale of minor produce. / (4) By stimulating the growth of the trees which are to com- pose the exploitable crop, they shorten the rotation. (2) Ina mixed forest they place in the hands of the forester the most effective instrument he can have for securing any desired dis- tribution of the various component species. (j) By regulating the density of the leaf-canopy, they exert a potent influence on the degree of lignification of the timber in a- forest. (tk) As a direct consequence of all the preceding advantages, the financial position of the proprietor is improved in a very remarkable manner, that is to say, his forest returns to him, as in- terest on the capital sum which it represents, a very much larger percentage than he would get if thinnings were altogether omitted. (J) They enable an owner requiring a steady income from year to year, to make up deficiencies in the yield derived from other fellings. And if the owner in any year suddenly wanted an en- hanced income, thinnings would afford him the means of taking out the additional outturn without hurting any portion of his forest. II. Principles on which thinnings should be conducted, The individuals composing any crop may, according to the vigour and fulness of their crowns, be grouped into the following five easily distinguishable classes :— I. OvERTOPPING TREES, possessing exceptionally well-developed crowns and standing well above all the rest. Il. DoMINANT TREES, possessing well developed crowns. As a rule, these mainly form the leaf-canopy. GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN ORDINARY THINNINGS, 473 III. Domiatep tress, 7. ¢. those about to be overtopped. These are generally trees that have recently been in Class II, but, owing to weaker growth, have been left behind in the race. Their crowns will be already found to be more or less contracted and in some of them incipient decline will be noticed. 1V. OveERToOPpPED TREES.—Crowns very appreciably contracted either on every side, or on one side only. In some species the boughs and other large branches will be found bearing an ab- normal number of short twigs grouped together in thick bunches. These trees may either (a) have the clear sky above them but be closely hemmed in laterally, or (6) have only a part of their crown free, the rest being completely overshadowed. Not unfrequently many dead branches will be noticeable. V. SUPPRESSED TREES.—Such individuals, if belonging to con- spicuously shade-enduring species, may still have perfectly green crowns ; otherwise the crowns will be found to be quite dead or in a dying condition. It is an essential rule in making thinnings that the soil shall not be uncovered to such an extent as to expose it to deteriorates and that the individual trees shall not be isolated to such an extent as to render them liable to get bent or broken. Hence the severity of a thinning will be different according to the different prevailing conditions of growth in each case. For all practical purposes, however, it is sufficient to distinguish three degrees of severity as follows :— 1. LicHt THINNINGS, in which only suppressed trees are taken out. Such thinnings hardly help nature at all, but serve mainly to utilise stems that have practically ceased to exercise any im- peding action on the growth of the rest of the crop. 2. MODERATE THINNINGS, in which, besides suppressed indivi- duals, those of category (+) of overtopped trees and a great many of category (a) are also removed. This will without doubt be the class of thinnings ‘most widely used in India. 8. Heavy THINNINGS, in which all suppressed and overtopped trees must disappear, and also perhaps a few of those that are about to be overtopped. ‘Which of these three kinds of thinnings to make in any given case will depend on— (a) Tue AGE or THE CROP. It is evident that the younger a crop is, the greater will be the number of stems that can be safely taken out as well as require to be taken out. Schuberg’s experi- nients in the Baden portion of the Black Forest gave the following 474 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. figures for the average area occupied by each stem of the more important species at different ages :— At 20 years eas Per 1 square metre ” 40 ” see sige, 4 ” ” ” 60 ” Unie. mene 9 39 ” » 80 ,, aie sas IT g, lOO ss . a 15-4 ,, ” Arranging the above figures in a differentt manner, they show that if there are 1,000 trees at the age of 20 years, at the age of 40 years there will be only 250, at 60 years 111, at 80 years 85, and at 100 years only 65. These figures show clearly how much severer a thinning should be between the ages of 20 and 40 years than between 80 and 100 years, the severity being in inverse proportion to the age of the crop. Also see Appendix A. (6) Species. Trees require more room in proportion to their shade-avoiding nature, and hence a crop of a shade-avoiding species must be thinned more severely than a crop of the same density com- posed of species more tolerant of shade. Schuberg’s experiments in the Black Forest, in crops containing individuals from 40 to 80 years old, gave the average number per acre of stems of four seve- ral species as follows, the species being arranged in the order of their ability to endure shade :— Spruce oo 860 Beech ne 690 Silver fir ae 610 Scots’ pine ave 530 In other words, if the space occupied by the pine be represented by 100, the figures for silver fir, beech and spruce would be res- pectively 87, 69 and 63. (c) The soil—Owing to greater rapidity of growth and fuller development of both crown and roots, good soil will have on it fewer individuals than the same area of inferior soil, the difference however diminishing rapidly with age. This is tantamount to say- ing that the struggle for room both in the ground and in the leaf- canopy during the stage of longitudinal growth is severer and begins earlier, but is sooner over, in favourable than in unfavour- able soil. In the case of some species the total extension of crown attained varies to such an enormous extent according to the soil in which the trees may be growing, that individuals in good soil may possess a spread from three to four times as great again as those in poor soil; whereas in the case of species that affect poor soils the difference will all but disappear after an early age (only GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN ORDINARY THINNINGS. 475 30 years in the case of Scots’ pine in Southern'Germany) has been reached. The conelusion to be drawn from the above facts is that, the density of the leaf-canopy being one and the same, thinnings should be severer in good than in;poor soils. (d) Elevation above the sea.—Schuberg’s experiments ‘in the Black Forest show that the fertility of the soil and the density of the leaf-canopy being one and the same, the spread of the crown diminishes, that is to say, the number of stems increases, with in- creasing elevation above the sea until the cold becomes so ex- cessive as to require the trees to be more or less isolated. He found that the numbers of stems at the several altitudes of 400, 800 and 1,200 metres were respectively as 100 to 126 to 244. The influence of elevation is greatest at a young age and with shade-enduring species, and diminishes as the trees become older and less tolerant of shade. (e) Aspect—Schuberg’s experiments show that in Southern Germany difference of aspect makes only a slight difference in the spread of individual trees, easterly and northerly slopes containing, area for area, only 5 per cent more stems than westerly and south- erly expositions. In this country the extremes of heat and cold and of drought are so much greater than in Germany, that it is probable that the effect of aspect is also much more marked. (f) Gradient—The steeper the gradient is, the more light can trees forming a leaf-canopy receive laterally, and therefore the larger the number of trees that can stand on a given area. (9) Condition of the leaf-canopy.—It is obvious that self-sown crops and those resulting from direct sowings require during the pole stage of growth heavier thinnings than crops composed of transplants, which necessarily differ very little from one another in either vigour or stature and all stand at regular intervals apart. Indeed we may in a general manner say that crops consisting of individuals of more or less one and the same height can hardly bear being thinned at all, since they contain next to no overtopped or suppressed trees and the removal of any one individual forms a more or less large gap, which generally takes some time to fill up. Where the overtopping, dominant and dominated trees are not sufficient of themselves to protect the soil, thinnings ought to be light or moderate according to the number and distribution of the overtopped trees. Where the crop is crowded, the thinnings should be heavy. We thus see that in one and the same crop the character of the thinnings may have to vary from. point to point. Where the suppressed and overtopped trees dccupy a dis- 476 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. tinctly lower level than all the other trees, the selection of the stems to remove offers little or no difficulty. Such is also the case even when all the crowns form one compact mass together, pro- vided the component species are shade-enduring, for then any slight mistakes that may be made would not be of much conse- quence, since they would correct themselves before any evil results could follow. Jn any case the experienced forester will never find any difficulty in recognizing the vigorous and growing elements of a crop, which are after all the main thing to keep in sight in making a thinning. (h) Composition of the crop.—F rom what has been said in res- pect of Advantages II, VII, VIII and X resulting from a mixture of species (pp. 108-113), it is evident that, ceteris paribus, thin- nings should be heavier in mixed than in pure forest. (@) Exposure of locality to dangerous winds.—In places exposed to winds that are dangerous only on account of their violence, the crop should be formed of strong, well-rooted trees capable of offer- ing the necessary resistance. To obtain such trees quickly, mode- rate thinnings should be made and these should be begun early and repeated at short intervals. In the case of very hot winds, which dry up the soil and blow away the covering of dead leaves, the undergrowth in the protective fringe maintained along the ex- posed edge of the forest can never be too thick, and hence thin- nings should there be carefully avoided. To obtain further pro- tection unthinned bands of forest, running at right angles to the wind, should be left at regular intervals throughout the entire area. Against very cold winds also the undergrowth should be preserved along the wind-struck edge of the forest. (j) The length and fulness of bole desived.—Thinnings, up to the close of the stage of rapid elongation, will be light in propor- tion to the length of bole required and its approximation to a cylindrical shape. Stated briefly, the severity of a thinning in any given case will vary with (a) the rapidity with which the leaf-canopy can close up again, which rapidity depends on the age and origin of the crop, on the nature of the component species and their proportionate distribution if mixed together, and on the suitability of the soil, locality and climate ; (6) the ability of the soil to take care of itself ; (c) the stability of the trees ; (d) the length, fulness and clean- ness of bole demanded ; and (e) the age fixed for the exploitation of the crop. A safe rule to follow in making any thinning is to remove every stem that may be taken out consistently with keeping the WHEN TO MAKE THE FIRST ORDINARY THINNING. 477 soil sufficiently protected, producing the requiréd length. and shape of bole, and enabling the trees to afford each other all the mutual shelter and support they may be in need of. The previous condition of the crop being known, the severity of a thinning made in it may with accuracy be gauged by the number of stems taken out and left standing. III. When to make the first thinning. So much has already been said regarding the rapidly increasing growing room required by the trees composing a complete forest crop, that no further evidence is necessary to prove that, in order to keep up unchecked the continuous development of the trees, thinnings should be undertaken as soon as the keen stage of the struggle for existence has set in. In favourable soils and localities the overtopping and dominant trees differentiate themselves from the rest of the crop at an early age; the moment this occurs, a thinning becomes both desirable and necessary. On poor soil., al- though, owing to the slow growth there, the stronger elements of the crop declare themselves only after a protracted struggle, neverthe- less the time for making the first thinning does not arrive the less early, and the urgency of the operation is so much the greater in order not only to help the struggling stems to secure an early victory, but even to save them from being unnecessarily weakened and perhaps permanently crippled. Thinnings must commence early in all crowded crops, particularly if they have sprung up from seed spontaneously or as the result of direct sowing, and if, in addition, the soilis poor. In the case of crops consisting of stems of more or less the same height and vigour, it would be a fatal error to delay thinnings until the stems of the future have declared themselves ; while waiting for such an event to occur, instead of a number of individuals, sufficient to form a complete crop, shooting away above the rest, in the majority of instances hardly any of the trees will ever show any marked superiority over their neighbours and the whole crop will be found to have become crippled in its growth. So that here again early thin- nings must be the rule, the stems to be preserved being chosen not necessarily because they possess the highest vigour, but on account of the regularity of their distribution. Early thinnings are also required in the interests of shade-avoiding species, and in places exposed to dangerous winds, where the trees have to be specially encouraged to strengthen themselves as quickly as possible. 478 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP, Indeed, there are-in all only two cases.in which thinnings may have to be delayed : firstly, when the component species clear their boles with difficulty or require to be ferced up in height, and, secondly, when small wood possesses too little value fer the produce of the thinnings to at least cover the cost of the operation. This second reason for delaying the first thinning is, however, often entirely illusory, as the accelerated growth of the fostered stems, and hence their increased money-value, may prove more than a set-off against any small excess of expenditure over the zmmediate money-return of the thinnings. IV. How frequently thinnings should be repeated. Ifthe crop under treatment is required to produce only small wood, the rotation may be too short to admit of more than a single thinning, or there may be no time even for this one thinning. Otherwise more than one thinning must be made in order to allow the more promising individuals of the crop to continue their growth unchecked. Whenever, therefore, the crop begins to pre- sent again a crowded appearance, a fresh thinning must be made. The frequency of repetition willbe in direct proportion to the rapi- dity of growth of the overtopping and dominant trees. This will itself depend on ‘the nature of the soil, lecality and species, and, for one and the same soil, locality and species, on the age of the crop. All crops grow most rapidly during the first half of their life, particularly during the pole stage. In India we have still to ascertain the periodicity suitable for our various species at different ages and under different conditions of soil and locality. The interval between one thinning and the next will also, to a slight extent, depend on the severity of the former, for it is obvi- ous that the more open a crop is, the longer, ceteris paribus, will it take to become crowded eneugh to require being thinned again. This remark must not, however, be construed into a justification for making heavy thinnings solely in order to lengthen their periodicity and thereby save expense ; the severity of each thin- ning must be determined on entirely different grounds, which have already been considered in their proper place. Crops of shade-avoiding species should be thinned lightly and frequently, so that they may always have sufficient light and yet never be opened out too much to the detriment of the soil and the future reproduction. V. Season for making thinnings. In the interior of the Himalayas where snow lies on the ground MODE OF EXECUTION OF ORDINARY THINNINGS. 479 throughout the winter, the best time for felling the stems to be taken out is the early half of summer. Everywhere else the work may be safely carried on at any time between the close of one season of vegetation and the beginning of the next. In crops composed of stems of some size, the gap made by the removal of any one of them will naturally be large and the care with which they should be selected must, therefore, be proportionate- ly great. Moreover as the overtopped and suppressed trees are not easily distinguished from the rest of the crop, the work of selec- tion and marking should preeede the felling, and will be best effected while the trees are in full leaf. In young crops the selec- tion and felling should always proceed pari passu with one another. VI. Execution of the fellings. The effect of thinnings on the formation, constitution and growth of a crop and on its yielding power is so great that their execution must be undertaken, or at least personally superintended, by the Forest Staff, and never left to the workmen. In old crops, in which the trees to be felled are selected’ and marked in a previous separate operation, the forest officer himself or an experienced ranger should select the trees, working by successive sweeps, as in the case of preparatory regeneration fellings. In young crops, in which the stems to be taken out are both too numerous to be marked in a special operation and difficult to select, unless each one is felled as soon as it is selected so that the effect of its remo- val may become at once evident, they will be indicated to the wood-cutters working constantly under the personal direction of the forest officer or a qualified assistant. In this way no mistake of a serious nature will be possible. In young crops of uniform age and appearance, however, the forest officer need himself thin only a few specimen patches here and there and leave an intelli- gent guard to continue the operation over the remainder of the area, as in such crops the work will consist mainly in taken out stems at regular intervals and can hence be reduced more or less to mere rule of thumb. Even the woodcutters should be men chosen for their skill, diligence and habits of strict obedience to orders. The mistake has sometimes been committed of attempting to base thinnings ona fixed maximum girth above which no stem should be cut. No procedure could be more unscientific or repre- hensible. One cannot be too careful in carrying out thinnings in mixed 480 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP crops. In such crops the taller and more vigorous trees will not always belong to the more valuable species, and must therefore often be taken out for the benefit of individuals of these species ; and besides this, many of the stems that require to be removed may have wide crowns occupying a large space in the leaf-canopy- ach thinning should therefore be effected in two separate opera- tions. In the first operation the work should be confined to aid- ing or relieving struggling individuals of the better species, wherever it is certain that those of inferior kinds are not required in the interests of the mixture. In the second operation, which may sometimes be usefully put off fora whole year, the attention of the forester will be directed to the prosperous vegetation of the crop as a whole. When there are two stems standing so close to another as to appear to have come up on one and the same stool, the weaker or less valuable of the two ought to be got rid of, if the crop is still young. But if the crop has attained a certain age, then it is, as a rule, better to leave both stems standing, as the sudden isola- tion of either of them may result inthe unhealthy growth or unsoundness of the other. VII. Concluding remarks. The foregoing remarks prove how important a part thinnings play in the treatment and life of a crop and how much attention, skill and judgment are required for their proper and timely execu- tion. Those remarks also establish the general soundness of the following grand rule, which should to be followed in every case as closely as circumstances will permit:—BEGIN EARLY, THIN MODERATELY, REPEAT FREQUENTLY. ARTICLE 2. PLENARY THINNINGS. _A plenary thinning is avery severe thinning made after the close of the period of ordinary thinnings, and having for its ob- ject the complete isolation of the strongest and most promising and valuable trees of @ crop, so that they may spread out unchecked and attain a giving diameter in as short a time as possible. The thinning is usually severe enough to prevent the remaining trees from meeting crowns for the next 30-40 years. The complete in- terruption of the leaf-canopy necessarily implied in this system of felling presupposes the absence of any risk to the continued protection of the soil, which protection is secured by means of PLENARY THINNINGS. 48t anew growth forming a full undercrop and obtained either by natural or artificial means. Plenary thinnings are too recent an invention in sylviculture to have yet been fully worked out to their legitimate consequences. Nevertheless several systems have already been under trial long enough to warrant the assertion that these thinnings are not only not opposed to Nature, but enable the forester to favour to the utmost the growth of his best trees and most valuable species, and even put into his hands a most effective means of increasing the proportion of these latter or of re-introducing them there whence uncontrolled fellings in the past have driven them out. It will suffice, in a Manual written in the present condition of Indian sylviculture, to describe in a very summary and general manner the various systems adopted by European foresters in the interests of their own species. That some such system will ulti- mately be employed in our teak areas with immense benefit to that species admits of little doubt. 1. The young undercrop raised uniformly by spontaneous sowing over the entire area. Seepacu’s MzetHop.—This is the simplest of all the systems of plenary thinnings. As soon asa crop, that has been carefully strengthened by means of ordinary thinnings, has become fully fertile and a good seed year arrives, a plenary thinning is made of sufficient severity to allow the new crop to be completely estab- lished before the trees above can meet their crowns and reform the leaf-canopy. In Europe, where this system is in use in beech forests, the crop is opened out to such an extent as not to be able to close up again for from 30 to 40 years. If, in the meanwhile, it should be found that the thinning has not been sufficiently severe, a second operation is of course permissible in order to effect the necessary corrections. The rate of growth is found to be doubled by this method of plenary thinnings (increased from 1:44 per cent in an unthinned crop to 2°90 per cent in one that has been operated upon). Homevure’s Metuop.—In this method, which is employed only in mixed forests, regeneration fellings on the uniform system are commenced early and it is these fellings which actually constitute the plenary thinnings, the after-fellings being made with a light hand and at long intervals. This method differs from the pre~ ceding in that in the latter the upper crop necessarily ends by form- ing a distinct leaf-canopy above the young one, whereas in this one the favoured trees either always stand apart from one another 482 REARING OF THE ESTRBLISHED CROP. or in groups, their number and distribution being dependent en- tirely on the number of really promising timber-yielding stems present in the original crop. In the case of shade-avoiding species on good soil, the number of stems may aggregate from 24 to 32, and even more, per acre; with shade-enduring broad- crowned species the number would obviously be less. The rege- neration fellings or, in other words, the plenary thinnings are begun early, in order that the whole series may be carried out while the crop is still young and the trees are in their full vigour of growth. Homburg’s measurements, in forests of beech and oak with a slight admixture of ash, maple, elms and other species, give 1:4 per cent as the mean annual increment at the time of the first preparatory felling (age of crop about 70 years) and 4°8 per cent, or an increase of 3°4, for the following peried of 17 years. These figures prove the necessity and advantage of beginning regeneration, if it is to be effected under cover, as early as possible. 2. The young undercrop raised in groups by spontaneous sowing. Asin Homburg’s method the regular regeneration fellings on the uniform system fulfil the object of plenary thinnings, so in this method the regular regeneration fellings in groups, begun early and carried through slowly, do the work of the same thinnings. The extent to which the period covered by the fellings should be prolonged beyond the time absolutely necessary for regeneration will depend on the suitability of the soil for the species to be fostered, being comparatively slight on dry poor soils. In forests worked by jardinage also the regeneration fellings and plenary thinnings must be combined into one and the same ope- ration, the area worked over at each point being somewhat larger than in the case of regeneration pure and simple. But jardinage itself procures the same results as plenary thinnings, and indeed jardinage and plenary thinnings combined really constitute only an intensive system of jardinage. 3. The young crop raised artificially. In this case the commencement of the plenary thinnings is not limited by the age at which the crop would become fully fertile, but may be undertaken as soon as the crop can be safely opened out sufficiently for sowing or planting under it. For this reason, instead cf making only a single plenary thinning, as in the case of natural regeneration by seed, the desired ultimate isolation of the timber trees of the crop should be effected step by step, as the PLENARY THINNINGS, 483 various component individuals considered together can bear further isolation and the undercrop requires brighter illumination. At first the plenary thinnings will be comparatively light, since dur- ing the peried of their execution the lower crop has still to be well sheltered, the soil carefully protected and the individuals of the upper crop (too young to have yet attained their full length of bole or to be free from the danger of becoming overgrown with epicorms) kept close together. For the same reasons that the first plenary thinnings should be lighter than the subsequent ones, their periodicity should be shorter. In oak forests in Germany treated under the system, this periodicity ranges from 5 to 10 years, while that of the later thinnings varies from 10 to 15 years. In choosing the trees to be preserved in order to attain exceptional dimensions no account should be taken of the manner of their dis- tribution ; they should be selected solely for their vigour and future value as timber trees. This method of plenary thinnings is specially suited for shade- avoiding species. 4. The young crop obtained with coppice. The conditions of this method are completely fulfilled in stored coppice worked on long rotations and with numerons standards. In the underwood there should be an abundance of some species capable of forming a close growth. 5. Selection of the trees and execution of the thinnings. Considering the small number of trees to be left and that they must be the very best of the entire crop, their selection and ex- ploitation call for even greater care and solicitude than the same work requires in ordinary thinnings. Obviously it is the trees to be preserved that must be marked, and as the felling, conversion and removal of produce are to be effected under the constant per- sonal direction and supervision of the regular staff, it will suffice to mark the the trees merely with a ring of white paint. The selection should be effected in several operations, every tree likely to be fit for reservation being closely examined from several points of view, and carefully compared with its neighbour, if two or more such trees stand together. The work of selection should not be considered complete until the marking officer has traversed the coupe in every direction and thoroughly assured himself that no mistake has been made. The following procedure may be re- commended as giving the best guarantee against a faulty selection 484 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED, CRgP, when only a single heavy plenary thinning is to be made accord- ing to Seebach’s method :—First of all mark with a single splash of white-wash all stems belonging to species to be spared and otherwise presenting qualities that may render their reservation desirable. Then after felling all the rest, go over the ground again and put a second splash on those from among the remaining trees which are most deserving of preservation and are at the same time properly distributed. Now fell all the trees bearing only a single mark, and then go over the whole ground a third time, put- ting a complete ring of paint on those standing trees which aro finally to be left and which it will not now be difficult to judge correctly. It goes without saying that the felling, conversion and export overations should do as little damage as possible to the trees left standing. Often the crown will have to be lopped before a tree is felled, and the fall of the trees will in any case have to be carefully directed. Plenary thinnings should be undertaken only when a sufficiently strong, highly trained, conscientious and active staff is available to earry them out to completion. SECTION IV. Pruning and lopping. Trees may have to be pruned or lopped in order either (i) to produce a certain clean length of bole without knots and of as cylindrical a shape as possible, or (ii) to control and improve the growth and shape of the crown, or (iii) to restrict the crown in the interests of neighbouring individuals which they overhang or press up against. As regards the first of these three objects every one is aware that the higher up the crown begins, the more cy- lindrical will be the shape of the bole below; and as regards the second, we know that when a portion of the crown of a tree has suffered damage from any extraneous cause whatsoever, the re- moval of the injured portion by means of a clean cut will not only arrest the progress of deterioration, but enable the crown to regain its former vigour. On the other hand, pruning may be accompanied with serious consequences to the value of the timber ina tree. If a green living branch be cut off and the section remain exposed, even if sap does not ooze out and forma nidus for fungus spores, little radial rifts, as the wounded surface dries, will form, by way of which atmospheric moisture will cntor and filter downwards into PRUNING AND LOPPING. 485 the bole, and with the moisture will come in fungus spores, so that decomposition and unsoundness will spread through the tree, and will continue to do so even after the wound has been covered over with new rings of wood. The pruning off of dry branches or of dry jagged ends of branches will, if carefully effected, rarely do any harm, and indeed will, in most instances, prevent the spread of decomposition and unsoundness that must inevitably ensue if the entire dead branch or its jagged, water-absorbing end, as the case may be, is preserved. Butit is well to remark that the same amount of harm does not follow pruning in every case, and hence the operation may be undertaken only with certain special species and in those circumstances in which no risk is to be feared. How to prune. Dry branches should be cut off flush with the trunk, otherwise, as the latter increased in diameter, an ever-increasing portion of the dead branch would be included in it, which, if it did not cause decay to spread, could never form any organic connection with the surrounding living wood and must, therefore, determine a break of continuity of tissue. Moreover, by taking off the branch close to the trunk, the section is soonest overgrown with new wood. For this last reason green branches also should be pruned off close to the axis that bears them. Itis of no use, in the case of forest trees, to prune green branches above 3 inches in diameter, for a wider section could never be covered over soon enough to prevent decomposition and decay from setting in. The pruned section should have a smooth even surface, as a rough or spongy one will absorb, or at least retain, water. The best tools to use, according to circumstances, are pruning bills (Fig. 127), pruning knives (Fig. 121), or special forms of saws possessing fine teeth, which do not leave a spongy section (Figs. 110 and 111). The saws may be fixed at the end of a bamboo up to 12 feet long. In using bills, the branch, if thin, should be cut entirely from below upwards ; otherwise a deep preliminary cut should be made on the upper side and the work finished off from below. Pruning knives must of course be drawn from below upwards. When the branch to be removed is long and thick and weighted with leaves and twigs, it should first of all be shortened, otherwise the heavy leverage exercised by its weight would tend to split and tear off a portion of the bark and wood from the trunk. To prune off branches high above the ground light bamboo ladders should be used, or, instead of ladders, poles having alternate 486 PRUNING AND LOPPING. notches cut on two opposite sides and shod at both ends in the manner represented in Fig. 112. The wearing of climbing irons should never be permitted. To preserve the surface of section from atmospheric influences and from fungus spores, it should be carefully coated over with tar. The section of a dry branch will drink in this tar greedily and become completely inpregnated with it for a good fraction of an inch. The same will be true, but in a less degree, of green branches cut when the sap is down. Wounds made ina tree while it is in full vegetation, always bleed, and tar put over such wounds would not be able to adhere, much less get inside the grain of the wood. Moreover the exuding sap would obviously decom- pose and give the very best lodgment possible to fungus spores. Hence green branches should be pruned only outside the season of vegetation and before the sap has begun to rise. It is obvious that, in view of economy both of money, labour and supervision, pruning should not be undertaken as a separate operation, but combined with any other that may be going on at the time. Special Remarks. In pruning roadside, grove and garden trees, the value of which as timber trees is a purely accidental matter, a special device for shutting out all atmospheric influences and preventing the entry of fungus spores is to fix a thin tin-plate over the surface of section, after having coated this latter over thickly with tar. The plate should be of the same shape and nearly the same size as the wood- surface on the wound and be kept in place with small iron tacks driven through it along its edge. In a year or two the new growth of wood and bark spreading out from the edges of the wound will cover up the rim of the plate and completely cut off all air- communication with the outside. CHAPTER IV. IMPROVEMENT FELLINGS.- So many of our forests have come down to us in a ruined condi- tion that one of the most, if not the most important, problem that presents itself for solution to the Indian forester is how to treat those forests, so that while supplying from them the wants of the country to the utmost limit of which they are capable and paying into the Public Exchequer a large and steadily increasing surplus revenue, they may be brought as quickly as possible to their high- est. condition of productiveness. The solution of this problem, enormously difficult in itself, is rendered doubly so by four several circumstances which have operated against the progress of forest conservancy since its inception. The first one of these circum- stances is the popularly accepted view that the Forest Department is principally and essentially a branch of the Revenue Department and that its work should therefore be gauged by the figures of its Annual Budget. The second circumstance is the extreme poverty of the people and the consequent miserably low standard of comfort prevailing among them. As long as three-fourths of the popula- tion are content to live, or cannot help living, in squalid huts open to all the inclemencies of the weather and containing no more furniture than a rudely made bed, and subsist on the cheapest and most easily prepared fare that is just barely sufficient to keep body and soul together, so long will it be impossible to work out, except at a heavy loss, the immense quantities of unsound, crooked, knotty stunted trees of valuable species as well as of large, well- grown timber of inferior kinds which mainly compose the present stock in those forests. The third circumstance is the necessity of sup- plying the vast wandering herds of cattle sufficient pasturage to keep them alive. The fourth and last circumstance, which is happily now rapidly disappearing, is the opposition every where encountered by the Forest Department and based on the erroneous idea that it has interests necessarily antagonistic to the general interesis of the country, and that when it only safe-guards the rights of succeeding generations in limiting the enjoyment of the present generation to the strict usufruct of the forests, it acts as an oppressor of the people. 488 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. The present ruined condition of our forests is due to the com- bined continued action, during successive centuries, of several causes, the principal of which are :— : (a) Fires.—The Vedic hymns afford evidence that at the time the Aryans were entering their new southern home India was covered with magnificent forests which were rarely burnt, and that one of the acts forbidden to themselves, under religious sanction, by the new settlers was to set fire to forests. But with increasing population, extension of cultivation and multiplication of herds, this salutary prohibition was gradually set at nought and ultimately forgotten, and in these days its revival by the criminal law is regarded as an immense hardship and undue interference with a necessary and time-honoured custom. How and to what extent fires injure forests has been fully described at pp. 415-6. (6) Reckless or uncontrolled utilisation —Before indiscriminate felling was stopped in our forests, it was a common thing to see a large tree felled in order to obtain, by adzing, only one or two small scantlings. If a single good log was required, several trees likely to furnish it were felled and only the best one of these uti- lised. To save trouble in felling and conversion, large trees were cut several feet above the ground from the point where it was thin enough for the purpose of the Vandal requiring it. When railway construction was begun in India, a clean sweep was made in all neighbouring forests of every tree that seemed large enough to yield a sleeper. In this way thousands of trees were felled which were never used up. This reckless felling brought matters to a crisis in the Central Provinces and led to the establishment of the Forest Department there. But in those forests, as in most others, the proverbial stable door was locked only atter the steed had been stolen. In a word, until the State undertook the protection of its forests, there was no thought for the morrow. Each one helped himself to what he wished, not only without stint, but in the most wasteful manner imaginable. In felling the trees nothing was done to save neighbouring individuals from being damaged, and the conversion and export operations were carried on with as little soli- citude as the fellings. Nay, even since the organisation of the Department, it has been the practice in many of our forests to take out all the sound well-shaped marketable trees and leave principally the rubbish standing. (c) Grazing and lopping for fodder—During the rains and cold weather, while the grass was green, the ground was trodden by the feet of cattle into a hard pan, into which the small roots of IMPROVEMENT FELLINGS. 489 seedlings could not penetrate ; and if some seedlings did succeed in sending down their roots deep enough to get a hold of the soil, they were either crushed under the hoofs of the animals or browsed down or broken, and thus kept back year after year, with the result that they have now become permanently stunted and mis-shapen, or at least unhealthy and unsound. When the grass dried up, trees in leaf, especially those just bringing out their new foliage, were ruthlessly lopped, large boughs being cut off for a few miser- able mouthfuls of green fodder. (d) Wandering cultivation—As much as half, if not more, of the aggregate area of our forests has been under some sort of cul- tivation within the last two centuries. The cultivation was mostly of the kind described in the last para. on page 24. Where there was some semblance of settled tillage, the soil was still left full of stools and sucker-producing roots, which ultimately caused the fields to be abandoned and become covered with forest growth of a more or less inferior kind. If the soil was naturally a poor one, being never manured, it could bear crops tor only a few years and had then to be given up to lie fallow for a long period of years. In this rude style of cultivation many large trees were allowed to stand in the middle of the fields, but were pollarded or heavily lopped to prevent them from damaging the crops. Such trees, models of beauty perhaps for the artist, but eye-sores to the forester, still cumber the ground over hundreds of thousands of acres of scrub, and often also of a better class of forest. Even where the cultivation had been of a settled type, war, rapine, severe visitations of cholera, small pox, &c., or the death of a local cele- brity led to entire villages being abandoned and becoming perma- nent wastes. The result of all these and other causes of destruction or disorder, working continuously through generations and centuries, has been that most of our forests, besides being so extremely irregular and often insufficiently stocked, contain such large quantities of un- sound or mis-shapen or unhealthy material, and, in many cases, also an inadequate proportion of valuable and even marketable species. In some, advance growth is abundant and renders their restoration and improvement easy ; in others, it occurs only in patches few and fax between or consists of sparsely scattered seedlings or clumps of stool-shoots, the soil in the intervals being too hard and too much: under the dominion of grass and masterful low shrubby growth to give any chance for the spontaneous appearance of reproduction within a reasonable time ; while between these two extremes there 450 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP, is an infinitude of intermediate stages of regeneration. If the market and the state of the finances admit of it, we may, according to the requirements of the case, either establish or com- plete the new generation by sowing or planting and clear away all the old stock, or we may adopt any of the methods of natural rege- neration described in Book II. On the other hand, if such whole- sale action is not possible, it will atany rate be our duty to remove, as quickly as the condition of the market and the accessibility of the forest will allow, every portion of the unsound, unhealthy and otherwise inferior portion of the stock wherever it can at once be replaced by sound, healthy and valuable growth. In other and briefer words, we must effect IMPROVEMENT FELLINGS. Thus an improvement felling may be defined as an operation made in heavily damaged forests with the object of removing from them, as quickly as practicable, all unsound, deteriorating, knotty, inferior or harm- ful trees, while at ¢the same time making the most of existing material, in order to obtain as full a crop as posstble composed principally of healthy, vigorous growing trees of valuable species. It is thus evident that an improvement felling is not an elemen- tary operation of a special kind not yet described in this Manual, but is essentially a composite one combining in itself the attributes and objects of every kind of felling already treated of. At points where utilisable advance growth exists, it will assume the character of an after-felling or of a jardinage cutting. Where the crop is too dense, it will become a preparatory felling or a thinning or a cleaning according to the age of the component individuals. In other places it may partake of the nature of a seed-felling. Where frost and other dangerous atmospheric influences are not to be feared and the soil cannot suffer from exposure, there a more or less large clearing may be made, if the whole of the standing stock is unsound or deteriorating and early regeneration is certain. In such places the younger individuals, capable of throwing up good coppice shoots, should be carefully cut back. Young damaged stems of valuable species should also be cut back, where the re- growth from them would improve the constitution of the crop. In frosty localities, where the forest is open, it is useless to attempt any cutting back, as the new shoots are bound to get frost-bitten in their turn and in the end prove no better than the original indivi- duals. In such places the only resource left is to allow the stand- ing stock to gradually make its way up and ultimately form suffi- cient cover and shelter for new reproduction from seed. Crowded advance growth may have to be cut back or thinned out. In all IMPROVEMENT FELLINGS, 491 this varied work, while clearing the forest of all unsound, un- healthy, deteriorating or harmful stuff, the main thing to aim at is to get the ground covered with sound, valuable and growing material as quickly as the circumstances in each case will allow. Moreover, in mixed forest, a proper distribution of the component species should not be lost sight of. APPENDIX A. The following extremely interesting figures, giving the results of various degrees of ordinary thinnings in four several experiments, are taken from Professor M. Kunze’s remarkable articles in the Tharander forstliches Jahrbuch for 1884. The quantities given are so many solid cubic meters per hectare. Experiment I. Experiment begun on self-sown crop of beech, average age 49 years, with a sprinkling of silver fir of mostly the same age ; growth very vigorous ; leaf-canopy everywhere complete. First thinning made at age of 49 years ; three subsequent thinnings at intervals of 5 years. All the figures were obtained by actual measurement, except the quantity of standing stock in area C at the commencement of the experiment, which quantity has been estimated. A, Heavily thinned area. Timber. Smallwood. Total. Standing stock at 49 years ee» L10°11 87°96 198-07 Yield of Windfalls we § O31 0°14 0°45 » Thinnings -- 83°70 53°81 8751 Standing stock at 65 years s«- 178°01 56:07 23408 Total production up to 65 years ... 212°02 11002 82204 Increase since the age of 49 years... 101°91 22°06 123°97 B. Moderatelyjthinned area. Standing stock at 49 years ... 104°02 86°97 190°99 Yield of Windfalls «0°07 0°04 0°11 » Thinnings vee 11:34 89:02 50°36 Standing stock at 65 years a+» 188°06 59°46 247°52 Total production up to 65 years... 199°47 98°52 297°99 Increase since the age of 49 years ... 95°45 11°55 107°00 EXPERIMENTS IN THINNINGS. 493 C. Unthinned area. Timber. Smallwood. Total. Standing stock at 49 years -. 10707 87°47 194°53 Windfalls vee 0°05 0°04 0:09 Deadwood we =: 1°35 3°91 5°26 Standing stock at 65 years «+» 199°66 82°34 282°00 Total production up to 65 years ... 201-06 86°29 287°35 Increase since the age of 49 years... 93°99 —117 92°82 Experiment II. Experiment begun on a furrow-sown crop of Scots’ pine 19 years old ; width of furrows 30 centimetres, interval between them 1 metre. First thinning made at age of 19 years, 4 subsequent ones at intervals of 5 years. All the figures were obtained by actual measurement, except those for the quantity of stock at the commencement of the experi- ment, which figures are mere estimates. A. Heavily thinned area. Standing stock at 19 years ‘ive | 0D 96°10 96:10 Yield of Windfalls we «= 7B 33°46 39°19 » Lhinnings .-- 19°16 65°18 84:34 Standing stock at 40 years we 19451 76°81 271°32 Total production up to 40’years ... 219-40 175 45 394-85 Increase since the age of 19 years ... 219°40 79°35 298°75 B. Moderately thinned area. Standing stock at 19 years se — 0°0 96°10 96°10 Yield of Windfalls we «ASTD 25°88 30°67 » Lhinuings ewe O91 43°81 53°52 Standing stock at 40 years w+. 174°56 79°01 253°57 Total production up to 40 years ... 189-06 148-70 337°76 Increase since the age of 19 years ... 189;06 52°60 241°66 494 EXPERIMENTS IN THINNINGS. C. Unthinned area. Timber. Smallwood., Total. Standing stock at 19 years sce) OO 96°10 96°10 Windfalls we 5°68 5777 63°40 Deadwood .. = 3'08 5°62 8°65 Standing stock at 40 years «.- 170°60 72°35 242°95 Total production up to 40 years ... 179°26 185-74 315-00 Increase since the age of 19 years... 179°26 39°64 218-90 Experiment III. Experiment made on a tuft plantation, on square pattern, of spruce 22 years old, leaf-canopy complete, growth in height and thickness vigorous. Five thinnings at intervals of 5 years. A. Heavily thinned area. Standing stock.at 22 years » 11943 78:05 197°48 Yield of Windfalls vee 10°72 3°80 14°52 » Thinnings vee 48°18 27°45 75°63 Standing stock at 42 years ... 804°90 91:17 396°07 Total production up to 42 years... 363°80 122-42 486:22 Increase since the age of 22 years ... 244°37 44°37 288°74 B. Moderately thinned area. Standing stock at 22 years vee LO8'76 74:84 183°60 Yield of Windfalls we» 11°22 4:09 15°31 » Thinnings «. =26°06 25°62 51°68 Standing stock at 42 years” vee 290°26 97°66 387°92 Total production up to 42 years ... 327°54 127°37 45491 Tnerease since the age of 2? years... 218°78 52°53 27131 EXPERIMENTS IN THINNINGS. 495 C. Unthinned area. Timber, Smallwood, Total. Standing stock at 22 years e» 11410 76°44 190-54 Windfalls ew = =9°05 4:20 13°25 Deadwood ee 1°28 16°52 23°75 Standing stock at 42 years vee 287:92 90°58 378°50 Total production up to 42 years ... 30420 111:30 415°50 Increase since the age of 22 years ... 190°10 34°86 224:96 Experiment IV. Made on direct sowings of spruce effected in furrows 85 centi- metres broad and 1 metre 70 centimetres apart ; leaf-canopy com- plete, if we except three spots in area A where snowbreaks resulted in small interruptions. First thinning made at the age of 40 years, four subsequent thinnings at intervals of 5 years. A. Heavily thinned area. Standing stock at 40 years we 212°75 = 18949 359-25 Yield of Windfalls ws 42°78 11:95, 54°73 » Thinnings 10776 = 67°29 -« 175-05 Standing stock at 60 years ... 404°69 126-40 531-09 Total production up to 60 years. ... 555723 205°64 760°87 Increase since the age of 40 years ... 342°48 66°15 408°63 B. Moderately thinned area. Standing stock at 40 years eee 209°43 13559 345-02 Yield of Windfalls we 29°88 7:98 37°86 » Thinnings .- =78:03 54°35 132°38 Standing stock at 60 years «++ 367°52 91-42 458°94 Total production up to 60 years ...475°43 = 153°75 629°18 Increase since the age of 40 years... 26€:00 18°16 28416 496 EXPERIMENTS IN THINNINGS. C. Unthinned area. Standing stock at 40 years. ao Not known Windfalls -. 18°09 6:25 24°34 Deadwood w» 26°14 47°53 73°67 Standing stock at 60 years eee 410°81 121'85 = 32°66 Total production up to 60 years ... 455°04 175°63 630°67 Increase since the age of 40 years ... Cannot be calculated APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL TERMS DEFINED. Page. Page. Abnormal forest 6] Clear-fell, To, clear-fell- Accessory species 7 ing ee 7 = bud 10° Clearings, Method of 372 Adventitious bud 10 | Climber 2 Advance growth -- 8|Clump 4 After-felling 830, 346 | Collum bud 10 Arborescent shrub + 1] Complete crop 4 Artificial regeneration 6] , leaf-canopy we OO Auxiliary species T1 3s sowing with tilth ... 248 3 stock ‘ 4 Ball planting - 808 | Composite coppice 4 Blank 8 | Compost 159 Bole «-- 2] Coppice, copse 4 Bright seed-felling . 343], To 4 Broadcast sowing without Coppice, Composite 4 tilth . 246 35 , Simple 8 Broad-leaved dex 32) 6s -shoot 4 Broom, the fire-tracer’s ... 437] ,, , Stored en 128 Broom-men . 438 | Counterfire, counterfiring ... 426 Brushwood. 2 | Coupe . 7 Bud, Accessory 10} ,, , Stored a ,, Adventitious 10 | Cover . 8-9 » Collum 10] Crop 5 A » Dormant or latent 9], , Canopied 5 » Normal «+ 10] 4, , Complete we =A Budding «. 134] 4, , Regular and Ir- 53 Flute . 216 regular 5 3 Inverted T- . 2151 ,, To 5 si Ordinary shield- ... 215 | Crown 2 4 Ring ... 216 | Culm 2 _ Shield- .-» 215] Cut back, To 4 - Square shield- - 215 | Cutting 133 T- vee 215 Bunch planting ... 282] Dark seed-felling 343 Bundle, Double-headed - 803 | Deciduous 3 ss Sin gle-headed . 304] Delicate 8 Density (of a crop) 5 Canopied forest «+ 5} Dibbling sun 247 Canopy, Leaf-, Complete, Direct sowing . 133 interrupted, open 5 | Dominant trees vee 472 Check line . 426 | Dominated ,, . 473 Cleaning . 465 | Dormant bud «. 9 Cleared lines, Method ie . 874 | Drain, Box . 225 498 ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF TERMS DEFINED, Page. Drain, Collecting or Pri- mary wee 225 » », Couple e225 » » Fascine we 225 » » Main or Outflow ... 226 » » Receiving or Second- ary wee 226 » » Rubble or Small Stone esr 225 » » Lile . 226 Dune, The littoral . 230 Dunes, Coast and Iuka < . 229 Epicorm 2 Evergreen 3 Exclusive we OO Exploit, To, Exploitation ... 6 Farmyard manure 160 Felling, After- 330 os Clear 7 f Preparatory 330 = Seed .-- 830 Firebrand wee 437 Fire-break wee 422 », Conservancy or Pre- vention 415 3 fr Map 451 » Line or Trace 423 » Police 447 »~Lracing 426 Formed trees 4 Forest, Abnormal 6 » High 4 » lrregular wa 6 », Normal or Regular .. 6 Furrow sowing » 259 Germ plant . 282 Glade sia 18 Graft wee 184 Grafting by Approach . 216 Sy lay sua’ ed >» » Cleft 214 <5 , Crown vas QLA: > » saddle + 215 » >» Splice . 218 » » Longue . 214 wax wow 212 ”» Grafting, Whip Gregarious Group method, The Guide line Hardwoods Hardy Head down, To Heavy thinning Herbage Hide-bound High forest Improvement fellings Inarching Page. . 214 - 859 Interrupted (leaf-canopy) pees Irregular crop ie UO re forest 6 Latent bud es 9 Layer ee 183 Layering by circumposi- tion «» 210 » _- Serpentine - 210 Leaf-canopy, complete, in- terrupted, open - 5 Lift up, To (a seedling) ... 134 Light thinning 473 Manure, Farmyard «+ 160 Manures, Weak and strong... 155 Method of clearings 372 5 5, treatment 6 Mixed (crop or forest) 5 Moderate thinning 473 Mound planting we 315 Natural regeneration by seed Jardinage . 867 The group method ... 359 » method of cleared lines we OT4 a ” ” clear- ings «+. 872 », strip method... 365 5, uniform method... 329 », well method - 376 Normal forest ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF TERMS DEFINIED. Page. Nurse, To nurse “on 9 Nursery - 134 iy lines . 184 35 , Permanent and temporary we 134 Open leaf-canopy ne) Overtopped trees --» 473 -Overtopping trees ee 473 Partial fellings in natural regeneration by seed... 328 Permanent nursery .- 134 Plantation we 134 Planting we. 133 » » Ball - 308 » in holes . 812 Pr , Mound ee 815 3 » Notch . 814 35 on trees - B17 s , Pit, with manure... 311 + - without manure --» 310 os , Ridge vex O17 - , Trench . 815 ” ; Wood's system of... B11 Plenary thinnings 469, 480 55 » » seebach’s method of | -» 481 Plenary thinnings, Hom- burg’s method of . 481 Poles, Large and small 3 Poll, To 4 Pollard we 4 Pollarding we B99 Posts . 209 Poudrette «» 16 Preparatory felling - 830 Prick out, To . 134 Principal species 7 Pure forest or crop we. oO Put out, To (plants) . 184 Recrop, restock, To 5 Regenerate, To » 6 Regeneration, Artificial, natural sa07) 210 Regrowth . 4,6 Régime 6 Page Regular crop we OOD » forest 6 Reserve seen. Rods, Pruned and! un- pruned -.- 209 Root-cutting « 206 » sucker 3 Rotation 6 Sapling 3, 282 Schooled (plants) - 282 Schooling ee 206 Scion . 134. Serub sia VAD Seedbed o 134 Seed-felling ee B56 " , Bright & dark 342-3 Seedling age TO » shoot 3 Selfsown 282 Shade sie 7S Shade-avoiding 8 » enduring 8 Shelter oe 9 Shrub ee, ob » » Arborescent 1 Simple coppice we «8 Slip o. 133 Small transplants 282 Sociable 5 Softwoods ee Sowing, Broadcast, with. out tilth 246 Sowing, Complete, with tilth 248 Combined patch pit and mound Sowing, Combined ridge see 272 and trench es 263 Sowing, Combined strip and trench - 264 Sowing, Combined strip, ridge and trench . 274 Sowing, Direct «ee 183 » Furrow ses 259 » in holes -.. 270 » Hollow .. 269 » Mound eee QTL Notch oe 247 Sowing, Patch » 265 500 Sowing Pit » Plot » Ridge » Strip Trench Species, Accessory, auxili- ary, principal Sporadic Stock or crop Fe Complete ” To » (in grafting) Stool Stool- shoot Store Stored copse or coppice » coupe Strip sowing Stump Sucker bo Or Page. - 269 269 . 261 | 953 «- 259 _ oe He OU Be Or C9 bo 9 1 CO N&O DO Suppress, To, Under sup- - pression Suppressed trees Surkhi-ash Temporary nursery ae wee 157 . 134 ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF TERMS DEFINED Page. Thinnings, Heavy, light, moderate wo 473 Thinnings, Ordinary - 470 * Plenary 469, se Top off, To oi Transplant (verb and sub- stantive) --» 133 Transplants, Large, mid- dle-sized, small .- 282 Tree oe Trees, Large, iiddleaized: small cores lh, Undergrowth ae 8 Underplant eee 184 Undershrub gece, ale Underwood wey 8 Unschooled «+» 282 Vegetable mould 158 Windfall - «68 Yearling «- 183 Yield we € Fig. 1.—Diagramatic delineation of relative growth of trees. ie 1sA kt Fig. 5.—Germination test-botile. Seay 86. _.486° B Years. 10 20 30 40 50 = 60 70 90 =-:« 100 s Mango-gatherers’ implements. wa 2 Pu a 3 —e 4 i a E BN TTT = NG eee | | i) 3 rl g ili 7 oO wo ie Fig. 22,—Tea-pianter’s hoe. | arrangement of a nursery, eq WILLIE LLL LLL LLL LLL LEE ope . 1 va 1 ' TET pi ah i i ac bhtalra ae eh Peper Tyy BELLA Y crt a — 7 1 een eae One ah By nae t no tdlee B' Diatiinuzadbibbeds Z fein TE UMM TEU EEE. Vy Fig. 27.--Trowel draw-hoe. Fig. 28.—Share draw-hoe, Fig. 37.—-Sun and frost shade. Fig. 34.—Rattle scare. DBD DD 4 Fi Shi Pg gO PQ Mig Ais GP gig i of NA itl Si gQhi Qi f s SS i of Saar i vy ah ‘e FS Wg gp Pf op DP Sr orn ee os eS Se = SSS S —— Fig. 35.—Coop for seed-bed. Fig. 36.—Brush for insects.: Fig. 40.—Pick-fork. i Pon rakes, Fig. 41, Drag. OYSL WO PR Sy Fig. 52.—Flat spade. be wf “hi Prey Fig. 58.—Tongue or Fig. 57.—Splice oe Pe See. whip grafting. grafting. Fig. 56.—Layering by circumposition. m1 ~ 2 Fig. 59.—Crown grafting, Fig. 60.—Cleft grafting. f Fig. 63.—T-Budding. Fig. 68.—Rubble drains. f Fig.—69. Box drains. (A) Flute-budding. (B) Ring-budding. EST posted A Se A Was try LF Fig. 70.—Couple drains. Ai Fig. 71.—Tile drain. deta Zs Fig. 78.—Drain gauge. Fig. 74.—System of drains on a pronounced slope. 1 t ' 3 ' : i I ao t ! \ RK eee VE Fig. 76.— Section of a drain, . r 3 =: S oe o Fig. 7 5,—System of drains on level ground. Fr Fig. 77. Interspacing of drains, £ 3 g 3 a a os oo 4 a & os ~ ap a & Fig. 77. Tuterspacing of drains, 80. Revetment of a bank Fig. iad Fig. 78. Turfing pattern. hill-side. rracing a Fig. 79. Te WAN \ y My 4 Fig. 89. Sowing tube. Fig. 91. Bush harrow Fig. 96.—Boring tool. PLANTING PATTERNS. angnaea O ae Shale \ pape eaee ee! Dat stad! B Fig. 98.—Rectangular. Fig. 99.—Square. Fig. 102. —Check. >< Fig. 100.—Equilateral triangle. XPP