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CHAPTER XII.
GROWING TREES FROM SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS.
The practice of growing trees in school grounds is one that should be followed at every school where the requisite facilities are present. The following instructional notes will be of service to teachers and pupils.
The chief advantages of raising trees from seed over obtaining them as small plants from a distant nursery may be summarised as follows:—
- (a) The cost is less.
- (b) Varieties especially suited to the district may more easily be obtained.
- (c) The trees, when ready for planting out, are acclimatised.
- (d) The time which must elapse between removing a tree from the pot or bed where it has been growing and planting it in its permanent place is very much reduced, and the tree, consequently, suffers less check.
- (e) It is possible to sow some seeds in the places where the trees are to remain, and so to avoid the necessity for transplanting.
- (f) The most suitable weather for planting may be chosen.
- (g) Greater interest is taken by the children in trees which they have raised from seed.
- (h) The educational value of the work is far greater, and the practice of tree-raising and tree-planting is more likely to spread from the school to the children's homes.
These advantages are so great that any teacher desiring to improve his school surroundings by tree-planting will be amply repaid if he adopts this method.
Care of the Young Trees.
With a little experience and reasonable care, trees can be raised successfully at schools. The seeds should be sown thinly and not too deeply, in a box, or bed, of light sandy loam. When the plants are a few inches high, they can be pricked out, and replanted in pots or tins which are well drained. There is a great advantage in thus having them ready for planting out in their permanent positions.
Transplanting.
Acacias and Eucalypts.—-As soon as seedling acacias and eucalypts begin to get their second pair of leaves, they should be removed from the seed bed, care being taken not to break the roots, and transplanted singly into the tins or pots which have been prepared for them. The tins or pots should be placed side by side on a piece of very hard ground or asphalt over which a thin layer of gravel or coarse sand has been spread, and shall be filled with a mixture of light soil and leaf mould, if the latter is obtainable. A hole should be made with the finger or a pointed stick in the centre of each tin, and the seedling should be held by one of its leaves with the roots hanging down this hole. Light, slightly damp soil should then be sifted around and between the roots until the hole is full, and the soil should be pressed very firmly down. A space of half an inch or more should be left above the soil for watering. The newly potted plants should be watered as soon as possible and kept shaded from the sun for a few days. Subsequent waterings should be given only when the surface of the soil in the tins begins to get dry, but every watering should be a thorough one, the tins being filled to the top two or three times, if necessary. Protection from frosts will be needed during the first winter, but the plants should get as much sunshine as possible, once they have recovered from the transplanting.
As soon as the plants have reached a height of three or four inches, they may be planted out in their permanent places if the season is suitable. This may be done by removing the tin, taking care not to break the ball of earth containing the
