27

0.-3

alterations, giving more room or convenience, have been made to buildings; but the greater part of the year has been devoted to weeding seed-beds and attending to nursery-lines, and any permanent improvements are left to the future, when it is hoped that normal conditions of labour, &0,, will be restored. The average number of men employed was 604 for the year, but for the four busy months tin: average was 1024. This left us with an average of about 42 men For the remain ing eight months, and they proved quite inadequate to cope with the extra amount of weeding entailed by a wot season. To look after things as they should be in a climate such as we have, 1 am convinced by the past season's experience that continuous surface cultivation on the American principle of dry farming is the only method to ensure good results amongst lined-out trees at this station, owing to the peculiar nature of the soil. It seems immaterial how good the condition of the soil when planting, it appears to run together again under the slightest amount of rainfall, and the surface then becomes like a road. Continual cultivation seems to be the only method by which it could be kept free, and for this we would require a staff of at least six men all through the growing-period. An alternative would be to leave all trees in seed-beds for three years and transfer direct to plantations, where they appear to strike and do equally as well as lined-out stuff. The seed would require to be sown rather more thinly than usual, and the trees subsequently frequently wrenched. There are one or two species, such as Pinus radiata, to which this would not apply, unless sown in lines later in the season and transferred the following season. Under the present difficulty in securing adequate labour during the busy season it might pay to adopt this system. The losses through lining out this season, although it has been a moist one, have been considerable, and, while it might be necessary to eliminate perhaps 10 per cent, for undeveloped trees by the suggested system, the saving in labour, &c, would more than counteract the loss.

Rainfall, Temperature, &c.

Details of One-year-old Trees, sown 1917-18.

Number of Days Rain fell. Temperature. Month. Rainfall. Number of Days Frosts occurred. Maximum. Minimum. .1.917. April May June July August September .. October November .. December .. In. 1-62 301 1-05 0-52 1-20 2-24 3-37 1 31 3-27 9 13 6 10 7 10 16 5 16 Deg. F. 75 62 62 55 59 72 70 79 79 Deg. F. 28 20 15 24 21 25 28 31 30 4 9 24 20 24 10 3 3 2 1918. 1-61 1-57 2-27 8 7 8 88 85 83 32 34 33 1 January February March f. Totals 2304 115 100

Name of Tree. Number in Seed-beds. Seed sown. Remarks. • Pinus Laricio ,, ponderosa ,, [radiata 124,000 352,000 144,500 lb. o/. 28 0 70 0 25 0 Very uneven. Good germination. Germinated very evenly and made good growth. Good crop. Only fair. Fair germination and sturdy trees. „ „ muricata Cupressus macrocarpa 213,000 5,000 10,900 5 0 2 0 2 0 ,, Lawsoniana Eucalyptus viminalis .. Populus fastigiata (cuttings) ¥„ deltoides 1,600 5,000 7,000 3,000 0 4 0 6 Sparse. Good healthy trees. Strong plants. >> Total .. 866,000