Hunt Institute Archives Text Discovery Platform

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rich virgin soils, not too sandy in character, but at the same time
not heavy. And experience in Java has shown that they are only fully
successful within a certain altitudinal range - approximately 3500 to
5500 feet in that Island.

Seeds are planted in carefully prepared beds surfaced with
forest loam, and protected from the sun and rain by means of sheet-iron
roofing. To indicate the delicate character of the seeds, it is only
necessary to state that it takes some 2500 of them to weigh one gram.

While the seeds are germinating, which takes from three to
four weeks, they must be kept uniformly moist but not wet. If allowed
to dry out after they have once swollen, they die. Then there is the
problem of protection from the damping-off fungus while the seedlings
are small. This requires a very careful adjustment of the light relation.
As the plants grow larger, they must be given more light lest they become
too "leggy;" but if exposed to direct rays of the sun for even a few
hours, they may be killed.

From the seed beds they are transplanted, when three or four
inches high, to nursery beds - again with partial protection from the
sun's rays - and after six months or so, again transplanted at wider
spacings. It may require as much as two years to bring the young trees
to the size suitable for transplanting to permanent places in the field.

Because Ledgers are so delicate, it is the practice in Java
to graft them upon roots of the more rugged succirubra species - unless
the land on which they are to be grown is unusually rich and of just the
right soil texture. Grafting also furnishes an opportunity for standard-
izing the production, for grafted trees are naturally uniform in quinine
content (comparatively speaking), while seedlings are not.