Published by: World Tibet Network News, 96/04/01 23;00 GMT

LANZHOU (April 2) XINHUA - China's largest sapling center has gone into operation in the Longnan area in northwest China's Gansu Province. The project was funded with over 4.7 million Canadian dollars from the Canadian government, according to Mi Shufen, an official in charge of the local sapling-planting industry.

In the labs of the center 24,000 saplings can be planted in an hour using vacuum planting machines. And the irrigation, temperature, sunlight and fertilizer are all computer-controlled.

The construction of the center, which covers an area of 40,000 sq m and has a designed annual production capacity of three million saplings, started in November 1991, Mi said. Canada has helped China construct similar projects in Beijing and Heilongjiang Province.

It is expected to help solve the afforestation problems in Gansu, which has sparse rainfall and a late spring.

Experiments show that 99.9 percent of the plant's seedlings can survive, technicians from Lixian County, who bought a batch of 200,000 seedlings, he said.