45 
other natural agent than the water ; and it is adapted thereto by possessing 
superficial roots which are uninjured by temporary exposure to concen- 
trated solutions, by having a tough, very elastic trunk, and by producing 
leaves which are not merely tolerant of the most intense insolation and 
wind but which are unable to work to the best purpose without more light 
and wind than many plants can endure. As is true for every cultivated 
plant, it is possible to create for the coconut conditions altogether more 
favorable for its utmost thrift than are ever known to occur in nature. 
It naturally grows in a “poor” soil—that is, in one in which its mineral 
and nitrogenous raw food is present in very dilute solution. We can 
improve its environment in this respect, and can profitably carry this 
improvement much further than is the general practice at present. But 
the coconut must not be expected to thrive, even in the richest soil and 
with the best cultivation, if its supply of light is restricted by other trees 
or in any other way, or where the air is too still or an adequate supply of 
water is not always available near the surface of the ground. 
There is another method of increasing the yield of coconuts, slower but 
more permanent than improved cultivation; this is by the selection of 
seed. I have done nothing with this subject, and only mention it because 
the results of selection can not appear for many years, and a mistaken 
method would be long in showing its uselessness. Nuts obviously should 
be selected for seed from trees conspicuous for the amount or quality of 
their yield. It is usually not a difficult matter to decide whether or not 
the tree’s superior yield is due to its growing under exceptionally favora- 
ble conditions. If it is, it shows how other trees may be made to bear 
equally well, but there is no reason for selecting the nuts of such a tree 
for seed; its offspring can not be expected to bear more nuts under 
ordinary conditions than the parent would have done without its excep- 
tional advantages. The environment is not hereditary. The tree the 
nuts of which should be used as seed is the one the production of which is 
great in proportion to its opportunity. A tree bearing regularly 12 nuts 
to the cutting under conditions which allow its neighbors but 8 should 
have its nuts saved for seed in preference to those of an individual having 
30 nuts among equally productive neighbors. 
