100 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Ai-KiL 3, 1909. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



COCOA-NUT CULTIVATION. 



(.'vicna-iint cult nation ;is a, cininiicicial iiidnsr.rv 

 can liaidly lie said to exist, in the West Imliaii 

 island.-, ap.nrr iVom Tiinidaii and J.ini.-de.i — a matter 

 which is .><oi]ie\vhat sui|insing. in view oi' the good 

 returns that are Ireijiicntly Hbtained IVom (vcoa-nnt 

 groves with the p\'iienditni-c of very Hitlo oiitlay. 

 1"he cultivation of this croj) in Porto Rico ua.« lately 

 discussed by Ih-. ]). W.May. Director of the E.viien- 

 ment Station of the island, in .an aiticle appearniL,' 

 in the Forti> Ricn HdrficiiUand Xi'ns. Although 

 cocoa-nut planting i.s not carried out on a systematic 

 or extensive scale in Porto Rico at present, many good 

 groves are in existence, and Dr. M;iy appears to regard 

 the industry as one of the most promising in the island. 

 The following details have been abstracted from his 

 article : — • 



In iilatiting cocoa-nuts it is important to select only Hue, 

 ripe .seed nuts, the iiroJucc of healthy, well developed trees, 

 of good bearini; capacity. The ripe nuts are first .set out at 

 distance.s of 1 foot from each other in holes 2 feet deep, and 

 with about 2 inches of the surface of the nut exposed, it is 

 im[)ortant that this seed bed .should be kept moist but not 

 wet. After a period of from four to six months, the young 

 .seedlings will have rcarlied a size at which they can be trans 

 j)lanted to the urouad in whicli the trees are to grow. The 

 seedlings should I'O set nut at distances of 30 feet ca<-h way. 

 It is a good plan to keep the soil around the young trees 

 mulche<l with leaves and trash, ;ts this has a liel|it'ul itb-it on 

 the growth of the palms. 



'I'lie cocoa nut palm responds well to cultivation and 

 applications ot manure. The practice of green mamiring is 

 freipiently recommended for cocoa-init groves, and it is 

 found that liy growing crojis of beans b(;tween the trees, and 

 digging the vegetation into the ground, growtji of the palms 

 is consideralily hastened. 



Cocoa-nut palms bear transplanting well, and it is 

 recommended that if the young trees do noi appear to be 

 riourishing, they may be taken up, .-onie nnnunc and tiash 

 worked into the hole, and the trees replanted. 



The period at which the cocoa-nut palm begins to liear 

 fruit varies from five to ten years, dcpeniling largely upon 

 the location ind the care given to it. 



Tlie fact that cocoa-nut palms are .so connnonly seen 

 growing along coast-lines and sea~l)eaches indicates tiiat 

 the trees will do well in sandy soils. Probably, however, they 

 Hourisli best of all on deep alluvial lands, sudi as those 



found near the moiiths i.if rivers. A clay soil is very 

 unsuitable for this crop. Since the saline surroundings of the 

 sea-coast is so congejual to the palms, it is customary in 

 many countries wdien'^the trees are planted inland, to place 

 >everal pounds of salt in the holes in which tlie seedlini's are 

 set, with llie object of making up for the want of saline 

 constituents. 



A g(jod cocoa-nut tree shoulfl yield an average of 100 

 nuts per year, and under favourable conditions, "200 have 

 been obtained. Taking the wdiole island of Port Rico, 

 however, a return of sixty-five nut; per tree is probably about 

 the average figure obtaineil, and no doubt conditions are 

 very .similar in the British West Indian islands. This 

 low return i-ndicates the general w,uit of care antl attention 

 fioin whirh the industry is suffering. 



The cocoa-nut iiahn will continue in bearing for so 

 long as seventy or eighty years. During the early years 

 of its growth, catch crops of various kinds, as provi.sioi» 

 cro]3s, et(!. may be planted between the tree or, better still, 



le"Umi'^' 'I1.J liltintv Mc /in,i-ii...io /-.». \'.lI^■.^^ K...,..™ 



ninous jilants, as cowpeas or velvet beans. 



THE 



be 

 ■at 



PINE-APPLE CULTURE IN 

 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



Pine-a|iple cultivation has been found to 

 highly pidtiiable in the .Hawaiian Islands, and „„ 

 present some :iOOO to 4,000 apre.s are under the crop. 

 The area is expected to increase, and Mr. Jared G. 

 Smith, the ()fficer-in-charge of the Hawaiian Exneri- 

 ment Station, anticipates that there will be at leasfc 

 10,000 acres phuited with pine-ajiplcs in the next five 

 years. Some of the fruit is eonstuned locally, a good 

 proportion canned and exported, while the remainder is 

 shipped in the fresh state to San Francisco, and other 

 nntrkets on the Paciific coast of America. In a paper 

 entitled ' Agriculture in the Hawaiian Islands," recently 

 published by Mr. Smith, the accompanying details are 

 given as to the methocis of pine-apple cidtivation 

 iollowcd in Hawaii;. — 



Clean cultivationis i)ractised by growers of pine-apples 

 in these islands. The land, if virgin soil, is ploughed, cross- 

 j.louglied, and harrowed, and is planted with suckers or top.s. 

 The plants are .set out at the rate of from 4,000 to ]0,00O 

 I'cr acre. Thrt'c methods of planting aic in vogue. Where 

 the object is to grow fresh fruit for shi[inient, the [ilants are 

 set out in rows (i feet apart, and at distances of from 20 t<» 

 21 inches in the row, or at the rate of about 3,600 plants i«;r 



