244 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



August 6, 1910. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



SELECTION OF COUOA-NUTS FOR 



PLANTING. 



A series of articles on the cocoa-nut palm in French 

 West Africa is appearing in L' Agriculture Pratique 

 des Pays Chamls. The following information, dealing 

 with the selection of nuts for planting, is translated 

 from part of the instalment which appears in the May 

 number of this journal:- - 



The excellent results that are derived, in the different 

 branches of agricultural production, from the selection of seed, 

 are well known, ilore especially, this gives a means, to a very 

 large extent, of increasing the yield, improving the quality of 

 the product, making the plant more resistant to untoward 

 climatic conditions, and to the attacks of diseases and insects. 

 Applied in the case of the cocoa-nut, this method has all .the 

 grgater interest, because the plant occupies the soil for several 

 year.s, and if there is not great care to take every precaution 

 for the purpose ol obtaining healthy, vigorous and productive 

 trees, the ill effects of negligence at the commencement will 

 be repeated every year, and will make themselves felt in 

 a serious manner. 



In regard to this matter, the planter may find himself 

 in several different sets, of circumstances, depending on 

 whether he is working in a region where cocoa-nuts for sowing 

 cannot be obtained on the spot, or whether he has at his dis- 

 posal plants which can provide him with .all that he requires 

 for .sowing purposes. 



In the first case, he cannot make a selection, in the 

 widest sense of the word. He has to be content to effect 

 a choice among the nuts which he has obtained from regions 

 which are often distant from him, and he is unable to ascer- 

 tain for certain, the origip of his planting material. 



According to Prudhomme, the greatest precautions must 

 be taken in this case. The selection should be commenced 

 by taking all the nuts of which the form and size approach 

 most nearly to those of the variety which is being planted. If it 

 is a matter, on the other hand, of a mi.xture of many kinds, 

 the qualities of which are only slightly known, it is necessary 

 first to break several of the nuts, so as to get an idea of the 

 worth of each kind in connexion with the yield of fresh copra, 

 in order to be in a position to eliminate those which are of 

 the least value. In those cases, though these are rare, where 

 it is not possible to conduct an examination of this kind, the 



planter must be contented with reserving for sowing purposes 

 all the nuts which are of medium size and of regular shape. la 

 this way, the nuts will have to be examined one by one for 

 the purpose of ascertaining, by means of the odour, the 

 appearance, the .sbund and the feeling, the degree of maturity 

 and freshness, and choosing in preference the heaviest fruits, 

 with a smooth skin and without blemish. 



The way in which it may be found out if a nut is ripe 

 will be indicated later. Traces of mould around the place of 

 attachment of the stalk show most often that the fruits 

 have been gathered before bei-oming matured: such fruits 

 should not be used. 



When the planter is working in a region where the cocoa- 

 nut palm grows naturally, the first stage in its selection will 

 have relation to the trees. According to Prudhomme, again, 

 the nuts which are to be used for sowing .should have been 

 produced by very healthy and vitforous trees, at the middle of 

 the life-period, that is to say, by those which are about twenty 

 to twenty-five years old: such trees should be of rapid growth, 

 producing abundant crops of good (juality. In addition to 

 this, it is advisable to choose for the purpose, as far as 

 possible, seeds from plants which are 'growing on a soil 

 resembling as nearly as possible that of the plantation which 

 is being made, and to avoid too great differences between the 

 climate of the locality where the plants have to grow, and 

 that of the place where the seeds were produced. 



It should be added that, in consideration of the diffi- 

 culties connected with the harvesting of the nuts, the seed 

 nuts should be collected from plants possessing a short stem. 



The second stage will have relation to the nuts produced 

 by the chosen trees. It has been indicated above what consider- 

 tions should betaken as a guide in selecting these. In addition 

 to what has been said, Prudhomme recommends, in most cases, 

 a choice, in preference, of nuts possessing a mesocarp which 

 is only slightly thick, especially in countries where the pro- 

 duction of coir is not likely to be of any great extent. This 

 recommendation appears to posse.?s a definite importance, 

 especially where it is intended to make a plantation on 

 a poor soil, because the fibrous coverings of the nut take up 

 a large part of the nutritive material absorbed by the plants. 

 On lands which are better endowed, this precaution becomes 

 less indispensable, for in every well kept plantation, these 

 coverings should form a valuable means of making a return 



