AVG, 2, 1S864 



THE TROPIC At AORfCULTUSIS*, 



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of the palm. Oadjaii or woven leaf of the 

 tree, used for thatching houses; has the ativantago 

 over tiles of keeping the house cool. The astriugeut 

 root is used medicinally, and as a gargle for sore 

 mouth. Coir ropes of various sizes are extensively 

 used for different purposes. An oil bottle hung be- 

 neath tbe labour cart with castor-oil and brusli in 

 it for lubricating axles. Immature nut, used medicin- 

 ally as an astringent; children are fond of it. 



Trough made of coconut tree used for catching 

 water drawn from a well with a Persian wheel for 

 irrigation purposes, of which a model is shown. A 

 conduit as put under the trough for conveying the 

 water. Piece of the adapter used for connecting the 

 native still to the condenser. Tuntuua, a native musi- 

 cal instrument used by the poorer classes. Piece of 

 beam of the shape used for houses. It is also used 

 for fishing-stakes in the sea ; generally two coco- 

 nut trees make a stake 60 to 70 feet long. A rosary- 

 box made of immature coconuts. 



Charcoal powder, the burnt shell, used for prepar- 

 ing black and lead coloured washes for houses. Broom 

 made of the ribs of the leaf, used by the Bombay 

 and other municipalities for sweeping roads, streets, 

 yards, &c. Brooms made of the stems of the blossoms 

 and nuts are used by the cultivators for collecting 

 dry leaves for burning on the fields. Crab traps are 

 made of the stems of the leaf, and fish traps of the 

 ribs. 



String of Pots — This is made of the fibre of 60 or 

 70 feet in length, and about fity or sixty earthen 

 pots fixed to it and put on the Persian wheel, which 

 in rotating brings up the pots filled with water and 

 takes down the empty one. 



Vio in used by the lower classes of natives, particu* 

 larly the Gosavies, a class of professional beggars. 

 A sling, used for keeping sundry articles of food out 

 of the reach of cats, rats, and ants, by hanging it on 

 a hook to the ceiling. Tied to the ends of a bamboo 

 it serves for carrying water-pots, baskets, &c. A 

 small one is used by milkmen for carrying milk for sale. 



Flesh-glove, used for washing and rubbing cattle 

 and horses. Tar with acetic acid, made by burning 

 the shells in a pot with a small hole in the bottom, 

 placed on another, heated by fire on all sides. It is 

 used by the natives for ringworm and skin diseases. 

 A brush made of the husk of the nut for cleaning 

 sieves, washing baskets, and rice-strainers. Sugar 

 and molasses made of the toddy or juice in Goa. 



A band peeled from the outer part of the stem of 

 the leaf, which is used as a cord by the toddy drawers. 

 A gilded coconut, offered bj' the higher classes of 

 Hindoos to appease the sea on the coconut fair 

 day. At weddings the bridegroom and bride carry 

 it in their hands. Coconut husk, used as fuel, 

 especially for baking purposes and for making fibre ; 

 scoops made of the shell — the round and deep ones 

 are used as drinking cups. Neck-belts, used for 

 yoking bullocks and buffaloes to carts, ploughs, oil- 

 mills, &c. Sack, used for sending out articles in;, a 

 somewhat similar one is attached to the cart for 

 carrying straw or grass. The pedicles of the blossom 

 are used for tooth brushes, and the peduncles are 

 used as brushes for whitewashing houses, kc. A blind, 

 used for blinding bullocks and buffalo while yoked to 

 the Persian wheel, oil-mills, &c. Nest, made by birds 

 out of the fibre of the leaf. Soap, made with coco- 

 nut oil, which holds a larger percentage of water 

 than any other soap. Rings, whips, neckties, rattles, 

 crosses, puzzles, and toys are made of it, also cricket- 

 pads of the wood. Poonac or oil-cake from the native 

 mill, used for manure and feeding poultry. A paten- 

 8ur or ship and fishing boat, made by boys of the 

 fisherman class. 



Copra or kobral, the dried albuminous kernel of 

 the nut — the stem u.sed as a broom. Model of a 

 charpai or cot used by the natives. Crude potash 

 from the stem of the leaves ; they produce 20 per 

 cent, of ash. Abortive coconuts used as floats for 

 beginners in swimming. The spadis, prepared for 

 drawing juice or toddy. A thin slice iti cut from the 

 palm stem three times a day. The juice flows from 

 tiiie aad dri^s doww juto an eartheo pot susp&uded 



on purpose. A small piece of the leaf is fixed above 

 to prevent the bottom of the pot from touching the 

 point, the sheath of the leaf covering the mouth of 

 the pot to keep out flies. 



Cultivation. — This useful palm refjuires consider- 

 able care and cost to bring it to the state of bear- 

 ing fruit. The ripe good-sized nuts from an old tree 

 are kept in a well of water for three months, until 

 they germinate; they are then put into the groum' 

 in beds of fifty or a hundred, and watered every 

 day. In three months more they begin to grow up, 

 and after three years or more they may be transplanted 

 in regular spaces of from 1-5 to 20 feet, watered regularly 

 every other day, and manured occasionally. In about 

 twelve or fifteen years they come to bearing, but 

 the yield is in proportion to the care taken to water 

 and manure; at this stage the value of the tree is 

 from £2 10s. to £3 each. 



Ceylon. 



From Ceylon it is officially stated that the cultiv- 

 ation of the coconut palm, with its multifarious 

 uses, is the most important in the life of the low- 

 country Sinhalese. The spirit he drinks is distilled 

 from the snp, the kernel of the nut is a necessary 

 element in his daily curry, the "milk" of the imt 

 is the beverage oft'ered to every visitor ; his oijy lamp 

 is fed from the oil ; the nets for fishing are manufactureil 

 from the fibre, as is also the rope which keeps his 

 goat or cow from straying ; while the rafters of his 

 house, the thatch of the roof, and the window-blinds, 

 are made from its leaf and wood. The extent and 

 value of the cultivation of this palm may be gathered 

 from the fact, that while, as already stated, its many 

 products are a universal necessity in the daily lite of 

 the island population of 3,000,000, the export of oil, 

 copra, and fibre, exceeds in amount £700,000 annu- 

 ally, and the revenue derived from the excise duty 

 levied on the spirit (arrack) distilled from the sap 

 exceeds £170,000. 



The shipments of coconut oil from Oeylou iu 

 18S4 were 383,955 cwt., valued at £447,948; and of 

 arrack, 140,742 gallons, value £24,290; exclusive of 

 the coir-fibre, £77,454, and nuts, £6,900. Under the 

 name of poonac, 150,000 to 200,000 cwt. of coco- 

 nut oil-cake is also imported annually for manure 

 from the Malabar coast, to the value of £(30,000 to 

 £70,000. 



Besides India, coconut products are shown iu the 

 Ceylon, Fiji, the West Indian Courts, and Honduras. 

 The value of the exports from Fiji in 1884 were: — 



Coconuts £2,219 



Copra 59,241 



Coir-fibre 1,301 



£62,7(31 

 Trinidad has 3,000 acres planted with coconut 

 palms, i^bout 5,500,000 coconuts were shipped from 

 Jamaica in 1884, which realised nearly £21,000. — 

 P. L. SiMMONDS. — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



The Baek of the Sapu Tkee as a febbiitgb 

 is thus noticed in an account of the Mauritius Court 

 iuthe Pharmaceutical Journal: — "The bark of J/khelia 

 i hai)ij>aca is stated by Bouton to act very effectually 

 as an antiperiodic, and to clean the tongue iu fever 

 and subdue nervous symptoms." 



Petroleum Fuel. — At the conclusion of a paper 

 on petroleum by A. H. Samuels, F. C. S., he stated: — 

 I must not omit to mention the use of the special 

 product of petrol distillation for fuel. The Rus.siau.9 

 call it astatki, and Messrs. Nobel's fleet of petroleum 

 vessels on the Caspian Sea are all worked entirely with 

 this astatki. It is burnt by being passed along a 

 narrow tube, and as it drips from the tube a current 

 of steam is blown through it and scatters it in a 

 fine spray, which keeps in a continual blaze. Various 

 patents have been taken out for burning petroleum 

 for fuel, and is likely to supersede coal at sea owing 

 to its great cheapness and economy ae regards bulk. — 

 Fh<frii'MC(iUtical Journal. 



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