JVNZ l, 1885.] 



TTIE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



The question of protecting coconut trees from the 

 attacks of rata ia therefore a matter of considerable 

 importance, and with the view of contributing some- 

 thing towards this end, I have lately been in com- 

 munication with coconut planters in different parts 

 of the island, and from the replies received I select 

 one or two, which, as the result of practical exparience, 

 will no doubt commend themselves to careful consider- 

 ation. The first of these replies is from Mr. Joseph 

 Shearer, Vale Royal, Duncans P.O., and is as followa:— 



" I got out in 1S82 1,000 sheets galvanized iron 

 30 inches by 12 inches, they stood me with cost and 

 charges £33 14s. ; aud 1,000 tin sheets of the same 

 size, the cost of which was £28 7s. lOd. Although 

 dearer at first, the zinc sheets are preferable, as near 

 the sea the tin sheets soon become rusted. The rata 

 were so bad in the coconut walks where I used these 

 sheets that I reckoned they paid their cost fully 

 the first year. In putting them on I nailed them flat 

 to the trees with two or three sheating nails in each. 

 If the coconut trees are very close together a rat 

 can »o from one to the other across the limbs, aud 

 care should be observed that there are no ladders 

 near by, such as a dry limb hanging on the ground, or 

 a mangrove twig, Ac, because if there be any such 

 tho rat will get up the tree independently of using 

 the trunk, aud the line or tin sheets would be of 

 no use. It is useful if you cannot isolate all the 

 trees at least to isolate clumps, Care must be taken, 

 too, to dislodge tho rats from the top before putting 

 or. tho tin sheets. The beaching I have found for 

 this is sandwiches of bread and phosphoric paste, 

 deposited among the roots aud fronds." 



Mr. John Clark, Haughton Court, Lucea, writes : — 



" The zinc sheets to protect coconut trees from 

 rats have been tried here with t.ood results ; the rats 

 that live in the trees must first of all be driven out 

 of the trees or poisoned; the sheets must then be 

 nailed round the tree, simply flit against the stem, 

 low enough in the case of short trees, so that the rats 

 cannot spring from the trunk below the sheet on to 

 a limb that may be hanging down near the trunk, 

 which they have been known to do. Rats have been 

 seen attempting to pass over the sheets and failing. 



"The sheets are zinc 42 inches by 12 inches, and 

 apparently 1-32 iuch thick, and cost about 8d. each 

 in London. Tin sheets last no time and are not to 

 be thought of. Tho nails for putting them on are 

 ordered as 5dy. galvaniz d shingliDg nails." 



It is very probable that Mr. Shrarer'sand Mr. Clark's 

 1] which reouirejonly galvanized iroifl(not tin) sheets 

 3<> inches I I incl es and fastened perpendicularly 



on the tree by means of a couple of sheathing nails will 

 commend its If fur general adoption. These sheet cost, 

 it .vill be noticed, delivered on the estate, at the rate of 

 ■£35 14». per thousand. This is a large sum to expend 

 at once on coconut trees, but the bands are required 

 only for bearing trees, aud I quite agree with Mr. 

 Shearer that where the depredations by rats are really 

 bad the sheets will pay for themselves during the first 

 year. With regird to the preceding remarks it is to be 

 noticed that the rat which commits such damage ic 

 coconut trees is the blnek sppcies, much smaller than 

 tho ordinary brown rat of the cane-tit Ids. It is a 

 splendid climber, and as it builds its nest in trees, 

 it is biyond the reach of tho mungorse, which is a 

 very indifferent climber. As I have before remarked,* 

 " it is ouly in the open, wheie cultivation is cnrefully 

 kept up, and tho ra's have no special shelter or trees 

 to climb, that tho innngoore is a successful rat-killer." 



Iu .St. Thomaa-in-tlio-Kast Mr. Jam s Harrison in- 

 forms me that be auffors principally in Ins coconut 



walks not from rats of any species, but from fru- 

 giverous bats (called by the negroes "rat hats," 

 probably, as suggested by Goose, to distinguish them 

 from butterflies to which they give the name of bats). 

 Mr. Harrison finds tho host plan to keep down the 

 ravages of the bats "is to shoot them in tho day-time 

 whilst hanging in clusters on the. trees." 



COCONUT PALM {Cocot rwcifera), Linn/kits. 

 {From "Origin of Cultivated Plants," by Alphbnse de 

 Candolle, 1885. ) 

 The coconut palm is perhaps, of all tropical trees, 

 the one which yields tho greatest variety of products 

 Its wood and fibres are utilized in various ways The 

 sap extracted from the inner part of the inflorescence 

 yields a much prized alcoholic driuk. The shell of 

 the nut forms a vessel, tho milk of the half-ripe fruit 

 is a pleasant drink, and the nut itself contains a great 

 deal of oil. It is not surprising that so valuable a 

 tree has been a good deal planted and transported. 

 Resides, its dispersion is aided by natural causes. The 

 woody shell and fibruus envelope of the nut enable 

 it to float in salt water without injury to the germ 

 Hence the possibility of its transportation to great 

 distances by currents aud its naturalization on coasts 

 where the temperature is favourable. Unfortunately 

 this tree requires a warm, damp climate, such aa exists 

 ouly in the tropics, or in exceptional locaiitie s just with- 

 out them. Nor does it thrive at a distance from the sea 

 The coconut abouuds on the littoral of the warm 

 regions of Asia, of the islands to the south of this 

 continent, and iu analogous regions of Africa and 

 America; but it may be asserted that it dates in 

 Brazil, the West Iudies, and the west coast of Africa 

 from au introduction which took place about three 

 , centuries ag->. Pieo and Marcgraf («) seem to admit 

 that the species is foreign to Brazil without saying 

 so positively. De Martins, (/1) who has published a 

 very important work on the Palmace,-e, and has 

 I travelled through the provinces of Bahia, Pernambuco 

 1 and others, where the coconut abouuds, does not sny 

 that it is wild. It waa introduced into Guiaua by 

 missionaries, (c) Sloaue (.<) says it is au exolic in tho 

 j West Indies. An old author of the sixteenth century, 

 ; Martyr, whom he quotes, speaks of its introduction.' 

 This probably took place a few years after the (lis- 

 covery of America, for Joseph Acosta (e) saw the 

 coconut palm at Porto Rico iu the sixteenth century. 

 De Martius says that the Portuguese introduced it on 

 the coast of Guinea. Many travellers do not even 

 mention it in this region, where it is apparently of 

 no great importance. More common in Madagascar 

 and on the east coast, it is not, however, named in 

 several works on the plants of Zanzibar, the Seychelles, 

 Mauritius, etc , perbapa because it is considered as 

 cultivated in these puts. 



Evidently the species is not of African origin, nor 

 of the easti rn part of tropical America. Eliminating 

 three countries, there remain western tropical Ameriea 

 the islauds of the- Pacific, the Indian Archipelago! 

 and the south of Asia, where the tree abouuds with 

 every appearance of beiug more or less wild aud long 

 established. 



The Navigators Dampier and Vancouver [t~) found 

 it at the beginning of the seventeenth century, foim- 

 ing woods in the islands near Panama, not on tho 



'■ "The Muugoo: ugai Est ite in ! i" West 



Indies," by 1>. Morris, m.a„ fw, Jamaica, I08-. 



a l'iso, Brasil., p. 65; Marcgraf, p. 138. 

 b Martius, Hist. Nat. Palmai-um, 3 vols, in folio ; Bei 

 vol. ii. p. 125. 

 ( Aulilot, Guyane, suppl.. p. 102, 

 i! Sloaiie, Jamaica, ii. p !' 

 J. Acosta, Hitt. Nut.dta Twles, Fn uch trans., 1598, p 178. 

 • ■" ■ • ' . ■" ■■ ,edit. 1706 . p. 186; \ am 



b edit., p. 325, quoted by de Martiui , Uisi 

 1'almarum, i. p. 188. 



