3i;0 Natural History of the Coco-nut Tree 



by any accident it loses its top, which the Hindoos very 

 expressively call its /lead, the roots ctase to acquire nou-^ 

 rislunent, and the trunk is reduced to dust in tlie course of 

 eight or ten days. It \s with reason, therefore, as I have 

 already observed, that the Hindoos find some relation be- 

 tween this tree and aniiflated beintrs; or, in a word, with 

 man. In this respect it is very diiVerent iVoni other large 

 vegetables the wood ot which survives their destruction ; 

 and it is for this reason that the antients, like the Hindoos 

 in regard to this palm, personified trees under the name of 

 Fauns, Satyrs, and Sylvans. ^ 



The coco-nut tree is reproduced only by the fruit. It 

 is planted in nurseries at every season of the year. The 

 soundest fruits, and those which are not cracked, must be 

 chosen. They must not be stripped of their first fibrous 

 covering, which the Indians call baer, and of which they 

 make excellent ropes. They have found that water and this 

 substance are necessary to facilitate the germination of the 

 seed, which lakes'place about the seventeenth or eighteeiith 

 day. 



The nut must be placed lengthwise a little inclined, and 

 turned in such a manner that the eve from which the germ 

 issues ma\' he towards the surface of the earth, so that its 

 rising stem as it shoots up may not incline, and be obliged 

 to bend itself in order to issue from the earth. 



Immediately after the nurserv has been planted, and each 

 coco-nut has been covered with five or six inches of earth, 

 which is not trod down, the plantation, which is made of 

 a square form in order to facilitate irrigation, is watered. 

 This is the best method of supplying it with moisture. A 

 watering-pot would displace the earth, or form it into 

 masses; inconveniences which must absolutely be avoided. 

 The Hindoos continue to water the iiur«ery everv two or 

 three days, according as the air is more or less dry, during 

 six weeks ov two months. Water, according to the Hindoo 

 agriculturists, is the only or at least the principal cause of 

 vegetation : it is indispensably ncces>ary to germination, to 

 the existence of this palm, to its strength and its preserva- 

 tion, espcciallv in its vouth. 



About the eightC'-nth or nineteenth dav the point of the 

 germ is observed issuing from the earth like the small tooth 

 of an elephant, and as uhito and smooth. 



This point of the nascent coco-nut tree, like that of al- 

 most all the palms, retains this form for a fortnight or three 

 weeks. It is then exceedingly tender, saccharine, of an 

 agreeable taste, and exceedingly delicate to cat either raw 



or 



