78 COCONUT planter's manual. 



and there is no unnecessary loss of space. I have not found that trees 

 planted 30 by 30 feet apart bear any more nuts than those planted 26 

 by 26 feet; and the loss of 16 trees an acre is a serious matter; and 

 this becomes very apparent when, in manuring, there are only 48 trees 

 per acre from which to expect crops from. Never plant nearer thai 

 24 by 24 feet, but too many of the ignorant villagers plant so close 

 that it is impossible for the trees to bear till they are about 30 years 

 old, when they are able, through the pliability of the stems, to sway out 

 in various directions in search of light. This is one of the things the 

 Ceylon Agricultural Association should give its attention to. In the 

 interest of the people a law should be passed forbidding any one io 

 plant coconut trees nearer than 24 by 24 feet apart; and I would even 

 go further and prohibit their being planted under jaks, mangoes, bread- 

 fruit, &c. The triangular method of planting, by which 90 trees can be got 

 into an acre instead of 70, will, T have no doubt / recommend itself to 

 the goiya, who has an insatiable desire to cram into an acre as many 

 plants as he thinks he can get to grow, regardless as to whether they 

 will bear. To me, one of the greatest recommendations of planting in 

 squares is tin extra space between every four trees which admits of 

 more light and sun getting to the ground; a coconut tree can hardly 

 have too much sun and light. 



Holing. — Three feet cube should be the standard, a yard every way. 



Planting. — Where plants have been raised by laying the nuts on 

 their sides, fill the hole with 18 inches of good soil and put the nut on 

 the surface, pressing it into the soil for about one inch, steadying the 

 plant with a stick driven into the side of the hole and tying the stem 

 to it. This will keep the eye or sprout free from contact with the soil, 

 where it would be liable to the attacks of the white ant ; when the 

 plant is well rooted fill in to cover the nut. Where plants have been 

 raised in a nursery, with the eye end up, fill the hole two-thirds, and 

 when planting bury the nut to within one inch of the surface of the 

 soil in the. hole. In both cases there will remain about a foot of the 

 hole to be gradually filled in by weeding and wash. It is not uncom- 

 mon to see pi; Jits put at the bottom of a three-foot hole, and where 

 the soil is at all hard, the plants, when six or seven years old, have a 

 poorly developed stem and the hole be still two feet deep. This only 

 shows what a hardy plant the coconut is, and what unkind treatment it 

 will survive. There are some soils so retentive of moisure, where the 

 water percolates so slowly, that the least depression retains it for 

 weeks, even with a deep drain within a few feet of it. In such a case 

 the only way plants can be raised is by filling the holes right to the sur- 

 face, and when putting in the plants, burying the nut and four inches 

 of the stem ana filling in the soil again to the surface, so that no water 



