COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. 8:! 



Seed Nuts. — Tho next subject to engago attention should be tbe 

 selection of seed nuts. It is of paramount importance that the greatest 

 care be taken that only the best nuts be got for sead. Time, trouble 

 and expense should not be grudged, for a great deal of the future of the 

 plantation depends on the trees from which the seed nuts have been 

 chosen. I should choose nuts from trees ranging from 20 to 50 years 

 of age. That is those in their very prime. The tree should present a 

 vigorous growth and have large crowns carrying the bunches of fruit 

 on well-set short stems. It is well to avoid those trees that show a 

 tendency to drop their nuts, however large or numerous ; and those 

 with scanty or drooping fronds. There is a prejudice in favour of a 

 large-sized nut, but I prefer those of a medium size, since one has to 

 take a commercial view of the product. Where the nuts are excep- 

 tionally large, it follows that there would be fewer on a bunch than 

 where the nuts are of medium size. The difference in numbers when 

 acres are considered will be very considerable, as nuts are sold by the 

 thousand, only very small ones being rejected. In weight, too, If you 

 turn your nuts into copra there is a great advantage. Considering their 

 numbers, with medium over large nuts, I would choose therefore medium- 

 sized nuts, globular in shape and with a thin husk and a thick kernel 

 for the nursery. 



The Nursery. — The method of laying out the nursery is known to 

 most of us. But I would emphasize the need of special precautions to 

 avoid a site in which white ants are likely to show themselves, or one 

 with too dense a shade. The latter causes the plants to be "spindley." 

 Those feel the shock when planted out in the open. There are two 

 methods of laying the nuts in the nurseries; horizontally — the position 

 they lie in when fallen from a tree — and vertically with the " eye " up. 

 The latter system I do not favour, as the retention of water in the de- 

 pression, at the stalk end, when the nut is in the upright position, 

 is liable to cause rot, to which the germ, directly below it, may suc- 

 cumb. When laying the nuts on their sides, do not bury them deep. 

 They should V only half-covered ; and both now and when planting 

 them out later in situ let the stalk end be kept slightly above ground. 

 The husk toughens and offers some resistance to white ants; but if 

 they are in the nursery they secure a lodgment and give no hope to 

 the plant in the field. If the stalk end, which is the tender spot, is 

 above ground, the mischief can be easily detected. It would be wise 

 to reject those plants tardy in shooting out or springing up. 



Lining. — Strict accuracy should be shown here, not because a plant 

 out of line by a foot or two would suffer, but because the appearance 

 of the field would be spoilt, and the field could not be conveniently 

 ploughed and harrowed. I advocate the usually adopteci distance 25 ft, x 



