86 COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



cient on ordinary flat or undulating land to have narrow trenches, sav 

 2 feet wide and 18 inches deep between the rows of trees to hold up 

 water and to prevent wash in the portions of the land that require 

 them. But when the trees have developed, it would be advisable to have 

 contour trenches, embracing every little rise in the land and through- 

 out the undulating section. Even where the surface is fairly covered 

 over with gra^s, and the slope is hardly appreciably a trench often 

 reveals, after an average shower, an immense amount of moisture that 

 would otherwise have run to waste ^ perhaps carried out of the land 

 altogether. It is not onlj the water but the soil also that is often lost 

 to the estate. 



The first object in trenching should be to conserve as much moisture 

 as possible on the higher portions. Then, the wider the trenches lower 

 down, the greater the superficial area of soil reached and the greater its 

 porosity. It is usual to have trenches cut in section say 20 ft. long, 

 5 it. wide, and 12 to 15 inches deep, the soil being banked up on the 

 lower side. The advantage of having trendies cut in sections, with the 

 firm ground 2 it. between, is thai where they do not run at right-angles 

 to the slope they prevent all the water rushing to the lower end to 

 accumulate there and probably burst the bund. It is to meet these two 

 contingencies diat the sections are of use, each section holding the water 

 that come from above it, to the benefit of the plants .above and below. 

 The Ijoitom of the trenches should be as level as possible. If the 

 trenches be gradually packed with husk, fallen branches and all rub- 

 bish that can be collected, and finally receive a top-aressing of earth, 

 the benefit will soon be realised. 



A similar system of trenches carried on in alternate lines will help 

 to cover the whole estate by degrees with a net-work of receptacles for 

 moisture and manures within easy reach of every tree. Slowly but 

 surely the entire surface soil will thereby be worked. Nor should the 

 lost of those trenches be heavy, at least not to the practical planter 

 who refuses to be guided by the contract rates which are paid by 

 Government generally in their 1MY.D., Railway, and Irrigation Works. 

 I believe the rate is somewhere about 75 cts. to a rupee a cube. Now, 

 1 have bad cut tens ot thousands of feet of these trenches and navo 

 found a eooly able to cut three trenches, each 20 ft. x 5 ft. x 12 in., or 

 20 ft. x 4^ ft. x 15 in., in a day in a medium soil. The cost works out at 

 only 12 cts. a cube. Task work is welcomed by the men, as the better 

 workers find no difficulty in completing their trenches and striking work 

 at 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon. 



Vacancies. — These should be promptly filled up, and if uniformity 

 is to be preserved, it is well to have advanced plants in the nursery to 

 take the place of the lost ones; but vacancies mean so much space wasted 



