94 COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



soil would contain to a depth of 4 ft. (and many roots go much deeper) the 

 following amounts of essential plant constituents, though not in readily 

 available form : — 



Lime ... ... 40,653 lb. 



Potash ... ... 2,5'7 ,, 



Phosphoric acid ... ... 5,800 ,, 



Nitrogen ... ... 7,400 „ 



Were all these constituents available, no manuring would, of course, be 

 required, but they can only bo released from their insolublo combinations 

 by gradual decomposition with the aid of air, moisture and dissolved gases, 

 chiefly carbonic acid. At the same time there would only be sufficient 

 potash for about 16 years, and phosphoric acid for about 65 years, were it 

 not for the return of the leaf a*h to the soil annually. But apart from the 

 composition of the palm itself the question of its remunerative cropping 

 has to be considered. Several comparative analyses of the nut and tbe 

 husk have been made by Lepine, Bachoffen, Rideau and others, and the 

 following may perhaps be taken as an approximate average: — 



Husk .... ... ... 53*0 per cent 



Shell ... .... ... 12 6 



Copra ._ ._. ... 18"5 ,, 



Water ... ... ... 13-5 „ 



The chief ash constituents of the husk, amounting to 1'63 per cent, are 

 Salt 46 per cent., Potash 30'7 per cent., Lime 4'14 per cent , Phos. Acid 

 1 - 92 and Silica 8*2 per cent. The large amount of salt and p >tash in the 

 husk is noticeable and would point to their value as manure. Copra ash 

 amounts to 1 "70 to 2 per cent, of the weight of dried copra and consists chiefly 

 of phosphate of potash, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, and a small 

 amount of lime, while sulphuric acid is unusually high. A candy of copra 

 would contain about 101b. of ash consisting of 5*27 lb. of potash, 203 lb. of 

 phosphoric acid, 0'87 lb. of sulphuric acid, 50 lb. of salt, so that an average 

 crop of 50 nuts per palm, giving say 3 candies nf copra per acre, would 

 remove from the estate nearly 16 lb. of phosphoric acid and about 11 "7 lb. of 

 nitrogen, the nitrogen content of copra being about 0'7 per cent. 



To replace this in manure would require an application of a mixture 

 some-what as follows applied every other year : — 



Sulphate of potash .^ ... 32 lb. 



Bone meal ... ... 27 ,, 



Groundnut cake ... .. 167 ,, 



226 lb. 

 —or say 3 1/5 lb. per palm. 



To apply such a small quantity to large or old plants would, however, be 

 absurd and there would be little visible effect on the palms. It has been 



