COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. • 9."> 



found in practice that at least 4 or 5 times this am- unt, or say 12 lh. to i6 lb. 

 per palm is required to render manuring profitable. It is very evident, how- 

 ever, that manuring as carried out at present must gradually and steadily 

 result in an accumulation of plant food in the soil if full use is made of the 

 dropping fronds, immature nuts, etc. This again, however, depends on the 

 character of the soil and the type of manure applied, and increase in reserve 

 food would, as a rule, be more marked in retentive loamy soils or the common 

 cabobky soils than in the deep sands which have little retentive power 

 either for moisture or the soluble constituents of manure. The question of 

 the use of soluble or insoluble manures on the latter class of soils is an 

 important one, and experiments are being conducted to prove their respec- 

 tive values. It must be remembered that the root system of the coconut 

 palm is different from ordinary trees, consisting as it does of a thick carrot- 

 shaped bole at the foot of the stem from which as nnny as 2,000 roots start 

 and penetrate the soil in every direction, the roots themselves branching at 

 nearly right angles at varying distances from the stem or bole. Most of the 

 roots, if uninjured, run for many feet and absorption of the soluble plant food 

 takes place at the extremities of the main root or the smaller branches. 

 The tip of the root, unlike many other roots, is devoid of fine hairs through 

 which absorption usually takes place ; but the extremity, for about half to 

 one inch, consists of soft and easily injured tissue with a central group of 

 iibrovascular bundles : behind this soft extremity the tissue rapidly becomes 

 tough and fibrous. When cut through, the cut surface dries and shrivels, 

 and new rootlets spring at right angles to the original, so that any tem- 

 porary injury arising from ploughing or cutting circular trenches round the 

 palms, when applying manure, is soon remedied. The idea that the cutting 

 of the roots by digging or ploughing is harmful, is, I think, a mistaken one, 

 though it should not be done at the beginning of the dry weather. By 

 occasional disturbance of the surface soil the roots are driven downwards so 

 that the palms are less affected by drought. 



The wide dissemination of the roots throughout the soil would seem to 

 point to the advisability of applying a soluble manure over a fairly wide area, 

 commencing at acme distance from the trunk, which when dissolved by the 

 rain would soak into the soil around the root extremities, and be carried 

 downwards and upwards through the soil as the weather was wet or tine. 



As in sandy soils there is little retentiveness for chemical salts and at 

 the same time the formation of leaf and flower stalks is practically con- 

 tinuous throughout the year, it would also appear desirable to apply small 

 quantities at frequent intervals in order to obtain the best return for the 

 manure, rather than larger application every second year. On the other 

 hand the good effect of tying cattle to the trees an occasional fortnight in 

 the year, would tend to show that the soluble salts are retained and the effect 

 is more prolonged than tha nature of the soil would lead one to expect, the 



