116 COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



near the seashore, the ease is different. Such soils suffer more from 

 rain water draining out of them beyond the reach of the roots than by 

 surface evaporation. They are often so coarse-grained as to have little 

 power of holding moisture or of drawing it up from below by capillary 

 action, and injudicious cultivation in th.-se cases may oo harm. It must 

 not be thought that cultivation during dry weather is 'or any other pur- 

 pose than preventing surface evaporation; it is not at this time for 

 aerating the soil nor for promoting the decomposition of the soil minerals, 

 it is purely and simply to preserve that loose layer of surface soil which 

 is essential to the prevention of loss of moisture. That being so, it need 

 only be done when the surface shews signs of becoming hard, and it 

 should only bo done to the least depth which is foune! to produce good 

 results and always to the same depth, not deeper one time than another. 

 If the soil needs aerating, or if the decomposition of its minerals 

 or organic matter needs hastening, thia should be done by deep culti- 

 vation at the beginning of the rainy season, never during dry weather. 

 In heavy clay soils this deep cultivation is necessary, but sandy soils 

 are usually very well aerated and seldom need deep cultivation, and it 

 is very important that the dry weather cultivation ot these should be 

 shallow, not more than 3 inches deep. It should be done immediately 

 the dry weathei sets in, and should only be repeated when the surface 

 shews signs of becoming hard. This is also true of clay soils, and ail 

 other soils. The surface must be kept loose all through the dry season, 

 but in sandy soils it will remain so much longer without attention than 

 it will in more compact soils. Although the soil in sai'dy estates should 

 not be disturbed during the dry season more often than is necessary to 

 keep the surface loose, this must not be taken to mean that grass or 

 weeds should be allowed to grow. It is during the dry weather that 

 these do the g v eatest harm, and the estate must be kept free from them 

 at all times. 



M E.C H AN I C A h C U LTI VATO RS . 



One striking difference between tropical agriculture and that of 

 temperate climates is that in the former the land is permanently covered 

 by the crop, whereas in the latter the crops are for the most part annual 

 crops which are cleared from the land each year. The permanent nature 

 of tropical crops makes it less easy to make use of machines for carrying 

 out the operations of cultivation than is the case in countries where the 

 fields are harvested and freshly planted every year. Laud under coco- 

 nuts, however, gives less trouble in the use of such machines than any 

 other permanent crop in the tropics. It is nearly always level land, or 

 only gently undulating ; it is very seldom rocky ; the trees are sufficiently 

 wide apart to make it easy to drive a cultivator between them; there 

 are no low-hanging branches to get in the way; and finally, should any 



