146 COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



elaborate series of cultivation experiments were started by rae in July, 1917, 

 to determine if (1) intensive cultivation could replace manuring, (2) if 

 manuring and intensive cultivation combined give better results than either 

 by itself. It was soon apparent that on cinnamon soil cultivation without, 

 manuring was useless, though as an adjunct to manuring cultivation im- 

 proves results. In rich alluvial soils intensive cultivation will yield good 

 results, but the strain on the soil i^ so great that there is a limit to its period 

 of luccess. There are two contrary policies in treating coconut plantations. 

 One aiming at the conservation of humus in the soil by applying organic 

 manures, cultivating the soil about mice a year, and growing green crops. 

 The other intensive cultivation, not allowing any vegetation to grow, ami 

 burning all the fallings to clear a way for the free working of improved 

 mechanical appliances, coupled with the use of indirect manures as lime and 

 salt. The former is practised by those who intend to keep their lands ami 

 hand them down to posterity, the latter by lessees and others whose object 

 is to get everything out of a land as quickly as possible. 



A method of cultivation suggested to me by the Department of Agri- 

 culture, which in my opinion gives very favourable results on sandy soils, is 

 subsoiling. Subsoiling consists in turning the soil to a depth of about 12 or 

 15 inches with the object of occasionally breaking up the strata just under- 

 neath the usually cultivated soil. This may be performed once in two or 

 four years and on sandy soils the cost is not exorbitant. As some of the 

 larger roots are cut, subsoiling should be performed in alternate squares, 

 thus leaving half a tree's roots untouched. The unworked squares could be 

 taken up after one or two years, when the trees have had ample time to 

 throw out new roots before the remaining half are cut. Subsoiling greatly 

 increases the tilth of a soil, but as it is practicable only when the soil is wet. 

 it is unsuited for clay lands as these would be only hardened by handling 

 during wet weather. It is further an ideal method of disposing of decaying 

 vegetable matter, which the Entomologist wants to burn and the planter 

 wants to keep as the Entomologist is satisfied if it is more than 8 inches 

 below the surface and the planter if it is not burnt. 



Tyinc; Cattle for Manure. 

 " Tying cattle " for manure is a common practice both in estates and in 

 the villages. Trees to which cattle are tied bear well for about a year only. 

 If the cattle used for this purpose are grazed on the estate itself only a 

 xmall part of the estate could be treated in a year. It is true that this part 

 is benefitted, but it is at the expense of the rest of the land. Therefore no 

 value could be attached to this system of manuring, unless the cattle are 

 grazed on pastures outside the estate or stall-fed. But with the present 

 prices of straw and poonac stall feeding for manuring purposes is out of the 

 question. Cattle manure, owing to the presence of a larger quantity of 

 organic matter in it, is more suited for coconut soils than any other manure 



