112 Natural History of tlie CocO'Vut Tree 



not seem to hurt or exhaust them. I shall here observe^ 

 that I obtained the same results in the cultivation of orange 

 and lemon trees, vegetables which we have naturalized n\ 

 our climates. 



The areca-nuts are planted in beds, with their husk of 

 fibrous covering, one by one, in holes five or six inches in 

 depth, and at the distance of twelve or foiirteen inches iri 

 every direction. The plantation is slightly watered. 



On the twcntv-ninth or thirtieth day the germ issues from 

 the earth : in form it is similar to that of the coco-nut, but 

 it differs from it by its hardness, and by an acrid or aour 

 taite. 



They are generally transplanted in a year or fifteen 

 months : thev may be removed without danger even in 

 the seventh vear, because they are exceedingly lively, and 

 expand very slowly. Their total duration, however, is only 

 Hfty or sixty vears ; they never go beyond the seventieth. 

 Of all the palms it is the shortest lived. This forms a con- 

 trast with the slowness of its vegetation, and particularly 

 with the hardness of its wood, which is surpassed only by 

 that of the sindi, called by Linnaeus loiitam.s. This palm 

 has given its name to the river which separates Hindostan 

 from Persia, and which, copying the (Jrceks, we have dis- 

 figured bv the denomination of the Indus. 



As the palms of the areca-tree are not above eight or nine 

 feet long, they can give only a shade of a moderate extent, 

 and which it would appear could not hurt the plants cultivated 

 in the same ground ; but experience proves that this shade, 

 though it cover only a small surface, is hurtful, and would 

 ccrtamly occasion the destruction of the most of those ve- 

 getables over which it extends : neither men nor animals 

 ever remain under its immediate shelter, especially during 

 the strong heats. Its foliage is so thick that the sun's rays 

 can never penetrate it; the rain water, therefore, which falls 

 on its palms is thrown off"; they form a real parapluie. 



Though this tree be one of the most beautiful ornaments 

 of gardens, there are few worse neighbours : it attracts all 

 the adjacent juices; and herbs, as already said, cannot ve- 

 getate under its shade. The different kinds of banana, how- 

 ever, called conmionly the Indian fig, known in botany 

 under the name of musa, thrive when planted in the same 

 soil, provided they arc not brought too near to the areca-nut 

 tree. I shall add, that I saw at Nigambo, a maritime town 

 iai the island of Ceylon, an immense orchard of areca-trees, 

 among which were cultivated coffee shrubs which appeared 

 to nic to thrive, as they were exeeediniily beautiful. 



