COCOAM'T-rLAXTlNG 75 



his mind to that and allow for it. His own pre- 

 sence on the plantation will provide a better check 

 than any other on native thieves, and hence a 

 buna-fide planter who lives on his estate should 

 not suffer serious loss from stolen nuts. The 

 absentee need not expect a moiety. One owner 

 informed me that some years ago he lived on his 

 estate and obtained 100,000 nuts per annum from 

 3,000 trees. Now he had 4,500 trees, but as he no 

 longer lived there he obtains only 20,000 nuts per 

 annum. Thieves had reduced his average yield 

 from 33 nuts per tree to less than \h. 



The most economical treatment of land carrying 

 young cocoanut-trees is to weed lanes 6 to 7 feet 

 wide along the rows, widening the space at each 

 tree to a circle of 6 feet in diameter to render it 

 secure from fire. Each year, as the trees grow, 

 the weeded portion is extended, till finally, when 

 the fronds have nearly met, the whole ground is 

 cleared. Catch crops may then be introduced. 



A few cocoanuts fringe the bay at Mozambique, 

 and shelter the villages of Angoche, but as I have 

 already stated the district is not suited for cocoa- 

 nut-planting on a commercial scale save in certain 

 favoured spots. Lourenzo Marques is, of course, 

 too far south. Adding these districts to those of 

 Quelimane and Mahambane, the total number of 

 trees in the Province (not including the two Com- 



