COCOA-NUTS. 233 



From the Caloosahatchee River on the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and Lake Worth on the Atlantic, the cocoa-nut belt ex- 

 tends southward, embracing all the numerous coast islands 

 or "Keys." 



It is not, as many suppose, necessary that the salt spray 

 should literally lave the roots or trunk of the cocoa-nut, 

 but it is a fact that it needs salt air, and plenty of it, and 

 while it will grow one hundred miles or more from the sea, 

 it will not bear fruit ; the nearer its beloved friend, the 

 ocean, the more nearly perfection is attained. 



The Florida nuts are fully equal in quality to any grown 

 elsewhere, and they possess a vast advantage over all others 

 in being so near the great United States market. 



There is no doubt but that within the next few years all 

 the land in the State and on the Keys, suitable for cocoa- 

 nut culture, will be set in trees, and yet, when this is done, 

 so limited is the area convertible into cocoa-nut walks that 

 the whole number of trees is not likely greatly to exceed 

 one million, and consequently, the demand will always 

 exceed the home product. 



The nuts are buried until they sprout, then transferred to 

 the field, and carefully planted where they are to remain ; 

 it is usual to make a hole two feet or more in depth, and 

 cover in the nut at the bottom, filling up level gradually, 

 as the young sprout pushes its way upward. 



The Florida growers generally set the trees twenty feet 

 apart ; this is too close, and the time will come when the 

 roots will intermingle and rob each other of nutriment 

 and moisture, and then, to preserve the vigor of the rest, 

 some trees will have to be cut down as a sacrifice. 



The tree generally begins to yield in six or seven years, 

 but not abundantly until it reaches its eighth or ninth year, 

 and then it continues to bear for seventy or eighty years. 

 In good soils, and especially in wet seasons, it will blos- 



20 



