234 FLORIDA FRUITS COCOA-NUTS. 



som every four or five weeks, so that there are usually 

 ripe nuts and blossoms in all stages on the tree at the same 

 time. From five to fifteen nuts form a bunch, and a thrifty 

 tree will produce from eighty to one hundred annually, 

 sometimes more, but this is the average. 



The cocoa-nut palm likes good feeding and salt air to 

 drink, but further than this requires but little culture. 



Like all who occupy elevated positions in this world the 

 cocoa-nut has its enemies, and formidable ones they are, 

 too. 



One comes direct from the skies, and its name is light- 

 ning ; it frequently strikes these lofty trees, kills the ter- 

 minal bud, and hence the tree, for death to the one means 

 death to the other. The others are " of the earth, earthy." 

 One is a veritable bete noir, or "black beetle;" it exca- 

 vates a hole of about an inch in diameter, in the terminal- 

 leaf bud, and when the leaves expand they appear full of 

 holes, as though riddled with bullets, and the tree often 

 dies from the injury it has received. The larva or grub 

 of this bete noir is about three inches long, plump, and 

 round in proportion, and its head is black ; it is called tu- 

 cuma, in British Guiana, and is esteemed a great delicacy 

 by the epicures of that country. Usually it is served up 

 by frying in a pan, but many prefer it raw ; they seize it 

 by its black head, dip it in lime juice, and forthwith swal- 

 low it with great gusto. 



Ugh ! Here is a nice, new dish for some of our Florida 

 growers ! Try it, somebody. 



Another depredator among the cocoa-nut walks is the 

 rat, especially the black rat, which nests in trees, and is a 

 splendid climber ; so serious has this source of trouble be- 

 come in some parts of Jamaica, the rats destroying the 

 tender young nuts by thousands, that the Director of the 

 Public Gardens and Plantations has given the subject spe- 



