cocos 



NUCIFBRA THE COCOANUT PALM 



Cocoanut 



fructification the cocoanut requires absolutely open air and plenty of 



Salt as a Manure, sunshine. The subsequent treatment consists in hoeing the ground around 

 the stems and manuring them, especially with salt, at the beginning of the 

 rains. They may be easily transplanted when only a few years old, and 

 in many cases with advantage, but the new pits into which they are 

 placed must be filled with good soil, manure, and a little salt. [Cf. Produce 

 World, Jan. 17, 1896.] 



Yield. Yield. Cocoanut palms will bear fruit, according to the locality and 



the care expended on them, in from five to ten years. They throw out a 

 spathe and a leaf every month, and each flowering spike yields from ten 

 to twenty-five nuts. The yield varies according to the soil, climate, care 

 expended, and also variety grown. It has been placed by some authors 

 as high as 200 to 300, by others as low as 30 nuts per tree per annum, but 



Nuts to Acre. a safe average might be 80 to 100, or say 5,000 nuts per acre ; and at 4 Ib. 

 to each fruit this would give a total crop weight of 6J tons an acre. Lastly, 

 the palm will continue to bear such crops for 70 to 80 years. 



Forms. Cultivated Forms. Although the Natives recognise many varieties 



or races, these are doubtfully distinct botanically. Moreover, they are 

 so numerous that it would be almost impossible to enumerate even the 

 better known " sports " and cultivated conditions that are claimed to exist. 

 There are, for example, 25 commonly counted in Java Miquel especially 

 describes and names 18 of these and calls them varieties ; 40 in the 

 Philippines ; 5 recognised in Ceylon ; 30 in Travancore alone according 

 to Dr. Shortt ; lastly, Jumelle (I.e. 92) and Firminger, both compiling 

 from M. Le Goux de Flaise, say of India that it is customary to recog- 

 nise 7 forms : (1) Coromandel or Brahmin nut, a yellowish-red form ; 

 (2) the Kanara, a very woody ovoid nut ; (3) the Malabar ; (4) Maldive, 

 small and spherical ; (5) Achem, small and ovoid ; (6) Nicobar or pointed 

 nut, the biggest of all, and (7) the Ceylon nut. The Brahmin nut is 

 esteemed for its milk but is inferior in kopra and coir. Of Ceylon it 

 is said there are* two special dwarf forms : (a) the King Cocoanut, which 

 produces a golden-coloured fruit, but rarely attains a greater height than 

 20 feet. It is confined to the gardens of the better classes. (6) A still 

 smaller plant much sought after. 



Soil. So/7 and Climate. All writers admit that the palm will grow effec- 



tively on sandy soil, but Semler and others point out quite clearly that it 

 must not be dry sand. Many soils otherwise unsuitable can be adapted 

 by adding the necessary manures ; thus clay soils can be made porous 

 by admixture of sand and fertilised by the addition of calcareous salts. 

 Jumelle observes that the cocoanut requires heat, moisture, a porous 

 soil, calcareous salts, alkaline salts, a certain quantity of sea-salt, and a 

 fair amount of animal manure. It should be noted, however, that animal 

 manure if too freely applied is apt to encourage a weevil pest (vide infra). 

 The best manure (vegetable) appears to be cocoanut husks. [Cf. Trop. 

 Agri., 1893, xiii., 106-8.] Semler observes that the most desirable position 

 is a porous soil sufficiently near the sea that at high tides the sea-water 

 may permeate the trenches cut for that purpose. Cochran (Trop. Agri., 

 1897, xvii., 173) and Jumelle (I.e. 94) give chemical analyses to show 

 how very important salt is as a manure for this palm. 



Climate. I* i g necessary that the temperature should be fairly even all the year 



round, 75 and 50 F. being the extremes. If the rainfall be evenly 

 distributed throughout the year some 48 to 50 in. will suffice, but if less, 



352 



Coromandel, 



Kanara, 



Malabar, 



Maldive, 



Achem, 



.Nicobar, 



Ceylon. 



Manures. 



