A VERY SUGGESTIVE CHAPTER. 145 



show what fortunes from the cocoa-nut tree alone are to be 

 made in Fiji. 



Young plantations of the tree made by natives and whites 

 are rising on all sides, but there is great room for extension. 

 The cocoa-nut tree does not succeed well in many parts of Viti 

 Levu, and where it does grow on that island it bears compara- 

 tively few nuts. This is owing to the ravages of a small 

 caterpillar, which attaches itself to the underside of the leaves 

 and eats their softer parts. The consequence is that the leaves 

 are unable to perform the functions assigned to them, and the 

 tree is thereby weakened and unable to bear fruit, if it be not 

 killed outright by the attacks of the insect. The action of this 

 caterpillar has been noticed on the cocoa-nut trees growing in 

 other islands of the group ; but it is probable that outside Viti 

 Levu birds or some antagonistic insect keep it in check. The 

 whole subject demands inquiry, and it is very likely that if 

 this were given, a means would be discovered of destroying the 

 insect altogether, or greatly diminishing the mischief done. If 

 such were the case, the cocoa-nut tree could be planted all 

 over Viti Levu. The Australian laughing jackass is a formid- 

 able foe of this insect ; and these birds are now being imported 

 into the group. 



Apart from this island the fertility of this tree is somewhat 

 wonderful. The nut begins to grow in a few months after it is 

 planted ; in about five or six years the stem is 7 or 8 feet high, 

 and the tree begins to bear. It continues to grow and bear for 

 fifty or sixty years, or perhaps longer. While the plants are 

 young they require fencing to keep pigs and goats from getting 

 at them, but after the crown has reached a few feet from the 

 ground, the plants require no further care. Everybody knows 

 the cocoa-nut tree leaf, but there is a curious provision of 

 nature to protect the nuts against the violence of the strong 



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