THE PALMS OF ASIA. 99 



" If we consider the very light and poor nature 

 of the soil in which cocoa nut cultivation is 

 carried on, it cannot but be matter for wonder 

 that these trees attain so large a size, and yield 

 such bulky and continuous crops during so 

 many years. Not uufrequently they reach a 

 height of sixty feet, and yield fully fifty nuts 

 each tree per annum, gathered in alternate 

 months, and continue in bearing for seventy, 

 and sometimes for ninety years. A calculation, 

 based on these data, shows that an acre of yellow 

 sandy soil will produce, without the aid of 

 manure, a weight of fourteen and a quarter tons 

 in green fruit, and seven tons of leaves, annually. 

 To yield this once or twice may not seem 

 deserving of much Avonder, but that this pro- 

 duction should continue for "half a century* 

 without any renovation of soil, and only acci- 

 dental supplies of manure, cannot but be con- 

 sidered a remarkable instance of the unaided 

 fertilizing powers of nature." 



We have already stated that toddy is extracted 

 from the cocoa nut tree. It is the sweet juice 

 or sap of the tree at the time of flowering, and 

 is also termed palm wine. It may be obtained 

 from many other palms as well as the cocoa 

 nut, but in Ceylon the latter is almost exclusively 

 employed for the purpose. We will, therefore, 



