COCOS NUOIFERA. 2i3 



ing are shown on the plantation of Dona Rufina Qiu'tugua, in the district of Mati'i- 

 guag, while tlie benefits resulting from plenty of room and of cultivation of the 

 ground. are shown in that of Manuel Matanane, in the district of Yigo, where origi- 

 nally rows of cacao were planted alternately with those of coconuts. The cacao did 

 not thrive and was removed, but the coconuts grew with remarkable rapidity. 

 The natives say that the trees are too far apart, but the fact that many of them 

 began to bear when 3 years old, while in other good localities they do not bear until 

 4, 5, or 6 years old, speaks for itself. On the mesa, or table-land, cocoiuit trees fre- 

 (juently are 8 to 10 years, or even 15 years, old before they begin to bear. In Yigo 

 and Santa Rosa they begin to bear usually when 5 or 6 years old, and in Yofia when 

 7 or 8 years. A coconut palm is in its best bearing condition from the age of 10 

 years on. It will continue to bear until 80 years old. Catch crops may be planted 

 between the rows while the trees are young. These are far less exhausting than the 

 weeds which would otherwise cover the ground, and the soil is benefited by the cul- 

 tivation, especially if nitrogen-storing leguminous crops are grown. The common 

 ])racticein Guam is to keep off the weeds from an area about 6 feet in radius about 

 the trees by means of a thrust-hoe (fusino or foziiio), and throughout the rest of the 

 plantation to cut the undergrowth from time to time with a machete. Attention is 

 called by Lyon « to the excellent methods of coconut cultivation practiced by the 

 German colonists in German East Africa and in the South Pacific islands and by 

 the French in Congo and ^Madagascar, who practice modern orchard methods. Mr. 

 Lyon reconunends planting coconuts at distances of not less than 9 meters, and, in 

 good soils, preferably 9.5 meters. The former distance will allow for 12.3 and the 

 latter for 111 trees to the hectare. He recommends annual plowing of the planta- 

 tion and the cultivation of green manures and crops to keep up the fertility of the 

 land. In Guam plowing is impracticable in many localities, owing to the thinness 

 of the soil covering the coral substratum; and the prevailing system of keeping the 

 plantations clear of weeds by means of the thrust hoe, by which the roots can not 

 possibly be injured, seems to be a good one. Manuring is never practiced in Guam, 

 and it is to this fact that the absence of the beetles which, in their larval stage, are. 

 so injurious to coconuts in other countries, should be attributed. 



The 1)oundaries between plantations on the island of Guam are usually indicated 

 by lines of coconut trees, either single or double. It is the common practice to cut 

 notches in the trunks to facilitate climbing. This practice is condenuied by many 

 writers, but in Guam the trees do not ajipear to be injured thereby. Sometimes a 

 hole is cut near the base of the trunk to serve as a water reservoir. This seems to 

 cause decay and should not be permitted. As a rule the natives do not plant coco- 

 nut trees near their dwellings for fear of accidents during hurricanes. Every family 

 selects one or two trees for a supply of toddy, and many of them keep small groves 

 to furnish thatch for their houses, which must be renewed at intervals of about three 

 years. The extraction of tuba does not injure the trees in any way, but the cutting 

 of leaves causes injuries from which it takes years to recover. The inflorescence 

 which forms in the axils of old leaves becomes aborted when these leaves are cut off. 

 Young plantations are frequently injured by the deer with which the island abounds, 

 and care must be taken to prevent cattle from entering them. To keep out the deer 

 the natives simply inclo.se a field with a ribbon of pariti bark (P. tiUacenm), through 

 which they say the deer will not pass. Coconut trees are free from disease in Guam, 

 and very little harm is done to them by insects. 

 Rep^erences: 



Cocos nucifera L. Sp. PI. 2: 1188. 1753. 



Codiaeum variegatum. See Phyllaurea variegata. 



«Lyon, The cocoanut, etc. Bureau of Agr. [Philippines], Bull. No. 8, 1903, 



