18 



The oil cake left after expressing the oil from the copra is not only 

 an excellent fertilizer for young trees, but is one of the very best 

 foods for domestic animals; it should be ground or broken into small 

 pieces before applying as a fertilizer, and when used as a stock food it 

 should be mixed with some other ligliter food material. If only the 

 oil is shipped away from the estate, and if all the by-products, such 

 as cake, ashes from the shells, and compost material from the husks, 

 are returned to the plantation, there should be no impoverishment of the 

 soil, no matter how long this system l)e kept up, for the constituents 

 of the oil are entirely organic materials (carbohydrates, etc.) derived 

 :^rom the air and water. This principle would hold true even if sugar 

 were made from the tuba instead of copra from the nuts, both sugar 

 and oil containing no ash whatever. 



It should be remembered that any form of fertilizers, whether potash 

 salts, acid phosphates, ammonia compounds, or organic manures, such as 

 tankage, guano, or rotted husks, and even ashes, has special qualities 

 and influences upon the growth of the coconut, especially in its early 

 years: and that e\en slight improvements in the conditions affecting 

 the roots of the young plants have a pronounced effect upon the vigor 

 of its growth and shortness of its nonproductive period. In short, whether 

 the planter can follow the system of constant manuring of his plantation 

 or not, it is certain that he must pay strict attention to the sanitation and 

 nutrition of his young trees in every way possible. 



SUMMARY. 



The export value of the copra as shipped from the Philippines is now 

 about ?20,000,000. By proper cultural methods this amount could be 

 increased to at least ?=2 5,000,000 without increasing the area now under 

 cultivation. 



The seed nuts should be selected with reference to individual qualities 

 of the parent tree. They should be hand picked, cured after picking, 

 and so treated in the seed bed that the germinating parts do not receive 

 any check from overheating or lack of moisture. 



Transplanting should be done either before the nourishment in the 

 seed nut is exhausted or not until the young plant has a small trunk. 



The plantation rows should alternate 8 to 10 meters apart. 



Secondary crops may be planted during the first few years. No 

 plants except legumes should be allowed within 1 meter of the young 

 plants and 2 meters of the older plants. 



The surface of the soil around the voung coconuts should be always 

 covered by live leguminous mulches. The interspaces should be covered 

 by some form of leguminous vines even in old plantations. 



Fallen leaves should be stripped and tlie midribs buried in shallow 

 trenches; the husks should be composted in a long heap; the decayed 



