128 PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE 



Injury caused by Drought. A dry season injures the 

 coconut for a longer time than it does any other crop 

 which is not killed by it. When the ground about the 

 roots becomes dry, the roots cease to grow, and the ab- 

 sorbing surface decreases. The resulting loss of water 

 promptly checks the growth of the young leaves, and of 

 the branches which bear the nuts. It does not delay the 

 ripening of the nuts already growing; therefore, it is nine 

 months or more after a drought begins, before the crop 

 is injured by it. 



When the rains begin after a drought, the roots begin 

 to grow again; after they become active, the leaves can 

 begin to be so. Since it is usually eighteen months from 

 the first appearance of a leaf to the ripening of the nuts 

 in its axil, the injury done by a drought is not all shown 

 until at least eighteen months after the drought ends. 



Dryness hurts the coconut in several ways which 

 there is not time to study here. A bad dry season only 

 as often as every other year will keep the crop down all 

 the time to 40 per cent of what it ought to be. There- 

 fore, coconuts cannot be grown profitably without irriga- 

 tion, where very dry seasons occur. 



The Soil. W T hile the coconut must have a moist soil, 

 its roots will not grow into soil full of water; and if they * 

 are covered too long by water, they die. 



The coconut will grow in poor soil, but it will produce 

 few nuts there. It produces fine crops on poor beach 

 soil, because the water which the roots take up has come 

 through richer soil, and is well supplied with food. 



