THE PROPORTION OF PARTS IN FRUITS 307 



probably have lost its germinative capacity, as may be inferred 

 from my observations on the embryo of the coco-nut recorded 

 in Chapter XVIII. But although these data are concerned 

 with a dead fruit, they bring the completely air-dried fruit 

 of the Coco-palm into line with other fruits in the same 

 devitalised condition, such fruits only holding the water of 

 hygroscopicity which is common to both living and dead 

 organised vegetable matter. If we were asked what stage 

 in the drying of a coco-nut corresponds to that of the dried- 

 up apple, cherry, and currant as they hang in dry weather 

 from the tree, we should point to the completely air-dried 

 fruit of column D. The trade husked coco-nut, such as 

 is sold in the English markets, would be drier than the ripe 

 fruit of column C, but moister that that of column D. If 

 kept under dry atmospheric conditions and secured against 

 the attacks of mould, it would lose more water. 



It would thus appear that what the planter calls a "ripe" A "ripe" 

 coco-nut is a fruit that has lost in the ripening process rather '^°*^°"""*- 

 over half its weight as a green nut. This process may be 

 completed on the tree, or it may be continued in the stored, 

 detached fruit which has been gathered in the early ripe 

 condition. When we speak of the fruit as maturing its seed 

 whilst it dries on the palm, we are not adopting the phraseology 

 of the planter. For him a ripe nut is a fruit with a thick, solid, 

 oily kernel ; and in practice he is less concerned with the mode 

 of ripening than with the characters indicating his ripe fruit. 

 Thus, the statement in Simmond's Tropical Agriculture that 

 the seed-nut must be " fully ripe and not aged " would be 

 full of meaning to the planter, but it might be misinterpreted 

 by one not familiar with the Coco-palm in its home. 



However, the theoretical view advanced above that the The seed of 

 seed grows whilst the fruit is drying is in accord with practical grows^whilst 

 experience. Ripe nuts, it is advised in the work above named, iJdrSng**^^ 

 should be allowed to dry for not less than a month after 

 gathering before they are planted. If intended for "copra" 

 they should not be broken up for four or six weeks after 



