CHAP. III. EDIBLE NUTS. 271 



" The farther the Cocoa-nut Palm is removed from the shore and 

 the influences of the sea, the more its growth is diminished and 



the less abundant its fruit The Palms require constant 



irrigation during the earlier stages of their growth. 



" The ripe nuts are put down in April, and covered an inch deep 

 with sand and sea- weed, or soft mud from the beach, and watered 

 daily till they germinate. In September they are set in holes 

 three feet deep and twenty to thirty feet apart. Before putting in 

 the young plants it is customary .to bed the roots with soft mud 

 and sea-weed, and for the first two years they must be watered and 

 protected from the glare of the sun by shades made of the plaited 

 fronds of the Cocoa-nut Palm or leaves of the Palmyra. After the 

 second year irrigation becomes unnecessary. Each alternate year 

 the young Palms are dressed with sea- weed and salt manure. 

 Towards the end of the fifth year, though sometimes not till the 

 seventh, the flower- stalk may be expected to appear. Each nut 

 requires a year to ripen." * 



The natives consider it a point of great importance in the cul- 

 tivation of the Cocoa-nut in Bengal, that in the month of Sep- 

 tember the lower fronds of the Palms should be well pruned 

 away. They say that otherwise the trees are not nearly so pro- 

 ductive. 



GYMNOGENS. 

 TAXACE^E. 



Salisburia adiantifolia, 



GINGKO PAK-O. 



A tree of immense size, remarkable for its peculiar foliage, the 

 leaves being of the size of a man's hand, and resembling in form 

 those of the Maiden-hair Fern, whence it derives its name, or 

 more nearly perhaps those of Caryota urens. Humboldt says, 

 " the original native country is unknown to us."| It was intro- 

 duced into the Calcutta Gardens many years ago from China, 

 and again very recently by Mr. Fortune. Bat it makes no 

 growth whatever here, remaining year after year of much* about 

 the same size as when first brought. I saw it growing in the 

 Public Gardens at Ootacamund on the Nilgherries ; but no better 



* Sir E. Tennent'a ' Ceylon/ vol. ii. p. 529. 

 t 'Aspects of Nature,' vol. ii. p. 114. 



