MANAGEMENT OF THE CROP 45 



only require to be raised to a slight extent. As 

 the tree grows older it passes out of the propping 



stage. 



Gathering. Nuts fall when ripe, and usually 

 during the night, which is said to account for so 

 few accidents to people on the plantation. It is 

 estimated that nuts which are allowed to ripen 

 produce 10 per cent, more copra than when 

 picked before they are fully ripe. 



Climbing the trees for the collection of the 

 fruit is one of the best methods. When the 

 plantation is in full bearing, one coolie can 

 collect at least four hundred nuts a day. 



Notches for the resting of the foot when 

 climbing the tree to collect fruit should be cut 

 with a slope downwards, so that they do not 

 retain the rain. It is of course understood that 

 such notches can only be made on fully mature 

 trees.* 



The practice of using a knife attached to a 

 long pole for cutting down the nuts is not to 

 be recommended; in the bunches so collected 

 several insufficiently ripe nuts will be found. 

 At the time of collecting the nuts, all the dead 

 spathes and leaves should be removed, and 

 thorough search made to see that no beetles 

 are in the trees. The coir substance which 

 clings to the tree, and on which the leaves and 

 spathes form themselves, should always be left, 

 as it protects the cabbage and retains moisture. 



* See West India Notes, p. 116. 



