24 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



logged. Mountainous regions are tabooed, 

 and so also are localities with a torrid and 

 dry temperature. 



Proximity to the sea has also the great 

 initial advantage, apart from other considera- 

 tions which have to do with the growth of 

 the trees, in that it offers, with very few ex- 

 ceptions, a much greater degree of shipping 

 facilities. This is an item of high value, 

 because all the products of the coco-nut palm, 

 be they copra, oil, or fibre, are heavy and 

 bulky ; and long, difficult distances are against 

 success, or, at least, they tend to seriously re- 

 duce the profits. It has been proved by long 

 practice, and is, in fact, evident on every hand, 

 that the farther one goes back from the sea- 

 shore, the less abundant and well-looking do 

 the coco-nut trees become, until at about 125 

 to 150 miles inland one only meets, as a 

 rule, isolated, attenuated specimens. Even 

 the banks of large rivers do not seem to 

 make any difference to this rule, probably 

 on account of the soil, which is generally 

 muddy and close, not porous and sandy. 



O.W. Barrett, in his Farmer's Bulletin No. 17, 

 speaks of planting coco-nuts near lagoons, or 

 swamps, when he tells us: "Although coco- 

 nuts are killed by salt water covering the 

 ' feeding area/ as well as by stagnant fresh 

 water over their roots, they may be planted 

 without much danger close to salt-water 

 lagoons, especially if low earth dykes are 



