33 



COCO-NUT CULTIVATION IN 

 CEYLON. 



As Ceylon occupies so important a position 

 in the coco-nut world, both on account of the 

 quantity produced as well as of the ceaseless 

 attention devoted to agriculture generally, our 

 readers will be pleased to note the follow- 

 ing remarks made by Mr. A. W. Beven on 

 the subject of coco-nut planting, at the Annual 

 General Meeting of the Ceylon Agricultural 

 Society, June, 1911, calling attention to the 

 great importance attached by him to thoroughly 

 cultivating, draining, and manuring coco-nut 

 lands. We quite agree with all Mr. Beven 

 says, but there are many who maintain that 

 in order to properly cultivate the land, the 

 roots must, or may be, disturbed and damaged, 

 and through them the tree. This surely need 

 not be to such a degree as to cause cultivation 

 to be "tabooed" entirely; Mr. Beven evidently 

 agrees with us. We would add that all the 

 footnotes are ours. 



" With coco-nuts, cultivation should com- 

 mence immediately after planting. General 

 rules will not apply, for some estates have 

 hard gravelly soils, some heavy clayey 

 alluviums, some loamy clay, some clayey 



