126 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



leaf tissue, whilst i to 2 per cent, of the palms 

 had been totally destroyed. Of the dead trees 

 some undoubtedly have been killed by the 

 natives in their search for beetles, the bonus 

 for beetles and larvae tending to increased zeal 

 to secure same rather than to a careful hand- 

 ling of the trees. 



This laisser faire method brings with it 

 other disadvantages, one of which is the burst- 

 ing of the trunk near the surface of the ground, 

 and these holes are still further enlarged by fires. 

 Where this happens one ought to heap husks 

 tightly around the holes in order to induce the 

 formation of roots in them which will fill up the 

 cavities. The manuring of the coco-nut in the 

 German colonies seems to be a somewhat diffi- 

 cult matter and not properly understood ; for 

 this reason, therefore, it is necessary to carefully 

 study what the expert authorities to whom we 

 are indebted for most of the notes on manuring 

 in this book have to say on the subject of 

 manuring coco-nuts. Attempts have been 

 made in Samoa with artificial manures, but they 

 have not been altogether satisfactory. This 

 may also be said of New Guinea, as it has 

 been found, at any rate with the old palms, that 

 it takes a long time before the benefits are 

 noticeable ; possibly this may be due to the 

 wrong manures being used or to improper 

 methods of applying it. 1 Young palms, on the 

 contrary, have been found to readily and rapidly 



1 See Manuring Section, p. 279. 



