196 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



holes, the planter must make up his mind to 

 be liberal, and allot ample space for each indi- 

 vidual palm. The coco-nut tree requires light 

 and air, and lots of it, to grow to the best 

 advantage. The crown of a well-grown 

 mature tree is at least 30 ft. across and 

 should therefore have that much room on the 

 ground also. We would not say that the wide- 

 spreading roots cover quite the same area, but 

 they are certainly over 20 ft. across, and the 

 remaining unoccupied space is all to the good. 

 Base-lines must be made as true and straight 

 as possible. It is just as easy to do so as in 

 the haphazard manner that makes them irregu- 

 lar, whilst nothing looks worse than wobbly 

 lines in a plantation. 



The marking-off stakes should be good sub- 

 stantial ones and well rammed home in their 

 exact positions so that the coolies who make 

 the holes will have no difficulty in locating 

 them, or excuse for making out-of-line mis- 

 takes. There are two modes of laying-out 

 rectangular and triangular, generally known as 

 quincunx. The latter gives rather a closer 

 plan with slightly more palms to the acre. 

 Planted in the square, seven trees less per 

 acre are obtained than with the triangular 

 system. 



The disadvantages of planting too closely 

 can easily be proved by comparing the yield of 

 a native plantation which is closely and irregu- 

 larly planted, with a similar one under Euro- 



