312 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



and money to the subject, and we quote some 

 of his figures here. After a series of regular 

 yearly manurings, a lot of ten-year-old coco- 

 nut trees gave an annual yield per tree of eighty 

 nuts, while the same trees previously when 

 unmanured had only yielded fifty nuts. 

 Another plantation of 63 acres on hilly land, 

 with alluvial, pebbly soil, and not much humus 

 over that, was subjected to regular manuring 

 for six years. In the first two years the 

 increase in yield was inappreciable, because 

 the attenuated trees had to fill out, but for the 

 subsequent years the yield rose rapidly, and 

 showed in the end an increase of well over 

 even 50 per cent. 



Those acquainted with coco-nut plantations 

 are quite aware that the trees in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the stations are frequently more 

 vigorous and produce larger crops than those 

 even a few hundred yards distant. The 

 natives attribute the larger return of nuts to 

 a form of gratitude on the part of the trees for 

 their inclusion in the family circle, but the real 

 reason lies in the way of manure from the 

 cattle sheds and other refuse of a fertilizing 

 character. Not only is a higher yield notice- 

 able, but the nuts are larger, and young trees 

 on the plantations near the stations come 

 earlier into bearing and yield even at their fifth 

 or sixth year, whereas, in ordinary cases, a 

 period of from eight to ten years usually 

 elapses before the trees produce nuts. This 



