Cattle, Catch-crops and Cover-plants 335 



If due care be observed, an excellent crop 

 will be obtained, and the soil will be consider- 

 ably improved by the planting. 



Ground-nuts or, as they are sometimes called, 

 pea-nuts (Arackis hypogtzd) may also serve as a 

 very remunerative catch-crop with coco-nuts, 

 but care will have to be taken not to plant too 

 close to the main crop, lest the necessary digging 

 should interfere with root development. 



The soil suitable for them appears to be of 

 a sandy, loamy description, fairly light and 

 porous, and not too dry. The average coco- 

 nut soil would therefore suit ground-nuts 

 admirably. 



In the East the usual catch-crops made use of 

 by the natives have been pepper, gambier and 

 tapioca, and it is probably the use of these that 

 has led to the frequent condemnation of all 

 kinds of catch-crops by planters. There is no 

 doubt that tapioca, in particular, exhausts the 

 soil considerably, and the same is to be said of 

 pine-apples, which are sometimes planted. The 

 prices obtainable for pepper and gambier at the 

 present time put them out of consideration 

 except on the basis of the cheapest possible 

 labour coupled with absolutely free land. 

 Native squatters may, perhaps, make them pay, 

 but hardly anyone else can do so, as the 

 cultivation is practised at present. Meanwhile, 

 soya-beans and ground-nuts being, in common 

 with the coco-nut itself, mainly valuable on 

 account of the oil they contain, attract the 



