336 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



same class of buyer, so that the one marketing 

 does for all alike. 



The correspondent in the Mindanao Herald 

 (see page 94) touches upon the utilization 

 of cattle on coco nut estates, and tells us 

 that when the coco-nut trees have reached 

 the age of two and a half years they will have 

 reached such a height that cattle cannot injure 

 the palms. This we consider over young ; we 

 should rather give three and a half years as 

 the minimum, and, better still, four years. 

 Unfortunately we have never been in the 

 Philippines, however, and the palms may 

 flourish their luxuriantly, and grow generally 

 at a more rapid pace to start with than else- 

 where ; so we are ready to take it for granted 

 that cattle can be turned in under the trees 

 at two and a half years, and only warn the 

 planters to see that whatever the age, whether 

 two months or twenty years, neither graz- 

 ing animals nor anything else be allowed to 

 wander around and hurt the palms. To-day, 

 possibly, with the more favourable cultivation 

 and attention given to coco-nut planting, at 

 any rate on paper and in reports, they may 

 respond to the kindlier and more generous 

 treatment and grow quicker ; but, if so, they 

 will be less tough and so more liable to attract 

 attention from the cattle than were the ten-feet 

 tall palmlets that we remember at three to 

 four years old fighting for their spot in the 

 sun, on sandy stretches along the seashore, or 



