THE COCOANUT. 97 



In from three to six months the nut will germinate, and may be transplanted when 

 the third and fourth leaf have formed. The tree is also propagated by cuttings, as 

 where the head is taken from a blown-down tree In Ceylon the nuts are bedded in 

 the nursery, and are covered an inch deep with sand and seaweed or soft mud from 

 the beach. They are watered daily until they germinate. Thus bedded in April they 

 are sufficiently grown to be planted out before the rains of September, when they 

 are set in holes 3 feet deep and 20 to 30 feet apart. It is customary to place soft mud 

 and seaweed in the bottom of the holes on which to set the roots of the plants. For 

 the first two years, during which time the growth is very slow, the plants are watered 

 and protected from the hot glare of the sun. By some planters care is taken to so 

 place the nut that the three black spots on one end are uppermost ; the stem rises 

 from one of these to apertures that remain soft, and the shell is soon split. 



The fruiting age begins when the tree is from four to twelve years old. After the 

 tree begins to fruit, it continues with increasing yield for seventy-five or eighty years. 

 They thrive in a compost of two parts of rich loam, one part peat and one of sand. 

 They require a" copious supply of water during growing season, which should be 

 gradually diminished as winter approches. With sufficient moisture and good soil, 

 blossoms succeed each other every few weeks, and it is usual to find bloom and fruit 

 in all stages of development upon the same tree. A mature tree will produce about 

 100 nuts per year; some trees ripen as many as 300 nnts per year. The nuts grow in 

 clusters, five to fifteen forming a bunch. 



Florida growers of the cocoauut bury the nuts until they sprout, and then transfer 

 to the field where they are to grow. The field planting is made in holes about 2 feet 

 deep and 20 feet apart. At the bottom of these holes the sprouted nuts are covered 

 with good earth, and as the plant grows, the earth is filled in around the plant till 

 level with the surface. For several years the demand for nuts for planting, at about 

 $5 per hundred, has exceeded the supply. The tree thrives and is fruitful in prox- 

 imity to salt water in Florida, south of Lake Worth on the east and Charlotte Harbor 

 on the west, including the keys or islands. The tree begins to fruit in southern Florida 

 in from five to seven years from the planting of the nut. When removed inland it is 

 not fruitful, indeed does not thrive. On Key West there are some trees over fifty 

 years old, and a few trees have been growing for many years at Cape Florida and on 

 Indian Key. On the keys or islands off southern Florida there are many acres of 

 bearing trees, while at Cape Sable, on the mainland, J. A. Waddell has 42,000 young 

 trees ; many other planters have groves of greater or less dimensions. At the present 

 time there are on the east coast of Florida about 250,000 trees of all ages, of which 

 20,000 or 25,000 are in bearing. About 2,500 acres comprise the area just planted. 

 On the shores of Lake Worth there are fully 50,000 cocoanut trees, old and young, 

 now growing. On some of these trees nuts hang within 2 feet of the ground, and 

 there can be nothing more picturesque and graceful than the soft yellowish-green 

 leaves of the cocoanut groves as they wave in the wind which blows almost con- 

 stantly along these shores. Many of the leaves are from 10 to 20 feet long, and as 

 perfect in every particular as an ostrich plume. 



USES OP THE COCOANUT. 



The uses and products of the cocoanut palm in tropical countries are very 

 numerous. Boots, trunk, leaf, sap, and nut are made to yield tribute to man in 

 almost innumerable ways. But in view of the limited area in the United States 

 where it is possible to grow it, there is little probability of its extensive planting 

 except for its fruit and the various products obtained from it, including the husk. 

 The husk or fibrous pericarp of the nut, called " coir " (from a Latin word, corium, 

 the skin), is employed in various ways. Coir is prepared by soaking the husks for 

 several months in water and then beating them with heavy weights. Forty nuts 

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