BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 69 
watered for a few weeks till they become firmly established. After this the 
young trees are left entirely to themselves, and are neither watered nor manured ; 
they come into bearing in Kiltan in from 8 to 10 years, and produce fruit so 
vigorously and. plentifully that it is sometimes necessary to support the luxuriant 
growth of nuts artificially *; in this island, moreover, the preliminary attention 
to seedlings is not required. 
In some of the other islands, as in Chitlac, where the soil is much poorer, the 
trees do not come into bearing till they are 15 to 20 years old, each tree at best 
producing only about 50 nuts per annum as against 80 to 85 nuts a year in 
Kiltin, In Kadamum, too, backward though the cultivation in that island is, 
the average per annum is about 80 nuts per tree; in Améni, where the 
cultivation is almost as extensive asin Kiltsin, the average is only about 60 
nuts a year from each tree. These figures are given. by Robinson, after care- 
ful and prolonged enquiry, as representing the yield in 1844 and 1845; Hume 
gives the average all over for the four British islands in 1875 at 80 nuts per 
tree per annum}t—doubtless rather a high general estimate, though probably 
representing the yield of what the people in any of the islands would themselves 
consider a good tree. Robinson thinks that 60 to 70 nuts would be a pretty 
fair general average for the whole of these islands, and this is likely to be nearer 
the truth than the higher estimate. 'The islanders try to plant only /irst class 
trees, and they aim at obtaining such as will come into full bearing in about 
10 years, throwing out every month after that age is reached a fruiting-spike 
bearing 15 to 20 nuts, and so yielding 180 to 250 nuts a year, and going on 
bearing at this rate till they are 60 years old. They often do go on bearing, it 
is said, till they are 70 or 80 years of age, and some are believed by the people 
to be more than a century old, But a tree that produces a fruiting-spike every 
month is quite a rarity ; 9 to 10 fruiting branches are all that can be hoped for 
in twelve months, and from accidents and casualties among the nuts, 8 to 10 
a Spike is a very high average of nuts. Indeed, it is only trees with an eastern 
exposure and trees growing in the Aa in the centre of the islands that yield 
so highly ; those with a south-westerly exposure or those on the drier parts of 
the best islands yield as poorly as those of Chitlac, where the conditions, as a 
whole, are unfavourable, 
There is very little exportation of coco-nuts from the islands, much the 
greater portion of the crop being required for home consumption. As, more- 
over, the great product of the islands is coir, not coco-nuts, an immense propor- 
tion. of the crop is gathered before the nuts are perfectly ripe and before the 
kernel is in the best condition for yielding oil. If allowed to remain on the 
* Robinson, Madras Journal, n. s, xiv, 24, 
t ‘Stray Feathers,” iv, 410. 
