43-b 

 full bearing, eight or ten feet of bamboo (with the divisions 

 at the Joints broken to form a pipe) Is often driven down by 

 the side of t?ie cocoanut tree, and cool water from weed- 

 covered tanks Is poured down to refresh the roots and lower 

 soil. The soil round the young plant is often kept damp by a 

 bed of leaves, particularly such as will not be eaten by white 

 ants. If the soil is naturally poor or of a hungry nature, 

 salt, ashes, paddy husks, goat's dung, and dry manures may be 

 applied for the first year, but in after seasons, fresh ashes, 

 decayed fish, carrion, or other refuse Is preferable, also 

 oil-cake . 



If the soil at the foot becomes too rich, the roots become 

 subject to the attack of larvae and ultimately the tree drops 

 down piece meal to the ground. It v;ould appear that the fear 

 of this evil is the reason why ashes alone are recommended by 

 so many cultivators. 



As soon as the new fronds have divided Into the long side 

 leaflets or lost their connected form, //hich is at the end of 

 the first year, the soil should be dug up and ashes applied 

 about once a month. When the tree is two years old, and 

 henceforward at the comjnencement of every monsoon in May and 

 June, the whole of the soil, a yard or two round the stem, 

 must be opened out and ashes with dry manure applied and left 

 open to the air ; and in October, when the rains have ceased, 

 this freshened earth should be replaced and levelled. As the 

 tree gets older and the depression at the foot is gradually 

 filled up, it may not In after years be necessary to dig so 



