182 Dr Cleghorn on the Coco-Nut Tree and its Uses. 
ping of the juice, and other unmistakable signs. When ready, 
the end of the spathe is fixed into a kuduvé (small chatty); 
and a small slip of leaf is pricked into the flowers to catch 
the oozing liquor, and to convey the drops, without wastage, 
clear into the vessel. When the spathe begins to yield toddy 
he ceases to hammerit. It will give toddy for about a month, 
during which time, every morning and evening, he mounts the 
tree, empties the toddy into his eropetty, binds the spathe an 
inch lower down, smears the end of it with his pdlai matiai, 
and shaves a little away, then pricks in the slip of leaf, and 
ties the kuduvé on again. 
The man who ascends the tree is generally a paid servant, 
receiving about Rs.7 a month. He will attend to thirty or 
forty trees. Forty trees yield about twelve measures (Madras) 
of juice, seven in the morning and five in the evening. During 
the heat of the day the spathe does not bleed so freely as in the 
night. Twelve measures for forty trees is at the rate of a little 
more than one-fourth of a measure to each tree. A first-rate 
tree in a good soil, and carefully tended, will produce one mea- 
sure during the night, and three-fourths or one-half of that 
uantity during the day. But taking one tree with another, 
a quarter or half a measure is a fair average. Some trees, 
under favourable circumstances, continue yielding at this 
rate throughout the year, others only for six months. It is 
not prudent, however, to draw all you can from them, as 
they will be exhausted, and become barren. Every morn- 
ing and evening when the Sanar goes to draw the toddy, a 
servant or some one connected with the owner or contractor 
for the trees usually accompanies him with a chatty, into 
which is emptied the toddy from the eropetty. When all the 
trees have been visited, and the toddy measured into the 
chatty or cullu-pand, it is carried away to the bazaar rented 
by the contractor from Government at a fixed price. In Madras, 
there are 58 first-class toddy shops, to each of which 330 coco- 
nut trees are allotted ; the contractor paying daily Rs. 2-12-10 
to Government for each such shop. ‘There are 63 second-class 
toddy shops, to each of which 247 coco-nut trees are allotted— 
each shop yielding daily Rs. 2-2-10 to government ; also 205 
third-class shops, to each of which 165 trees are allotted—each 
