COCOANUT PALM—COLA NUT—COLORADO 
ers followed by large, hard-shelled nuts. 
The tree usually begins to bear at the age, 
or about the age of ten years, and con- 
tinues fruitful for more than half a cen- 
tury. It flourishes best in lands near 
the coast that are so sandy and shelly 
that little else will grow. 
The cocoanut is propagated wholly 
from seeds, which when planted in the 
nursery, and grown for commercial pur- 
poses, are planted in rows, and when the 
plants are large enough, are transplanted 
into the orchard and set about 20 to 30 
feet apart. For a few years, they are 
given clean cultivation, and then allowed 
to shift for themselves because they grow 
in soil not adapted to other vegetable 
growths. 
The cocoanut palm is one of the most 
important nut trees of the world. Its 
fruits are used in many ways in the 
tropical countries, either cooked, raw, 
ripe or unripe. Large quantities are ex- 
ported to temperate climates, where it is 
used by confectioners for the making of 
candies, cakes and bread. The oil is used 
in making candles, soap and for cooking. 
The central parts of the stems of the 
young plant and the terminal buds of the 
old plant are often used as vegetable food 
or salad. The dried leaves are used for 
thatching and there is a sap drawn from 
the young spathes, out of which a pleas- 
ant drink is made. The lower wood of 
the old trunk is used in cabinet making, 
the fiber is sometimes used for cordage, 
while the shell is used for drinking cups, 
bowls, bottles and sometimes polished for 
ornamental purposes Perhaps there is 
no fruit more profitable, in proportion to 
the amount of labor expended in its pro- 
duction, than the cocoanut. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
Cola Nut 
A small tree, growing to the height of 
20 or 40 feet, native to the west coast of 
Africa and about 500 miles into the in- 
terior between Sierra Leone and Lower 
Guinea. The tree has become naturalized 
in the West Indies and Brazil. There are 
about 14 species of trees, and the fruit, 
or nut, is supposed to possess a stimulat- 
827 
ing power as well as nutritive value that 
sustains the natives in great feats of 
endurance. 
It bears a profusion of purplish flowers, 
from which grow a brownish yellow fruit, 
which encloses a nut of red and white 
seeds. In its tenth year, the tree reaches 
its maturity, so that it bears more pro- 
fusely than at any other period. The 
Seeds ripen in October or November and 
will yield as much as 125 pounds per 
tree. 
The extract of the nut is believed to 
possess medicinal qualities and has re- 
cently come into use in many parts of 
the world as a beverage. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
Colorado 
Colorado gets its name from the Colo- 
rado river, a name meaning “red or red- 
dish.” It is 380 miles from east to west, 
and 275 miles from north to south, mak- 
ing a land area of 108,645 square miles 
or 66,332,800 acres. 
Colorado includes an important part of 
the Rocky mountain range, which is the 
natural divide between the drainage sys- 
tems of the Middle states, and the Pacific 
coast states. Much of it is rough and 
fit only for mining and grazing, which 
industries yield its principal wealth. It 
contains more land at higher altitude 
than any other state in the Union. About 
three-sevenths of the state is an elevated 
plateau, rising gradually from east to 
west, until it reaches the vicinity of Den- 
ver. East of this its water drains through 
the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers into 
the Missouri and Mississippi and into 
the Gulf of Mexico. Westward its waters 
drain through the Colorado river into the 
Gulf of California. The eastern one-third 
of the state is part of that great plain 
called the Mississippi valley, the western 
portion of which a generation or two ago, 
was considered a part of the “Great Amer- 
ican Desert,’ but which is now being 
rapidly brought under profitable cultiva- 
tion. 
In the mountainous portions are nar- 
row valleys of alluvial soil, washed from 
the mountain sides, some of them rich 
