28 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



can be trusted to be excellent for the production of 

 coco-nuts. 



In general, soil which constantly contains free water 

 is unfit for coco-nuts, and is unlikely to permit the 

 development of a root system sufficient to hold the 

 tree in its place or properly supply it with food. Still, 

 if the level of the land is such that the water is moving 

 in the soil, coco-nuts will be found in excellent condition 

 on the edges of rice paddies, not more than half a 

 metre above the level of the paddy. In the Kedoe 

 plains of Central Java, and in the district already 

 mentioned in Southern Luzon, and on the Coromandel 

 coast in India, rice paddies and coco-nut groves are 

 found mixed, with the patches of land most easily 

 made into paddies devoted to rice. In such cases it 

 will usually strike the eye at once that the coco-nuts 

 standing at the edge of the rice are the most productive. 

 This is probably due to their receiving the most light. 

 While their being in this position is very good for the 

 coco-nut, the contrary is the case with the rice. 



There is a widespread belief that the coco-nut needs 

 salt for its best development. This probably arises from 

 the fact that coco-nuts are found thriving naturally 

 on the seashore. It has been observed in Northern 

 Ceylon that the largest crops are harvested from May 

 to August, and some planters of that district explain 

 this by believing that the south-west monsoon brings 

 considerable salt in the rain-water. As a matter of 

 fact, I do not know of any good evidence that the 

 coco-nut demands salt for its best development ; and 

 the sea beach, even though it be beside the ocean, is 

 found when analysed to be as free of salt as any of the 

 land which lies above it. The coco -nut roots can 

 indeed endure considerable salt, and are sometimes 

 obliged to do so as a result of especially violent storms. 

 Their power of resistance lets them thrive there in spite 

 of occasional inundations with salt water which would 

 kill the majority of plants. But the fact that the coco- 

 nut can endure salt water is by no means a proof that 



