II 



CLIMATE AND SOIL 



23 



Marshall Islands. On the other hand, the coco -nut 

 thrives in the Puttalam district of Ceylon with a 

 rainfall of 127 centimetres. On the Constance estate, 

 the largest in Trinidad, the average rainfall is 156 

 centimetres, but there are years when it falls to 

 115 centimetres without injury, there being no dry 

 season. Zamboanga has the best coco - nuts and 

 the lowest rainfall in the Philippines. The average 

 precipitation is probably less than 1 metre. Trees 

 especially favourably placed are uninjured even when 

 it drops to 413 millimetres, as in 1903, and even this 

 limited amount almost all in one half of the year. 

 In any dry season it can be observed that the trees 

 begin to suffer when their supply of ground water is 

 reduced, but not before that time. 



High atmospheric humidity is commonly regarded 

 as beneficial to coco-nuts. This idea is justified only 

 in so far as too dry air may result in the tree's losing 

 water faster than the roots can replace it. The absence 

 of coco-nuts from Egypt and from the hottest part of 

 Australia is due to dryness rather than to the heat. 

 The plant has too poor absorbing structures to be 

 expected to thrive beside the date. But if such extremes 

 be left out of consideration and attention confined to 

 such lands as have some coco-nut industry, it is probably 

 safe to say that dryness of the air never hurts the 

 coco-nut, except when it is accompanied by dryness 

 of the soil. Coco-nuts on the sides and tops of hills, 

 and on ground underlain by porous limestone, need to 

 have the air quite humid, and very uniformly so, and 

 the rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year. 

 Coco-nuts are often planted in such places ; but even 

 with the best possible atmospheric conditions they 

 cannot be expected to thrive like trees whose roots can 

 constantly supply them with water for a more active 

 transpiration. 



Not humidity but dryness of the air is really 

 favourable for coco-nuts whose roots are always and 

 adequately supplied with water, and the wise man with 



