CHAPTER IV 



SELECTION AND TREATMENT OF SEED 



A. Varieties of Coco - nuts. — There have nowhere 

 been any prolonged experiments in the breeding of 

 coco -nuts; there are no seedsmen who deal in coco- 

 nuts as seedsmen do in the seed of the field and 

 garden crops of temperate countries ; and except the 

 French Ministry of the Colonies, no government has 

 carried on any systematic study of the different 

 varieties, races, and strains which may be recognized 

 among the coco-nuts, or made any effort to compare 

 in a single place the races from different countries. 

 There are very numerous names which are given 

 in different parts of the world to more or less 

 distinct varieties. Practically none of these forms are 

 so well characterized and understood that it is possible 

 to say positively whether or not similar varieties 

 found in different parts of the world are identical. 

 This much can be stated positively, that we do not 

 know thoroughly distinct varieties which can be trusted 

 to breed true, as for instance, the different races of 

 horses or of maize will do ; but that there are in all 

 countries, where the raising of coco-nuts is an important 

 industry, strains or varieties which are suited to differ- 

 ent purposes, or which are of unequal value. With 

 regard to the suitability of different varieties for differ- 

 ent climatic or soil conditions, nothing whatever is 

 known. 



The best study of the varieties of coco-nuts which 



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