132 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



interfere with easy transplanting, the holes should be 

 dug from one to three months before they are to be 

 filled. This will permit the exposed soil to weather, 

 and will often make soil which, when first dug, would 

 not be fit to pack around the nuts, serve very well for 

 this purpose ; and where it will serve well, it is naturally 

 most convenient to use this soil. It is, however, good 

 general practice to rake or hoe a thin layer of the 

 surrounding surface soil into the hole when the nut is 

 transplanted, and to pack this around the nut. 



Eegarding the cost of digging the holes, Prudhomme 

 quotes Keating as stating that at Tamatave a labourer 

 under good management can dig in a day eight or nine 

 holes of a cubic metre, or twelve to fifteen holes 80 

 centimetres wide and deep. The filling of the holes is 

 said to take about the same time. In most tropical 

 countries it certainly will take good management to 

 make labour show this measure of efficiency. In 

 Trinidad, using light soil, the nuts are buried a depth 

 of 8 or 10 centimetres, and the holes are dug just big 

 enough to permit this. Three or four handfuls of lime 

 are thrown into the hole ; the nut is put in, covered, 

 and tamped in ; and some dry straw is thrown over it. 

 One labourer can transplant one hundred trees in this 

 way in a day. 



When the time comes for actual transplanting, the 

 hole should be filled with weathered soil in the way that 

 has just been mentioned, up to such a depth that, when 

 the seedling is put in, the level of the nut will fall at or 

 just below the level of the ground. The nut should 

 then be placed in the middle of the hole, and the space 

 around it filled up in the same way, and the soil around 

 the nut should be placed firmly enough to ensure that it 

 will be sure to keep its place and hold the nut securely. 

 If it is practicable to apply manure or fertilizer of any 

 kind, this should be mixed with the soil which is placed 

 under and around the nut. The soil should be made to 

 cover the nut with a thin layer, but not to cover the 

 short plumule. In places which are naturally wet, 



