V 



FIELD CULTURE 



133 



or if transplanting is done in especially wet weather, 

 the nut should be planted a little more shallowly so 

 that when the soil is packed around it, it will stand 

 somewhat above the general level of the surrounding 

 ground. 



On good and even ground, coco-nuts planted accord- 

 ing to the directions just given will develop a large 

 bole, a sufficient part of which will be below the general 

 level of the ground to ensure the perfect anchorage of 

 the tree. There is therefore no necessity for planting 

 at a greater depth, and if the nuts are planted more 

 deeply, their subsequent growth for a considerable time 

 is likely to be retarded. In wet situations this danger 

 is especially great. As an illustration of this danger, 

 I have experience at San Eamon, where the manager of 

 the government plantation undertook to put the seed- 

 ling nuts out of the reach of wild hogs by digging deep 

 holes and then planting the nuts so far down that the 

 upper side was 30 to 50 centimetres below the surface 

 of the ground. The soil where this was done was well 

 drained and reasonably light, and as the holes were left 

 open above the nuts, it could be seen that in this place 

 the deep planting did not result in the presence of 

 stagnant water about the nuts. Nevertheless, the 

 growth of these seedlings was so slow that when they 

 were eighteen months old they were hardly as large as 

 properly planted seedlings would have been at the age 

 of six months. 



On the other hand, if the nuts are not planted 

 sufficiently deep in the ground, there will be danger in 

 many places that the roots as they begin to grow will 

 find themselves in too dry soil ; and in all places too 

 shallow planting results in the production of a bole 

 which is not buried to the extent that it should be, so 

 that a large part of the roots come out of it above the 

 surface of the ground. These aerial roots grow ex- 

 ceedingly slowly, and so impede the development of 

 the tree, and such trees are not as perfectly anchored 

 as they should be. I have seen small plantations 



