V 



FIELD CULTURE 



135 



a tree to become dry ; for at least two months after 

 transplanting the tree will have to be well watered un- 

 less this is made unnecessary by rain. 



C. Cultivation of Young Groves. — The treatment 

 to be given the young grove is primarily a business 

 question, the first question to be decided being whether 

 or not catch-crops shall be grown. It is evident that no 

 crop can be grown between the coco-nuts and harvested 

 without removing something from the fertility of the 

 soil, and that this taken by itself is bad for the coco-nuts. 

 The growing of coco-nuts, however, is a business, and the 

 planter will usually not be particular where he gets his 

 returns. If the land can be made to yield a greater profit 

 by growing more than one crop on it at a time, and there 

 are not too great difficulties in the way of doing this, the 

 planter will naturally prefer not to use it for the coco- 

 nuts alone. If labour conditions permit, that is, if the 

 supply of labour is so ample that its use in the cultiva- 

 tion of catch-crops will not interfere with the extension 

 of the coco-nut plantation, it will be found then, under 

 any reasonably good market conditions, that there are 

 various crops which can be taken from the ground and 

 made to pay some profit, above the cost of raising them 

 and purchasing fertilizers more than sufficient to 

 replace what they have taken from the soil ; and that 

 their culture will keep the coco-nut plantation in 

 better condition than can be expected if attention is 

 devoted to the coco-nuts alone. 



On the other hand, the use of catch-crops is very 

 likely to prove unprofitable in the long run, even 

 though it may yield some immediate returns, unless 

 some fertilizers are returned to the coco-nuts to make 

 up for what the temporary crop has taken from the 

 soil. If such a return is made, and in full measure, 

 the coco-nuts will fare better for the operation ; because 

 the food of the catch-crop is taken from the area between 

 the coco-nuts, and the fertilizers can be applied more 

 immediately to the neighbourhood of the young trees. 

 And this is bound to result in their growing more rapidly 



