148 THE COCO-NUT 



raised. I am satisfied that it is possible to raise hogs 

 more cheaply in the tropics than in any temperate 

 country, and therefore expect to see the day when such 

 products as pork, as articles of commerce, shall reverse 

 their present direction of movement. But hogs in large 

 numbers are not desirable tenants of coco-nut groves. 

 They do not keep the groves as uniformly clean as 

 cattle would do, and their rooting is not good for the 

 roots of the coco-nuts. Where, however, the utilization 

 of the product of the coco-nut on the plantation is 

 carried to the point of the extraction of oil, oil-cake 

 is produced as a by-product ; and if this is done, it is 

 almost certain to be the best economic practice to use 

 the oil-cake on the ground. Although the oil-cake is 

 an article of commerce as a fertilizer, a greater profit 

 can be obtained from its use by feeding it to cattle, 

 chickens, or hogs, and getting their excreta for use as 

 fertilizers, and getting the animals for sale. 



We have discussed already catch -crops for use in 

 young plantations. These were by -crops, of kinds 

 which do not endure heavy shade. There are other 

 catch-crops which can be grown in old groves, and which, 

 at any rate on a small scale, it is good practice to grow 

 under old coco-nuts, unless the land is fully used for 

 pasture. I do not speak here of such trees as the jack- 

 fruit, tamarind, nor of any of the various others which 

 are occasionally found interplanted with the coco-nuts, 

 but which are more or less equal to the coco-nuts in 

 height, and which, therefore, are to be regarded as tak- 

 ing the place of a part of the coco-nuts in the field. A 

 catch-crop in adult coco-nuts must be a plant which 

 endures the shade of the coco-nuts, instead of disputing 

 the use of the sunlight with the latter. 



Among possible catch-crops in coco-nut groves are 

 certain fruit-trees such as the lanson (Lansium) and pili 

 nut ( Canarium). Either of these trees will thrive reason- 

 ably in the shade of the coco-nut, and will pay a bigger 

 profit for the use of the land than will the coco-nut 

 itself, provided it grows close to a good market. Neither, 



