160 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



before the principal effect of fertilizing should be 

 realized. The effect of the best application of fer- 

 tilizers is by no means exhausted even during this 

 long interval. By improving the general vegetative 

 activity of a tree, the planter does not merely produce 

 an increase in the marketable crop in the ways which 

 have just been suggested ; but beside this the supply 

 of organic food which the leaves produce makes possible 

 the development of larger leaves and so compounds the 

 advantage. The better supply of organic food tends to 

 produce greater activity in the growth of the roots, and 

 thus greater ability to absorb water and the food about 

 the base of the tree. There is then a greater area and 

 bulk of soil upon which the tree can draw for its water 

 and mineral food ; and this in its turn tends to insure 

 a still greater production, even aside from the greater 

 richness of any given cubic foot of soil, resulting 

 directly from the application of the fertilizer. In these 

 ways the effect of a fertilizer may be felt over an in- 

 definite number of years. 



On the other hand, the advantage which ought to 

 be secured from the use of fertilizers may be entirely 

 lost by failure to follow up the application by continued 

 proper treatment. The failure of the water-supply may 

 undo the profits which should be expected after two or 

 three years, by making it impossible for the tree to 

 properly develop the additional leaves and fruit clusters 

 which have been formed in embryo as a result of 

 temporary good treatment. If the tree is stimulated to 

 the production of more and larger leaves, which should 

 promise a continued increase in the crop, a failure of 

 water may still make this greater leaf expansion a 

 reason for fear ; for the greater the need of water, the 

 greater the injury which will follow if the supply is very 

 inadequate. Again, the expansion of the root system, 

 which should follow the use of fertilizers, will have no 

 result except to bring the trees in keener competition 

 with each other, if they are planted so close together that 

 the available soil of a grove is already fully occupied. 



