THE COOOANUT PALM. 



227 



ground may be dug, and various kinds of yams and tuberous roots cul- 

 tivated with advantage. 



If the instructions given are followed, distinct leaflets will begin to 

 show themselves at the end of the first year, and be completed at the 

 end of the second, on each frond, which will be 3 inches thick in the 

 stem or leaf stalk next the parent trunk. 



In the third year the bottom of the frond will assume somewhat the 

 form of a horse-shoe where it clasps the main tree ; and in the fourth 

 year the trunk of the tree will appear slightly above ground, and is 

 then called " a cocoanut tree with the elephant's foot," and will have 

 not less than twelve fronds. About the fifth year the trunk is fully 

 manifested, and there should be about twenty to twenty-four fronds ; 

 when a luxuriant well-grown tree begins to bear fruit, there will 

 be no less than thirty-six of these branches or fronds. If a tree 

 receives much attention, and is close to a hut or stall for cattle, these 

 processes may be hastened, but on a rocky hill-side they will be much 

 delayed, two or more years being required in addition to each stage. 



Spathes (chotta) or shoots, from which eventually the flowers are 

 to appear, will begin to make their appearance in the sixth year, but 

 some kinds of cocoa palm, as the Nicobar, even before this ; but on 

 other soils seven to fifteen years may pass without the slighest appear- 

 ance of the spathes. The height of the stems at this important 

 period, in some kinds of tree usually, and in all when influenced by 

 the soil, will be only a foot or two above the ground ; while in other 

 places the stem may be 16 feet high. For the first few months these 

 flower shoots are deceptive and only dry up, but within the year begin 

 to retain their blossoms and bear a few fruit, yielding abundantly in 

 three or four years after their first appearance. 



In six months from blossoming the nuts will have the kernel begin 

 to solidify, and in a year the fruit is fully ripe — even sooner if the 

 season is very hot and dry. 



The produce of the tree in full health and properly tended is 

 much dependent on soil and climate. The average may be put down 

 at 120 nuts in the twelve months, while in a low and sandy soil it will 

 amount to 200 , and when planted in gravel and laterite foundations 

 not 60 ; the most productive months are from J anuary to June, that 

 is for ripe nuts, the heat bringing them quickly to maturity. 



It is calculated that where the roots of the trees can reach water, 

 and the soil is alluvial, the trees will bear from eight to ten bunches 

 or crops of fruit ; in other and higher lands not more than six. 



One hundred cocoanuts perfectly grown and carefully dried will, it 

 is generally calculated, yield when pressed ten to thirteen edangalies 

 (each containing 92 cubic inches) of oil (40 nuts to an imperial 

 gallon). Inferior cocoanuts will vary from three to nine edangalies ; 

 fruit taken from trees on salt marshes have the least oil. 



When the trees begin to show the fruit-shoot, or spathe, it is often 

 thought advisable to extract the juices for toddy, and not allow the 

 blossoms to be grown ; but this only in the monsoon, and for that 

 season only. This is supposed to render the future fruit bunches 

 more numerous and give the sap a tendency to flow. In some places 

 trees are never allowed to bear fruit, but toddy is always extracted. 



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