THE COOOANUT PALM. 



241 



Archipelago. The natives have it generally about their dwellings. 

 The annual value of the produce from the trees in the Archipelago 

 is estimated at 2,500,000/., and by greater care and attention it might 

 be double. There were in 1874 in Amboyna 507,349 trees ; in Banca, 

 122,898; in Minahassa, 605,300 ; in Gorontalo, 261,950, and 405 piculs 

 of oil were there made. 



In Java and Madura there are more than 20,000,000 trees. There 

 are large plantations of cocoanuts in the Seychelles, and a good many 

 in the Mauritius ; 40,000 or 50,000 nuts are shipped yearly from that 

 island, and 100 to 400 cwts. of coir cordage. 125,532 gallons of cocoa- 

 nut oil, valued at 17,187Z., were shipped in 1874. 



Cocoanuts are grown in small quantities throughout the Straits 

 Settlements, but it is only here and there that plantations of any 

 magnitude are met with. 



There is, perhaps, no tropical colony that has so many advantages 

 for coir making as the island of Penang. At present all the use the 

 palm is put to, with the exception of making a rope for a well bucket, 

 or for some other trifling domestic purpose, is for fuel. In the oil 

 factories the husk is used as firing in boiling the kernel into oil, as 

 well as in boiling rice and curry in the kitchens. About a couple 

 of million nuts are also shipped from the Straits Settlements with 

 the husk on. 



The ' Penang Gazette ' observes : Cocoanuts growing in mangrove 

 soil on the side of creeks, and more or less saturated with salt, have 

 their milk brackish, and the sap from which it is secreted must be 

 saline also. These trees do not suffer from the attacks of the rhino- 

 ceros beetle. Trees planted in such a situation are found to bear 

 much sooner than those planted on a sandy soil. As an illustration 

 of this, the ' Penang Gazette ' states that, while trees planted as far 

 back as thirty years ago, on sandy soil, have not yet borne fruit — 

 although they are fine-looking trees — other trees in the same planta- 

 tion, only ten years old, but planted on low ground, where the sea 

 tide comes up daily, washes the roots and runs off again, are in full 

 bearing, giving from 50 to 100 nuts annually. It is true that the 

 milk of the nuts produced by such trees is slightly brackish, but the 

 kernel is as thick as that of cocoanuts grown on sandy soil, and 

 produces as much oil. The chief requisite with regard to a planta- 

 tion in such a situation, is attention to the drainage. Drains should 

 be cut longitudinally between each row of trees and cross ones at 

 greater intervals. These drains must be kept clear, so as to allow 

 the salt water to flow in and out freely. The tide is found to deposit 

 amongst the trees a very fertilizing matter. If the drains are not 

 attended to and the water stagnates, the trees get dwarfed and become 

 thin towards the top, thereby preventing them from having a large crown. 



In New Caledonia this palm is abundant on the north-east coast of 

 the island, but is rare on the opposite coast, and while it flourishes 

 on the northern aspect, it declines towards the south. It may be 

 added, however, that nowhere does it vegetate so well as on the islands 

 approaching the Line. It bears from 60 to 80 fruit. This palm is 

 widely spread over the Pacific Islands, and a considerable trade is 

 carried on in cocoanut oil. 



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