HOCKINGS' GARDEN MANUAL. 



81 



cordage, matting, &c. ; the leaves of the tree are used 

 for thatching their houses, and for torches when travel- 

 ling by night, and the timber is valuable for building 

 purposes. 



It grows naturally in sandy soil, a few feet above 

 the sea level, and should be planted in a warm spot 

 sheltered from the cold winter winds. Half a bushel 

 of salt should be mixed with the soil in which it is 

 planted, if it is away from the influence of salt water. 



At mauy points along the northern seaboard experi- 

 mental plantings of the cocoa nut have been made, 

 with most encouraging results; and there are, doubtless, 

 many warm, sheltered spots on the southern coast and 

 about Moreton Bay, where they might be grown with 

 perfect success. It is scarcely possible to conceive a more 

 deliriously refreshing beverage than the so-called milk 

 of the green cocoa nut just plucked from the tree, as 

 often enjoyed by the Author while travelling among 

 the beautiful islands of the Pacific Ocean, in the years 

 1845-6. 



All the products of the tree are so valuable, it bears 

 so abundantly, and is so beautiful, that all who have 

 suitable positions should plant some. The growing 

 nuts are often obtainable in Brisbane at a low price. 



Cocoa-nuts are growing wild on the beach at Card- 

 well, where they appear to have floated from the 

 islands, and been cast on shore by the surf. At the Vale 

 of Herbert there is a splendid clump planted, having 

 every indication of health and vigor. This station is 

 twenty or thirty miles inland ; and the owner has the 

 cocoa nut trees occasionally dressed with salt, to com 

 pensate for their absence from the sea shore, where they 

 usually grow. At Mackay, Mr. F. Barnes has made 

 the first large plantation of cocoa nut trees in Queens- 

 land, consisting of about eight hundred trees ; and, as 

 they stand at twenty feet apart, they cover an area of 

 seven or eight acres. At the time of writing, the most 

 of these had been planted four years ; some had been 



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