70 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



whichj when fermented^ forms toddy^ and then the plant 

 dies. This is not the case; it is the spadix or flowering 

 head which is cat, and from which the toddy flows. This 

 prevents it from fruiting at the time ; but as the cocoa-nut 

 palms afford twelve crops in the year^ it is only one month 

 lost; if the operation be well managed. The cocoa-nut palm 

 fruits monthly, and where it is cultivated, care is taken to 

 thin the clusters, so as to allow each spadix to produce only 

 from seven to ten nuts, otherwise they are inferior both in 

 quahty and size. Mr. Braithwaite Poole, in his Statistics, 

 states that in 1850 the imports were 1,575,000 nuts, or the 

 enormous weight of 1575 tons; and be it remembered the 

 cocoa-nut is merely used as a luxury, chiefly by children, 

 and is not imported for any other economic purpose. 



