364 



THE PALM STOVE. 



the right hand. Cordiner says of this tree, that the man who plants one 

 of them confers a lasting henefit on himself, and hands down to pos- 

 terity more certain riches than can be procured in less genial chmates by a 

 life of the most toilsome labour. WTien the seeds or slips are once put 

 into the ground they require no cultivation, no pruning, no kind of atten- 

 tion, but spontaneously advance to maturity, and yield a regular and 

 never-failing produce." 



In those chmates where the mean temperature of the air is below 

 seventy-seven degrees, this tree will not succeed. Every kind of soil 

 appears to suit it if abundantly supplied with water. One pecuharity in 

 its native culture deserves the attention of the British cultivator, namely, 

 its deUghting in a saline soil and maritime situation. Bertolacci says, 

 " it flourishes so very near the sea, that its roots are in many places washed 

 by its waters, without injury, until it is actually undermined." When it 

 is intended to make a plantation of these trees in the interior of Malabar, 

 at a distance from the sea. Dr. Von Martins asserts that it is the customary 

 practice to throw as much as a half bushel of salt into the hole which 

 receives the cocoa-nut. The natural duration of the tree appears to be 

 about eighty or eighty-five years. Till it attains the age of thirty-five 

 years its growth is rapid ; after that period its developement is slower, 

 and it gradually dechnes after passing its fiftieth year. 



The cocoa-nut is propagated only from its fruit, which should be sown 

 as soon as it can be procured after its anival in this country. The 

 soundest nut should be selected, and sown in deep pots, so as to be 

 covered at least three or fom' inches deep, laying the nut in a slanting 

 position, so that the eye may be presented towards the surface of the 

 mould. None of the outer covering should be displaced, as it retains an 

 equable degree of moisture round the shell, which hastens the ger- 

 mination of the seed. About four or five weeks after sowing, if 

 abundance of moisture and heat be applied, the roots will burst through 

 the shell, and the future stem, or rather the first leaf, will begin to 

 develope itself, at first white and smooth like a piece of ivory, at which 

 period it is extremely tender, and considered an excellent article of food, 

 either eaten raw or roasted in the ashes. 



It is stated in the Tropical Agriculturist, " that if by accident a cocoa- 

 nut tree should be deprived of its top, that the roots cease to acquire 

 nourishment, and the stem is reduced to dust in the course of eight 

 or ten days. In this respect it differs remarkably from other large 

 trees, which, being topped, the trunks sprout out into vigorous vege- 

 tation." Whether this circumstance has been noticed in European 



