226 



ed on ant heaps than in the ground itself is interesting, perhaps 

 there is some particular virtue in earth so worked up? but the 

 more likely reasons appear to me to be either tliat the surrounding 

 ground is insufficiently drained, for Ficus elastica is exceedingly ! 

 impatient of wet when young, or that being naturally an epiphyte 1 

 the higher it is off the ground the more air it gets and conse- 

 quently the better it comes on. 



COCO-NUTS. 



The present price of coco-nuts $33 per 1,000 and the recent 

 very high price §37 must be very encouraging to those planters 

 who do not put all their eggs into one basket ; and who are con- 

 tent with fair returns on their capital. While fortunatelv it is true 

 that, there is little probability of other crops like Rubber exceed- 

 ing the demand for some considerable time to come, and conse- 

 quently Planters suffering a great drop in prices. Still, those Plant- 

 ers who have judiciously planted up parts of their Estates with Co- 

 conuts may rests assured, that, although they will not make rapid 

 fortunes, have nevertheless a staple crop which may reasonably be 

 expected to yield a steady return, and so to a great extent elimin- 

 ate that worry which the speculative element connected with 

 planting crops which are sometimes, liable to rapid fluctuations in 

 price entail. Perhaps no plant in the vegetable kingdom, has so 

 much literature in connection with its history, growth, and uses as 

 the Coco-nut Palm, nor probably is there any other single plant 

 which so lichly deserves to be written about. It is scarcely an 

 exaggeration to say that it has as many uses as there are days in 

 the year, certainly there is no part of the plant but what is useful 

 for some purpose or another. I do not propose to enumerate the 

 uses, nor to say much about its cultivation here, as these matters 

 have been gone into so fully in such works as Watt's Dictionarv 

 of Economic Products, Ferguson's Coco-nut Planting etc. For 

 the information of those Planters, however, who are contemplating 

 planting coco-nuts and have not access to the books 1 have men- 

 tioned I may say that the first thing to be considered is selection of 

 site. Now while the coco-nut is a truly littoral plant, and thrives 

 best in the vicinity of the sea, it is a mistake, as some suppose 

 that it will not grow away from the sea, and so far as the Malay 

 States are concerned this point need not trouble intending planters' 

 The second point for consideration would be soil, and the answer 

 to this would be a fine loamy soil, which if slightly inclined to be 

 sandy, so much the better. The soil at Klang appears to suit 

 them admirably as the accompanying figures show. Fig. I shews 

 a four year old tree come April, and I think it would be hard to 

 shew a finer tree at the age, the comparative height is shewn by 

 the manager standing close by. Fig. II from the same Estate is if 

 anything even a more promising specimen of robust vigour. 



For the rest it need only be said that coco-nuts begin bearing in 

 from seven to ten years, and should produce when in full bearing 

 anything from 50 nuts and upwards annually, and goon bearing 



