and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— May, 1912. 



planted up in nuts during the next few years no 

 one can doubt ; and while many good companies 

 will be floated, not a few wild cats will see the 

 light of day. 



The first thing to be considered by any one 

 intending to go in for nuts is the 



CHOICE OP LAND. 



Coconuts will grow in any soil, but will not bear 

 in every soil. The best soil is a chocolate loam, 

 and the one to be most avoided is latente. 

 While coconuts do well in the blue clay soil of 

 Lower Perak, they bear badly in the white clay 

 soils of Ceylon. I worked an estate in the Chi- 

 law District of Ceylon where there was a white 

 clay field. The trees gave about 30 nuts each a 

 year and the nuts ran over 7,000 to a ton of copra. 



A white loose sand is unsuitable for coconuts, 

 though the low quality of the soil can be re- 

 medied by systematic manuring as is done on at 

 least twogood dividend-paying estates in Ceylon. 



It is a fallacy to think coconuts will not bear 

 well away from the sea. Given a suitable soil 

 and a fair rainfall, thoy will give excellent results 

 100 miles from the sea. If the land chosen is 

 low lying, thorough draining must be done. It 

 is as well to clear away all timber, as decaying 

 soft wood is a favourite breeding-ground for 

 beetles. 



The next care to be taken is in the 



SELECTION OF THE SEED NUTS. 



Only good round smooth husked nuts from 

 trees at least 30 years old should be taken. 

 (Stick a blade of a pocket-knife into the husk 

 and you will get a good idea of the size of the 

 nut inside, or— better still — have a few skinned 

 It does not follow that the largest husk has 

 the largest nut inside. 



When making a nursery dig over the soil at 

 least 12 inches deep if the plants are to stay 

 there long. Place the 



NUTS IN BOWS ON THEIR SIDES 



with the eye end slightly raised and cover 

 with earth leaving the eye and about one quar- 

 ter of the nut exposed. Planting nuts on end 

 generally gives disastrous results. The protec- 

 ting cap falls off after a few clays and every 

 shower of rain leaves a little water in the cup 

 at th.=> head of the nut. This water is heated 

 by the sun and a portion of it soaks through 

 into the nut and very often rotting results. 

 Some 16 years ago 1 put in two nurseries 

 of 25,000 nuts each to test the two ways and 

 while only five per cent of the horizontally 

 planted nuts failed to germinate, 28 per cent 

 of the up-ended missed, Opinions differ as to 



the distance at which plants should be put out. 

 30' x 30' is a good distance. This on the square 

 will give 48 and in triangles 56 to the acre. 

 Holes should be dug — when practicable— at 

 least 2£' x 2J' x 2 J' and filled in with surface 

 soil and ashes to within a foot of the ground 

 level and the nut planted in a hollow scooped out 

 of this earth. 



Now as to how old the plants should be 

 before being removed from the nursery. I 

 believe in 



PLANTING OUT AS YOUNG AS POSSIBLE, 



in fact as soon as a good healthy spike appears 

 and before the nut throws out roots. The germ 

 feeds for some time on the kernel and as this 

 source fails throws out roots to obtain sus- 

 tenance. The longer the plant is kept in the 

 nursery the longer and more numerous these 

 roots become. These roots must all be care- 

 fully cut off before the nut is planted out and 

 for some time after this the plant is without 

 food. The shock kills a large percentage. The 

 one takeD from the nursery without roots 

 receives no shock and has still plenty of kernel 

 to feed k from. I have planted many thousands 

 such in Ceylon and the Southern Pacific with 

 most satisfactory results, A handful of salt 

 sprinkled around the bed of the nuts is very 

 effectual in keeping off white ants. 



The trees must be kept clean. If the whole 

 estate is not clean-weeded a circle of six feet 

 radius round the plant must be kept clean and 

 for the rest of the land only a short rooted 

 grass can be allowed to grow. All weeds and 

 dead leaves should be collected and burned* 

 The smoke materially helps to keep down beetlea 

 and other pests. 



In Ceylon and S. India the nuts are picked 

 by men who climb the tree, cut down the nuts 

 and pull off all dead branches and spathes and 

 generally clean the tree. These nuts are picked 

 when ripe but not brown. They are collected 

 and allowed to brown on the ground. This 

 taK es a moiith to six weeks. I know of no other 

 country .diere this is done. Generally the 



NUTS ARE ALLOWED TO BROWN ON THE 

 TREES AtJD FALL 



in their own time, while s ^me planters pick by 

 means oi long bamboos at the same stage. The 

 first method recommends ibself strongly as the 

 trees are cleared every two months and less risk 

 is run of the nuts germinating before curing is 

 started. This should be avoided for as soon as 

 germination sets in the kernel commences to de- 

 crease in size (therefore weight) and oil, made. 



