June 1908,] 



539 



Edible Products. 



The coconut, therefore, while a good 

 feeder, may not be classed with the most 

 depleting of field crops. 



To make this clear I exhibit, by way of 

 contrast, the drafts made by a relatively 

 good crop of two notoriously soil-im- 

 poverishing crops— tobacco and corn — 

 and, on the other hand, the drafts made 

 by an equivalent average cotton crop, a 

 product considered to make but light 

 drains upon sources of soil fertility. 



A proportionate tobacco crop of 1,000 

 kilos per hectare will withdraw from the 

 soil (reduced to the same standard of 

 weights adopted by Mr. Cochran)— 



Pounds. 



Nitrogen ... ... 168 



Potash 213 



Phosphoric acid... ... 23 



An equivalent crop of shelled corn, say, 

 of 125 bushels per hectare, will with- 



draw — 



Pounds. 



Nitrogen 200 



Potash 135 



Phosphoric acid ... 75 



while a relative crop of lint cotton of 

 237 kilos (700 pounds) per hectare* will 

 only exhaust, in round numbers — 



Pounds- 

 Nitrogen ... ... Ill 



Potash 70 



Phosphoric acid . . 30 



There is an analogy between these four 

 products that make them all comparable, 

 in so far as all are largely surface feeders, 

 and, as experience shows that there can 

 be no continuing success with the last 

 three that does not include both cultiva- 

 tion and manuring, we may use the ana- 

 logy to infer a like indispensable neces- 

 sity for the successful issue of the first, 



Cultivation as a manurial factor should, 

 therefore, not be overlooked, and all the 

 more strongly does it become emphas- 

 ized by the very difficulties that for some 

 zyears to come must beset the Philippine 

 planter in the way of procuring direct 

 manures. 



When it comes to the specific application 

 of manures and how to make the most of 

 our resources, we shall have to turn back 

 to the analysis of the nut and note that, 

 relatively to other crops, it makes small 

 demands for nitrogen. At the same time 

 it must not be forgotten that these 

 chemical determinations only refer to the 

 fruit, and that, with the present incom- 

 plete data and lack of investigation of 

 the constituent parts of root, stem, leaf, 



•Farmers' Bulletin, 114, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, 



08 



and branch, we have nothing to guide 

 us, but what we may infer from the 

 behaviour of the plant and relationship 

 to plants of long-deferred fruition, whose 

 manurial wants are well understood. 



It is now the most approved orchard 

 practice to encourage an early develop- 

 mentof leaf and branch by the liberal 

 application of nitrogen, whose stimulant 

 actions upon growth are conceded as the 

 best. 



In temperate regions, the exigencies of 

 climate exact that this be done with dis- 

 cretion and care, in order that the unduly 

 stimulated growths may be fully ripened 

 and matured against the approach of an 

 inclement season. In the Tropics no 

 such limitations exist, and the ea^ly 

 growth of the tree may be profitably 

 stimulated to the highest pitch. That 

 this general treatment, as applied to 

 young fruit trees, is specially the one in- 

 dicated in the early life of the coconut, 

 may be quickly learned by him who will 

 observe the avidity with which the fleshy 

 roots of a young coconut will invade, 

 embrace, and disintegrate a piece of 

 stable manure. 



Notwithstanding lack of chemical ana- 

 lysis, we may not question the fact that 

 considerable supplies of both potash and 

 phosphoric acid are withdrawn in the 

 building up of leaf and stem ; but these 

 are found in sufficient quantity in soils 

 of average quality to meet the early 

 requirements of the plant. It is only 

 when the fruiting age is reached that 

 demands are made, especially upon the 

 potash, which the planter is called upon 

 to make good. 



Good cultivation, the application of a 

 generous supply of stimulating nitrogen 

 during its early career, and the gradual 

 substitution in later life of mauures in 

 which potash and phosphoric acid, partic- 

 ularly the former, predominate, are 

 necessary. 



How, then, may we best apply the 

 nitrogen requirements of its early life ? 

 Undoubtedly through the application of 

 abundant supplies of stable manures, 

 press cakes, tankage, or of such ferti- 

 lizers as furnish nitrogen in combination 

 with the large volume of humus neces- 

 sary to minister to the gross appetite of 

 the plant under consideration. But the 

 chances are that none of these are avail- 

 able, and the planter must have recourse 

 to some of the green, nitrogen-gathering 

 manures that are always at his com- 

 mand. 



He must sow and plow under crops of 

 peas, beans, or other legumes that will 

 furnish both humus and nitrogen in 



