Edible Products. 



336 



[October, 1908. 



Nurseries. 



If there are no plantation near where 

 seed nuts may be obtained, great care 

 must be taken in the selection of nuts 

 for planting. It is better to depend on 

 the natives for them, and to go per- 

 sonally and buy them, inspecting the 

 coconut-trees, and picking the nuts 

 therefrom, taking particular care that 

 the tree is not too old or too thin or too 

 tall, but a young, vigorous, solid, and 

 stout tree ; also seeing that the nuts it 

 bears are plentiful in number, and of a 

 good shape. They should not be long 

 and narrow, but round, with little husk 

 and plenty of milk. Open them and 

 note how thick the flesh is. Do not 

 always choose the big-looking nuts, as 

 they may have a very large husk and 

 yet be small in the nut proper. Take no 

 nuts from yellow-looking trees. The 

 dark-green trees are the best. 



Having gathered all the seed nuts 

 required, make a nursery, hoeing up the 

 ground to a depth of about 1 foot, and 

 removing all weeds. In setting the seed 

 coconut cover about two-thirds of it, 

 laying it at an angle of about 45 degrees 

 in the earth, covering lightly with leaves. 

 When the young trees have reached a 

 height of 12 or 18 inches transplant to 

 the plantation, being careful to pick 

 out all the healthiest and to condemn 

 the weak ones. This will be in about 

 three months after the setting in the 

 nursery. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that 

 it is advisable to get the nursery going 

 early, so as to be ready to plant out 

 when land has been cleared and got 

 ready to receive the young plants. No 

 time" is, therefore, lost by this arrange- 

 ment. Advantage should always be 

 taken of a downpour of rain, and plant- 

 ing out should be undertaken imme- 

 diately the ground is sufficiently mois- 

 tened. 



In transplanting, a sharp knife should 

 be used in order to slice the roots off 

 close to the husk. Holes should be dug 

 about 2 feet in depth and 2 feet in dia- 

 meter, and the nut planted therein 

 about 9 inches below the surface, a fill- 

 ing of 9 inches of surface mould being 

 placed at the bottom of the hole. The 

 nut should then be completely covered. 

 Keep a ring of about 12 feet in diameter 

 around each plant, and the intervening 

 ground well hoed and free from weeds, 

 because the roots require a great deal of 

 air and light during the first three years 

 of the plant's existence. 



The lining out of nuts should be done 

 very carefully, so that the trees are in 

 line both horizontally and traversely, 



and so that they are not more than 30 

 feet apart. No other 'trees? should be 

 planted in between. Some planters have 

 planted 33 feet apart, and are now 

 putting rubber between the rows. This 

 is considered a mistake, as both classes 

 take a great deal out of the ground, and 

 as they attain to maturity their roots 

 will become interlocked. Thus they will 

 be fighting for supremacy beneath the 

 surface, and are bound" to cripple each 

 other in the long run. If it is desired to 

 cultivate both classes of trees, Mr. 

 Schroder's advice is to strictly plant 

 them apart. 



Insect Pests. 

 Beetles will, of course, be found on 

 every plantation, however well kept it 

 may be ; but the clearing of the land of 

 all dead timber will make the number 

 very much less than if the logs were left 

 to rot away on the ground. More beetles 

 have been found in the coconut-trees 

 planted on the outskirts of a plantation 

 where the bush is rubbing shoulders, so 

 to speak, than in the plantation itself, 

 whence all dead timber has been 

 removed. 



There are several kinds of beetles ini- 

 mical to coconuts. The big "Rhino- 

 ceros" species seems to do most damage. 

 This beetle grows to a length of 2 inches 

 and a girth of 1 inch. It burrows a way 

 through the young trees right into the 

 soft heart. It does not require much 

 imagination to estimate the damage this 

 pest can cause. The tree will look quite 

 healthy, new shoots will spring out, and 

 coconuts appear as on any other tree, 

 but the nuts will never ripen — as soon as 

 the flesh begins to form in it the nut 

 will drop off- 



Until the beetle has been got out of 

 the tree, the planter need not look for 

 any return for all his work and outlay 

 of money ; for the creature will continue 

 to eat its way upwards towards the new 

 shoots, and all the nuts will be affected 

 the same as the first. This beetle, how- 

 ever, can be extracted by an easy 

 process. 



Procure a wire about 3 feet in length, 

 with a handle at one end and the other 

 end twisted corkscrew fashion. Now, 

 look under the leaves and you will notice 

 that the cloth around the tree appears 

 as if it had been chewed by a rat ; pull it 

 away nnd the beetle's hole will be 

 visible ; then pu&h the wire up as far as 

 it will go, twist it round, and in nine 

 instances out of ten you will succeed in 

 extracting the beetle. Dust the leaves 

 near the trunk with Paris green, also 

 putting Paris green in the hole. This 

 will destroy any eggs the beetle may 



