October, 1909,] 



297 



Oils and Fats, 



returns likely to be remunerative. One 

 year later it was reported by Mr. 

 Fletcher, Deputy Director of Agricul- 

 ture, Bombay (Annual Report on the 

 Agricultural and Botanic Stations for 

 1906-07, pages 15-16), that plot No. 5 had 

 yielded on the edge of black soil at the 

 rate of 1,166 lbs. per acre, while plots 

 numbered 6, 7, 12 and 13 gave, respec- 

 tively, 513, 650, 575 and 395 lbs. pet- 

 acre. 



Earlier than this in the United Pro- 

 vinces many experiments had been done 

 at the Saharanpur Botanic Gardens (vide 

 Gollan in Bulletin of the Department of 

 Land Records and Agriculture, No. 21, 

 1906, pages 27-28). He obtained yields at 

 the rate of 1,124 lbs. per acre and 561 lbs. 

 per acre. 



These experiments have not yet affect- 

 ed the ryots ; the crop must be demon- 

 strated very clearly as a paying one 

 before it will do that. The one thing 

 that we see from them is that the Agri- 

 cultural Department has had the matter 

 in hand. The crop as far as Manchu- 

 rian seed is concerned is one for experi- 

 ment only in those parts of India suit- 

 able for wheat, but what about the 

 Javanese supply of seed ? Van Gorkom 

 in his Oost Indische Cultures, Supple- 

 ment, 1890, in pages 283-287, gives a short 

 account of the crop in Java where he 

 says that it can be grown on a large scale. 

 The Javan races should be tried in 

 India along with those of more temper- 

 ate climates. 



We may add that other articles on 

 soy beans, cake and oil appeared on 

 pages 8 and 17 of the Indian Trade 

 Journal of the 1st instant. 



COCONUT CULTIVATION. 



(From the Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal, Vol. XXIII. I., Pt. 2, Aug. 1909.) 



Dr. D. W. May, Director of the Experi- 

 ment Station of Porto Rico, Leeward 

 Islands, West Indies, in discussing the 

 cultivation of the coconut in an article 

 in the " Porto Rico Horticultural News," 

 said :— 



In planting coconuts it is important 

 to select only fine, ripe seed nuts, the 

 produce of healthy, well developed trees, 

 of good bearing capacity. The ripe nuts 

 are first set out at distances of 1 ft. from 

 each other in holes 2 ft, deep, and with 

 about 2 in, of the surface of the nut 

 exposed. It is important that this seed 

 bed should be kept moist but not wet. 

 After a period of from four to six 

 38 



months, the young seedlings will have 

 reached a size at which they can be 

 transplanted to the ground in which the 

 trees are to grow. The seedlings should 

 be set out at distances of 30 ft. each way. 

 It is a good plan to keep the soil around 

 the young trees mulched with leaves 

 and trash, as this has a helpful effect on 

 the growth of the palms. 



The coconut palm responds well to 

 cultivation and applications of manure- 

 The practice of green manuring is fre- 

 quently recommended for coconut 

 groves, and it is found that by growing 

 crops of beans between the trees, and 

 digging the vegetation into the ground, 

 growth of the palms is considerably 

 hastened. 



Coconut palms bear transplanting 

 well, and it is recommended that if the 

 young trees do not appear to be flourish- 

 ing, they may betaken up, some manure 

 and trash worked into the hole, and the 

 trees replanted, 



The period at which the coconut palm 

 begins to bear fruit varies from five to 

 ten years, depending largely upon the 

 location and the care given to it. 



The fact that coconut palms are so 

 commonly seen growing along coast 

 lines and sea beaches indicates that the 

 trees will do well in sandy soils. 

 Probably, however, they flourish best of 

 all on deep alluvial lands, such as those 

 found near the mouths of rivers. A 

 clay soil is very unsuitable for this crop. 

 Since the saline surroundings of the sea 

 coast is so congenial to the palms, it is 

 customary in many countries, when the 

 trees are planted inland, to place several 

 pounds of salt in the holes in which the 

 seedlings are set, With the object of 

 making up for the want of saline 

 constituents. 



A good coconut tree should yield an 

 average of 100 nuts per year, and under 

 favourable conditions 200 have been 

 obtained. Taking the whole island of 

 Port Rico, however, a return of 65 nuts 

 per tree is probably about the average 

 figure obtained, and no doubt conditions 

 are very similar in the British West 

 Indian Islands, This low return indicates 

 the general want of care and attention 

 from which the industry is suffering. 



The coconut palm will continue in 

 bearing for so long as seventy or eighty 

 years. During the early years of its 

 growth, catch crops of various kinds, as 

 provision crops, &c, may be planted 

 between the trees, or, better still, 

 leguminous plants, as cowpeas or velvet 

 beans. 



