Oils and Fats.] 



126 



[February, 1909. 



the earth taken away by trenching, 

 when able, i.e., when there is rain. 

 Others don't t rench. They tie the cattle 

 and turn the soil when able. Somn tie 

 two head of cattle for a week; others 

 for lesser or longer periods, etc. There 

 is also a diversity of ways in the 

 application of artificial manure. S ome 

 do not believe in it at all ; some spread 

 the manure on the surface and turn the 

 soil, the space left at the base of the tree 

 varying from one foot to two feet, etc., 

 and turning up from 3 to 9 ft. etc. Some 

 trench round the tree and apply the 

 manure. They 



TURN THE SOIL TO A MAMOTIE DEPTH, 

 and replace the soil that has been 

 removed ; others leave two feet at the 

 base and dig a trench a foot deep and a 

 foot wide, put the manure into it, and 

 cover. Some use forks, others ply the 

 mamotie, and so on. There is also a 

 diversity of opinion and method in sup- 

 porting bunches, In picking the crops 

 some use long bamboos with a knife 

 attached ; others insist that the men 

 should climb the trees ;and pick the 

 nuts, etc. In turning the nuts into copra 

 even some large proprietors entrust 

 thousands of rupees worth of produce 

 to badly constructed and the most 

 inflammable of drying sheds, storing the 

 dried material in stores of a primitive 

 and inflammable nature. Surely each 

 and all of these methods cannot be right 

 and yet wrong. I will now give 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE METHODS 

 I HAVE ADOPTED 

 and my reasons for doing so, and I only 

 hope others will do the same for mutual 

 beuefit. I by no means contend that my 

 methods are the right ones. Eight years 

 ago I took charge of a coconut property 

 of over 600 acres, without any previous 

 experience in coconut planting, trusting 

 to my scientific training, knowledge and 

 experience in agriculture and horticul- 

 ture gained in Australia, and also hop- 

 ing to learn the methods adopted by 

 others. But, to my great surprise, I 

 found that there was no fixed principle 

 or method employed. No two plauters 

 even under similar conditions of soil 

 and climate adopted the same method. 

 There is no doubt that all cultivators of 

 the coconut and other palms are to a 

 great extent moving as it were in the 

 dark, as there is no scientific data to 

 work on, no records of research as a 

 guidance. All that can be done at 

 present is to apply scientific data estab- 

 lished for general agricultural and horti- 

 cultural purposes in other countries, 

 combined with what experience itself 

 has taught us. But what I contend is 

 that even this little has not been done 

 in any systematic form as far as the 

 coconut tree ie concerned. 



Nurseries. 

 For this purpose I trench the soil to a 

 dpprh of 2 ft. T dig and throw away 

 from the land to ba trenched 2 ft. X I ft, 

 depth of soil ; then I dig up the remain- 

 ing I ft.; another 2 ft. of surface soil 

 adjoining is dug up to a depth of 1 ft. 

 and thrown into the previous tieinh, 

 and the bottom of this new trench is 

 turned up to a depth of 1 ft. and so on 

 until completed. At the end there will 

 be wanting 2 ft. x 1 ft. depth of soil, 

 which is replaced by the first spadefuls 

 of soil that were thrown out. I adopt 

 this method as all young plants require 

 a good free depth of soil to enable the 

 youug roots to easily make their way 

 in search of food. For, as J stated in a 

 previous communication, a soil well tilled 

 makes the dormant plant food, by 

 means of nitrification, and by other 

 chemical changes that take place by its 

 exposure to atmospheric influences, more 

 available and in a soluble form to be 

 easily taken up by the young plants. If 

 the young plants receive any check it 

 retards their growth, and once dwarfed 

 they never entirely recover. For plant- 

 ing I chose the best round nuts from 

 trees about 30 years old, the nuts being 

 from those bunches that are ripe at the 

 time of picking. I plant the nuts stalk 

 end up, leaving about half an inch out 

 of the ground and a space of 18 inches 

 between them. At every third row I 

 allow a pathway 2 ft. 6 inches wide for 

 the purposes of subsequent weeding and 

 watering. I now cover all the seed beds 

 with ordinary dry coconut leaves to 

 prevent the direct rays of the sun acting 

 on the part of the nut above the surface 

 and also as a mulch for conserving 

 moisture. 1 also keep the place weeded, 

 and water it at intervals during the dry 

 months. The distance of 18 iucnes 

 between the nuts I consider necessary 

 as feeding room for the young plants, 

 as well as for a free circulation of air 

 so necessary for the well-being of all 

 growing and living things Watering 

 I consider necessary to make the plant 

 food soluble and to prevent any re- 

 tarding growth. The results I find 

 highly satisfactory. 



Planting. 

 In laying down the plants in the field 

 I place them 27 ft. apart as being some- 

 thing betwixt and between the various 

 distances generally adopted. I also con- 

 cluded from personal observation that 

 it gave sufficient feeding ground for 

 the roots, as well as air and light so 

 necessary for vegetation. The coconut 

 holes are 4 ft. square at the surface, 

 graduating down to 3 ft. square at the 

 bottom. The depth of the hole 3 ft. 

 For the purpose of getting through the 



