February, 1909.] 



127 



[Oils and Fats, 



work fast and being accurate, I make a 

 number of light frames of the top and 

 bottom sizes, which enable the men to 

 mark out in the first place a pioper 

 square that would be at right angles to 

 the holes that have been dug, and the 

 ones to be dug, and the 3ft, frames would 

 guide tbem as to the accuracy of the 

 bottom. In low lying land the holes 

 are cut to various depths, from 1 ft. 

 2 ft. 6 inches, and in some instances the 

 nuts are planted on the surface. This 

 land I subsequently drained, throwing 

 the earth up and thereby raising the 

 land where the trees were planted. 

 The drains at the same time drew away 

 all superfluous moisture. 



THE YOUNG PLANTS 



are carefully dug out of the nursery 

 taking care that only the best plants 

 are taken up, and any broken or 

 damaged roots trimmed. One foot 

 of surface soil is. returned to the 3 

 feet deep holes, and in it the young 

 plant is placed and staked, taking care 

 that the soil round the plant is firmly 

 tramped down, leaving just the top of 

 the nut showing. The soil I was dealing 

 with was a sandy loam with a good free 

 giavelly sub-soil— there being in most 

 parts of the land 3 to 4 feet of good 

 surface soil. There is no doubt that one 

 must be guided by his soil and sub-soil 

 as to the depth of planting. As for 

 example, if the sub-soil is one of cold 

 clay which is as a rule impervious to 

 water, and is not physically fit for 

 planting, if it has to be planted, surface 

 planting is the only way, backed up by 

 a thorough system of drainage. 



Weeding. 

 On the subject of eradicating weeds I 

 was taught (1st) not to allow the weeds 

 to go to seed, (2) to study the nature of 

 the plant, (3) not to allow any plant to 

 breathe too long, (4) to weed clean. No. 

 1 needs no explanation. No. 2 is very 

 important as some plants will die when 

 cut; at surface level, while to others 

 surface cutting will act as a pruning and 

 will make them grow better; others 

 again grow from cutting. So each has 

 to be treated according to its nature. 

 As regards No. 3 the leaves being the 

 breathing pores of the tree the constant 

 cutting down after the weed was grown 

 to about 5 inches, weakens the consti- 

 tution of the plant and in times it dies 

 out. This has been done with great 

 success in Australia, where it was found 

 impracticable to root out certain weeds 

 on very large areas. No. 4 is equally 

 important, as by careless weeding one 

 cannot eradicate weeds, as the plants 

 left will run to seed and the seed become 

 plants before that portion has its turn 

 again. I applied these methods according 



to the nature of the weed I had to deal, 

 with the result that what was a very 

 weedy estate became practically clean. 

 1 do not approve of burying the coconut 

 leaves, etc., in trenches in the middle of 

 the rows, as I consider that the expense 

 would be greater than the benefits 

 received. Dry vegetable matter as a 

 rule does not contain any valuable plant 

 food except potash. I chop up the 

 leaves with mamoties and burn them 

 with the weeds in suitable heaps, and 

 scatter the ashes around so that the 

 potash would percolate into the soil by 

 the rain. 



Cultivation. 

 I was taught, and experience has 

 proved, that intense culture with deep 

 cultivation is necessary for successful 

 fruit growing, for the reason, (1) that 

 the feeding roots could travel easily 

 without resistance in search of food ; (2) 

 that it meant an access of air so neces- 

 sary for nitrification and for other 

 chemical changes that would take place 

 by atmospheric influences, etc, by which 

 means the dormant plant food becomes 

 available ; (3) that it meant the reserva- 

 tion of moisture by means of breaking 

 up the capillary tubes iu the soil and 

 thereby minimising evaporation ; (4) 

 that it prevented the washing away of 

 plant food as the rain would penetrate 

 into the ground instead of running 

 away. I found that 1 could not carry 

 out all these principles on the coconut 

 estate, so I set to work to adopt as much 

 of them as possible. 1 found that the 

 soil had been turned round the trees in 

 certain portions, to the extent of 5 feet 

 lea vin g one foot at the base of each. For 

 the first wet. season I continued this 

 system, as my labour conditions, etc, 

 would not permit anything more. The 

 next season I left 18 inches at the base 

 of the tree, and turned the soil 7 ft. 

 round the tree. I later on increased it to 

 8 and 9 ft., my object being to continue 

 increasing so that ultimately the two 

 circles of the opposite trees would meet, 

 and the entire 



FEEDING GROUND BETWEEN THE TREES 



be cultivated. The cost of turning 

 soil 9 ft. leaving 18 inches at the base 

 was a little over 2 cents per trees as 

 a cooly could do 16 trees a day, wages 

 at 33 cents per day. I imported a 

 splendid double farrow plough from 

 Australia which I worked with a team 

 of four buffaloes, but as the buffaloes 

 required too many men to drive, and as 

 they could not be worked during the 

 hotter parts of the day, I hired an 

 elephant paying Rs. 5 per day, and, feed- 

 ing it on coconut leaves, I "found that 

 with the elephant 1 could plough four 

 acres a day. The heavier soils require 



