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Edible Products. 



they must all be turned back, or, if fed, every kilo of the resulting manure must 

 be scrupulously returned. He must pay for the cultivation of the land, 

 for the growing of crops that he turns back as manure (and that involves further 

 expense for their growing and plowing under), and, in addition, he must be 

 subject to such outlay for about seven years before he can begin to realize for 

 the time and labour expended. 



But there are expedients to which the planter may have recourse which, 

 if utilized, may return every dollar of cultural outlay. By the use of a wise 

 rotation he can not only maintain his land in a good productive condition, but 

 realize a good biennial crop that will keep the plantation from being a financial 

 drag. The rotation that occurs to me as most, promising on the average coco- 

 nut lands of these Islands would be, first, a green manure crop, followed by corn 

 and legumes, succeeded by cotton, and then back to green manures. To make 

 the first green crop effective as a manure, both lime and potash are essential 

 the former to make available the nitrogen we hope to gather, and the potash 

 in order to secure the largest and quickest growth of the pulse we are to raise 

 for manurial purposes. Both these elements are generally in good supply in our 

 coconut lands; but, if there is uncertainty upon this point, both should be 

 supplied in some form. Fortunately, the former is cheap and abundant in most 

 parts of the Archipelago, and, when well slaked, may be freely applied with 

 benefit, at the rate of a ton or even more to the hectare. In default of the 

 mineral potash salts, the grower must seek unleached wood ashes, either by 

 burning his own unused jungle laud to procure them or by purchasing them 

 from the neighbour who has such laud to burn over. If located on the littoral, 

 he Avill carefully collect all the sea-weed that is blown in, although in our tropical 

 waters the huge and abundant marine algae are mostly lacking. Such as are 

 found, however, furnish a not inconsiderable amount of potash, and, in the 

 extremities to which planters remote from commercial centres are driven, no 

 soui'ce is too inconsiderable to be overlooked. 



The first green crop selected will be one known to be of tropical origin 

 which, with fair soil conditions, will not fail to give a good yield. He may with 

 safety try any of the native rank-growing beans, cow-peas, soja, or velvet beans 

 or, if these are not procurable, he has at command everywhere an unstinted 

 seed supply of Oajanus indicws, or of CUtorea tematea, which will as well effect 

 the desired end, to wit, a great volume of humus and a new soil supply of 

 nitrogen. It remains for the planter to determine if the crop thus grown is to 

 be plowed under, or if he will use it to still better advantage by partially 

 feeding it, subject, as previously stated, to an honest return to the laud of all 

 the manure resulting therefrom. He may utilize it in any way, even to selling 

 the resulting seed crop, provided all the remaining brush is turned back to the 

 land and a portion of the money he receives for the seed be reinvested in high- 

 grade potash and phosphatic manures. 



The plantation should now be in fair condition for a corn crop, and as a very 

 slight shading is not prejudicial to the j r oung palms, the corn can be planted 

 close enough to the trees, leaving only sufficient space to admit of the free 

 "Cultivation that both require. It must not be forgotten that corn makes the 

 most serious inroads upon our soil fertility of any of the crops in our rotation, 

 and, unless by this time the planter is prepared to feed all the grain produced 

 to fatten swine or cattle, it had better be eliminated from the rotation and 

 peanuts substituted. In addition to this, he must still make good whatever 

 drains the corn will have made upon this element of soil fertility. 



