August, 1911.] 



113 



Edible Products. 



trees are then used to produce seedlings. 

 In selecting seed nuts, the characters 

 of the trees from which they come are 

 to be takeu into consideration, instead 

 of merely the character of the indivi- 

 dual nuts. 



But the great bulk of improvement 

 will in most localities come from the 

 importation of seeds from other places 

 where nuts are of better quality. The 

 coconut in La Laguna, for example, 

 where copra is the principal product, 

 may be greatly improved if this province 

 imports seed nuts from S. Ramon, Min- 

 danao. According to the census for 1904, 

 from three hundred tc three hundred and 

 fifty Laguna nuts are necessary to yield 

 one picul (about 62 Kg.) of copra. About 

 two hundred S. Ramon nuts yield the 

 same amount. This great difference is 

 due to the fact that nuts from S. Ramon 

 are bigger and richer in fatty contents. 

 Seed nuts from S. Ramon when carefully 

 selected are worth from six to eight 

 centavos each, placed in Manila. This 

 price is almost twice that for local nuts. 

 But the balance is far more than covered 

 by the benefits derived from the use of 

 big nuts with high fatty content. 



Even if it is supposed that the Laguna 

 and the S. Ramon nuts are relatively 

 equal in their fatty contents, still the 

 latter will have the advantage of being 

 bigger, which fact means economy in 

 labour, since men here are generally 

 paid according to the number of nuts 

 they gather or handle in making copra. 

 S. Ramon is not the only place in the 

 Philippines that produces good big nuts. 

 There are first-class nuts in Pangasinan 

 and other nearby provinces. 



Transplanting and Distance 

 Between Trees. 



Seedlings are transplanted usually 

 when they are from six to twenty-four 

 months old. The sooner the seedlings 

 are transplanted, the better start they 

 are given and the more healthy and pro- 

 ductive the trees will be. The age at 

 which to transplant is regulated by 

 economic conditions. 



The distance between trees depends 

 upon the fertility of the soil. On rich 

 soils the trees must be farther apart 

 than on poor ones ; for in the former 

 trees are thriftier, and, therefore, 

 occupy more space than in the latter. 

 Coconut trees grow admirably in full 

 sunshine when furnished with a good 

 supply of moisture in the ground. Their 

 rate of growth is in proportion to the 

 amount of sunlight they receive and the 

 quantity of water they can draw from 

 the soil. If they are, therefore, so 



15 



planted as to shade each other, they 

 make poor growth. Economic condi- 

 tions also regulate the distance between 

 the trees. 



The arrangement of the trees to be 

 recommended is the quincunx. It has 

 the advantages that every tree is equi- 

 distant from its neighbours, and there 

 is an increase of eleven per cent, over the 

 number planted on a given area follow- 

 ing the rectangular method. The 

 quincunx is done as follows : a base lino 

 is laid out preferably parallel to one of 

 the edges of the land. Divisions are 

 marked on it, eight, nine or ten meters 

 apart according to the space the trees 

 are desired to have. These marks are 

 used as centres, and with radii of the 

 length of the desired distance segments 

 ot circles are drawn, the intersections of 

 which determine the points at which to 

 plant trees and the new points serve for 

 finding others. The determination of 

 the points and the digging of holes 

 should be done several weeks before 

 transplanting so as to weather the holes. 



Care op the Plantation. 

 Catch crops are generally used in the 

 Philippines after transplanting. For 

 this purpose, those plants that do not 

 exhaust the soil too much are best used. 

 Such are palay, camoteng cahoy — the 

 roots of which contain a large amount 

 of starch used for the production of 

 tapioca — or mango and other leguminous 

 plants. Tobacco should never be used 

 as it is a great nitrogen waster. Abaca 

 grows faster at first than coconut, and 

 when used for a catch crop covers the 

 young trees in two years so as to make 

 it hard for them to have a good growth. 

 It is, though, used extensively for this 

 purpose in La Laguna and elsewhere in 

 the Philippines. Of course if the profit 

 from it more than pays for the damage 

 done the young trees, its use cannot be 

 discountenanced. But as a matter of 

 fact the damage done is greater than 

 can be compensated for by the value of 

 the abaca since the former is permanent. 



This treatment is continued for a 

 period of from five to ten years, after 

 which the plantation is left to itself and 

 grass allowed to grow in it. This 

 practice must be condemned, for the 

 land will be best used for shade loving 

 plants, such as cacao, platano, pina and 

 others. The cultivation required by the 

 catch crop will incidentally free the 

 coconuts from competition with weeds, 

 thus giving them greater chance to make 

 good growth. Another practice is 

 followed in the Straits Settlements, 

 East Indies and elsewhere, where the 

 land is turned into pasture. The cattle 



