November, 1911.] 



399 



Edible Products. 



the list of coconut growing countries. 

 In fact, during the year mentioned the 

 Philippines produced about one-third of 

 the world's output. 



A large amount of copra is cousumpd 

 locally. During the year in question 

 232,728,116 pounds of copra, valued at 

 $6,1)50,740, and 3B4 788 gallons of coconut 

 oil, valued at $157,916, were exported. 

 If this result has been obtained under 

 the haphazard methods in vogue what 

 may be anticipated when due care is 

 exercised in selecting suitable land, 

 when it is properly cleared and planted, 

 and when suitable cultivation is conti- 

 nued while the young trees are growing 

 and after they begin to produce? 



Soil and climatic conditions vary 

 greatly in different parts of the Phi- 

 lippines, and it is important in selecting 

 a site for a plantation to know what 

 to seek and what to avoid. Most author- 

 ities are agreed that a stiff, clayey 

 soil is not favourable to coconut pro- 

 duction, but I have seen perfect trees, 

 bearing one hundred or more splendid 

 nuts each, growing in precisely this kind 

 of soil. It is, of course, possible that 

 there may have been an underlying layer 

 of more friable and permeable soil, but 

 the existence of these magnificent trees 

 growing in clay conclusively demon- 

 strates the fact that it is unsafe to 

 conclude, from apparently unfavourable 

 surface indications, that a given piece 

 of land may not produce coconuts to 

 great advantage. 



Other authorities inveigh against a 

 very sandy soil as being unsuited to 

 coconut growing, and go so far as to 

 state that every grain of sand in excess 

 of what is required to make the soil 

 fairly permeable to water is a positive 

 detriment, yet the finest coconut tr ees 

 that I have ever seen stood in pure 

 beach sand, so poor that it would hardly 

 grow either grass or weeds, and so 

 destitute of plant-food that a careful 

 chemical analysis failed to reveal the 

 presence of any at all ! 



Trees growing in sand close to the 

 sea naturally never lack for water, and 

 all authorities are agreed that coconut 

 trees need an abundant supply of water 

 at all times. It is equally certain that 

 they are prejudiced by the presence, 

 in their immediate vicinity of stagnant 

 water, while in cases where the perma- 

 nent water-table comes very near the 

 surface of the ground their roots spread 

 out just above it with the result that 

 they fail to grasp the earth firmly and 

 the trees are readily blown down by 

 violent winds, 



The saying so common among natives 

 of coconut-producing countries that the 

 trees will not flourish unless they can 

 see or hear the waves of the ocean 

 undoubtedly rests on a solid basis of 

 fact. The greater the volume of water 

 which daily flows up through the stem 

 of the tree and evaporates from its 

 leaves, the more rapid and vigorous 

 the growth of the tree and the greater 

 its productivity. Evaporation being 

 intimately associated with the free cir- 

 culation of air, it follows that sites 

 which are fully exposed to the prevail- 

 ing winds are best, unless those winds 

 are so violent as to injure the leaves 

 and dislodge the young nuts. Coconuts 

 should, therefore, never be planted in 

 inclosed and sheltered valleys, but the 

 site selected for a plantation should be 

 along the coast or on some open plain 

 where the circulation of air will be 

 impeded as little as possible. Regions 

 which have especially well-marked wet 

 and dry seasons are not favourable to 

 coconut production, especially if the 

 dry season be of long duration. While 

 coconut trees are seldom killed by such 

 drought? as occur in the Philippines, 

 the production of nuts is often tempor- 

 arily checked by drought in provinces 

 where the dry season is especially long 

 and severe. 



There are regions in the Philippines 

 where rain usually falls during every 

 month of the year, and they are especi- 

 ally favourable for coconut production. 

 Rain maps of the Philippines, showing 

 for each month of the year the rainfall 

 conditions throughout the Archipelago, 

 so far as they are known, may be seen 

 at the Manila Observatory, and inform- 

 ation relative to the distribution and 

 amount of rainfall in any particular 

 region will be gladly furnished, if avail- 

 able,, by Father Jo?e Algue, the 

 Director of the Weather Bureau. It 

 will be found that there are many re- 

 gions where conditions as regards 

 rainfall leave nothing to be desired. 



While the coconut palm is admirably 

 adapted by nature to resist severe wind 

 storms, and when standing in suitable 

 ground is seldom uprooted by the most 

 violent gales, severe typhoons will some- 

 times blow all of the nuts off trees, at 

 the same time destroying the blossoms, 

 so that the resumption of fruiting will 

 be delayed for a considerable period, 

 while the violent whipping about to 

 which the leaves are subjected in these 

 very severe storms injures them even if 

 it does not serve to detach them from 

 the trees. 



While typhoons do not prevent the 

 profitable growing of coconuts through- 



