November, 1911.] 



403 



Edible Prodwtt. 



camotes, or yams, can be grown upon it, 

 but as the soil contains so much salt that 

 ordinary weeds do not spring up within 

 two years after planting, the usual, and 

 probably the best, practice is to depend 

 on coconuts alone rather than to 

 attempt to raise catch crops. It must, 

 however, be remembered that coconut 

 trees planted on this land are not likely 

 to produce so heavily as those planted 

 on more suitable soil, and that they are 

 more likely to be uprooted during severe 

 wind storms, as their roots strike the 

 permanent water-table near the surface 

 of the ground and will not go below it. 



Referring in detail to the returns from 

 this land,— one man will ordinarily cut 

 50 bundles of tan bark in a day. Each 

 bundle is worth $010. One man will 

 usually cut one-half cord of wood per 

 day. Deducting the cost of transport- 

 ation, this firewood will net $4 00 to$5'00 

 per cord on the Manila market. 



Coconuts planted on mangrove land 

 will, it is said, bear invariably before 

 they reach the age of six years, and 

 while such land can hardly be recom- 

 mended for a coconut plantation, any of 

 it necessarily purchased in connection 

 with other land can be utilized. 



Cost op Seed Nuts. 



Good seed nuts will cost from one to 

 four cents each. Two and a half cents 

 may be taken as a fair, average cost. 



Cost op Planting. 



The nuts should be sprouted in seed- 

 beds before planting, and the net cost of 

 placing them in the ground, including 

 the cost of care while sprouting, is 

 estimated at from 2| to 5 cents per nut. 



Under such conditions as prevail in 

 the Philippines, nuts should be planted 

 in straight lines 32 feet from each other 

 in both directions. If planted nearer, 

 the tops of the trees will ultimately 

 overlap. This means 40 nuts to the 

 acre, but as a certain percentage 

 of nuts always fails to sprout, and 

 as a certain additional number will 

 make a weak growth at the start, 

 and it is best to plant only very strong 

 growing nuts, 50 nuts to the acre should 

 be allowed. The cost of planting an 

 acre will, therefore, be approximately 

 as follows : — 



50 seed nuts at 1 to 4 centavos per nut, 

 $0-50 to $2 00. 



Sprouting and planting 40 nuts at 

 from 2£ to 5 cents per nut, $1"00 to I2'00 ; 

 making a total of $1*50 to $4 00 per acre. 



Annual Cost op Cultivation after 



Fruiting begins. 

 According to a Bureau of Agriculture 

 bulletin on coconut planting, annual 



ploughing should be continued during 

 the life of the trees. On cogon land two 

 ploughings per year may prove neces- 

 sary. These ploughings should be rela- 

 tively shallow but should be sufficient 

 to turn under any green manures such 

 as leguminous crops which may be 

 grown to enrich the soil. 



I have seen the value of ploughing 

 quite conclusively demonstrated on the 

 coconut plantation of Sr. San Augustin, 

 near Calapan, Mindoro. This is one of 

 very few coconut plantations in the 

 Philippine Islands where the trees are 

 set out in straight lines and at proper 

 distances. When I last visited this 

 plantation, I noted that the ground had 

 been ploughed between the trees on one 

 side of the highway, while on the other 

 side there had been no ploughing, but the 

 grass had been kept very short by 

 grazing cattle on it. The trees around 

 which the ground had been ploughed 

 looked decidedly more flourishing and 

 were bearing more heavily than were 

 those where it had not been ploughed. 



Importance op Fertilization. 

 Comparatively little attention has 

 thus far been given in the Philippines to 

 the subject of manuring or otherwise 

 fertilizing coconut groves, but enough 

 has been done to show that in this as in 

 other branches of agriculture proper 

 fertilizing pays. The drain on soil 

 fertility for 1,000 nuts, weighing in the 

 aggregate 2,125 pounds, has been found 

 to be as follows : nitrogen, 8£ pounds ; 

 potash, 17 pounds ; phosphoric acid, 3 

 pounds. 



Dead leaves should be burned and the 

 ashes scattered on the ground about the 

 trees. Husks and shells should also be 

 burned and the ashes scattered on the 

 ground unless machinery is available for 

 making coir, in which case it might be 

 more profitable to utilize the husks for 

 this purpose and to buy fertilizer as 

 needed. Stable manures, press-cake, 

 and tankage are all valuable. When 

 none of thefe are available, one may 

 sow and subsequently plough under 

 peas, beans, or other soil-enriching 

 crops. 



Rate of Growth and Fruiting Age 



op Coconut Trees. 

 The rate of growth and time before 

 fruiting vary in consonance with the 

 varying conditions of soil and climate. 

 Trees planted near the sea coast in 

 Palawan can be depended upon to fruit 

 before they are six years old. I have 

 seen trees four and one-half years old 

 which were already wall loaded with 

 nuts. In many parts of the Islands trees 



