THE CO CO-NUT PALM. 



555 



cultivation of the coco-nut should be such as to cause a fall in 

 price, and sink the nett return in England to 2s. per gallon ; this 

 being clear profit, would make this kind of plantation a safe and 

 sure investment for both capital and labor in the Colonies. 



A kind of sugar made from the sap is called "jaggery," and the 

 sap when fermented forms an intoxicating beverage known as toddy. 

 The fibrous outer covering, or husk of the nut, when macerated 

 and prepared, is termed "coir," and is spun into yarn and rope. It 

 is extensively shipped from Ceylon, in coils of rope, bundles of 

 yarn, and pieces of junk. 



The coco-nut is usually planted as follows : — Selecting a suitable 

 place, you drop into the ground a fully ripe nut, and leave it. In 

 a few days a thin lance-like shoot forces itself through a minute 

 hole in the shell, pierces the husk, and soon unfolds three pale 

 green leaves in the air ; while, originating in the same soft white 

 sponge which now completely fills the nut, a pair of fibrous roots 

 pushing away the stoppers which close two holes in an opposite 

 direction, penetrate the shell, and strike vertically into the ground. 

 A day or two more, and the shell and husk, which in the last and 

 germinating stage of the nut are so hard that a knife will scarcely 

 make any impression, spontaneously burst by some force within ; 

 and, henceforth, the hardy young plant thrives apace, and needing 

 no culture, pruning, or attention of any sort, rapidly arrives at 

 maturity. In four or five years it bears ; in twice as many more 

 it begins to lift its head among the groves, where, waxing strong, 

 it flourishes for near a century. Thus, as some voyager has said, 

 the man who but drops one of these nuts into the ground, may be 

 said to confer a greater and more certain benefit upon himself and 

 posterity, than many a life's toil in less genial climes. The fruit- 

 fulness of the tree is remarkable. As long as it lives it bears, and 

 without intermission. Two hundred nuts, besides innumerable 

 white blossoms of others, may be seen upon it at one time ; and 

 though a whole year is required to bring any one of them to the 

 germinating point, no two, perhaps, are at one time in precisely 

 the same stage of growth. 



Coco-nuts form a considerable article of export from many of 

 the British colonies ; 375,770 were exported from Honduras in 

 1844, and 254,000 in 1845; 105,107 were shipped from 

 Demerara, in 1845 ; 3,500,000 from Ceylon in 1847. 



They are very abundant on the Maldive Islands, Siam, and on 

 several parts of the coast of Brazil. Humboldt states, that on the 

 south shores of the Grulf of Cariaco, nothing is to he seen but 

 plantations of coco-nut trees, some of them containing nine or ten 

 thousand trees. 



Ceylon is one of the localities where the greatest progress has 

 been made in this species of culture. 



In 1832 several Europeans settled at Batticaloa, expressly for 

 the purpose of cultivating this palm to a large extent. They 

 planted cotton bushes between the young trees, which were found 

 to ripen well, and nurse and shade them. 



