THE COCOANUT AT LAKE WORTH. 



It may not be generally known to the reader of 

 The American Garden that the cocoanut is growing 

 and bearing abundantly in the United States. It is 

 true that the area of its successful culture is very 

 small, as it comprises only a small strip along the 

 coast of Florida, beginning near Jupiter Inlet on the 

 east, and runnmg continuously around the coast, 

 including, the adjacent islands or keys, to an un- 

 known point on the west coast between Key West 

 and Charlotte Harbor. The experiments are yet 

 too few and insufficiently made to definitely deter- 

 mine just how far north the cocoanut may be grown 

 on the Gulf side of the Florida peninsula, but on the 

 east coast I think this matter has been fully deter- 

 mined. Near Jupiter Light-house is a tree that 

 has been bearing for a number of years, which was 

 not damaged by the great freeze of 1886. North of 

 there the trees are quite young, but from personal 

 observations made last winter, I conclude that it is 

 not at all likely that the cocoanut trees will ever be 

 brought to a fruiting period much north of Eden, 

 which is situated on the Indian River about 40 miles 

 north of Jupiter Inlet. 



If the reader will take the pains to examine a 

 good map of Florida, he will notice that the eastern 

 coast runs nearly parallel with the Gulf Stream 

 about as far north as a point opposite the southern 

 end of Lake Okeechobee ; from this point the coast 

 changes from a north-easterly to a north-westerly 

 direction and recedes from the Gulf Stream. The 

 warm waters of this great current have a material 

 influence on the chmate of the shores which it 

 washes, as we well know, hence the tropical char- 

 acter of the coast lying south of Jupiter Inlet. Not 

 only does the cocoanut succeed there, but many 

 other tropical growths that are sensitive to the very 

 slightest frosts are found growing there luxuriantly, 

 and even north of there. Lake Worth is really a 

 narrow sound about thirty miles long, averaging 

 less than a mile in width. It is subject to slight tidal 

 changes, as it is connected by an inlet with the 

 ocean. The strip of land lying between the lake 

 and the ocean is a most lovely place for residences, 

 and some wealthy people have availed themselves 

 of the location for their winter homes. Tomatoes, 

 beans and other vegetables are grown for northern 

 shipment in winter. There are large cocoanut trees 

 now thirty years old on this strip, about 40 feet 



high, which have been bearing since they were five 

 or six years old. They have never been damaged 

 by cold, although there have been several slight 

 frosts there since they were planted. There are 

 fully 50,000 cocoanut trees, old and young, now 

 growing on the shores of this little body of water, 

 many of them having begun to bear in the fifth 

 year from planting the nut; ; and in nearly all cases 

 they have shown signs of fruiting by the seventh 

 year. Sometimes the nuts hang within two feet 

 of the ground, as I have had abundant opportunity 

 to observe. There can be nothing more pictur- 

 esque and graceful than the soft, yellowish-green 

 leaves of the cocoanut groves as they wave in the 

 wind, which blows almost constantly along these 

 shores. Many of the leaves are from 10 to 20 feet 

 long, and as perfect in every particular as an os- 

 trich plume. There is no special season for the fruit- 

 ing of the cocoanut as the same tree has flowers and 

 ripe fruit continuously. As the crown keeps gi'ow- 

 ing, the flower shoots keep coming, and beneath 

 them hang great clusters of fruit in all stages of 

 growth, and fully ripened nuts ; and almost any day 

 nuts freshly dropped may be found upon the ground. 

 It is supposed that a tree in full bearing will pro- 

 duce an average of one nut a day, but I think this 

 is a little more than they actually bear at Lake 

 Worth, although I have counted more than 300 nuts 

 on one tree. A cluster was sent to my office from 

 Palm Beach (which is a beautiful little place on this 

 strip of land), that had 31 nuts nearly full-grown, 

 besides a few that had become detached in transit. 

 I should think the cluster weighed more than 150 

 pounds, and at maturity, I suppose it would have 

 weighed more than 200 pounds. 



The nut as it appears in market is stripped of its 

 outer husk or covering of bast, which is about two 

 inches thick, making the nut as it falls from the tree, 

 about ten inches long and eight inches in diameter, 

 and about the shape of a grain of buckwheat. 



It may be that from a commercial point of view, 

 the culture of the cocoanut may not prove a success 

 in the United States, as growers will have to com- 

 pete with the products of the tropics where the co- 

 coanut grows almost without care, and of course it is 

 produced very cheaply, but as a of matter of in- 

 terest and beauty, it is already a delightful success. 



It will repay any one who has the time and means at 



