316 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. 2. 1903.- 
or more months. When the young shoot or plamnle 
haa fairly thraul its way through the fibrous huek it 
JB a good practice to go over liie huaips una segre- 
gate those that have spiouieiJ, careiiuly jUticiafj Lhsn 
BO that the growiug lip be uoi, delonued oi. uissorted 
by the pi'esBure of oupeiincumbaul iiuus. 'A'^tien tn jse 
sprouts are 30 to 50 cm. u:yii, and \, ievv . ocu have 
turusc through tha husk, tiitij are in the best possible 
condition for permanent planLLiiy . 
The original prt;pH,iaiiOij ut the laud should be 
good and the surface tUth at tiie time of planting 
irreproachable, i. e., free fioiu weeds and so mellow 
that the soil can be closely and properly pressed 
aruund the roots by hand. The orcnard should be 
securely protected irom the invadion of catiie, etc. 
Planting should bemadeconcurreniiy with the opening 
of the raiuy monsoon, auring which season further 
field operations will not be required except when 
au intermittent, acier perioU indicates the aavisaoility 
of running the cultivator. It staule n.anures of any 
kind are available, a gooa application at the time of 
planting will effect woudais in accelerating the growth 
of the youug plants, 
|MANnRING* THE PLANTATION. 
The manuricjg problem must be met and solved by 
the best resources at our command, In India, Ceylon 
the Fenaug Peninsula, aud Uocliiu Cnina, where the 
tree has neen cultivated for geueratioue. the most 
. that was ever attempted until very recently was to 
throw a little manure in the hole where the tree 
was planted, and for all future lime to depend on the 
inferior, grass-made droppings of a few cattle tethered 
among the trees, to compensate fur the half million 
or more nuts that a hectare of fairly productive trees 
should yield during their normal bearing life. 
Upon suitable coconut soils — i, e., those that are 
light and permeable— common salt is positively iujurU 
ous. In support of this contention, I will state tnat 
salt in solution will break up and freely combine 
with lime, making equally soluble chloride of lime 
which, of course, ireeiy leach out in such soil and 
carry down to .uaavaliable depths these salts, invalu- 
able as necessary bases to render asssmiiable most 
plant foods; and that, on this account, commercial 
manures containing large amounts of aalt, are always 
to be used in much discretion, owing to the danger 
of impoverishing the supply of necessary lime in cne 
soil. J^'inally, so iujuriouB is the direct application 
of salt to tfie rootB of moat plants that the invari- 
able custom of trained planters (who, for the sake 
of the potash contained, are compelled to use crude 
Stasslurt mineral manures, which contain large quan- 
tities of common salt) is to apply it a very con- 
siderable time before the crop is planted, in order 
that this deleterious agent should be well leached aud 
washed away from the immediate field of root activity. 
That the coconut is able to take up large quantities 
of salt may not be disputed. Xhat tne character 
of ita.^bot IS such as to enable it to do so without 
the iiijury that would occur to most cultivated plants 
I have previously shown, while the history 6f the_ 
cooouuta'B iul<tud career, and the records of agricul-' 
tural chemistry, both conclusively point to the fact 
that its presence is au incident that in no way con- 
tributes to the health, vigour, or fraitfulnesa of the 
tree. 
^Cultivatfdn as a mancurial factor should, therefore, 
not be overlooked, and all the more strongly does it 
become eihifbasized by the very difficulties that for 
some years to come must beset the Pnillippine planter 
in the way of procuring direct manures. It is now 
the most approved orchard practice to encourage au 
early development of leaf and branch by the lioeral 
Application of nitrogen, whose stimcilant actions upon 
' growth are conceded aa the beat. C'l');.: !.^ 
*Xhrpijgh§nt t^i. paper the writer uses this woro 
In preferen% to ''^fertilizing '' even when speakiag d 
r.'^^i'CiJiUd " commercial fertilizers " 
GEEEN CROPS. 
The planter must sow and plow uader oropa of 
pecise, beauj, or other legumes mat wul furaisn Doth 
uuaiua ana i^i.rogen in excess of wti:it tuey remove, 
luciuouCttiiy, ihoy will draw Ucavily upon i,ne pouasn 
deposits of tile sun, and they mut>u all ue turned back, 
or, if led, eveiy kiio of the resulting mauure must be 
scrupulousiy ictumed. He must p4y tor the cuinva- 
tiou of tUe land, for the growing of cropa tnat he 
turns back aa mauure (and ,that involves furtber ex- 
pease for their growing and plowing under;, and 
in addition, he must be suoject to such outlay for 
about seven yeairs before he ctin begin to realize for the 
time aud laoour expended. But tnere are expedients 
to which the planter may nave recourse wfiich, if 
utilized, may return every dollar of cultural outlay. 
By the use of a wise rotation he can not only maintain 
nis land in a good productive condition but realize 
a good biennial crop that nill keep the plantation 
from being a fiuanciul drag. The rotation tnat oocnrs 
to me as mo>)t piomisiug on the average coconut lands 
of these Islands would oe, first, a green manare crop, 
followed by corn and legumes, succeeded oy ootton, 
and then back to green manures. 
The first green crop selected will be one known to be 
of tropical origih wuich, with fair soil conditions, 
will not fail to give a good yield. He may with 
safety try any of the n ative rank-growing ^beans, or 
cowpeas, soja, or velvet beans. It remains for the 
planter to determine if the crop thus grown is to 
be plowed uuder, or if he will use it to still better 
advantage by partially feeJiog it, subject, aa pre- 
viously stated, to an honest return to tne land oi ail 
the manure resulting therefrom. He may utilize 
it in any way, even to selling the resulting seed crop, 
provided ah the remaining brush is turned back to 
tne laud aud a portion of the money he receives for 
the seed be reinvested in high-grade potash and 
phosphatio manures. The plantation should now be 
in fair condition for a corn crop, and, aa a very 
slight shading is not prejudicial to the young palms, 
the corn can be planted close enough to lue trees, 
leaving only sufiicient space to admit of the free culti- 
vation that both require. 
It mast not be torgotteu that corn makes the most 
serious inroads upon our soil fertility of any of the 
crops in our rotation, aud, unless by this time the 
planter is prepared to feed all the grain produced 
to fatten swine or cattle, it had better be eliminated 
from the rotation and peanuts substituted. In addi- 
tion to this, he must still make good whatever drains 
the corn will have made upon this element of aoil 
fertihty. 
The next step in our suggested rotation is the cotton 
crop. Here, too, limitations are imposed upon the 
planter who is without abundant manurial resources to 
maintain the future integrity of his grove. He may sell 
the lint from his cotton, but he can not dispose of 
it (as 13 frequently done nere) in the seed. 
If the enterprise be not upon a scale tbat will justify 
the equipment of a mill and the manafactare of the 
oil, he fias no alternative but to return the seed in 
lieu of the seed cake, wasteful and extravagant thoagh 
such a process be. The oil so returned is without 
manorial value aud, if left in the seed, is so much 
money wasted. The rational process, of course, calls 
for the return of the press cake, either direct or in 
the form of manure after it has been fed. With 
this is also secured the hull, rich in both the potash 
aud the phosphoric acid which we now know is so 
essential to the future welfare of the grove. The 
above rotation is simply suggested aa a tenative 
expedient. The ground will now be ao shaded that 
we oanuot hope to raise more catch crops for har- 
vesting, although it may be possible during the dry 
season to raise a partial stand of pulses, of manure 
value only ; but, from the fruiting stage on, tbia 
beoomea a, xaiaor coasideratiou. 
