Nov.  2,  189G.J 
Supplcmmt  to  the  “ Tropical  Ag ricuUuriPstT 
301 
PECULIARITIES  OP  COCONUT  CVLTIVA- 
TION  IN  INDIA. 
1.  Bombay. 
Tlie  coconut  palm  would  .^e:^m  to  be  grown 
almost  solely  for  the  “toddy’’  it  produces  in 
the  liomlmy  Presidency.  With  reference  to  tlie 
Kolnba  district  it  is  said  that  the  coconut  is  the 
most  licp.ior-yielcling  palm,  and  tliat  the  moist, 
sandy  soil,  brackish  water  and  abundance  of  lish 
manure  make  its  growth  so  vigorous  that  the  yield 
of  juice  is  much  in  excess  of  the  wants  of  the 
district.  The  trees  are  grown  within  walled  or 
hedged  enclosures,  sometimes  entirely  given  to 
coconut  palm.s,  in  otlser  cases  partly  planted  with 
mangoes,  jack,  betel-nut,  and  other  fruit  trees. 
Every  garden  has  one  or  two  wells,  from  which 
the  trees  are  waterd  by  a Persian  wheel.  In  start- 
ing a cocoa-nut  garden,  a bed  is  prepared,  and  in 
it,  at  the  beginning  of  the  rainy  season,  from 
twenty  to  forty  large,  ripe,  uiduisked  nuts  are 
lilanted  2 feet  deep.  The  bed  is  kept  soaked  with 
water,  and  after  from  three  to  six  months  the  nut 
begins  to  sprout.  The  seedlings  are  left  un- 
disturbed for  two  jmars.  They  are  then,  at  tlie 
beginning  of  the  rains,  planted  iu  sandy  soil  in 
rows  about  18  ft.  apart,  and  with  a distance  of 
about  15  ft.  between  the  plants.  Por  about  a foot 
and  a half  round  each  plant  the  ground  i.-i  hollowed 
3 nr  4 inches  deep,  and  during  the  dry  months  the 
plants  are  watered  daily  or  once  in  two  days,  and 
once  or  twice  in  the  year,  enriched  with  fish  ma- 
nure or  with  a mixture  of  salt  and  nachni.  When 
nine  year.s  old  the  trees  begin  to  yield  nuts  twice 
a ye.ir  and  sometimes  thrice,  120  nuts  being  the 
yearly  average  yield  from  each  tree.  The  trees 
are  then  ready  to  be  tapped,  each  cocoa-palm, 
when  ready  for  tapping  is  estimated  to  rejiresent 
an  average  outlay  of  about  RO.  The  coconut  gar- 
dens are  generally  owned  by  higli-caste  Hindus, 
who  let  the  trees  to  some  rich  Bhandari  who  has 
agreed  to  supply  the  owner  of  the  liquor-shops 
with -fermented  or  distilled  juice.  The  Bhandi'iri 
pays  the  owner  of  the  garden  R1  a month  for 
every  three  trees.  Of  the  Thana  District  it  is 
stated  that  the  seed-nuts  are  prepared  in  dif- 
ferent ways,  the  best  and  oldest  tree  in  the 
garden  being  set  apart  for  growing  seed-nuts. 
The  nuts  take  from  seven  to  twelve  montlis  to 
diy  on  the  trees;  when  dry  they  are  taken  down, 
generally  in  April  or  IHay,  or  left  to  drop.  When 
taken  down  they  are  either  kept  in  tlie  house 
for  two  or  tliree  months  to  let  half  of  the  water 
in  the  nut  dry,  or  if,  the  fibrous  outer  shell  is  not 
dry,  they  are  hid  on  the  house-roof  or  tied  to  a 
tree  to  dry.  After  the  nuts  are  dry  they  are 
sometimes  thrown  into  a well  and  left  there  for 
three  months  when  they  sprout.  If  the  nuts  are 
left  to  drop  from  the  tree,  which  is  the  usual 
practice  iu  Bassein,  they  are  either  kept  in  the 
house  for  some  time  and  then  left  to  sprout  in  a 
well,  or  they  are  buiied  immediately  after  they 
have  fallen.  When  the  nuts  are  ready  for  planting 
they  are  buried  either  entirely  or  from  one  half 
or  two  thirds  in  sweet  land,  generally  from  1 to 
2 feet  apart,  and  sometimes  as  close  as  9 inches. 
A little  grass,  rice  straw  or  dry  plantain  leaves 
are  spread  over  the  nuts  to  shade  them.  If  white 
ants  get  nt  the  nuts  the  grass  is  taken  away,  and 
some  salt  or  saltish  mud  mixed  with  wood  ashes 
and  a second  layer  of  earth  is  laid  over  the  nuts. 
Nuts  are  sometimes  planted  as  late  as  August, 
but  tlie  regular  sea.son  is  from  March  to  Majq 
when,  unle.^s  the  ground  is  damp  and  their  inimr 
inai.sture  is  enough  for  tlieir  nourishment,  the 
nuf  s want  watering  every  second  or  third  day  until 
rain  falN.  The  nuts  begin  to  sjiront  from  four  to 
six  months  after  they  are  planted,  and  when  the 
seedlings  are  a year  or  eighteen  months,  or,  what 
is  better,  two  years  old  they  are  fit  for  plant- 
ing. At  Bassein  tlie  (irice  of  seedlings  varies  from 
5d.  for  a one  or  one  and  a half  year  old  seed- 
ling, to  Od.  (4  auu'.<)  for  a two  year-old  plant. 
Iu  planting  them  out  the  seedlings  are  set 
about  six  yards  apart  in  tlie  2 feet  deep  holes, 
in  which  about  1^-  pounds  of  wood-ashes  have 
been  laid  to  keep  off  white-ants,  and  the  garden 
mu.st  be  very  carefully  fenced  to  keep  off  cattle. 
The  plants  are  the:;  watered  every  second  day,  if 
not  eveiy  day,  for  the  first  year;  every  third  day, 
if  not  every  second  day,  for  the  second  and 
third  year,  and  every  third  day,  if  pos.sible,  for  the 
f uirth  and  fiftii  year.  Watering  is  then  generally 
stopped,  though  some  Bassein  gardeners  go  on 
watering  gro  .vn  trees  every  sev^entli  or  eighth  day. 
For  two  years  after  they  are  planted  out  the  young 
trees  are  shaded  by  palm  leaves  or  by  growing 
mutheli  plantains.  During  the  rains,  from  its 
tifih  to  its  tentli  year,  a ditch  is  dug  round  the 
tree  and  its  r iots  cut,  and  li' tie  sandbanks  are 
raised  round  tlie  tree  to  keep  the  I’aiuswater 
from  running  off-  In  the  ditch  round  the  tree, 
22  pounds  of  jiowdere  1 ilry  fish  manure  is  sprin- 
kled and  covered  with  earth,  and  watered  if 
there  is  no  rain  at  the  time.  Besides  lish  m inure 
the  palms  get  salt-mud  covered  with  the  leaves 
of  the  croton-oil  plant  (Croton  Tiglium)  and  after 
five  or  si.x  days  with  a layer  of  earth  ; or  they  get 
a mixture  of  cow-dung  and  wood-ashes  covered 
with  earth  ; or  night  soil,  which  on  the  whole  is 
the  best  manure.  Palms  suffer  from  an  insect 
named  bhonr/n  which  gnaws  the  roots  of  the  tree, 
and  from  the  large  black  carpenter-bee  which 
bores  the  spikes  of  its  half-opened  leaves.  When 
a jialm  is  suffering  from  the  attacks  of  the  hlionga, 
a dark  red  juice  oozes  from  the  trunk.  When  this 
is  noticed,  a hole  3 inches  sq.  is  cut  in  the  trunk 
from  4-6,  feet  above  where  the  juice  is  coming 
out,  and  is  filled  with  salt,  which  drives  away 
or  kills  the  insect.  To  get  rid  of  the  boring  insect, 
it  is  either  drawn  out  by  the  hand,  or  it  is 
killed  by  pouring  into  the  spike  assafoetida  water 
or  salt  water. 
Another  reference  to  the  yieM  of  the  palm  in 
the  Bombay  Pres.  says.  “ A well-watered  and 
manured  tree,  in  good  soil,  begins  to  yield  when 
it  is  five  years  old  and  iu  bad  soil  when  it  is  eight 
or  ten  years  old.  A palm  varies  in  height  from 
50  to  100  feet,  and  is  in  greatest  vigour  between 
the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty.  It  continues  to 
yield  till  it  is  eighty,  and  lives  to  be  a hundred. 
A good  tree  yields  3 or  4 times  a year,  the 
average  number  of  nuts  being  about  75.”  In 
the  report  of  the  Kathiawar  district  in  the  Bombay 
gazette  there  occurs  a short  but  interesting 
account  of  the  coconut.  At  Mahuva  in  1875, 1500 
acres  were  planted  with  170,000  plants.  At  Khan- 
dera  there  is  a garden  with  7,000  palms,  and  there 
are  about  2 000  at  Bhavnagei-.  A singular  fact 
about  the  coconut  palm  is  that  it  grows  freely 
in  solid  limestone,  provided  a hole  about  3|  feet 
