THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 2, 1898. 
736 
mac^nificent fronds in the H-ht morning air. 
The house v'as surrounded hy them, up to the 
v-rv wa'ds, and as far as the eye could reach 
nothing hut Palms. Monotom ms you may say; 
ves, but very grand in its monotony. At that 
moment I lliought of Edinburgh and Kern and 
smilod. Mine host joined me on the balcouj. 
i .lid not wish him good morning, but instead 
exclaimed, “That siglit is vvmrtli a hundred 
vovames from Southampton to Malabai . 
It "was difficult to imagine oneselt in the midst 
of a thickly native- populated dis trier, the scene 
having a certain wild appreance about its giving 
rise to the thought of the calm 
iunffie, and the absence of man. Tins illusion 
was" quickly destroyed by a siib.sequent walk 
throiigb the Palm-grove. Then were seen the 
innmnerahle native huts, with walls and loofs 
composed of the trunks and fronds of their loved 
Coconut Palm, nestling amongst the contoited 
Ktems of the ..rowing Palms, and effectual y pro- 
SS from a.e bo^niog boat »f 
their glorious crowns of spreading fionds. Ihis 
Sm as it is cultivated in these climes, has 
no pretensions to the straight-stemmned dignity 
of the Areca, that “ arrow-shot froni heaven, 
the Palmyra Date, or Caryota; but the groves 
catp.no- annear in wanton entanglement, lean- 
ffig fn all dhections, hut .always with the crowns 
*“S«JSSl“b»t act often <I«eo the olon. 
cUme e"°*t S ten feet from tl.e around, and 
Suce two crowns of leaves. 1 do not think 
Fi of thirPalm IS included in the list of sacred 
tl,rHi»dn., but II, ey, seem to treat ,t 
with the same care and affection as if it 
«mnpHtne= they will build their huts around the 
Sm of a Cocmpalm, thus giving the tree the 
pf hncin<T orown through the 1001. 
So^'^far^as I can remember, it used to be calcu- 
lated that each Palm-tree yielded, on an average, 
latea t are ..toddy” about two rupees (four 
hilUn" ?per annum ;-Io that .an acre of P.alms 
ca lcula"tin| 400 trees to the acre, would yieln 
an annual income of £ 80 , no small sum to a 
“‘^Aftcr’^'r^wedPs stay at Calicut, .amongst its 
Padm groves, M.ango, and Breadfruit-trees, I start- 
ed foi my final d^ To 
T • FF a nS in the mountains, and it was 
thus" I first came in contact with tropical vege- 
• Tn slowlv tlu'ough tlllS 1 
tl.e 
can \\eu IV , ts viz., Lagerstrcemia hlos- 
Sum LrCvti oto'k fbesewere grow- 
legin.o, ana y jii-gt-named being prodigal 
in^disnlay of its superb rose-coloured raceme.®, 
Ill " <n-owing in barge groups among 
filrhoMders!’ which it drapped vvith its beau- 
T'f 1 fiinult; Hi^'‘her up tliG western Ghaut, foiest 
,™,.r Si.cS a,.,l c,ulim.c»till the meet of 
piopcr VO ..ome, 8,000 feet above sealevel. 
^''Tlefi' za? oaS’f^^^^^ way follows 
the track of a deep ravine, at the bottom of 
Sfic r one could l.ear the rushing of a meuntam 
wliiclr nn® ,pe dense tropical foliage 
SvSe. V Sn.ll, Before re.ch.ng tbe fir.t 
no vvatei vvas . p„tion, an occasional group 
i ' 7 rSernf.va 'ee« o» the eUlee of the ra, me 
S tboiny Citlamuu clioiblug t» '»•? to tbe 
branches of lofty trees, as if to free itself from 
tlie dense foliage beneath, and show to the world 
its crowns of graceful fronds. As a inalier of 
face, this was tl.e first wiitl Palm I had ever 
seen, but it was— though passingly beautiful — 
opposed in appearance to the idea.s in one’s mind 
of the dignified and independent grace of a Palm- 
tree proper. Reacliing the summit of the Ghaut 
it was hnt a short ride to the lirst Coffee plan- 
tation, wiiere I rested for a day or two, and wliere 
I had my first experience of that warm hospitality 
so well known amongst Europeans in India. 
Strange that the manager of this plantation should 
prove to have been an English gardener, the late 
Air. Janies Boosey, an excellent and successful 
planter, as well as estimable man. 
In going the round of tlie plantation in the 
cool of the evening with mine host, I had my 
first sight of the Caryota Palm in a wild state, 
which had even a greater interest for me at 
the time than the sunounding fields of Coffee 
sliruhs, the cultivation of which I had come all 
the way from England to learn. I saw the noble 
Palm at its best, a little colony of trees of various 
heigiits the tallest hearing heavy masses of fruit, 
forming a strikingly beautiful appearance. The 
bipinnate leaves, vvith their ultimate divisions 
slnaped like the fins and tail of a fish — togetlier 
with the huge spadices of golden berries hanging 
from the brown trunks of the highest trees, give 
them a unique and elegant appearance. Nature, 
in one of her mysterious moods, has ordained that 
these wonderful drooping bundles of golden seeds 
shall he produced on the adult tree first at the 
top, and eventually at the very foot of the trunk, 
when the plant dies. She has, however, made 
ample provision for the reproduction of tliis beau- 
tiful tree by the enormous quantity of seeds 
produced by each spadix, .and tlie suckers which 
tlie tree throws up. This P.alm would seem to 
shun the interior of the dark mountain forests 
of the western Ghauts, and it chiefly grows on 
their outer skirts where, so to speak, it obtains 
the better opportunity for the display of its 
graceful fronds, and enjoys that necessary light 
and air which are wanting amidst tlie gigantic 
fore.st vegetation. It is also curious and interest- 
ing to find that wherever a homestead is seen on 
the edges of these forest, and oveilooking the rice- 
fields, the ryot, inaddition to such beautiful ever- 
green trees as the Mango, Orange, Jack, Roseapple, 
and others, is sure to have his garden furnished 
with a small colony of the Caryota Palm consist- 
imr of from six to eight trees from 70 to eighty 
feet, down to seedlings of some 2 to 4 feet in height. 
It is not quite clear whether the ryots have es- 
pected these sites for their habitations owing to 
existing groups of Palms, or have reared the 
trees from seeds or suckers, but the well-known 
love of the Hindoo for picturesque spots in or 
near which to locate his homestead, would justify 
the opinion that previously existing groups of 
the Caryota Palm has influenced his choice of 
a site for his homestead. 
On the Nilgherry Mountains there exist a 
singular race of pastoral folk named Todas, few 
in number, illiterate, lazy, dirty, immoral, and 
degraded, and yet these people have admittedly 
selected the very loveliest and most picturesque 
spots on all those beautiful mountains for the 
building of their huts and villages. 
That this Palm is known to require plenty of 
light and air for its development is shown by 
the fact that when small clearings are made in 
the forest of Malabar by the jungle tribes foil 
