NATUEAL PEODUCTIONS. 
75 
four feet apart, and require very little or no care. When 
arrived at maturity, a cocal or cocoa-nut walk forms an 
excellent pasture-ground for sheep, cattle, or any other 
grazing animal ; poultry, pigs, &c., also fatten wonder- 
fully on the cocoa-nut pulp, or the refuse of the nuts 
iifter the oil has been expunged. The almond or pulp 
contains, according to Brandi, 25 per cent, of oil ; and 
the shell 26 per cent, of the pulp. It is calculated here 
that thirty-three nuts give one gallon of oil, the pre- 
vailing plan is to give sixty nuts, for which one gallon 
of oil is returned. There is an establishment for the 
manufacture of cocoa-nut oil on the Eastern coast. The 
process of extracting the oil is simple, being cold drawn. 
The cocoa-palm has a formidable enemy in tlie coUoj)- 
tcra, an insect which fixes its abode at the base of the 
frond, and by degrees penetrates into the central bud 
and the very heart of the palm. If not promptly re- 
moved, the tree soon withers and dies. So destructive 
were the ravages of this insect at Singapore, that the 
inhabitants were compelled in consequence to abandon 
the cidtivation of the cocoa-palm. The insect is de- 
stroyed either by using an iron rod hooked at the end, 
and by which the liole bored by the insect is thoroughly 
probed, or by pouring a strong solution of salt into the 
tuft of leaves. 
The fruits and vegetables of Trinidad are very fine, 
and of many kinds. There are, however, but a few of 
the fruits palatable to Europeans on their first arrival. 
The orange, the pine-apple, and the banana are some- 
what familiar to tlie palate ; Imt other fruits, such as the 
■custard-apple, the sappodilla, the mangoe, the ponime- 
rose, the soiir-sop, &c., are only liked, if at all, after a 
time. The fruits are generally sweet and luscious, too 
much so for an English palate, and are not at all valued, 
for the most part, at first, by those who have eaten of 
ap^fies, pears, gooseberries, currants, cherries, rasj)l3erries, 
strawberries, damsons, egg-plums, &c., the produce of an 
English garden. 
AVe liave several varieties of melons, musk-melons. 
