55 
THF. TROPICAL AQRICULTURI8T. 
[July X, 
MALE AND FEMALE COCONUT TKHES. 
SlBj I have never Been any mention ol the 
fact that some coconut trees appear to be capable 
only of producing male flowers and are consequently 
barren. These trees bear the ordinary email male 
flowers in quantities but the bracts are void ol female 
florets. Another variety of coconut tree produces 
both male and what appear to be female flower, but 
these latter are defective and incapable of ferti- 
lization, and though they produce fruit, yet these 
last when opened are found to consist of only 
the outer husk or coir. 
The above arc facts which have come under my 
own observation, and I would be glad if I could 
get any eiplanation of them, or be informed 
by any of your numerous readers if there are 
any means whereby such a disastroiia state of 
things could be obviated or avoided, and whether 
trees which have already been established could 
ho arafted or otherwise made to produce fruit.— 
I am, Ac., P. F03TEII HDQQIN3, 
Golden Vale, S. Vincent, West Indies. 
[On this very interesting subject. Dr. Trimen, 
as well as such oooonut planters as Messrs. Jardiue 
Lament, Beven and others may have something 
interesting to say. — En. T. A.] 
CEYLON TEA IN SWITZERLAND AND 
AUSTRIA. 
Winterthur, May l.Sth. 
Dbar Sib,— I am much obliged to you for the 
insertion of my name in the list ol the sup- 
porters of the Ceylon Tea Industry. The sale 
of Ceylon tea in this country is increasing s'owly, 
but steadily. Thera are now also other sellers of 
this tea, who probably buy it in London ; but who 
very likely would never have touched it, if I had 
not made the beginning. In this way the Ceylon 
tea indua'ry is benefitted also indirectly. I beg 
leave to ask you to add to the list of supporters 
of the Ceylon Tea Industry the nameol my friend, 
Mr. W. Weiner, 7 Bezirk, 6, Montergasse, Vienna, 
the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, 
whose efforts made on behalf of Ceylon tea were 
acknowledged by the meeting of the Tea Fund Com- 
mittee on April 10th last, to the minutes of which 
(under the heading Ceylon Tea in Bwitierland) 
please refer.— I, am dear sir, yours truly. 
^ CHARLES OSSWALD. 
MALE AND FEMALE COCONUT TREES. 
Veyangoda, May ICtli. 
Dbab Sib, — I am afraid I have nothing interesting 
to say in re|>'y to Mr. Foster Huggins’s r-nquiries. I 
have never ooine across a coconut tree producing male 
flowers exclusively. In very rare instanocs a tree is 
met with unable to mature its fruit. I believe the fact 
of the flowers producing fruit, even allbougli they may 
never reach maturity, proves that the flowers cannot be 
male. Snch trees I have always regarded as the result 
of defective seed. I am confirmed in this belief by 
Siroraonds, who in his “ Tropical Agriculture ” says, 
“ those nuts which may be taken from trees of irama- 
turago wilh Plants are snccessfnlly reared 
froni them, grow very rapidly, hut the fruit will drop 
before the kernel acquires oonsiatenoy.” 
I do not think it quite accurate to regard ss a 
‘‘varietT" tlioso trees that produce nuts consisting only 
of the outer hnsk. I have hear.! these imts described 
by a goning, who wa» traiwlatinif into Enfjlish a no* 
lerial agreoment from the vemaoulftf, as BtilNnorn 
nuts 1 'rheso trees too, I consider ns a resnlt of de- 
fective seed. If the tree that produces these undesir- 
abie nuts — if wlmt is without nuts can be rightly 
oslled coconuts — have a strong, vigorous trnnk nnil a 
good bead of leaf, and in other words are worth pro- 
serving: a heavy dose of manure consisting mainly rf 
bone dust will cure them of tboir bad habit. I 
have a very vigorous looking tree which produced 
nothing but husks. The appesrsuce of the fruit be- 
tokened their emptiness. The same bunch had on it 
nuts of vsrions sizes slid apparently of various sges, 
and would, if seen by him, have confirmed the con- 
tention of a member of the Metropolitan Bar that 
nuts of various ages are invariably to he found on 
the same stalk 1 I came to the concinsion that the 
tree w»a wanting in stamina and gave it a very heavy 
dose of cattle manure, with bones and ashes ; that 
was ab'iut a couple of years ago. I now find that 
the nnts the tree is producing seem tn he filling out, 
snd I have hopes that they will prove to be good 
ones. If it will interest you, I shall send you a 
stalk with nuts of seemingly various ages. 
There are some trees that bear very liesvily and 
the nuts are large aiid well filled out apparently, but 
which are minus the kernel, or in some instances have 
it of a dirty brown colour and covering only a portion 
of the shell. Water is absent from such nuts. 
Whether it was present during the earlier stages of 
growth, I had never au opportunitv of finding out ; but 
I suppose it was present in small quantity. These 
trees, too, can, I believe, be brought round by manuring 
with phospbatio manure. I have made a trial. 
The euro I would recommend tor a barren tree is to im- 
prove it off the face of the earth. Surely Mr. Huggins 
cannot he serious when he enquires " whether trees 
(coconut) that have already been established could be 
grafted f” Scienoe will have to advance a good deal I 
think before such an operation becomes possible : the 
idea is quite Yankee. 
During the seasons of the year that coconut trees 
bear heavy crops, empty or '• still-born ” na*s increase 
in number proportionately. This proves I think that 
they are the result of impaired vigor in the tree, for 
at such seasons the resources of the tree are taxed to 
the utmost to mature the large number of nnta they 
are carrying. Liberal cultivation lessens the number 
of empty mils materially. 
Porhana the Snparintendont of the School of Agrionl- 
ture and his Asaiatants, some of whom claim to have 
been bred und-T tho shade of the coconut tree, can 
contributo something interesting on the aubjeot. 
When a coconut tree oommenoea bearing, tho first 
few flower spnf ties thrown out contain abortive blossoms, 
these are called in Sinhalese y?om inal or false (lowers. 
Tlie length of timo a tree continues to throw out these 
Sock mol is dependent on its vigor ond affords a sure 
index of its baaring capabilities through life. Weakly 
trees continue to hear abortive blossoms for years 
rmiuing, and when they do bear it is only a few nnta 
per annum. It is best both for the appearance and 
value of a young property to oouragoouslv root these 
oumborers out and to replace them with 3 or 4 year 
pisuts ; a supply of these is a necessity, they are better 
aole to maintain the struggle for existouce in a pro- 
perty where the roots of the trees cover the ground 
than a nursery plant. To attempt to get the bad 
trees to bear is an expensive and disheartening job : 
at the beat they only repay what is spout on them. 
B. 
KU3H-KU8H YAMS. 
DeabSih, I am in a pof itiou to say kush-kush is an 
imported plant and 1 believe comes from tho West 
Indies. Messrs. Whyte & Oo. of Kandy deserve the 
thank, of the public for ita introduotion into this 
island. A friend of mine bonght about 20 tubera 
originally from the shove firm and first cultivated it 
on a lossed land at Veyangoda, gra lually extending 
Its cultivation till ho aold the vams delivered in Oo- 
loinbo te a good many of liis anquaintanoes and 
public at RIO per cwt., at which rate it paid him. 
I was the mesns of getting this introduced into the 
Bcntola district through the late Mr. Lewie Mendia, 
* ?x Ml ® Veyanffudft. The proprietor 
of Gomilla also obtained tuberH from the name 
ponree and cultivated it a few yoarg back extensively, 
and I am under the iiupreisinu had Megars. Auwardt 
A Oo. ag his agents soiling it in Colombo. 
