207 
E.C., from which address The India Rubber World is informed: 
“ Although our factory is not yet ready, we have received a 
“ substantial order for the material for insulating wires from one of 
“ the largest manufacturing companies in England, # We have 
“ made arrangements for orders to be executed for us by Messrs. 
i; Felten & Guilleaune pending the completion of our factory 
premises here.” — The India Rubber World , page 9, Vol. 27, No. 1. 
coconut Planting in fiji. 
To The Editor, 
Tropical Agriculturist. 
Enormous Fruiting on our Palms. 
Tavinni, Fiji, 
February $th, 1903. 
Dear Sir, 
Just a line to describe a very peculiar freak I have just seen. 
A young coconut tree, 5 years old just corning into bearing : It has 
three spathes or blossoms and on the largest of the tree I counted 
30 spears to the spathes and on one of the spears I counted 51 nuts, 
making a total of about 1,50a, on the one spathe. There are 
about 1,000 each on the other two so that at the present time there 
are about 3,400 nuts on the tree. There are two more 
tremendous spathes that will be blossoming in a few T days, 
when we expect to see over 5,000 nuts on the tree — nearly a ton 
of copra. Now can you Ceylon chaps beat that ? When you can, 
let me know, will you? I can assure you it is a positive fact I 
have often seen from 1,000 to 1,200 nuts on a tree, but this caps all. 
We are having a magnificent year— better, in fact, than last, I 
think. I am trying to get hold of some averages this year and will 
let you know results by-and-bye. The whole country is looking 
very well. 
Yours faithfully, 
H. V. Tarte. 
A practical coconut planter’s remarks on the above are 
“ The degree of ‘ prolificness ’ of the coconut palm varies greatly, 
and although an average of 60 nuts per tree per annum in Ceylon 
is considered a good yield, yet there are individual trees which bear 
400 to 500 nuts a year. However, I have never seen or heard 
before of such a phenomenon as a coconut spathe with 1,000 to 
1,500 fruit on it. I doubt whether such a huge cluster of nuts 
would reach maturity, as the stalk is sure to break down with their 
weight before the nuts are even half ripe. Trees of vigorous growth 
send forth a spathe once a month. The wonderful 5-year old tree, 
your Fiji correspondent refers to, has already produced 5 spathes’, 
all of abnormal size, and we may expect at least 3 more before the 
oldest nuts are ripe enough to be gathered. 
“ The tree should then carry over 9,000 nuts, beside about 
3 dozen fronds, but would the stem support such a ponderous load ? 
