and note how thick the flesh is. Do not always choose the big-looking 
nuts, as they may have a very large husk and yet be small in the nut 
proper. Take no nuts from yellow-looking trees. The dark-green trees 
are the best. . 
Having gathered all the seed nuts required, make a nursery, 
hoeing up the ground to a depth of about 1 foot, and removing all 
weeds. In setting the seed coconut cover about two-thirds of it, 
laying it at an angle of about 45 degrees in the earth, covering tightly 
with leaves. When the young trees have reached a height of 12 or 
18 inches transplant to the plantation, being careful to pick out all the 
healthiest and to condemn the weak ones. This will be in about three 
months after the setting in the nursery. 
From the foregoing it will be seen that it is ad\isable to get the 
nursery going early, so as to be ready to plant out when land lias been 
cleared and got ready to receive the young plants. No time is, there- 
fore, lost by this arrangement. Advantage should always be taken of 
a downpour of rain, and planting out should be undertaken immediate- 
ly the ground is sufficiently moistened. 
In planting, a sharp knife should be used in order to slice the 
roots off close to the husk. Holes should be dug about 2 feet in depth 
and 2 feet in diameter, and the nut planted therein about 9 inches 
below the surface, a Ailing of 9 inches of surface mould being placed at 
the bottom of the hole. The nut should then be completely covered. 
Keep a ring of about 12 feet in diameter around each plant, and the 
intervening ground well hoed and free from weeds, because the roots 
require a great deal of air and light during the first three years of the 
plant’s existence. 
The lining o-Ufc of nuts should be done carefully, so that the trees 
are in line both horizontally and traversely, and so that they are not 
more than 30 feet apart. No other trees should be planted in between. 
Some planters have planted 33 feet apart, and are now putting rubber 
between the rows. This is considered a mistake, as both classes take 
a great deal out of the ground, and as they attain to maturity their 
roots will become interlocked. Thus they will be fighting for supremacy 
beneath the surface, and are bound to cripple each other in the long 
run. If it is desired to cultivate both classes of trees, Mr. Schroder’s 
advice is to strictly plant them apart. 
Insect Pests. 
Beetles will, of course, be found on every plantation, however well 
kept it may be; but the clearing of the land of all dead timber will 
make the number very much less than if the logs were left to rot away 
on the ground. More beetles have been found in the cocoanut -trees 
planted on the outskirts of a plantation where the bush is rubbing 
shoulders, so to speak, than in the plantation itself, whence all dead 
timber has been removed. 
There are several kinds of beetles inimical to coconuts. The big 
“Rhinoceros” species seems to do more damage. This beetle grows 
to a length of 2 inches and a girth of I inch. It burrows a way 
through the young trees right into the soft heart. It does not require 
much imagination to estimate the damage this pest can cause. The 
