582 
Cultivation  of  the  Coco-Nut. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1  November,  1895. 
ashes  and  coarse  salt.  At  the  beginning  of  the  season's  rains  the 
nuts  are  put  into  this  seed-bed  on  their  side,  at  a  distance  of  one 
foot  apart,  and  so  that  about  two  inches  appear  above  the  surface. 
The  nursery -bed  should  be  kept  damp,  but  not  too  wet.  It  is  a 
good  plan  to  transplant  them  into  other  beds  at  two  feet  apart  when 
they  are  from  two  to  six  months  old. 
Transplanting. — When  the  seedlings  are  from  six  months  to  two 
years  old  they  may  be  transplanted  to  their  permanent  positions  in 
the  plantation,  at  distances  from  each  other  of  twenty  feet.  Pits 
should  be  dug  for  them,  as  large  as  three  feet  every  way  in  poor 
soil ;  ashes  and  salt  are  useful  additions  to  any  soil,  and  it  may  be 
necessary  to  give  also  a  top-dressing  of  manure,  which  should  not 
be  dug  in.  They  should  be  shaded  by  bananas  or  plantains  for  two 
years. 
Tillage  and  Manuring. — The  Jamaica  nuts  are  very  small,  and  do 
not  give  much  "  meat "  as  compared  with  those  from  Central 
America,  India  and  Ceylon.  This  may  be  due  partly  to  unfavorable 
conditions  of  soil,  climate,  etc.;  but  much  might  be  done  to  improve 
the  fruit  by  careful  selection  of  nuts  for  seed,  and  a  liberal  treatment 
of  the  trees  in  the  plantation  by  tillage  and  manuring.  It  is  calcu- 
lated that  in  India  there  are  480,000  acres  under  the  coco-nut,  and 
the  cultivation  is  attended  to  carefully.  In  Bombay,  for  instance, 
after  the  seedlings  are  planted  out,  they  are  watered  every  day  or 
two  for  the  first  year,  every  two  or  three  days  for  the  second  and 
third  years,  and  every  third  day  for  the  fourth  and  fifth  years. 
"  During  the  rains,  from  its  fifth  to  its  tenth  year,  a  ditch  is  dug 
round  the  palm  and  its  roots  cut,  and  little  sand-banks  are  raised 
round  the  tree  to  keep  the  rain-water  from  running  off.  In  the 
ditch  round  the  tree,  22  pounds  of  powdered  dry  fish  manure  is 
sprinkled  and  covered  with  earth,  and  watered  if  there  is  no  rain  at 
the  time.  Besides  fish  manure  the  palms  get  salt-mud  covered  with 
the  leaves  of  the  croton-oil  plant,  and  after  five  or  six  days  with  a 
layer  of  earth ;  or  they  get  a  mixture  of  cow-dung  and  wood  ashes 
covered  with  earth,  or  night-soil,  which,  on  the  whole,  is  the  best 
manure."    (Watt's  Diet:) 
In  the  tropics  of  the  old  world  generally,  it  is  customary,  when 
the  plant  is  one  year  old,  to  dig  round  the  roots  and  apply  ashes 
once  a  month ;  when  the  tree  is  two  years  old,  to  open  up  every 
year,  at  the  beginning  of  the  rains,  the  roots  to  a  distance  of  four  to 
