Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-04-26
THE COCOANUT PALM TREE
HOME AND PRODUCTS OF A vALU
ABLE ORIENTAL PLANT.
Its Giftsto Man Arc Sugar, Starch,
OIL, Wax, Wine, Resin, and lcdi-


bic Fruits-Rodent Enemies.
The cocOanut tree is indigenous in
the East, and is now largely Guilt
waited on the. coasts of India and Ceylon,
and in tho islands of the Eastern Archi-
pelago. There are rs many as twenty
millions in the southwest of Ceylon.
The palm fire. uently grows wild in dis
tant and isolated islands, whittier the
germ has been borne by tho sea, tho
thick fibious padding around the nut
protecting it from the action of the
water. SO we constantly sec that coral
reefs, as soon rs they make their appear
ance above the surface of the water, are
taken possession of by these trees. The
seaskore is the home of the palm; it
grows quite down to the water's
edge, and is in many places
constantly washed by the waves.
Thus, along the Brazilian coast for a
distance of nearly $50 miles, from the
river San Francisco to the bar of Ma
manguape, these trees extend. We also,
however, find them far inland, and al
the height of several thousand feet above
the level OF the sea. At Bangalorc they
flourish and produce fruit in abundance
ut height of 5000 feet above the sea
level. From dictctical and economical
POahN Va NiSM, tuG COCOaluL DulID Is u
most valuable plant; sugar, starch, oil,
way, wine, resin, astrinGent matters and
edible fruits ars its gifts to man. An
alluvial or loamy soil is the most suitable
Tor planting it, and no more than eighty
plants an acre should be planted to get
the maximum amount of fruit possible
Nuts obtainablc from trees of from fifteen
to thirty years old are the best for plant
ing. There are numerous varieties of
this tree, there being as many as thirty in
Travancore alone. One dwarf variety bears
fruit when it is only two feet in height.
Teddy is the sap of the cocoanut palm,
and when the toddy drawer wishes to
get out the sap of the tree, he binds the
flower spathc tightly with fibcrs of the
tree, and beats it twice n day for three
or four days with IA short stick. Tho
top is then sliced, and ms soon as.the sap
begins to flow, n vessel, either earthen
or made of bamboo, is tied to the spatho
to receive the sap. The spathe is kept
bleeding by making n fresh wound in it
each day. The fluid when fresh, has q
pleasant taste. and is slightly aperieut.
When kept for few hours, it ferments
and becomes somewhat intoxicating, and
it may then he distilled into spirits OF
vinegar. With bakers 1T .takes the place
of yeast. The quantity of toddy taken
out varies with the ago and
locality of the spathc, but the
average quantity obtained for two OF
three weeks is three or four quarts every
twenty hours. The liquid is also
boiled down into coarse kind of sugar
called jaggcry, which is either converted
into molasses or refined before fermenta-
ton sets into white or brown sugar. In
,a1,o l,a 4
drawer is a hereditary one. Their mode
of work is very simple, but is extremely
dangerous. A thorg made of bullock
or buffalo hide, from 3 to 6 inches IN
width, and long enough to surround the
tree and body OF the climber, is fastened
with n peculiar kind of knot The
worker then stretches the thong to its
utmost by throwing his whole weight on
If, and draw up his legs. He has ring
of rope of palmyra libcrs around his in.
steps, which allows him to grasp the tree
between his heels. While his left hand
is pressed against the trunk he shifts
the thong up the tree with his right and
draws his body up with it.
''Co' oanut day" is celebrated in most
parts of India during the full moon of
August. un that day numbers of nuts
are thrown into the sea as an offering to
tn Hindoo gods. Occasionally one
meets with dcformed nuts, consisting of
the husk with small dcformcd nuts hav.
ing no kernel inside. The natives at.
tribute this blighting of the fruit to the
tree frog, which, by smelling the flower,
can prevent the fruit from coming to
maturity. The kernel of the nut is fire.
quently made into ornaments for the
hair, or necklaces. The rat family is
also very destructful to this tree, par
ticularly in the Iaccadives. 1t is OK
ceedingly difficult to get at these rats,
they make to themselves so many hiding
places among the trees. Rat hunts are,
however, occasionally got up, and to
these all the inhabitants turn out with
sticks and poles. While some of the
hunters climb the trees and drive out
the rats, the rest surround the trunks
and kill the animals as they rush down.
On some of these occasions thousands of
rats are killed. The people, being Mo-
hammedans, cannot be induced to keep
dogs.