Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-23
HOW COCOANUTS GROW.
INTERESTING ACCOUNT or THE
CULTIVATION OF THE NUT.

hcrc AEc SOOsOUOsSS'V FcCos
They Yield 10, 900. 900. 900 Nut. a Year.
Although the true and original home of
the cocoanut is India and the South Sea
islands, it has become so widely diffused
by the hands of man and the waves of the
ocean that it is now prominent feature in
almost every tropical portion Of the globe,
covering between 10000 and 1900, 900
acres with its beautiful palms, and num-
bering $50, 0O0, 900 trees, yielding annually
1O, 200, 0O0, 900 of cocoanuts.
A recent approximate estimate of the
area cultivated with the cocoanut palm
gave the following result: British India
and dependencies, 100000; Central Amer
lea, 100000, Ceylon, 3o0, 900; Eastern Archi-
pelago and colonies, $50, 900; Java and SUI
matra, 10000; Mauritius, Madagascar,
Seychelles and African coast, 100000; Pa
cific islands, including FIJI, New Caledo-
mia, ETC., $4,000; Siam and Cochin China,
100000, and West Indies, 5000.
And when Florida shall add her 10, 900
acres lying south of the 9th parallel of
north latitude, capable of growing 1, zoo, 600
trees, we may see at no distant day the
North American cocoanut demanding no
HiCdh SuoIC VI COmLucFCldl dUt6ntfOn.
WHERE CocoAEUTs GROW.
For many years cocoanuts have grown
on the coast of southern Florida but ow-
ing TO an extreme fondness for the green
nuts manifested by those engaged in the
sponge fishing along the coast few nuts
have been allowed to ripen, only sufficient
to demonstrate that cocoanuts can be raised
for several hundred miles along the coast
of Florida, where the gulf stream flows so
| close to the shore. The cocoanut industry
| in that vicinity has received an impetus of
| late. Several northern capitalists have
| gone to Florida and embarked in this in
| dustry, seeing (like Col. Sellers millions
| in it. Within the past four years over
| 100000 nuts were planted on the coast of
| Florida
Such nuts AS are wanted for planting are
| gathered into heaps placed under sheds,
where they are allowed to remain until the
| sprout shows itself through the husk
| When planted in regular order holes about
three feet deep and from fifteen to thirty
feet apart are dug In the hole the nut is
| placed with care and covered with about
one foot of soil. The hole is filled gradually
as the sprout grows, until it reaches the
surface, when it is left to itself, requiring
no further attention.
Tue place. HutTt JHt COCOGnul Is
planted be any great distance from the
seashore quantity of salt is sometimes
placed in the hole and sometimes scraps of
old iron, as, being strictly a salt water
loving tree, it will thrive but a short dis
lance from the seashore, nearness to salt
water being absolutely essential to its
welfare. In fact, it is said, no magnet is
truer to the pole than is the root of the
cocoanut tree to the ocean, for when the
| root breaks through the huzk it points
| directly toward the sea, no matter in hat
position the nut is placed in the ground.
THE GROWING TREE
| Boring its way downward the root fastens
| itself so deep and firmly in the ground that
| no tornado, no matter how severe has ever
been known to wrench it from its Moor
| ings but the hurricane so frequent in the
| tropics, Will often twist the trunks and
carry the broken portions long distance
| thus ending that cocoanut palm, as it will
| not sprout second time. Could you ex
anime cocoanut when in the process OF
sprouting you will find directly beneath
the sprouting eye small white mushroom
shaped kernel, and in this little germ lie:
the life of the future tree. Shut up in its
| prison like shell, and the shell surrounded
by many inches thick of tough and tangled
n IL
perform the duty assigned to it? For it is
! apparently soft and tender as a baby's
| hand.
Soon its tiny fingers begin boring theil
| way out of the weakest eye, then, rendine
| the tough woody fiber right and left, il
forces itself to the surface and commence.
the campaign of life, sending it's shoot up
ward to form the tree and downward tt
| form the roots, still clinging to its parent
for support, until the entire inside of thu
| shell is filed with round, ball like sub
stance that is formed by the CONCEALED
milk of the cOcoanut. From it the root.
fast forming receive their staff of life unit
the mother coke becomes exhausted and
having fulfilled her mission, is deserted b,
her offspring and left dead and useles.
mass of fiber
On grows the tree, sending deep into tn,
ground its roots and high into the air it,
trunk until after a lapse of from five t.
eight years it has attained height O
from forty to sixty feet, and then pays trib
ute to mother earth by bearing it's frs
fruit, and under favorable circumstance
continuing to yield for more than half
century, giving its owner from 100 to 20
marketable nuts a year.
A NATURAL FILTER
! Through the center of the trunk of tn
cocoanut tree is d soft, fbrous heart which
furnishes the life of the tree and acts as
great pump in forcing to the nuts the i'm
mense quantity of water required to fiji
them. This fbrous heart has wonderful
filtering power, for no matter in what lo
cation the tree may be growing, eithe
upon the beach or in the malarial swamp
near the pools of stagnant water, whel
nature has done her work she deposits il
the cocoannt sparkling liquid as clear a
crystal and as cool as if drawn from tn
deepest well in our northern yards. Hav
ing no particular season for fruiting, bu
bearing all the year round, blossoms, rip
and green fruit may be found on the sam
| tree.
The blossom Of the cocoanut is mos
beautiful and peculiar work of nature
art. Appearing at the base of the lon
ragged leaves is a gourd Like sheath, gree
in color and standing erect until it's owl
weight causes it to bend downward, wher
it hangs until the stems it incloses, whic
are to bear and sustain the nuts, are suffi