Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-08-13
COCOANUT CULTURE.
The Process of Growth from the Germ
to the Tree.

to the Tree.
Although the tree and original home
of the cocoanut is India and the South
Sea islands, it has become SO widely
diifused by the hands of man and the
waves of the ocean that it is now a
| prominent feature in almost every
tropical portion of the globe.
OF late years, cocoanut culture has
been extensively practiced on the Flori-
da coast, more than three hundred thou
sand nuts having been planted on the
Keys and along the shore.
Such nuts as are wanted for planting
are gathered into heaps or placed under
sheds, where they are allowed to re-
main 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 filed
gradually as the spout grows, until it
reaches the surface, when it is left to
itself. requiring no further attention
Should the place where the cocoanut
is planted be any great distance from
the seashore quantity of salt is some
times placed in the hole, and some
times scraps of old iron, as, being
strictly n notwithstanding tree, it will
thrive but short distance from the
seashore, nearness to salt water being
absolutely essential to it's welfare.
In fact, it is said no magnet is truer
to the pole than is the root of the cocoa
nut tree to the ocean, for, when the
root breaks through the husk, it points
directly toward the sea, no matter in
what position the nut is placed in the
ground.
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
1t from its mOOringS; 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 examine cocoanut when
in the process of sprouting, you will
find directly beneath the sprouting
eye small, white, musEroom-shaped
kernel, and in this little germ lies the
life of the future tree
the shell surrounded by many inches of
thick and tough and tangled fiber, how
is it to work its way out and perform
the duty assigned to it. For it is APP
parently soft and tender as a baby's
hand.
Soon it's tiny fingers begin boring
their way out of the weakest eye; then,
rending the tough woolly fiber right
and left, it forces itself to the surface
and commences the campaign of life,
sending its shoot upward to form the
tree and downward to form the roots,
still clinging to its parent for support,
until the entire inside of the shell is
filled with Il round ball-like substance
that is formed by the concealed milk OF
the cOcOanut.
From it the roots fast forming re-
ceive their staff of life, until the moth
er core becomes exhausted, and, hav
ing fulfilled her mission, is deserted by
her offspring and left a useless mass of
fiber
On grows the tree, sending deep into
the ground its roots and high into the
air its trunk, until. after lapse of
from five to eight years, it has attained
height of from forty to sixty feet, and
then pays tribute to mother earth, by
bearing its first fruit, and, under favor
able circumstances continuing to yield
for more than half a century, giving
its owner from one hundred to two hun
dred marketable nuts a year.
Through the center of the trunk of
the cocOanut tree is a soft. fbrous
heart, which furnishes the life of the
t1-f,a md .1atS
ing to the nuts the immense quantity
of water required to fill them.
The fibrous heart has wonderful
filtering power, for no matter in what
location the tree may be growing, either
upon the beach or in the malarial
swamps near the pools of stagnant
water, when nature has done her work
she deposits in the cocoanut a sparkling
liquid, as clear as crystal and as cool
as if drawn from the deepest well in
the northern states. Having no partic-
ular season for fruiting, but bearing all
the year round, blossoms, ripe and
green fruit may be found on the same
tree.
The blossom of the cOcOanut is a most
beautiful and peculiar work of natures
art. Appearing at the base of the long,
ragged leaves is a gOurd-like sheath,
green in color, and standing erect until
its own weight causes it to bend down
ward, where it hangs until the stems it
inclOses-which are to bear and sustain
the nuts-are sufficiently matured to
proceed on their journey without pro-
lection. When this outer covering splits
open it reveals a cluster of ragged
stems. upon each of which YOU will find
miniature cocoanuts, requiring about
fourteen months to ripen.-Golder
Days.