Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-27
CULTURE OF COCOANUTS.
The Tree Is spread:ng All Over the Prin
CipaI Parts of the World.

The Tree - pread.ng All Over the Prin-
cipaI Parts of the World.
Although the true and original home
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 ;. 900 900 ana ZOO, 90 acres
with its beautiful palms and number
ing go, 000,00 trees, yielding annual
ly TO- 900, 600, 00O cocoanuts. says the
Philadelphia Telegram.
For many years cocoanuts have
grown On the coast of southern Flor
ida, but owing to an extrAne fOnlneSS
for the green nuts manifested BY those
engaged in hesponge fishing along the
coast few nuts have been allowed TO
ripen. only sufficient to demonstrate
that cocoanuts can be raised for sever
al hundred miles along the coast of
Florida where the Gulf stream flows
sc close to the shore. The cocoanut
industry in that vicinity has received
an impetus of late. Several nC"1hern
capitalists have gone to Florida and
embarked in this industry, seeing Cike
Colonel Sellers) millions in it. With
in the past four years over 500, coo
nuts were planted on the coast of
Florida.
Such nuts as are wanted for plant
ing are gathered into heaps or placed
under sheds, where they are allowed
to remain until the sprOut shows itself
through the husk. When planted in
regular order holes about feet deep
and from 10 to 80 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.
Should the place where the cocoa
nut is planted be any great distance
from the seashOre. d 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 short distance 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 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
it from its mornings; 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 a second time. Could you ex-
anime a cOcoanut when in the process
of sprouting, you will find directly be-
meath the sprouting eye small white
| mushroom-shaped kernel, and in this
little germ lies 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 fiber,
how is it to work it's way out and per-
form the duty assigned to it? For it
| is apparently soft and tender as baby's
| hand.
Soon its tiny fingers begin boring
their way out of the weakest eye; then,
rending the tough woody fiber right
and left, it forces itself TO the surface
and commences the campaign for life,
|
! tree, and downward to form the roots,
still clinging TO it's parent for support
until the entire inside of the shell is
! filled with a round. ball-like substance
! that is formed by the CONCEALED milk
of the cCcoanut. From it the roots
! fast forming receive their staff Of life
until the mother coke becomes exhaust
ed and. having fulfilled her mission, is
| deserted by her offspring and left a
dead and useless mass Of fiber.
On grows the tree, sending deep into
| the ground it's roots and high into The
air its trunk, until after a lapse of
| from five to eight years it has attained
a height of from forty to sixty feet,
! and then pays a tribute to mother
earth by bearing its first fruit, and
under favorable circumstances contin-
uing to yield for more than half a
century, giving its owner from one
hundred to 200 marketable nuts a
! year.
Through the center of the trunk of
| the cOcOanut tree is a soft. librous
heart which furnishes the life Of a
tree and acts as great pump in forcing
to the nuts the immense quantity Of
water required to fill them. This
| tibrous heart has a wonderful fltering
power; for no matter in what locality
the tree may be growing, either upon
! the beach or i'll the malarial swamps
uear the pools of stagnant water. when
nature has done her work she depOs-
| its in the cocoanut q sparkling liquid
rs clear as crystal and as cool as if
drawn from the deepest well in our
Northern yards. Having no particu-
lar season for fruitipg, but bearing all
the year round, blossoms, ripe and
green fruit may be found on the same
tree.
The blossom of the cocoanut is q
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 stand
ing erect until its own weight causes
it to bend downward. where it hangs
until the stem it encloses which are
to bear and sustain the nuts, are suffi-
GENTLY matured to proceed on their
journey without protection. When
this outer covering splits open it re-
/ uaalS u cl1,Star Of ra ornad stanas ,,nnn