The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-06-28
THE CULTURE OF
THE COCOANUT.
Where the Big Nuts Grow and How
They Are Gathered.
A Fibrous Heart With Wonderful Filtering
Power That Furnishes the Life OF the
Tree and Acts as Great Pump.

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 100000 and 100000
| acres with its beautiful palms, and number
ing 25O,OO0,OO0 trees, yielding annually
10,000,000,0O0 of cocoanuts. says the Mer-
chants Review.
A recent approximate estimate of the area
cultivated with the cocoanut palm gave the
following result: British India and depend
encies, 100000 acres; Central America, 250,
600; Cey lon, 800, coo; Eastern Archipelago and
colonies, $4,000; Java and Sumatra, 100000;
Maurtius, Madagascar. Seychelles and
African coast, O,0CO; Pacific Islands, in
Guiding Fiji, New Caledonia. etc, $4,000;
Siam and Cochin China, 100000, and West
Indies, 80 600.
And when Florida shall add her 10000
acres lying south of the twenty seventh par
allel of north latitude. capable of growing
100000 trees, we may see at no distant day
the North American cocoanut demanding
no mean share Of commercial attention.
For many years cocOanuts have grown on
the coast Of Southern Florida, but owing to
an extreme fOndneSS Of the green nuts mani
tested by those engaged in the sponge fish
ing along the coast, few nuts have been
allowed to rpen, only sufficient to demon
strate that cOcoanutS can be raised for sew
eral hundred miles along the coast Of Florida,
where the Gulf Stream flows so closely to
the shore. The cocoanut industry in tn lat
vicinity has received an impetus of late.
Nar nil fol- 70 hn.xr to
Florida aud embarked in this industry, see
ing dixie Colonel Selers) millions in it.
Within the past four years over 100000 nuts
were planted on the coast of Florida.
NUTS FOR PLANTING.
Such nuts as are wanted for planting are
gathered into heaps or placed der sheds,
where they are allowed to remain until the
sprout shows itself through the husk.
When planted In regular order, holes about
3 feet deep and from 10 to 30 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 il reaches the surface, when it
is left TO itself, requiring no further atten-
tiOn.
Should the place where the cocoanut is
planted be any great distance from the sea-
shore quantity of salt is sometimes placed
in the hole, and sometimes scraps Of old
iron, as, being strictly a saltwater loving
tiNN8 IL VIII thiIfC bul a SIUiJ Instance from
the SeashOre. nearness to salt water being
absolutely essential to its welfare. In fact
il 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 husk
| 1t points directly toward the sea- no matter
IN what position the nut is placed in the
| ground.
Boring It's 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 moorings.
| but the hurricane, so frequent in the tropicS
| will often twist the trunks and carry the
| broken portions a long distance, thus ending
| That c0coanut palm, as it will not sprOUt a
| second time. Could you examine a coc0anut
| when IN the process OF spr0uting YOU will
md directly beneath the SprOuting eye
| small white mushroom shaped kernel and
IN this little germ lies the life Of the future
| tree. Smut up In its prisOn-like Shell and
| the she'll surrounded by many inches thick
of tough ana tangled fiber, how is it to work
its way out and perform the duty assigned
TO 1t? For 1t Is apparently sVft and tender
as a baby'S hand.
TINY FINGERS.
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 of life, sending its shoot up
ward to form the tree aud downward to
lUIIu Tie IoUlS. sui ClugUle 10 It's parent Tor
support, until the entire inside of the shell
is filled with round bal-lke substance
that Is formed by the concealed milk of the
| cocoanut. From it the roots fast forming
receive. their staff OF life until the mother
| coke becomes exhausted and, having full
| filed her mission, is deserted by her off
| spring and left dead and useless mass of
| fiber.
On grows the tree, sending deep into the
| ground its roots and high into the air its
| trunk, until after a lapse of from five to
| eieht years 1t has attained a height of from
forty to sixty feet and then pays tribute to
mother earth by bearing Its first fruit, and.
under favorable circumstances, continuing
| 10 yield for more than half century, giving
| its owner from 100 TO 200 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 tree
| and acts as great pump in forcing
| to the nuts the immense quantity of
water required to fill them. This fibrous
| heart has a wonderful filtering power,
| for no matter in what location the tree NAV
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 III the cOcOanut sparkling liquid
IS clear as crystal and as cool as if drawn
| from the deepest we'll in our Northern
| yards Eaving no particular season for
| fruitjng, but bearing all the year round,
| blossoms, ripe aud 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-llke sheath, green in color
| and standing erect until its own weight
| causes ii to bend downward. where it
hangs until the stems it incloses which are
| to bear and sustain the nuts, are sufficiently
maturrd TO proceed on their journey with
4 .A..t
| splits open II reveals a cluster of ragged
stems. upon each of which you will find
miniature cocoanuts, requiring about four
teen months TO ripen.