Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-24
HOW COCOANUTS GROW.
INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE
CULTIVATION OF THE NUT.


They Yield 10, 600. 600, 600 Nut. . Tear.
Although the true and original home of
the cocoanut is India and the Soath Sea
Islands, it has become 50 widely diffused
by the hands of man and the waves of the
ocean that 1t IS now a prominent feature in
almost every tropical portion OF the globe,
covering between 3,ooo,ooo and 4.ooo, 900
acres with its beautiful palms, aud num-
bering 250,0Oo GO trees, yielding annually
10. ooo, 900 900 of cccoanuts.
A recent approximate estimate of the
area cultivated with the cocoanut palm
gave the following result: British India
and dependencies, $4,000, Central Amer
lea, 10000, Ceylon, 500, 600. Eastern Archi-
peiago and colonies, $50 600, Java and Su-
matra, 20 600; Aauritius, Madagascar,
Seychelles and African coast, 10000: Pa
ciic islands, including Fiji, New Caiedo-
MA, etc, 350. 900; Siam and Cochin China,
10000, and West Indies, $1,000
And when Florida shall add her 10, 900
acres lying south of the 9th parallel of
north latitude, capable of growing l,0oo, 0oo
trees, we may see st no distant day the
North American cocoanut demanding no
AACo1 eItEC Vi dLI<nLfOE-
WHERE CocoASUTs 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 cocaanuts can be raised
for several hundred miles along the coast
f.f q -
close 70 the shore. The cocoanut industry
N 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
5o.Uo nuts we're planted On the coast Of
Florida
Such nuts as are wanted for planting are
gathered into heaps or placed under sheds,
where they are allowed 10 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 filed 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 cocoauut 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 short dis
lance from the seashore, nearness TO salt
water being absolutely essential 70 It's
welfare In fact, it is said, no magnet il
truer 20 the pole than Is the root of the
cocoanut tree 10 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
TIE GLOWING TREE
Boring its way downward the root fastens
itself 50 deep and firmly in the ground that
no tornado, no matter how severe, has ever
been known to wrench it from it's Moor
ings, but the hurricane, so frequent in the
tropics, viii often twist the trunks and
carry the broken portions long distance.
thus ending that cocoanut palm, as it will
not sProut q second time Could yoo ex-
anime cocoanut when IN TIE process of
sprouting you viii find directly beneath
the sproutng eye a small white mushroom
shaped kernel, and in this little germ lies
the life OF the future tree Shut I'D in its
prison ike shell, and the shell surrounded
by many inches thick of tough and tangled
fiber, how Is 1T To work its way ont and
perform the duty assigned TO il! For il is
apparently soft and tender as a 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, ii
forces itself to the surface and commences
the cam paign of life, sending its shoot up
ward to form the tree and downward to
form the roots, still cliDging to its parent
for support until the entire inside of the
shell Is filed with a round, ball like Sub
stance that is formed by the CONCEALED
milk of the cocoanut. From 1t the roots
fast forming receive their staff of life until
the mother coke becomes exhausted and.
having fulfilled her mission, is deserted by
her offspring 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
eight years it has attained a height of
from forty to sixty feet, and then pays trib
ute TO mother earth by bearing its first
fruit, and under favorable circumstances
continuing to yield for more than half a
century, giving its owner from 100 TO 200
marketable nuts a year.
NATURAL FILTER
Through the center of the trunk Of the
cocosnut tree is soft, fbrous heart which
furnishes the life of the tree and acts as a
great pump in forcing to the nuts the i'm
mense quantity of water required to fill
them. This fibrous heart has wonderful!
hiterlng power, for no matter in what 10
cation the tree may be growing, either
upon the beach or in the malarial swampe
near the pools of stagnant water, when
pature 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 our northern yards Hav-
ing no particular 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 most
beautiful and peculiar work of natures
art. Appearing at the base of the long
ragged leaves is gourd like sheath, green
in color and standing erect until its own
weight causes il to bend downward, where
it hangs until the stems it incloses. which
are TO bear and sustain the nuts, are suffi-