The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1892-01-06
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES.
THE COCOANUT.
CONTINUED }


es should he made to protect them
for the next six months from the too
great heat of the MONDAY sun. This
prevents whitening of the leaves or
any check to the growth of the roots.
Care must be taken that the plants
are not moved from their first posi-
ton.
On dry soils the plants ought TO
be watered daily till the rainy season
sets in, and once every two days
during the dry seasons of three fol-
lowing years.
The soil around the young plant
would be well if hept damp by bed
of leaves, such as will not attract
ants. If the soil becomes so rich as
to attract ants or grubs, ashes must
be applied, for the tree is easily
ruined by such insects. If the soil
be naturally poor or of hungry ma
ture, salt, ashes, paddy husks and
dry manures may be applied the first
year, butin after seasons, fresh ashes,
.decayed fish, carrlon or other refuse
is preferable.
Distinct leaflets will begin to show
themselves at the end of the first
year, and be completed at the end of
the second. According to the soil
and location, the moisture and hui.
nudity of the climate, the spathes or
shoots from which eventually the
flowers are to appear will begin to
show in from four to ten years.
In six months from blossoming the
nuts will have the kernel begin to
soldify, and in year the fruit is
fully ripe.
AT the end of the first year the
soil should be dug up and ashes APP
piled about once month. When
the tree is two years old and hence
forward annually during the dry sea-
son the whole of the soil yard or
two round the stem must be opened
out and ashes with dry manure APP
piled and left open to the air. This
prevents tendency to form a sort of
bulb and throw roots above the soil,
and it promotes the vigor of the tree.
Some Ceylon planters sprinkle ashes
and salt about the spike shoots to
keep insects away, and the applica-
ton of salt and ashes to the tree tops
is usual to keep off the swarms of
insects, particularly red ants who
live upon the juices of the tree and
render them fruitless.
The dried fronds, old spathes, fruit
and blossom stocks and ragged tibres
should be removed at stated periods
of perhaps month, or as often as
the nuts are gathered.
Sunlight is most beneficial to the
cocoanut tree; it increases the num-
Der of successive fronds and the
crops Of fruit, while if much shade
is caused by trees of other kinds,
there is tendency in the lower part
of the cocoanut stem to thicken, while
the upper part grows thin and atten-
uated, with fronds at considerable
intervals aud little fruit. Exposure
to regular breezes is also beneficial
and makes a stronger tree than those
in sheltered positions. Abundant
moisture is also an essential condi-
ton.
In almost every country where the
cocoanut is grown, its chief enemy is
the rat, which is very fond of the
cocoanut and is very destructive.
Each tree has to be protected by
sheet of zinc nailed around it.
In the West Indies "cocoanut
disease" has appeared which has
destroyed plantations in some parts
of Cuba and has caused serious
alarm, for in some districts the
cocoanut industry is the sole de-
pendence of the inhabitants. The
means used to exterminate the plague
is to trim down the diseased trees,
or cut off the leaves when they show
that they are affected by commence
ing to get yellow and dry, then burn
them under the tree with petroleum
and sulphur, so as the fumes will rise
up and fumigate the other leaves
The disease isthought to be caused by
protracted drouth and not likely to
affect trees in moist localities. 1t is
a cryptogamian parasite: spots be-
gin on the lower leaves which get
yellow and dry, then the next upper
leaf is affected and so on till at the
end of three or four months the
leaves have all fallen, then a putrid
decomposition sets in and the tree
dies.
YIELD.-In the South Seas the an
nual yield is abnormally large, many
trees in full bearing producing as
many as 800 cOcoanuts annually;
800 may be stated as a fair average,
though in the Gilbert and Marshall
Islands the trees will produce that
many twice year.
In other countries where the tree
is Systematically cultivated the yield
is not SO large, varying from 60 to
200 per tree according to soil and
location. The greatest yield is on a
low and sandy soil near the sea,
where there are prevailing sea breezes
and abundant moisture.
SOIL The soils suitable for a
cocoanut plantation are variously