The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-06-14
COCOANUT TREES.
They ARE GROWN VERY SUCCESS
FULLY IN SOUTH FLORIDA.

Although introduced Only Sixteen Years
Ago, the State Could Not Now Do Very
Well Without Them-Some of the Many
Uses the Cocoanut Is Put To.
While the cocoanut tree abounds in
South Florida it is not not native of
the section nor has the fruit been culti-
waited here for any great length of time.
About sixteen years ago a Bahama
vessel was wrecked off the coast, near
Jupiter inlet. Soon after the waves be
gan bringing the cargo ashore, among
which were found large number of
cocoanuts. Residents were very few in
this section at that time, but they
gathered together and appropriated
whatever came to them.
These cocoanuts were considered great
prizes and were at once planted. The
soil was found to be favorable to the
growth and they thrived wonderfully.
Thus was introduced the culture of the
nut upon the soil of the North American
continent. In Dade county, one of the
sOuthernmost counties OF the state,
which has sea front of $50 miles, there
are now groves of great beauty contain
ing from 100 to 5000 trees.
Cocoanut culture is very simple. The
ripe nut is plucked from the tree and, in
the outer husk that surrounds it, Is put
under ground, lightly covered with soil.
The first shoot should make its appear
ance in one month after planting, but it
is often two before it comes. When it is
about foot high it is transplanted to its
permanent resting place. Ii the nut Is
planted as nursery stock the husk is
left on, as the young plant is very ten
der, and it seems that growth out of
the husk has tendency to make strong
the reediike joints. If it be first planted
where it is to remain the husk is usually
removed
For the first year the plant requires
careful protection from the winds, but
it gradually grows hardy, and at the end
of six years begins bearing. The blooms
make their appearance-a dozen or more
fingers, looking like grains of corn strung
ON wire about a foot in length. These
grains are young nuts.
They ripen in a years time, and there
after until its death the tree is never
without fruit in various stages of ripe
ness, from tiny lobe the size of pea
TO ripe nuts, and there is not a day in
the year when the ripe nuts cannot be
secured. 1t has been demonstrated in
other countries that the cocoanut tree
will bear fruit for twenty-five years. To
what age they live has not been ascer-
tanned.
The trees make most beautiful and
imposing grove, being truly tropical in
their appearance. AS they are planted
only about twenty feet apart, they cast
a thick, unvarying shade They ar ever
green, as is most tropical foliage, and
their gracefulness, with the great height
they attain, makes them desirable ad-
dition to home in the far south. The
diameter of the tree ranges from one
foot to four, and they attain height Of
125 feet, having as many as 400 nuts On
them at one time.
The old fashioned method of grating
the nut has been superseded by ma
chine for grinding, and the residents of
the southern country keep on hand for
their use fresh supply of homemade
desiccated cocoanut, from which various
toothsome dishes are prepared. The
product is becoming more generally
known by reason of its excellent fiber,
and the ''cloth," a strong, fibrous bark,
that grows far above the ground and is
utilized in many ways. If the use of
cocOanut butter ever becomes common
the owner of grove Of these trees will
see his fortune ahead. The butter is
made from the oil of the nut, expressed
by machinery.
Even the raw grated nut is an excel
lent substitute for shortening" in bread,
the grated nut in the same quantity
being substituted for lard. The cooking
process seems to destroy entirely the
vegetable taste and appearance, and bis
cult made with it are pronounced as
good as real cream biscuit.
Shorn OF its cocoanut growth, tropi-
cal country would certainly be less at
tractive in appearance. The long,
feathery leaves that undulate so grace
fully in the breeze which sighs among
them, the everlasting green of their
cololing, their tall stateliness and their
symmetry beautify the whole country
where they grow-especially the south
Florida country, where they grow in
such profusion.-St. Louis Republic.