Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1894-03-01
THE C0C0ANUT TREE.
It Furnishes Food, Shelter and
Employment to Thousands.
some Interesting Facts Concerning the
Rearing of the Plant on Pianta-
tions-Its Principal
Products.

some Interesting Facts Concerning the
Rearing Of the Plant on Pianta-
tions-Its Principal
Products.
This palm does not grow spontane-
ously on Key West or on any Of the
other Florida islands, as the violent
north winds which often prevail in
winter reduce the temperature of
southern Florida too low for this heat
loving tree, although when planted
and cared for while young IL grows TO
a moderate size on the keys, and some
times bears fruit; otherwise the nuts
which are cast upon those shores by
the gulf stream would have produced
plants that would gradually have Gov
cred them, for IL is in this way that the
cocoanut has been able gradually to
spread over all the sandy coral shores
of the tropics of the two worlds. The
place of its first home Is uncertain. IL
was believed by the younger Candolle
10 have first appeared on some of the
islands OF the Indian archipelago
whence IL was carried either by ocean
currents or by man to the southern
coast of Asia, east tropical Africa, and
to the islands and shores of Pacific
tropical America. Undoubtedly IT was
brought by man to the West Indies and
Brazil after the discovery OF America
by Europeans, although IT has now so
spread. through the action of ocean
currents or by the agency of man. that
IL has every appearance Of being in
digenous on the shores of east tropical
America.
Tho cocoanut palm, says Garden and
Forest, Ia n magnificent plant, well
named "a prince of the vegetable
kingdom" with tall, slender colu;Unar
stem eighty or a hvndred feet high,
and rich pale yt 1w-greeu leaves
which are thirty or forty feet long, and
flutter and rustic with every breath of
wind.
The cocoanut grows only near the
shore, where its roots, penetrating the
sandy soil, may drink freely from clear
underground springs, OF all trees IL
is the most useful TO man, furnishing
food, shelter and employment TO hun
dreds of thousands of the human race.
In tropical countries, especially in
southern India and Malaga, the cocoa
nut supplies TO whole communities the
chief necessities of life. Every part is
useful; the roots are considered n rem
edy against fcvcrs; from the trunk
houses, boats and furniture Lrc made;
tho leaves furnish the thutch for
houses and the material from which
baskets, hats, mats and innumerable
other articles are made; the network
of fibers at their base Is used for
sieves and is woven into Goth; from
the young flower stalks palm Wine,
called toddy, Is obtained, from which
arrack, fiery alcoholic drink, Is dis
titled. The value of the fruit is we'll
known. From the husk, which Is
called coir, commercially, corduge,
bedding, mats, brushes and other nr-
ticles are manufactured. In the
tropics, lamps, drinking vessels and
spoons are made from the hard shells.
The albumen of the seed contains large
quantities of oil, used in the cast for
cooking and in illuminating; In Europe
and the United States 1t is often made
into soap and candles, yielding, after
the oil is extracted, refuse valuable
as food for cattle, or as n fertilizer.
In some parts of the tropics the kernel
of the seed forms the chief food of the
inhabitants. The cool, milky fluid
which fills the cavity of the fruit when
the nut is young affords an agreeable
beverage, and the albumcn Of the young
nut, which is soft and jelly like, Is nu
tritious and of u delicate flavor.
AS might be expected in the case oi
q plant of such value, IL is often care
fully and extensively cultivated In
many countries, and numerous vari
cites, differing in the size, shape anc
quality of the fruit, are now known
The cocoanut is propagated by seeds
the nuts are sown in nursery beds, anC
at the end Of six or eight months the
seedlings are large enough to plant
: The plants are usually set twenty-hv,
feet apart each way in carefully pre-
pared beds filled with rich surface soil
Once established, n plantation Of co
coanuts requires little care beyond wa
tering, which Is necessary in Its earl,
years TO insure a rapid and vigorou
: growth. In good soil the trees usual,
l begin to flower at the end of five or 81:
years, and may be expected to be il
I full bearing in from eight to twelv
years. Thirty nuts from a tree is con
= sidered fair average yield, although
individual trees have been known /
produce an average of three hundre
a nuts during period OF ten years. Al
. application of manure increases tn
yield of the trees, although probabl
a the value Of the additional crop oil
tanned in this way is hardly larg
enough to justify much expenditure.
Glass Blowsr.
a Many attempts have been made I
: supplant the glass blowers by ma
+ chinery, but up to this time non
. has attained commercial Importance
d Either the cost of production has bee
/ found to be higher than by tn
time-honored method or the ware puc
!, duced was not of a quality up to tn
d demands of the market. This is NOR
especially the case in the kinds of Dol
o ties used to contain effervescen
drinks, which must be capable of with
L standing a pressure of several atmoi
r. pheres without failure. This, in fact
9 is the critical point in the automati
a manufacture of bottles, since the dii
l, fculty has always been to obtain
distribution Of the glass forming tn
walls OF the bottle as uniform as 1
the handiwork. The attempt has bee
= made TO press the body and bottor
!. separately and TO unite the two b
a = fusing them together, but the bottle