Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-03-01
A Useful Tree.

shore, where its roots penetrating the
sandy soil may drink freely from clear
underground springs. Of all trees it
is regarded as the most useful to man,
furnishing food, shelter and employ
ment to hundreds of thousands of the
human race In tropical countries,
especially in southern India and in
Malaga, the cocoanut supplies two
whole communities with the chief ne
cessities of life. Every part is useful;
the roots are considered remedy
against fevers; from the trunk houses,
boats and furniture are made; the
leaves furnish the thatch for houses
and the material from which baskets,
hats, mats and innumerable other artl-
cles are made; the network oftbersa at
their base is used for sieves and IS
woven into cloth; from the young
flower stalks a palm wine, called tod
DIV. is obtained, from which arrak, a
fiery alcoholic drink, is distilled. The
value of the fruit is well-known. From
the husk. which is called coir, COM
mercially, cordage, bedding, mats,
brushes and other articles are manu-
featured. 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 East for cooking
and in Illuminating; in Europe and
the United States it is often made into
soap and candles, yielding, after the
oil is exit actel, refuse valuable as
food for cattle, or as a 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 agreeble
beverage, and the albumen of the
young nut, which is soft and jelly-ike,
is nutritious and of delicate flavor.
As might be expected in the case of
a plant of such value, it is often care
fully and extensively cultivated in
many countries; and numerous varie-
ties, differing in the size, shape and
quality of the furit, are now known.
The cocoanut is propagated by seeds,
the nuts are sown in nursery beds
and at the end of six or eight months
the seedlings are large enough to
plant. The plants are usually set
twenty-five feet apart each way IN
carefully prepared beds filled with
rich surface soil. Once established,
a plantation Of cocoanuts requires little
care beyond watering, which is neces-
sary in its early years to insure a
rapid and vigorous growth. In good
soil the trees usually begin to flower
at the end of five or six years, and
may be expected to be in full bearing
from eight to twelve years. Thirty
nuts from a tree is considered fair
average yield; although individual
trees have been known to produce an
average of 800 nuts during period
of ten years. An application OF ma
nure increases the yield of the trees,
although probably the value Of the
additional crop obtained in this way
is hardly large enough to Justify such
expenditures. In recent years the
cocoanut has been cultivated on O
very large scale in British Honduras
Jamaica and other parts of Central
America, as well as on the northern
coast of South America and the
West Indies. Cocoanuts bring all
the way from $40 to $20 per 1000
according to quality.