The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-10-30
OUR COCOANUT A
How the Nut Was introduced Into i
ida-Its Value and Uses.

How the Nut Was introduced into Flor
ida-Its Value and Uses.
Quite @ number of tropical nuts
have recently been introduced into
cultivation in this country. Already
on the east coast of Florida are
growing $50, 900 oocoanut trees,
AZ, 900 being on n plantation. 1t is
believed that tho first trees of this
kind in the state sprouted from nuts
brought from Central America and
the West Indies by the gulf stream.
At Key West and about some of the
old forts %cocoanuts We're planted at
an early day, rs certain ancient trees
now standing bear witness. In 1871
q bark freighted with cocoanuts was
caught in a storm off the coast of
Florida and beached near Lake
Worth. Several thousand of the nuts
were saved and planted, the salts
factory growth of the seedlings Civ
ing an impetus to cultivation.
The first importation of cocoanuts
of named varieties was made in 1889,
when the secretary of agriculture
obtained through the state depart
ment two shipments of selected nuts
from the Philippines. These, with
two other shipments in 1890 from
the Same islands, comprehended
fourteen varieties. To got so many
varieties was no easy task, iuas-
much as not more than two or three
kinds grow in any one district or is
land of the archipelago, and they
were collected by a skilled botanist,
who made a tour for the purpose.
The nuts thus received were for
warded to growers in Florida. Cor
tain specimens from the islands of
Albay and Misamis were of tho
smallest known variety, which
yields little oil and is of inferior da-
vor. The shells are carved by tho
natives into beautiful drinking cups.
Tho meat of q variety called 'tay-
omamis" is prepared rs o delicious
sweetmeat with yams and sirup.
Another variety, on account of its
extreme hardness, is known as "ba-
ham," which means milestone.
Tho word cocoanut is derived from
the Portuguese coco" meaning
monkey, because the base resembles
q monkeys face. The tree was
known to the people of Ceylon as
early as 100 B. c., the milk being
used by them for making cement.
The cocoanut Is one of the most use,
full of plants; root, trunk, leaf, sap
and nut + made to yield tribute to
man. The fiber of the husk fur
nishes excellent yarn, and is pre-
ferred to horsehair for stuffing beds,
cushions, chairs and saddles. 1t is
stronger and more elastic than
hemp. The Polynesians twist small
cords of this fiber, which serves in
the construction of houses and ca.
noes where Europeans would en-
ploy nails. The green nuts r graf.
ed for medicinal use. Grated cocoa.
nut forms an ingredient of the East
Indian condiment curry. In the
Maldive islands labor is usually paid
for in coooanutS.
The chief manufactured product
derived from the cocoanut is oil, val
ued at z cents a pound by the hogs
head. Most of the cocoanut oil con-
sumed in the United States is manu-
featured in this country from i'm
ported nuts. 1t is valuable in the
making of candles and soaps. 1t also
serves us q substitute for butter. 1t
is used by natives of the Pacific is
lands for burning in lamps. The ker-
nels of the nuts, broken and dried,
are called "copra." One thousand
cocoanuts yield 500 pounds of copra,
from which r obtained 25 gallons
of oil. A good tree yields 100 cocoa
nuts annually, worth A cents apiece.
The worst foe of the planter is the
black rat, which builds its most in
fruiting trees and destroys the nuts.
TO protect the trees against this en-:
envy the trunks are incased in broad
sheets of galvanized iron.-Wash-
ington Letter in Boston Transcript.