The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1895-10-10
THE CoCoANUT IN FLORIDA,
Large Grove Established on the
SOutheustern COass.

Large Grove Established on the
Southeastern Coast.
Quite a number of tropical nuts h:t &
recently been introduced into cultiva-
ton in this country. Already on the
east coast of FLORIDA are growing 250.-
900 cocoanut trees, AZ, 600 being in one
plantation. 1t is believed that the
trees of this kind in the state sprouted
from nuts brought from Central Amer
lea and the West Indies by the gulf
stream. At Key West and about some
Of h old forts %cocoanuts were plant,
ed at an early day. as certain ancient
trees now standing bear witness. In
1877 a bark freighted with %cocoanuts
was caught in a storm off the coast of
Florida and beached lear Lake Worth.
Several thousand of the nuts were
saved and planted, the satisfactory
growth of the seedlings giving an I'M
petus to cultivation.
The first importation of c%Ocoanuts Of
named varieties was made in 1899
when the secretary of agriculture OBJ
tanned through the state department
two shipments of selected nuts from
the Philippines. These, with two 9th
| CI ShlDLiChlS III IoOO Hull lHC C0luC
islands, comprehended fourteen varie-
ties. To get so many varieties was no
| easy task, inasmuch as not more than
two or three kinds grow in any one
| district or island of the Archipelago,
and they We're collected by a skilled
botanist, who made a tour for the pur-
pose. The nuts thus received were
forwarded to growers in Florida. Ger
tain specimens from the Islands of
| Albay and Misamis were of the small
est known variety, which yields little
| oil and is of inferior flavor. The shells
are carved by the natives into beauti-
full drinking cups. The meat of a va
riety called 'tayomamis' is prepared
as a delicious sweetheart with yams
and syrup. Another variety, on ac-
count of it's extreme hardness, Is
known as "bahan," which means mill
stone.
The word cocoanut is derived from
the Portuguese %"cOco," meaning mon
key, because the base resembles a
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 useful Of plants, root,
trunk. leaf, sap and nut are made to
yield tribute to man. The fiber of the
husk furnishes excellent yarn, and is
preferred to horse hair for stuffing
beds, cushions, chairs and saddles. 1t
is stronger and more elastic thai
hemp. The Polynesians twist small
cords of this fiber, which serves in the
construction of houses and anoes,
where Europeans would employ nails.
The green nuts are grated for medic
inal use. Grated %cocoanut forms an
ingredient of the Fast Indian condi-
ment curry. In the Maldive islands
labor Is usually paid for in cocoarrtT.
The chief manufactured produ
rived from the c%ocoanut Is oil, va
at 7 cents a pound by the hogshead.
Most of the %cOcoanut oil consumed in
the United States is manufactured in
this country from imported nuts. 1t is
valuable in the making of candles and
soaps; 1t also serves as a substitute
for butter. 1t is Used by natives of
the Pacific islands for burning in their
lamps. The kernels of the nuts, bro
ken and dried, are called ''copra." One
thousand cocoanuts yield 800 pounds
of copra, from which are obtained
twenty-five gallons of oil. A good tree
yields 100 c%ocoannts annually, worth
4 cents apiece. The worst foe of the
planter Is the black rat, which build.
it's nest in f~ruiting trees and destroys
the nuts. To protect the trees against
this enemy the trunks are incased in
broad sheets of galvanized iron.-Bos'
ton Transcript.