The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-03-13
THE COCOANUT TREE.
It Furnishes Food, Shelter and
Employment to Thousands.
Some Interesting facsa Concerning the
Rearing O.. i:S. III. on Planta-
tions-lts Principal
prne,i-.ts

tions-lts Principal
Pros:u..a.
This palm does not grow spontane.
ousiy CD Ecy WC.t CT ca 32y of the
other Florida i3l@,.tl;. as the violent
north winds which often prevail in
winter reduce the teinpcla IRE Of
southern Florida too low for tbs heat
loving tree. although when planted
and cared for while Young it crows to
a moderate sire on the keys, ard some
times bears fruit: otherwise the nut!
which are cast upon those shores by
the gulf stream would have produced
plants that would gradually have GOV
cred them. fer It is IL this way that the
cocoanut has been able gradually to
spread over II tic candy coral shores
of the tropics OF the two worlds. The
place CT its first homo is uncertain. It
was believed by the younger Candolle
to have first appeared on some of the
islands of the Indian archipelago,
whence it 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
it has every appearance of being in
digenous on the shores of east tropical
America.
The cocOanut palm, says Garden and
Forest, is a magnificent plant, well
named "a prince of the vegetable
kingdom" with tall, slender columnar
stem eighty or a hundred feet high,
and rich pale yellowgreen leaves
which are thirty or forty feet long, and
futter 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 it
is the most useful to man, furn :shing
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 rem.
edy 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 innumerabe
other articles are made; the network
of fbers at their base is used for
sieves and is woven into cloth; from
the young flower stalks palm wine,
called toddy, is obtained, from which
arraclS, a fiery alcoholic drink, is dis
titled. The value of the fruit is well
known. From the husk, which is
called coir, commercially, cordage,
bedding, mats, brushes and other ar
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 i'll 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 extracted, a 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 agreeable
beverage, and the albumen Of the young
nut, which is soft and jelly like, is nu
tritious and of delicate flavor.
AS might be expected in the case Of
plant of such value, it is often care
fully and extensively cultivated IL
many countries, and numerous varl
cites, differing in the size, shape an6
quality of the fruit, are now known
The cocoanut is propagated by seeds
the nuts are sown in nursery beds, ant
at the end of six or eight months thu
seedlings are large enough to plant
The plants are usually set twenty-five
feet apart each way in carefully pre-
pared beds filled with rich surface soil
Once established, plantation of co
coanuts requires little care beyond wa
tering, which is necessary in it's earl.
years to insure a rapid and vigorou
growth. In good soil the trees usual,
begin to flower at the end Of five or 81,
years, and may be expected to be il
full bearing in from eight to twelv
years. Thirty nuts from tree is con
sidered fair average yield, although
individual trees have been known t.
produce an average of three hundre'
nuts during period OF ten years. Al
application OF manure increases tn
yield of the trees, although probabl
0f Ot
tanned in this way is hardly larg
enough to justify much expenditure.
Ctocc pSnyvarS