It is a sandy soil in which these magnificent
palms are growing, so sandy, in fact that you
would hardly expect it to support such luxuriant
growth, but cocoanuts thrive on it. You notice how
the foliage is all massed at the top? The growth
is from the uppermost part, and, as the old leaves
fall, broad scars remain on the trunk showing
just where they dropped off, years ago when the
tree was not so tall. You can see the scars now,
forming almost continuous rings around the
trunks.

Each nut that you see up there in the tree is
a seed-vessel, left to grow after the blossom wither-
ered. It always starts in life with the capacity
for ripening three seeds, but only one seed is
actually developed inside the rough, hairy husk.
The "meat" and "milk" of the nut are nature's
provisions for feeding the embryo palm tree con-
tained in the shell. If the cocoanut were allowed
to sprout you would find the infant plant absorbs
this food and lives on it until its own organism
becomes able to assimilate the right materials
from soil, water and air.

A cocoanut palm like this is one of the most use-
ful plants on earth. It grows easily in thin soil
and is immensely prolific in producing nuts. Mil-
lions of people in tropical countries live largely on
the nuts. The shells are used for dishes and cook-
ing utensils. The leaves and husks are used for
making thatched roofs, mats, curtains, baskets,
ropes and all sorts of daily necessities; the trunks
often furnish the only available wood for building.

The climate down here in Florida is even more
delightfully tropical than its latitude would lead
one to expect. Lying between the Gulf and the
Atlantic, with warm ocean currents from the
Caribbees washing the eastern shore, there are
never any bleak winds, never any cold storms.
This is a land of sunshine and balmy air.

From Notes of Travel, No. 7, copyright, 1904, by
Underwood & Underwood.

Harvesting the Cocoanuts; Florida.

Moissonnage des Noix de Coco; Florida.

Kokosnußernte; Florida.

Cosechando los Cocos; Florida.

Inskördande kokosnötter; Florida.

Убиранie кокосовыхъ оръховъ; Флорида.