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LIBRARY

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GUAM AGRICULTURAL
EXPERIMENT STATION

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MACMILLAN AND CO., LimItTED

LONDON - BOMBAY - CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK - BOSTON - CHICAGO
DALLAS - SAN FRANCISCO

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, L1.
TORONTO

COCO-NUTS AT HOME.

Photograph, Gilchrist.

Frontispiece.

THE COCO-NUT

BY

EDWIN BINGHAM COPELAND

PROFESSOR OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND DEAN OF THE
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, UNIVERSITY OF
THE PHILIPPINES

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MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ol MARGINS (STREET, LONDON

1914

E415. 26 7S -

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .
ORIGIN OF THE Coco-NUT

CHAPTER I
PHYSIOLOGY OF THE Coco-NuUT
THe Root
THe LEAF
CHAPTER II
CLIMATE AND SOIL .
CLIMATE .
SOIL

CHAPTER III

DISEASES AND PEstTs :
CONSTITUTIONAL WEAKNESS AND DISEASES
PESTS

Funeus Pxsts .

Bup Ror.

Insect ENEMIES
MISCELLANEOUS PEsts

CHAPTER IV

SELECTION AND TREATMENT OF SEED
VARIETIES OF COCO-NUTS
SELECTION OF SEED
GERMINATION OF SEED

. 31-107
dl

32

34

43

63

105

108-122
108
116
118

vl THE COCO-NUT

CHAPTER V

FIELD CULTURE :
PREPARATION OF LAND
TRANSPLANTING : ;
CULTIVATION OF YOUNG GROVES
CARE OF ADULT GROVES
FERTILIZERS
HARVEST

CHAPTER VI

Coco-Nut PRopUCTS
Toppy
CoIR
CoPRA
OIL

INDEX .

PAGE

123-169
123
130
135
144
150
164

170-206
170
182
190
201

207

ILLUSTRATIONS

. FACE PAGE
Coco-nuts at home . ; : ; : : : . Frontispiece
Coco-nuts at Zamboanga, 160 years ago . : : : : 6
Ideal coco-nut country . : : 28
Coco-nuts and rice paddy fields : : ; 28
The black or rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros, adults and pupa 64
The red beetle, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, adults and larva ; 76
The coco-nut scale, Aspidtotus destructor . : : f 100
Nuts hung up in pairs to germinate : : : 3 : 118
Nuts stacked round a pole to germinate . : : 118
Seed bed with yams in the background . ! : 122
Young tree . : : 4 : Mae : : : 138
An ill-kept grove . ; : : : : : : 144
Minor products in the Philippines i : 2 : : j 148
Coco-nut tapped for toddy : 170
Grove devoted to toddy, La Laguna : é : 172:
Interior of distillery : ; : : : : : 174
Coco-nut rafts at Pagsanjan . : ‘ : : : ‘ 182
Receiving yard at Magdalena and iron used for husking nuts. 186
Tapahan, or copra-drying house, Philippines . : : : 192
Interior of Tapahan : ‘ : : : : : : 194
Magdalena copra drier . i . ; ‘ ; : 194
Ipitan or oil-press . : : : 4 : : : 202

Ilohan or rocking crusher, La Laguna. : : ; : 202

Vii

ERRATA

Page xiii, line 21, read yawtia instead of yantia. °

iY)

99

19, line 7, read diseases instead of disease. -
20, line 11, read where the instead of whose.
54, line 5, read were instead of had. -
64, lines 5 and 6, delete Of these and begin Semaine with The. -
65, line 11th from bottom, insert at before at. -
67, line 3, cut out first two letters. .
86, line 4, after cut insert owt. «
107, line 15, read runways instead of runaways. ©
140, last line, read coco-nut instead of coco-nuts.
156, 2nd line of reading matter, read very dry instead of ordinary.
162, last line, insert and nitrogen after ash, and read amownt instead of
amounts. -
191, 2nd line from bottom, read Kokosbutier instead of Kokosbutrer. -
192, 1st line, read Uebwng instead of Ubwng. -
195, 8rd line, read salable instead of soluble. -
198, 3rd line from bottom, read figures 65 instead of 35. -
201, line 14, read for each 100 hektares instead of for each hektare. -
204, line 12th from bottom, read bear instead of bears.
205, line 3rd from bottom, read presses instead of pressures.
207, and in the places referred to, note that Banahao and Banojao are the
name of one mountain. The official spelling is Banajao, but Banahao
is now more common. It should be spelled alike throughout.

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INTRODUCTION

THE preparation of this book began in 1907 and was
expected to be finished in three years. Before the time
at which it was to be finished, the College of Agriculture
of the University of the Philippines was established, and
I found myself giving a course of instruction on the
coco-nut. This course and the proposed book covered
the same ground and had the same end in view. Other
work did not leave me time to get this into satisfactory
shape for publication, and teaching the subject gave me
an opportunity to test many of the supposed facts as
well as to practise their presentation. I have now given
the course to five classes. The knowledge of coco-nut
physiology, which before rested entirely upon my work
during one season at San Ramon, has been amplified
and substantiated by the work of many students here.
Every student in these classes has had the care of a
small group of trees and has kept full records covering
every step in coco-nut culture, from the preparation of
the seed bed to the utilization of the product. When I
express myself positively on matters of practice it is
therefore on the basis of ample personal experience.

The aim of this book and of the instruction in this
college is to give the knowledge and advice which will
qualify a person for the practice of coco-nut raising.
There are two general methods which might be used for
this purpose. One is to give rules which have been
found good in practice; the other is to give the under-
standing on which such rules must rest. In the same
way the chauffeur of an automobile might be qualified

1X

x THE COCO-NUT

by being shown with care how the machine responds to
the action of various wheels and levers, or he might be
taught the principles on which his engine is built, and
how these principles are applied in practice. If every-
thing runs smoothly, the training by rule and example
will be sufficient. But when things go wrong, it will
leave him helpless. In the same way, and for the same
reason, the coco-nut planter who has been given a good
set of rules will be likely to succeed under the conditions
to which the rules apply, but will not be qualified to
meet changes in conditions.

This book is written in the Philippines, and may
seem to deal to an unreasonable extent with the coco-
nut industry of these islands. However, I believe that
aside from such purely local information as the cost of
labour and supplies, and means of transportation as
influencing the markets, it contains everything that a
planter anywhere in the tropics has most need of know-
ing. The behaviour of the coco-nut is intelligible in the
light of the knowledge of its physiology, and surely in
no other way; and the physiology of the tree is the
same the world over. The diseases of the coco-nut
present a problem which is increasing very rapidly in
importance, and to which I have accordingly given par-
ticularly thorough treatment. In discussing the culti-
vation of the coco-nut and the utilization of its products,
I have constantly kept emphatically in view the fact
that the subject is of interest only because of its
business importance. Every detail in these matters
should be put into practice only after mature considera-
tion in the light of local conditions, and every decision
as to practice must be a business decision. It is not
anticipated that the planter or the student will be pro-
vided with a business head. It is hoped and believed
that the conditions and arguments which should be
considered are suggested and discussed sufficiently to
qualify each man to decide for himself, at each stage of
the business, what he can do with the prospect of most
complete success.

INTRODUCTION x1

Certain matters to which much space is often
devoted in works of this kind have been omitted. One
of these is the presentation of statistics on the coco-nut
industry of different countries and on the commerce in
coco-nut products. So far as I have been able to test
them, the generally current statements as to this
industry in different lands are unreliable to the point
where they are almost valueless. For instance, several
books contain a table prepared many years ago in
Ceylon, showing the number of acres devoted to coco-
nuts in different countries, and in this table the Philip-
pines are grouped with Borneo and other great areas,
and for the whole group the acreage given is not far
from that in one of the provinces on the Island of Luzon.
It would be a very difficult matter to prepare a reliable
table of this kind, but I cannot see that it would be very
useful to any coco-nut planter when prepared. It would
be possible to compile comparatively reliable statistics
as to coco-nut commerce. But in this case, again, the
statistics would not be of much interest to the planter.

Another omission which may be noted is the absence
of estimates showing the cost of establishing coco-nut
plantations and maintaining them, and the probable
income and profit. Very many such estimates have
been published. ‘The best of these are more or less skil-
ful guesses. In every such estimate, the cost of labour,
whether expressed as such or not, is the principal item,
and the only other items lkely to compare with it, if
the analysis of the expenditures is thorough, are land
and supervision. ‘The values of land and labour are so
exceedingly different in different tropical countries, that
no such estimate has other than a local value. How
completely this is the case is illustrated by the fact
that equally good labour varies in cost from province to
province in the Philippines by fully 100 per cent. If
the presentation of estimates could be trusted to show
that the establishment of a coco-nut plantation in
one country could be expected with confidence to pay
better returns than one in another country, they would

X11 THE COCO-NUT

indeed be very useful to prospective investors. But I
do not believe that such estimates as have been
published are qualified to serve this use. Moreover,
the intending investor practically always has the place
of investment determined by other considerations.

Still another omission is the discussion at any con-
siderable length of the use of coco-nut products.
Beyond the reasonable limits of plantation industry I
have not pursued the subject.

In a business sense it is sufficient that coco-nut
raising is profitable and that its future is safe. I know
no other business which seems to me quite so certain as
this one to continue for a term of decades to pay large
profits at all times. The returns at present cannot be
described as less than unreasonable. Yet the demand
for good copra and good oil is so far beyond the supply
that for a very long time to come it seems certain that
prices will remain above those which would merely pay
a good return on the cost of production.

There are a number of other works on the coco-nut
which should be mentioned here. JF erguson’s All
about the Coco-Nut, which for years had the field to
itself, is a compilation of papers published in the
Tropical Agriculturist, dealing very largely with Ceylon
conditions, and written in considerable part by planters
of experience. Prudhomme’s Le Cocoter is the most
pretentious work which has appeared on the subject. It
is particularly thorough in its treatment of the industry
in Ceylon and in its application to Madagascar. It is
beautifully illustrated, and very valuable to those who
read French. Smith’s Coco-Nuts, The Consols of the
Hast, contains the most complete and recent compila-
tion of the statistics on the subject, and in its enthusi-
astic treatment gives the best expression to the business
opportunities which the coco-nut offers. Die Kokos-
palme und thre kultur, by Preuss, which was intended
to be part of a new edition of Semler’s great work on
Tropical Agriculture, more than maintains the Semler
standard. To those who read German it cannot be too

INTRODUCTION XIll

strongly recommended. Andes’ Kokosbutter describes
methods of making the food products which are largely
responsible for the great recent increase in the demand
for the better grades of copra and coco-nut oil.

In statements as to money I have, as a rule, made
use of local terms, and the same is true with regard to
measures of various kinds. The more frequent use of
the metric than of English standards will probably
coniuse nobody. LHnglish, American, and French money
are likewise generally familiar. The Philippine peso
of one hundred centavos is half of the American dollar.

There are botanical grounds, so strong that no
doubt should remain on the subject, for the belief that
the coco-nut palm was a native of the American
tropics. In prehistoric times it did not occupy all the
available parts of this region, its introduction into the
Greater Antilles, for instance, where its cultivation is
now an important industry, having been accomplished
by the Spaniards. The American aborigines had many
cultivated food plants, such as cassava, potato, sweet
potato, yams, yaiitia, taro, and maize, and the coco-nut
was far from being one of the most important of
them.

The coco-nut was introduced into Polynesia a very
long time ago; long in a merely human sense, however,
for it 1s highly probable that its introduction was the
act of man, and that it was a deliberate contribution to
the resources of the Island World. Here it became
the crop of first importance. It made life easy on islets
which without it must have been quite uninhabitable.
Polynesia had little vegetable wealth, and the coco-nut
supplied a folk poor in crops with food, drink, fuel,
shelter, and sometimes clothing, and served a host of
minor uses. In these days of commerce, it is the chief
export of this region. Its culture naturally spread.
Originating in America, it must have been carried west-
ward across the Pacific; and there is good linguistic
evidence that its spread was in this direction. With

1 Cook, The Origin and Distribution of the Cocoa Palm, 1901.

X1V THE COCO-NUT

its hundred and more uses, it naturally has a large
place in the languages of the people of the sea.

From Polynesia it reached New Guinea and Malaya,
but not Australia. There are quasi-historic accounts of
its introduction into Ceylon. Its more recent intro-
duction to practically all tropical coasts has been, for
commercial purposes, important indeed to the various
lands but offering nothing of general interest.

CHAPTER: I
PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT

The Root.—As is true of all field crops, and of
plants in general, the roots of the coco-nut serve the
plant in two ways: by anchoring the plant in its
place so firmly that no ordinary storm can displace it ;
and by taking up, from the soil, water and the mineral
food which is dissolved in the water.

The evergreens and broad-leaved trees of temperate
lands have each a taproot or a few stout main roots,
which are firmly embedded in the soil, and on the other
side immovably connected with the stem, which they
hold erect by their own rigidity. The coco-nut has no
taproot, and nothing like the main roots of ordinary
trees. The enlarged base or bole of the coco-nut trunk
is convex or conical at the lower end, and is usually
buried for a depth of not more than 50 centimetres ;
the base of the bole is sometimes flattened, and not
more than 15 centimetres deep even when the tree is
srown. Its surface underground, and often for some
distance above the ground, is practically covered with
the bases of the roots. These roots are remarkably
uniform, 0°8 to 1°0 centimetre in diameter in adult
trees. They radiate from the tree on all sides, and are
strongly disposed to keep the direction in which they
start. A normal length for the roots of mature trees
is 5 metres in firm soil, and 7 metres in sand.
In poor or shallow soil they are longer, the longest
reaching a length cf 8 to 10 metres. The lateral

B

2 THE COCO-NUT ae

branches of these roots may grow upward, downward,
or horizontally, but at nearly a right angle from the
parent root.

The old main roots of the coco-nut, like all other
woody parts of the plant, are remarkable for both
elasticity and tensile strength. Inside the proper wood,
which is itself strongly developed, is a ‘“ pith” whose
walls are also very thick and woody. This makes each
root a very stout cord. Highty centimetres is not a
very exceptional diameter for a well-grown bole, though
a majority of them are somewhat smaller. The buried
part of a stem of this size will afford attachment for
nearly 8000 bases of roots, each 1 centimetre in
diameter ; an actual count usually shows 4000 to 7000.
These main roots may have few or no large branches, or
may have ten to twenty, which rarely reach a length
of 1 metre, or a diameter of 4 millimetres. The
main roots and these major branches bear numerous
fine branches, 1 to 2 millimetres in diameter. These
may be the ultimate division ; or they in turn may
bear finer branches, at most a very few centimetres
long, and about half a millimetre thick; the life of
these finest roots is transitory, like that of root-hairs.
A less ample system of roots is formed in sand than in
firmer ground.

All the roots of the coco-nut have a rigid shell,
called a hypodermis, which makes the finer roots rigid
in a measure not approached by such small roots of
other trees. In proportion to its size, a small root is
held by the soil more firmly than a larger one. Because
they are firmly fixed in their places, and are rigid, and
stand at right angles to the main roots, it is practically
impossible to move the branches by any pull on the
main roots. And since the root can therefore not be
drawn out of the ground, and can be subjected only to
a direct pull, and has great tensile strength, the coco-
nut’s system of anchorage is a very perfect one. The
tree’s natural habitat is the sea-shore, where it receives
the unbroken force of the fiercest storms; but unless

1 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 3

the roots have previously been killed, or undermined
by waves, no coco-nut is unrooted.

When parts of old roots die, they are replaced from
the same roots. From the axial strand of the end of
the living part one or two stout roots start to grow. Not
at first being able to break the hypodermal shell, these
are forced to grow in the same direction as the parent
root, whose place in the anchorage of the plant they
therefore take.

The direction of the main roots is more or less hori-
zontal, none of them going to any great depth. Some,
but not many, roots descend more than a metre below
the surface ; most of them are usually found at a depth
of between 15 and 45 centimetres. This of course
depends a great deal upon conditions.

The number of roots found in successive horizontal
layers 5 cm. (about 2 inches) thick, beginning at the
surface, is shown in the following table. The observa-
tion is made by digging a circular trench part of the
way round the tree, 1 metre from the outside of its
base, and counting the roots cut.

| TABLE

4 THE COCO-NUT CHAP. |

| Tree No. 5.

Layer Tree | Tree | Tree | Tree olan ae
No. 1. | No. 2. | No. 3. | No. 4.|_ (ta. i rae
ons 12) 596710 ee 17
2 7 14 7 15 36
3 6 6 3 18 92
t 14 8 8 14 78
5 4 5 + 6 28
6 4 4 8 12 38
7 nS, 4 3 8 12
8 6 0 6 8 9)
9 2 0 6 9) 1
10 0 0 9) 3 3
iE 0 0 8 1 l
12 0 0 3 2 0
13 0 0 4 0 0
14 esis cae 8 1 ee
15 ae 5 1 |
16 + 0
i 5 0
18 2 1
1 2 0
20 0 0
and deeper

Of these trees, No. 2 grew in soil with a very compact
stony subsoil below 35 cm., and No. 3 in soil without
stone to a depth of 120 cm. The number of roots
calculated for the entire circumference of the tree, at
the distance at which the trench was dug, ranged from
592 (No. 1) to 2464 (No. 5). Very many counts of
this kind have been made at the College of Agriculture.

No roots will grow to any distance into water, nor
into a level of the soil where free water stands; and a
rise in the water-level ultimately kills the submerged
roots. Neither can they grow in very dry soil; a few
centimetres of the surface is in most places dry so
much of the time that roots cannot grow into it.
Sand is drier than heavy soil, and the roots accordingly
maintain a deeper level in it. The best conditions are
obviously those which permit the growth of the most
ample root system. So the soil should be deep, and

1 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 5

with a deep water table, and the surface should not be
too dry. ‘The surface should be cultivated, to prevent
deep drying; but it must not be cultivated deeply
enough to destroy many roots, or to keep them from
occupying a level as near the surface as will let them
find a reasonable amount of water.

Before the absorption of water is taken up, a little
more should be said about the structure of the roots.
The tip of each root is protected by a thimble-shaped
structure called the root-cap, which saves the growing
point from injury as it is pushed through the soil.
The length of the cap is somewhat greater than the
diameter of the root. The young part of the root
immediately behind the cap is covered by a _ very
delicate epidermis; it is through this that the root
absorbs water and the mineral food dissolved in the
water. The coco-nut has no root-hairs.

The hypodermis has already been mentioned. It
is formed from a layer several cells thick, just inside
the epidermis. The cells are very small, and at first
have very thin walls. They afterwards thicken, and
soon become so thick and hard that water cannot pass
through them. Only the short zone between the root-
cap and the place where the walls of the hypodermis
thicken can absorb water. The larger the root, the
longer this zone is likely to be. In very active
roots it is 5 centimetres from the tip back to the
beginning of the hypodermis. In less active but by
no means inert roots, 74 millimetres in diameter, this
distance may be only 2 centimetres. When the growth
of the roots is checked by dryness, or by any other
unfavourable condition of the soil, the hypodermis is
formed closer and closer to the tip, finally even under
the back part of the cap, leaving no actively absorbing
zone at all. |

Altogether, with its short absorbing region and the
absence of root-hairs, and even of really fine roots, the
coco-nut must be said to have a root system ill
adapted to the absorption of large quantities of water.

6 THE COCO-NUT | CHAP.

But its structure enables it to endure saltiness and
dryness which would be fatal to most other plants.
- Beach soil usually contains no salt, except in such
minute quantities as chemical analysis will detect in all
soils; but it sometimes happens as a result of storms
that the beach is temporarily filled with sea-water.
This would kill any plant with ordinary roots, but does
the coco-nut practically no harm at all.

The same structures enable the coco-nut to withstand
drought, not without temporary injury, but without
being killed. When any layer of the soil becomes dry
enough to injure coco-nut roots in any way, its first
effect is to check the growth in length. The hypodermis
then approaches closer and closer to the tip, until, if
the dryness is severe enough, it reaches the root-cap.
In this condition the root is valueless as an absorbing
organ ;— which does the tree no harm, because an
active root could absorb no water from the soil dry
enough to cause this condition. When the soil becomes
wet again, the roots gradually revive, the cap grows
away from the hypodermis, and absorption begins anew.
If all the roots ceased to absorb water, the tree would
of course be killed, but this cannot happen im any
place where coco-nuts ought to be planted. Where
coco-nuts become inactive, roots better fitted to absorb
water would be killed.

The numerous little, white, eventually sharp and
hard outgrowths scattered along the old coco-nut roots
are specialized roots which serve as breathing organs.
It is as impossible for air as for water to pass through
the hypodermis ; and the internal tissues of old roots
would die for want of air, if they were not supplied
with it by these breathing organs.

It has already been remarked that the coco-nut
roots have a limited absorbing surface. Even the
limited area which looks capable of absorbing actively
is sometimes really very inactive. Dead roots will for
some time absorb as rapidly as when they are alive;
but if a living root is cut, the end is promptly closed by

COCO-NUTS AT ZAMBOANGA, 160 YEARS AGO.

Photograph by Shaw of Sonnerat’s cut.

To face page 6.

1 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 7

a gummy substance, and no more water is taken up by
it. Experiments show that, as was presumed from the
structure, coco-nut roots are not injured by moderately
strong solutions of common salts. More than this,
they absorb such solutions freely. They will absorb a
solution one hundred times as concentrated as ordinary
soil water about as rapidly as they do pure water. In
fair weather, they absorb most rapidly in the afternoon,
less so in the forenoon, and very slowly at night, the
most rapid absorption following closely the time of
most rapid evaporation from the leaves. This indicates
that the tree does not store up any considerable amount
of available water. And from this it follows that any-
thing which interferes with the evaporation from the
leaves immediately checks the absorption of water and
of mineral food by the roots.

In proportion to the area of apparently absorbing
surface, the finer roots take up more water than the
larger ones. A calculation based on the measured
activity of the main roots would show that an entire
tree takes up at most 24 litres in a day; _ but
we know from determination of evaporation from the
leaves that this figure is too low. It is likely that such
measurements of the growth as have been made likewise
fail to show how rapid it can be. The most rapid
srowth that I was able to measure at San Ramon for
a period of a few days amounts to only about a metre
a year; and measurements extending over a month or
more showed only half of this rate. More recent
measurements in La Laguna on eleven roots showed an
average growth of 3°02 millimetres a day, or somewhat
more than a metre a year.

The Leafi—The water taken up by the epidermal
cells of the root moves inward from cell to cell, into
the vessels of the axial strand. In these vessels, it
moves upward through the roots and trunk, to the
leaves, and along the midribs and veins and veinlets of
the leaflets. Finally, it moves outward again toward
the epidermis, and is evaporated. As the water

8 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

evaporating from a tea-kettle leaves behind it the salts
it held in solution, forming a shell on the inside of the
kettle; and as the water flowing in through the rivers
has evaporated and left the ocean salt; so the water
which evaporates from the coco-nut leaves behind it
what it held in solution, and this residue makes up the
whole of the mineral and nitrogenous food of the tree.
The more water is boiled in the kettle, the more residue is
left ; and the more water evaporates from the leaves, the
more mineral and nitrogenous food remains for the plants.
Men cultivate the soil and thereby directly and indirectly
increase the amount of food the plant can get from it.
This costs money. They buy fertilizers and apply
them to the soil. This also costs money. LHxactly the
same end can often be secured with little or no expense
by increasing the evaporation from the leaves; which
gives the subject a very evident practical importance.

The evaporation of water from plants is called trans-
piration. It takes place in part directly through the
outer walls of the epidermis, but chiefly through small
openings in the epidermis called stomata. The stomata
of the coco-nut are entirely confined to the nether sur-
faces of the leaves. At least 98 per cent of the water
transpired is given off from this surface. The stomata
open to their full width in the day-time, in full sunshine,
provided that the tree is well supplied with water. If
the tree is not thus well supplied, the openings narrow
as the water in the leaves decreases, and so check the
transpiration. They are closed at night. The trans-
piration will be most active if the roots can take up
water and supply it to the leaves as fast as it is
evaporated, and the stomata thus be kept wide open
throughout the day.

Besides the stomata, the coco-nut has another
structure which regulates the transpiration, but less
perfectly. This is a strand of tissues running along
each side of the midrib, on the under side of the pinna,
and acting as a hinge. The pinna is thinnest along
these lines. The cells of the hinge are colourless and

1 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 9

thin-walled. When the leaflet is well stored with water,
the cells of the hinge are turgid, swollen up as large as
possible ; each hinge then raises its half of the pinna,
making the whole leaflet as wide as it can be. When
the amount of water in the leaf is decreased, the cells of
the hinge are quick to feel the loss, and with any loss
of water their size decreases. This results in a lowering
of each side of the pinna, making the whole pinna
narrower, and so lessening the exposure to the sun.
The transpiration will be greatest if the tree is at all
times so well supplied with water that the hinges do
not let the sides of the pinna lower.

The transpiration is made active by light, warmth,
dryness of the air, and wind. It is hindered by dark-
ness, cold, and moistness and stillness of the air. ‘The
most important of the factors influencing the transpira-
tion is light. A light haze across the sun—too light
to be called a cloud—will immediately reduce the trans-
piration by one-third or one-half. A cloud heavy enough
to conceal the sun will promptly cut it down to about
one-quarter of what it is in direct sunshine. All shade
has, of course, the same effect, and it makes no difference
whether it comes from a cloud, or a mountain, or some
shade tree, or another coco-nut planted too near. Every
leaf or part of a leaf which is in the shade has its
transpiration cut down to a quarter of what it might
be, and therefore gets only a quarter of the food it
might get dissolved in the water.

During the whole night the whole transpiration is
not one-tenth as much as during one hour of full sun-
shine. Diffuse light increases the transpiration chiefly
by causing the stomata to open. The great added action
of direct light is chiefly due to the heating of the leaf.
The following table gives the temperatures observed
during one day, the first column giving the temperature
in the shade; the second, the temperature in direct sun-
shine; and the third, the temperature shown by a
thermometer placed near the second, but with a coco-
nut leaflet tied around its bulb.

oO" THE COCO-NUT eo

TEMPERATURE (C.)

Hour. In Shade. In Sun. In Leaf.

7 AM. 20°3 21°8 21°9

Cie 24°3 PD oe ye fe §

Dials 26 B0:7 jouw =
LOO. 26:9 a2 35°4
oh Rs . 27°8 ald BY By |

(light cloud)

12 M. 28'3 34°7 aia

1 P.M. 28 30 31:5

(cloudy)

rial 3 25°5 39) 15) 38

oie 28°8 31 36°7

4 ,, 28°6 - 30°6 36°4

Bye Din 30 34

6

A 26°6 276 28-5

With conditions as they were on this day, a surface
of water at the temperature of the leaf in the sun at
noon would evaporate about three times as much as
a surface at the shade temperature. The increase in the
evaporation from a leaf is greater still, provided that as
transpiration goes on the supply of water is kept up.

If we now take up the actual rate of evaporation of
the water from the leaves, we find that beginning early
in the morning there is practically none. The tempera-
ture is low, the air is moist and usually still, and the
stomata are at first closed. Under the influence of the
light the stomata open, the air warms enough so as to
no longer be saturated with moisture, and the transpira-
tion gradually increases. ‘This increase goes on for
several hours. If it were possible for the roots to take
up water and furnish it to the leaves as fast as it could
be evaporated, there would be a steady increase in
transpiration up to 1 o'clock or possibly later, as up to
this time the factors which promote it usually operate
with more and more intensity. But against this steady
. Increase in the transpiration there operates the fact that

1 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 11

the roots cannot take up the water nor the stems
transmit it as fast as it evaporates under most favourable
conditions from the leaves. Accordingly, the sides of
the leaflet begin early in the day to be lowered by the
hinges, and the width of the leaflet from edge to edge
may be decreased as shown by this table :

December 7.

7 AM. 8 A.M. 9 A.M. 10 A.M. 11 A.M. 12 M. 1 P.M.

mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. mm.
Pee 20%9), | 2033 17°5 15 13 12°5 12°5
B | 25 25 21 20 18 17 16:5

December 7. December 8.

2 P.M. 83°30 P.M. 5°10 P.M. 6°30 A.M. 7°30 A.M. 8°30 A.M.

A 13 13 MG 20°3 20°3 20
B 16 17°5 21°d 25 25 23

December 8. Dec. 9.

~ | 9°30 A.M. |10°30 a.m. 12 mM. 1PM. 2 P.M. 4 P.M. 5 P.M. 6°30 A.M.

fe, NIMS) aes: 12 13 Py sony Oa 20:5
21 18:5 16 Ios) | AL 17 21 25

What this dropping of the sides of the leaf really
measures 1s a decrease in the amount of water in the
leaf below the amount necessary for the most active
transpiration; in other words, it measures. the leaf’s
want of water. And what actually regulates the amount
which will evaporate from the leaves on days of brightest
sunshine and greatest dryness of the air is the amount
of water which can reach the leaves. At the same time,
this factor is by no means the only one which regulates
transpiration, even on such days; for the leaf can draw
on the supply stored in itself and in the stems, and so
create a moderate deficit which will be made up during

12 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

the night while transpiration is most inactive. And the
greater this deficit the more water the roots will take
up during the night.

As the afternoon advances, the transpiration decreases,
and late in the afternoon falls to the point where water
does not evaporate as fast as it comes to the leaves, and
the leaflets begin to widen; so that the width by dark
is about as great as it was in the morning, which
indicates that the leaf has made up whatever shortage
of water it underwent during the day.

By a rather complicated series of measurements the
following determinations were made, showing the amount
of water which evaporates in grams from one leaflet
during the hours of one day.

Hour ending at Grams.
7°30 A.M. : i : 0:03
S305. ‘ : t 0:14
9°50 4.3 : : : 0-10

LOSSO. ,, : : : 0°23
eS OG) 2 : : 0-96
12°30 P.M. . : : 0°81
is) Uae . : ; 3°02
rides) laa 3 s . 1°19
3 30) 4. . ‘ : 1:78
4°30 ,, ‘ ; : 153
yao 0 ana : ; : 0°91
Night g : ; ; 0:10
Total: 10°81 1

1 For one pinna and one day.

The total water evaporated from this leaflet during
the day was 10°8 grams. If we allow 150 leaflets to
the leaf and 25 leaves to a tree, the calculated
transpiration for the whole tree will be 40,500 grams,
or 40°5 litres. Estimates based on observations made
in this way range from 28 to 45 litres. In this case,
the leaflets whose transpiration was being measured
took their turns in the shade and in the sunshine, as
the shade of other leaves fell upon them during the
day ; that is, they were under practically natural con-

1 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 13

ditions. Observations made by a different method,
which was calculated to show at each time the trans-
piration in full sunshine, gave figures from which the
calculated daily loss of water from the whole tree is 75
litres. If we use the lowest figure based on a full set
of observations, that is, 28 litres a day, the annual
transpiration would be 10,220 litres.

In this water the plant takes up the mineral food
to be used in its permanent growth, and enough in
addition to cover the annual loss in the nuts and in
the leaves which are cast. The amount of mineral food
permanently bound up in the growth of the stem and
roots cannot be very considerable, and that in the roots
which die is already in a place where it can be absorbed
again. ‘The average dry weight of a fallen leaf may be
put roughly at 3 kilograms, of which 8°5 per cent is
ash and nitrogen. Allowing a fall of sixteen leaves
per annum, the loss of matter taken up in solution by
the roots is 4080 grams. In each nut the tree loses
ash as follows :

Grams.
In the husk E i be arateys
In the shell , : 3°36
In the copra. j i orOo
In the milk ; ; ; 5:97
57:00

If the tree produces but twenty nuts per annum,
the loss of mineral matter in these is 1140 grams, and
the total loss in leaves and nuts 5220 grams. If this
were absorbed in 10,220 litres of water, as already
calculated, the concentration of the solution taken up
by the roots would be 0°051 per cent. This is con-
siderably above the average concentration to be found
in ground water, as determined by analyses of water
in wells and springs; but the water which roots absorb
from any but the wettest soil, being in immediate
contact with the soil particles, is sure to be more
concentrated than that which would run freely from

14 | THE COCO-NUT pee

wetter ground. It is also true that from very dilute
solutions roots will absorb the dissolved salts in a pro-
portion greater than that in which they are present
in the water. The estimates which have just been
given are based on work at San Ramon in Mindanao,
on a variety which produces remarkably large nuts.
The number of nuts per annum on which this estimate
is based is too low, but the loss of mineral food in each
nut is greater than would be found to be the case
almost anywhere else in the world.

Definite statistics, so far as they are available, on
the influence of outside conditions on the rate of trans-
piration are of great interest. It has already been
pointed out that the lightest haze obscuring the sun-
light has a marked effect in cutting down the
transpiration. In real shade, such as is produced by
heavier clouds, or by foliage between the coco-nut leaves .
and sun, the transpiration will be cut to sometimes as
low as 4 of what it would be in full sunshine. How
great this decrease is depends, of course, on the intensity
and duration of the shade in question.

The wind makes a difference in the transpiration of
all leaves, but makes a much greater one when the
leaves are in full sunshine. Thus in direct sunshine a
breeze estimated at five miles an hour made the trans-
piration four times as great as it was in still air. But
in the shade the wind of this velocity did not add more —
than 50 per cent to the rate at which the leaves oe
water.

Aside from the difference in transpiration due to
varying outside conditions, the rate at which the leaf —
will transpire varies with its age. When the leaf has
just expanded, its protective structures are not as thick
as they afterwards become, and for several months after
this time there is a oradual decrease in the rate of
transpiration. In old leaves, on the other hand—that
is, in leaves from eight months after expansion up to
the time they fall—the rate of transpiration increases,
so that in leaves a year or more old it is considerably

1 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 15

more active than it is in leaves which have just reached
their full size. In time of very severe drought these
older leaves fall off with unusual rapidity, and since
these older leaves are the ones which would lose most
water, the tree manages to cut down its loss in this
way to a very considerable extent.

It is of course not to be understood that transpira-
tion is the only function of the leaves, nor even that
it is the most important work which they perform.
The leaves are the laboratories or kitchens in which the
food of the whole plant is prepared. It is in the leaves
and here only that starch or sugar is formed, and from
this starch or sugar the whole structure of the tree is
built up; and from this starch and sugar, again, is
made all of the oil in the nuts. Light is absolutely
indispensable for this assimilative work in the leaves,
and the rate at which this work goes on is in general
nearly proportional to the amount of direct sunlight
which the leaves receive. Tor the sake of the plant’s
organic food, then, even more than for the sake of its
mineral food, it is necessary that the coco-nut leaves
receive as much sunlight as can possibly be obtained.
A full appreciation of this fact is the necessary basis
of any understanding of the serious effect which an
improper choice of locality, or too close placing of the
trees in planting, or poor judgment in preventing the
shading of the trees at any age, will have upon the
success of any coco-nut plantation.

Growth of Leaf-—During the past four years I
have had made by students in the Philippine College
of Agriculture a very extensive set of determinations
of the rate of growth of coco-nut leaves. The total
number of determinations of this kind to date is
between ninety and one hundred thousand. The work
is extended to give each student thorough first-hand
knowledge of the rate at which the leaves of the coco-nuts
may be expected to grow, of the influence of treatment,
weather conditions, etc., upon the rate of growth, to
qualify him to determine, by measurements of the rate

*

16 THE COCO-NUT CHAP,

of growth, the condition of coco-nut trees, or plantations,
and their probable future production, and to give him
such technical expertness that he can make these ~
determinations rapidly and accurately. The trees at
the College of Agriculture are on land which is not well
adapted to this crop. The soil is shallow and heavy,
and there is not at all times a proper supply of ground
water. Moreover, the trees were largely infested by
beetles when the land was purchased and such trees
never grow as rapidly as healthy ones would grow.
Some of the trees were about ready to come into bearing
when the land was bought, but others were so young
that they have not yet come to maturity. The average
of all the determinations which have been made here
would therefore not be a fair figure as an indication of
what ought to be expected from coco-nuts. In one of
the groves which is best situated and in which the sound
trees are now in bearing, there are groups of trees in
which the average growth of the youngest visible leaf
is more than 4 centimetres a day. I believe that this
figure may be taken as what ought to be expected of
any coco-nuts on a tolerably well situated and managed
estate.

Really good conditions or management will give
higher figures than this. Thus, the nine trees observed
by one student for the week ending November 25, 1911,
showed the following growth in millimetres: 324, 399,
390, 427, 336, 345, 338, 375, 415. Tree No. 4, to
choose one at random, showed the followmg growth at
weekly intervals from August 24, 1911, to February
28,:1912: 316, 319, 217, 293, 395, 391, 4620s
422, 427, 403, 406, 798 (two weeks), 387, 367, 360,
349, 357, 347, 349, 351, 352, 365, 382, 384, 383, 382.

Young trees grow considerably more slowly than do
adult trees. There is a progressive increase in the rate
of growth from the time that young trees are first well
established in their permanent places, at least up to the
time that they come into full fruit. It is probable that
the average rate in a grove continues to increase beyond

1 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 17

this time, but on this point there are no observations.
There are likewise no determinations of the rate of
erowth of the leaves of very old trees, but there is no
doubt that such leaves grow more slowly. On shallow
and therefore dry soil, the growth is constantly less
rapid than where the soil is deeper and moister.
We have patches of trees in which the average rate
of growth is not more than 25 millimetres a day.
Such trees come into bearing several years later than
do trees 50 metres away on lower and deeper ground.

There is a natural and very evident relation between
the rate of growth of the leaves and the amount of
production of fruit. The rate of growth can be deter-
mined for most purposes within a few days so as to
get an average for groves of considerable size. To get
positive and reliable information as to the rate of
production requires observations extending over many
months. The easiest way in which one can secure
reliable information as to the condition of a grove is
therefore by determination of the rate of growth. This
can be done in several different ways. The method
which has proved most satisfactory is by drawing
marks with Indian ink across the bases of the youngest
and next youngest leaf, making one mark, half of which
is on each leaf. The difference in height of the two
halves of this mark, after one day or one week, shows
the difference in rate of growth of the two leaves. A
similar mark is placed on the base of the next to the
youngest leaf, called No. 2, and the third youngest,
called No. 3. The break in this mark after a day or
a week shows the difference in growth between these
two leaves. Similarly, the difference between the
srowth of leaf No. 3 and leaf No. 4, of leaf No. 4
and leaf No. 5, and of leaf No. 5 and leaf No. 6, are
determined. The lowest mark, which remains unbroken,
will be on the two youngest leaves which have ceased
to grow. The sum of the observed breaks in the marks
is the growth of the youngest leaf for the period in
question.

C

18 THE COCO-NUT CHAP. L

On active trees at least four leaves ought always
to show growth. It is common for five leaves to grow,
but rare for six leaves to do so at the same time.
The youngest two leaves frequently grow at the same
rate. Successive older ones grow progressively more
slowly, so that the oldest one which grows at all grows
very slowly indeed. Growth is always more rapid
during the night than during the day. The difference
between night and day is much more marked in un-
suitably dry weather than it is when the trees are well
supplied with water. The effect of drought is likewise
greater on young trees than on adult ones, and the
difference between night and day is greater in younger
trees when they are unduly dry than it is in older trees.
Extreme drought brings a practical cessation of the
growth of young seedlings.

the - “Sen

SSUES Th
CLIMATE AND SOIL

THE man who will establish a coco-nut plantation will,
in selecting the location, take into consideration climate,
soil, danger from diseases, quantity and quality of labour,
the accessibility of supplies and markets, and the cost
of the land. Labour supply, value of land, and markets
are purely local questions, which must be settled in
each place for itself. The diseasesof the coco-nuts will
be taken up in a separate chapter. With regard to the
climate and soil, practically everything of fundamental
importance follows directly from what has already been
said with regard to the physiology of the coco-nut.

THE CLIMATE

Climate is made up of various factors, as tempera-
ture, moisture, wind, light, and electricity. With regard
to electricity | can only quote Vanderstraaten,' who
says: “It has been generally noticed that a highly
electric condition of the atmosphere is extremely
favourable (to the production of blossom), but here
our knowledge ends.” It is a matter of general
observation that trees struck by lightning will die.
And it is a widespread superstition in the Philippines
that unless such trees are promptly cut down their
neighbours also will die, but that if the tree which has
been struck is immediately cut down, then it will be

! Tropical Agriculturist, 82 (1909), 28.
19

20 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

the only tree that suffers. ‘The explanation is probably
that a tree struck by lightning becomes a breeding-
place for infection, and unless it is removed insects
will breed in this tree and then attack its neighbours,
and in this way they too are killed.

The light is a very important factor in the climate
because it furnishes the energy for the formation of the
organic food of plants. If other conditions are favour-
able the coco-nut tree cannot receive too much light.
It therefore will not produce good crops in any place
whese climate is characterized by prevailing cloudiness.
For the same reason individual trees which are shaded
by other trees by being planted too close together, or
in any other way, will never be vigorous. Light also
increases the temperature of the leaves, and in that way
is favourable to the activity of the tree.

On the temperature the coco-nut makes such
demands as are to be expected from a lowland tropical
perennial plant. The figure usually given for the
lowest tolerable average temperature is 22° C., and
this is probably too low. At any rate no such
luxuriant growth and production can be expected at
this temperature as in places where the average is 3
degrees or more higher. This is to be understood as the
average temperature for the year. A temporary fall
to 15° certainly does no evident harm, and probably
happens occasionally in all places in the tropics.
Semler, whose discussion of climate and the coco-
nut is most sane, suggests 10° as the lowest point
temporarily tolerable. There is no evident reason why
a still lower temperature, so long as it does not
nearly reach the freezing-point, would do the coco-
nut any considerable damage. However, the tropical
climate is more distinctly uniform than it is hot, and
the coco-nut thrives best where it is most constantly
warm. So long as the heat is not too drying it is
unlikely that coco-nuts are ever injured by too high
temperature.

It is usually the temperature which fixes the limit

ur CLIMATE AND SOIL 21

in latitude and altitude to coco-nut culture. In indi-
vidual places, however, there may be other limiting
factors. For instance, in the coco-nut country im-
mediately around Mount Banahao, the highest groves
are in an exceedingly moist district, and the moisture,
by favouring the spread of bud rot, makes coco-nut
cultivation unprofitable in a zone where the temperature
would still permit it. On any large scale this palm is
cultivated only within 20 degrees of the equator, but in
locally favourable places it is a profitable crop at least as
far as to the tropics. There are grown trees as far
south as Fort Dauphin in Madagascar, latitude. about
25° south, and as far north as Lucknow in India,
latitude about 27°, but they are said to be unproductive.
‘They bear fruit at about the same latitude in Florida,
but not on an industrial scale. The low shores of
Florida, washed by the Gulf Stream, are probably the
most northern point at which coco-nuts can be grown
in the open even as curiosities.

The limit in altitude depends, of course, upon the
latitude. In general, the coco-nut will grow at the
greatest altitudes on, or a little north of, the equator.
In Java, Ceylon, Mindanao, and Luzon there are
bearing trees up to an altitude of 800 metres, but
nowhere so high on a commercial scale. Grown, but
unproductive, trees, are reported in India at a latitude
Of) 12 north, at an altitude of 1350 metres. At
Batan, Benguet, in Luzon, latitude 15°, and altitude
1100 metres, there are also unproductive trees, but
so few and scattered that their sterility may be due
to want of pollination as well as to the altitude. On
a commercial scale, coco-nuts are grown only at much
lower levels, the limit in general being about 300 metres
in Ceylon and Malaya, and 200 metres in Polynesia.
The reasons for these limits are in part climatic and
in part commercial, the cost of marketing the product
being likely to vary with the altitude. As one goes
farther from the equator the coco-nut is naturally
confined more strictly to the lowlands. In Jamaica

22 THE COCO-NUT omar.

the cultivation is chiefly below 60 metres, but few
productive trees being found up to 275 metres.

In every land where there is any coco-nut industry,
the moisture is a factor in the climate which requires
much more careful consideration than does the tempera-
ture; for the temperature conditions are uniform over
comparatively great areas, and are comparatively easily
determined. The plantation of any size, which has
not on itself considerable differences in the available
moisture, 1s exceptionally uniform. Where there are
considerable differences they demand their appropriate
differences in the treatment of the coco-nuts, or else
that parts be not used for this-crop. Everything that
is true and important with regard to the need of the
coco-nut for moisture, follows obviously from what has
already been explained about transpiration. The simple
general rule is that conditions should be such as to
permit the most active possible transpiration, without
the tree’s suffering from the loss of water.

The moisture needs to be considered in three forms:
as rainfall, atmospheric humidity, and ground water.
No rule can be given as to the tree’s need of any one
of these independently of the others. Speaking of
whole islands, or of large tracts of country, the ground
water depends upon the rainfall, but in small localities
this is not at all the case. Toa less extent still the
humidity depends upon the rainfall; nor is there any
nearly exact dependence of rainfall upon humidity.

The annual rainfall in a part of Ceylon which is
noted for its coco-nut industry is 70 inches (178 cm.),
and from the development of the coco-nut industry -
in this part of Ceylon the figure is often given as
representing the need of the coco-nut. However, the
tree flourishes in places in Ceylon (Negombo) where
the rainfall is 2 metres. In various other parts of the
world there is a prosperous coco-nut industry with still
heavier precipitation ; as 3 metres in part of Java, the
Seychelles, Zanzibar, etc., 34 on the eastern coast of
Samar, and even 4 metres in Dutch Guiana and the

1 , CLIMATE AND SOIL 23

Marshall Islands. On the other, hand, the coco-nut
thrives in the Puttalam district of Ceylon with a
rainfall of 127 centimetres. On the Constance estate,
the largest in Trinidad, the average rainfall is 156
centimetres, but there are years when it falls to
115 centimetres without injury, there being no dry
season. Zamboanga has the best coco-nuts and
the lowest rainfall in the Philippimes. The average
precipitation is probably less than 1 metre. Trees
especially favourably placed are uninjured even when
it drops to 413 millimetres, as in 1903, and even this
limited amount almost all in one half of the year.
In any dry season it can be observed that the trees
begin to suffer when their supply of ground water is
reduced, but not before that time.

High atmospheric humidity 1s commonly regarded
as beneficial to coco-nuts. ‘This idea is justified only
in so far as too dry air may result in the tree’s losing
water faster than the roots can replace it. The absence
of coco-nuts from Egypt and from the hottest part of
Australia is due to dryness rather than to the heat.
The plant has too poor absorbing structures to be
expected to thrive beside the date. Butif such extremes
be left out of consideration and attention confined to
such lands as have some coco-nut industry, it is probably
safe to say that dryness of the air never hurts the
coco-nut, except when it is accompanied by dryness
of the soil. Coco-nuts on the sides and tops’ of hills,
and on ground underlain by porous limestone, need to
have the air quite humid, and very uniformly so, and
the rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year.
Coco-nuts are often planted in such places; but even
with the best possible atmospheric conditions they
cannot be expected to thrive like trees whose roots can
constantly supply them with water for a more active
transpiration.

Not humidity but dryness of the air is really
favourable for coco-nuts whose roots are always and
adequately supplied with water, and the wise man with

24 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

free choice will plant his coco-nuts where this condition
can be realized.

The injurious effect of very moist air is not confined
to the checking of transpiration and consequent poor
supply of mineral food. Extreme humidity is an
indispensable condition for the spread of at least a part
of the pests causing bud rot, and in this way can put
geographical limits on coco-nut culture—limits sharper
than are anywhere put by the dryness of the air. It
is also reported that in Deli (Sumatra), too great
humidity causes premature decay of the fruit. The
bad effect of prevailing cloudiness has already been
indicated.

The wind increases the transpiration, ard, therefore,
as long as enough water can be supplied by the roots,
is beneficial; beyond this point it injures the tree.
The point above which an increase in the amount of
wind—whether in force or in constancy—will injure
the tree, depends obviously on the amount of water
the roots can take up. Where the soil is dry, but little
wind is desirable; where the roots are constantly well
watered it is desirable that the climate be decidedly
windy. Where the soil is not moist. enough for the
trees to endure much wind, coco-nuts would probably
still prove the most profitable crop, but the location is
not a good one. On a little hill about 30 metres
high on one of the Visayan Islands I counted the nuts
on many trees, and found the average number more
than twice as great at the foot as near the top. |

Storms are, in their action on the tree, altogether
different from ordinary, accidental or seasonal winds.
Their effect on the transpiration might be good or bad,
according to circumstances, but is in either case not
important.

Reports are frequently seen of the destruction of con-
siderable numbers of coco-nut trees by typhoons. As
the chief coco-nut producing districts of the Philippines
are subject to typhoons, and as the tree thrives in
exposed situations, I have been interested in seeing

Ir CLIMATE AND SOIL 25

what damage is actually done to it by storms. During
several years of attention to this subject, including
observation of the effect of a storm-wind reaching 168
kilometres an hour, I have yet to see the first sound
trunk broken by the wind, or the first tree uprooted,
unless its root system had already been exposed or
weakened. ‘Typhoons certainly do break sound coco-nut
trees, but it is rarely indeed. ‘Trunks extensively
channelled by beetles are comparatively often broken ;
and trees, the roots of which have been laid bare by
washing away the soil, or which grow in ground too
wet to permit the healthy growth of the roots, are
often overturned. The loss of such trees is not a
serious matter.

Very severe storms weaken the trees and set them
back materially by breaking the leaves; and they
sometimes destroy a considerable part of the crop in
sight by throwing down immature nuts, even the very
young ones, but vigorous trees entirely outgrow such
injury within a year.

However, in places where beetles, especially coco-nut
weevils (red beetles), are a serious pest, violent storms
furnish conditions for their entrance and multiplication,
and in this way do damage which is neither insignificant
nor transient. This will be discussed more fully in the
treatment of diseases and pests.

THE SOIL

In books which deal with particular crops it is
customary to give rules as to the soils which are
suitable to the crops in question. In general, the same
soils are described as desirable for all crops; so that
any one who would undertake to follow such rules would
find very little by which to decide whether a given soil
ought to be used for coco-nuts or for some other purpose.
Instead of giving directions of this kind, I propose to
refer to what we know about the root system and the
water relations of the coco-nut, and to trust to an

26 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

understanding of these to give a better idea as to what
can be expected of any particular soil than can possibly
be done in a discussion based on descriptions of the
soil itself.

There are, of course, certain general principles. These
depend upon the facts that the coco-nut roots will not
erow into water, and that they must always have a
reasonable supply of water available for absorption.
Iixceedingly porous soils from which the water is
drained readily are unsuitable because too dry. Still,
the most porous soils can be used for the most. successful
coco-nut cultivation, provided for any reason their
porosity does not result in their containing too little
water for the use of the tree; this is the condition we
find on the beach. Soils with an impermeable hard-
pan near the surface are unsuitable for coco-nut culti-
vation because during rainy seasons they become full
enough of water to seriously injure the roots. Very
stony soils are unsuitable to coco-nut cultivation because
in general sterile, and because they are likely to be dry.
Still an almost ideal development of coco-nuts is possible
on soils of this kind provided they contain water which
bears the food necessary for the tree.

Under the head of suitable soils the first place for
coco-nuts, as well as for most other crops, must be given
to deep alluvial plains. Such soils are rich in food,
easily worked, and even without cultivation usually
permit a very perfect development of the root system.
The most prolific trees I have ever seen were on such
soil on the plantation of the Moro Plantation and
Development Company near Zamboanga. One tree in
this grove yielded 112 and 106 nuts at two successive
cuttings only two months apart. I saw it less than
two months later, and another similar crop was ready.
The nuts were small, but even so the yield was at a
rate of more than 100 kilos of copra a year.

As a matter of universal observation sandy sea-
shores are suitable places for coco-nut cultivation. The
reason for this is that they have back of them higher

II CLIMATE AND SOIL 27

country, and the rainfall which falls on this higher
country sinks into the soil and then moves in the soil
toward the sea, carrying with it food which it dissolves
as it moves. In time of drought, the amount of such
water naturally decreases, but the seashore itself, being
the place where such water necessarily comes close to
the surface of the ground, is the last place to suffer
from the scarcity of it. So long as there is enough
water in the soil anywhere back of the beach to permit
it to move through the ground, the beach itself will
contain ample available fresh water, and in general the
less of this water there is the richer it is in dissolved
food. Beaches which have lagoons at the back of them
instead of high grounds do not in general show an
especially vigorous development of coco-nuts.

Since it is moving water in the ground which is
primarily responsible for the high development of
coco-nuts on seashores it follows that other situations
which lhkewise have constant moving water in the soil
furnish excellent conditions for coco-nut culture. Thus
plains slopimg upward from the sea, even for great
distances, are good coco-nut country so long as there
is still higher ground back of them from which they can
derive a constant supply of soil water. The country
around the bases of mountains, whether near the sea or
far removed from it, is therefore good coco-nut country.
One of the largest coco-nut forests in the world is
situated in this way surrounding Mount Banahao. In
this district, with only a few breaks between groves,
there are more than ten million bearing trees. The
country around the foot of an old volcano is more
certain to be suitable than that at the foot of mountains
of other origin, because the volcano is usually porous.
The water which falls upon it sinks into the volcanoes
more than it does into ordinary mountain ranges, and
comes back to the surface, well-charged with dissolved
food, at lower levels. Old volcanoes usually have great
springs surrounding their bases. From the highest zone
at which these springs appear downward, the land

28 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

can be trusted to be excellent for the production of
coco-nuts.

In general, soil which constantly contains ae water
is unfit for coco-nuts, and is unlikely to permit the
development of a root system sufficient to hold the
tree in its place or properly supply it with food. Still,
if the level of the land is such that the water is moving
in the soil, coco-nuts will be found in excellent condition
on the edges of rice paddies, not more than half a
metre above the level of the paddy. In the Kedoe
plains of Central Java, and in the district already
mentioned in Southern Luzon, and on the Coromandel
coast in India, rice paddies and coco-nut groves are
found mixed, with the patches of land most easily
made into paddies devoted to rice. In such cases it
will usually strike the eye at once that the coco-nuts
standing at the edge of the rice are the most productive.
This is probably due to their receiving the most light.
While their being in this position is very good for the
coco-nut, the contrary is the case with the rice.

There is a widespread belief that the coco-nut needs
salt for its best development. This probably arises from
the fact that coco-nuts are found thriving naturally
on the seashore. It has been observed in Northern
Ceylon that the largest crops are harvested from May
to August, and some planters of that district explain
this by believing that the south-west monsoon brings
considerable salt in the rain-water. As a matter of
fact, I do not know of any good evidence that the
coco-nut demands salt for its best development; and
the sea beach, even though it be beside the ocean, is
found when analysed to be as free of salt as any of the
land which lies above it. The coco-nut roots can
indeed endure considerable salt, and are sometimes
obliged to do so as a result of especially violent storms.
Their power of resistance lets them thrive there in spite
of occasional inundations with salt water which would
kill the majority of plants. But the fact that the coco-
nut can endure salt water is by no means a proof that

IDEAL COCO-NUT COUNTRY.

A erater lake at the foot of a volcano.

To face page 28.

II CLIMATE AND SOIL 29

it needs it, or even can make use of it. It has been
observed in Singapore by Mr. Ridley, and I have seen
the same thing in Mindanao, that trees planted on
flats which are subject to inundation by high tide are
strikingly precocious. Where I have seen this, however,
there was ground water moving seaward through the
flats ; and I am not ready to conclude from the especially
rapid growth and development of the young trees that
this will prove to be a profitable place for bearing
oroves.

With regard to the chemical composition of the
soil, it would be possible to say a good deal too much.
Proper physical composition is of a great deal more
importance than the ground’s chemical composition, if
only the plants are able to secure sufficient water. The
water will usually contain enough food to permit the
satisfactory development of the trees. Good chemical
analysis is often impracticable for a coco-nut planter ;
and even if made, can by no means be trusted to
show what the trees will be able to take from the
soil On large plantations where the obvious steps
to ensure proper production have been taken, or when
a man is preparing to invest very large capital in the
establishment of a plantation, it is worth while to
supplement care as to the soil’s proper physical con-
dition with some knowledge as to the food which
seems likely to be available. It must always be borne
in mind, however, that the food in the soil has no
value so long as it remains there, and that only what is
taken up by the tree itself will do any good. Chemical
‘analysis will almost invariably show the soil of sandy
beaches to be remarkably poor, and the same thing
may equally well be true of other places where coco-nuts
will do well because constantly supplied by moving
soil water with fresh supplies of food. On the other
hand, stagnant marshes will frequently show up re-
markably well by chemical analysis, but still cannot
be used for coco-nuts.

When chemical analysis is used as a guide to the

30 _ THE COCO-NUT CHAP. Il

prospective use of fertilizers, it should be remembered
that the best natural conditions are likely to be those
under which the profitable use of fertilizers is most
difficult. For the moving water in the soil, which
brings to the trees a natural supply of food, will like-
wise tend to carry away from them the food which
may be artificially applied about their roots.

enn,
mt

CHAPTER -Ii
DISEASES AND PESTS

A. Constitutional Weakness and Diseases.— Under
this head are understood all ailments which are
not caused by living enemies. The most universal
of these are the various effects of malnutrition, but
the most certainly fatal, directly or indirectly, is old
age. Sure as old age is ultimately to overcome
every tree which escapes all other ills, the time of its
coming, and the loss it entails, are by no means beyond
control. Trees unfavourably located or badly treated,
suffer the same decrease in thickness of trunk, in size
and number of leaves, and in productiveness, finally
reaching sterility, which mark the coming death of
very old trees. Trees of less than middle age do not
usually follow the course of very old trees to the extent
of dying, but linger until their weakened condition
makes them succumb to some more sudden death.
Such trees are as useless before they die as afterward.
When trees show symptoms of premature old age it
is the planters business to ascertain and remedy the
cause as best he can. Unless the cause is climatic,
and sometimes when it is so, the remedy will be clear
if the cause can be found. The real cause may turn
out to be a living enemy, or it may be too little or
too much moisture, or faulty nutrition, or mechanical
injury. When no cause can be found, the trees should
be destroyed, to get rid of possible points of attack by,
and centres for the spread of, living enemies. Very
31

32 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

old trees inevitably become less productive, and at ~
the same time the expense of harvesting the nuts and
the danger of their breaking as they fall increase. The
time comes when they are no longer worth taking care
of and they should then be destroyed.

The effect of inadequate or improper nutrition may
be shown by the same symptoms as old age, or in
other ways. A tree growing without enough light
will for some time bear at least as large leaves as
any other plant, but the production of fruit will not
continue long, because the shade makes the proper
supply of the plant in both carbohydrate and mineral
food impossible. Malnutrition may be with regard to
the total food or to a single kind of food. The remedies
in the former case are thinning the trees, cultivation,
and irrigation or drainage. When the absence of only
one or two of the food-elements is responsible for the
bad condition, the want can usually best be remedied
by the use of fertilizers. Unless the cause of weakness
is very clear, or the need of action is much more urgent
than it usually is, any proposed remedy (as drainage,
irrigation, cultivation, thinning, or the use of various
fertilizers) should be tested on a few trees before it is
tried on a whole plantation.

In all cases, then, in which coco-nuts are in poor
condition but no living enemy is to be found, the
treatment consists in invigorating them” by sanitary
measures and better nutrition.

B. Pests.—General Considerations. —If a small
community of men lives by itself, never seeing or
having anything to do with other men, its members
are in no danger from smallpox or syphilis. UH,
however, they had rats, and the rats came and went
and associated with other rats, the community might
be attacked by plague. With the growth of cities
and nations, the opportunity for the spread of disease,
and consequently the danger to each individual, and
the necessity for strict sanitation, quarantine, and skill
in medicine, are manifolded. Commerce and general

mI DISEASES AND PESTS 33

~ intercourse between peoples add still more to the danger,
having, for instance, introduced smallpox to America and
syphilis to the Old World. The situation of any crop
is in principle identical with that of man. When
plants are cultivated on a small scale, and are widely
and sparsely scattered, they are comparatively safe, but
the development of a great industry in one of them
multiplies its danger from disease. And this is made
greater still by commerce; as, for instance, the coffee
rust would probably not have reached Java and the
Philippines by natural means of dissemination.

The most of the diseases of the coco-nut are like
the plague of man in having other hosts as well, and
may therefore attack a solitary and healthy tree. But
every one of its infectious or epidemic diseases, so far
as known, unlike the malaria of man, or the classic
rust of wheat, can go through its whole life-cycle in
the one host, and spreads directly from one coco-nut
tree to another. Plantation cultivation on a large
scale furnishes ideal conditions for epidemics. When
great areas are brought under almost continuous
cultivation, as in Ceylon, on the Godaveri delta in
India, on the coast of Trinidad, and in Central Luzon,
the danger from disease grows at least apace with the
industry. The fact that almost nothing was published
on coco-nut diseases until the last few years, or that
as recently a8 1906 Prudhomme could state that the
important enemies and parasites are all animals, does
not prove that fungus and bacterial pests previously
did not exist and dodamage. The bud rot in the
West Indies and in Luzon existed so long before it
attracted outside attention that nothing is known
about its origin or first appearance in either region.
But these and other diseases have increased very much
in destructiveness, and as the opportunity for their
spread improves they must be expected to become
yearly more destructive, unless they are guarded
against with a care which was formerly not suspected
of being necessary.

D

34 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

It is worth while to remember, moreover, that the
coco-nut is a perennial, and that it and its diseases find
cohditions in general constant throughout the year.
Nature places no bar of winter to the spread of its pests.
The field crops of the farmer in the temperate zones can
at least easily be made to begin each season free of
disease. No pest of temperate lands has ever wiped
out a great industry, as the coffee rust did the coffee
business of Ceylon. In the forests of temperate countries
the great bulk of the vegetation over extensive areas is
made up of at most a very few species, often of a single
one. In the tropics the climatic opportunities for
epidemics are so much greater that a characteristically
different type of forest has been evolved, in which a
great number of kinds of trees are present, and each is
comparatively widely and sparsely scattered. Such a
formation as a pine forest, or oak forest, or coco-nut
forest cannot exist in nature in the tropics; and if men
will plant and maintain forests of coco-nut, or any other
single tree, in the tropics, it will prove to be possible,
in the long run, only by greater care in guarding against
disease than any crop of temperate lands requires.

The preceding discussion was written in 1909 as an
introduction to a series of lectures on coco-nut pests.
During the intervening four years about as many new °
pests have been described as all that were previously
known, and more has been written on the subject than
in all previous time. The end is of course not yet. In
the study of coco-nut diseases the last eight years show
an excellent record. The immediate future should show
much greater devotion to practical interference with
pests. Knowledge of the nature of pests and of the
mischief they do, or even of methods of combating
them, is not of great value unless it is applied.

FUNGI

A considerable number of fungi are known to live
upon the coco-nut. Among these are two of the woody

III DISEASES AND PESTS 35

fungi (Homes), which are parasitic on the trunks in the
Philippines. These doubtless do some injury to the
tree; and this will probably prove to be true of varidus
others. Up to the present time, however, only four
species are positively known to be destructive, and
our knowledge of these is very recent. One of these,
Pythwum, will be taken up in discussing the bud rot.

Thielaviopsis ethacetica.—This fungus causes the
bleeding diseases of coco-nut trunks in Ceylon. It
usually shows itself at a height of 2 metres, more or
less, above the ground. It is described by Petch, in
papers read before the Ceylon Agricultural Society, as
follows :

A brown liquid oozes out through the cracks in the cortex,
and forms a rusty patch which usually turns black afterwards.
On cutting into this patch, the internal tissues are found to be
discoloured and decaying; they are brownish and finally turn
black. If the diseased area is cut in wet weather, the liquid
sometimes squirts out; in fact, it may in some stages be
collected in a glass by simply pressing on the diseased patch.
After some time other black patches appear on the trunk,
usually on the same side. When this happens, it will generally
be found that this is not a new infection, but that the disease
has worked up or down inside the stem, and the liquid has
found a new outlet. I have seen trees which looked as if a
bucket of tar had been poured down one side of the stem. It
is important to note that there is no sign of the disease until
the liquid oozes out, and: that when this occurs the internal
tissue 1s already decayed to some extent.

In about two or three years the hard outside of
the trunk falls away. The crown gradually becomes
smaller; and the roots wither more or less completely
at a depth of about a metre. The tree may die in five
or six years, sometimes more quickly.

Young bearing trees, up to say twenty years, are
most susceptible. Very old trees are attacked, but
comparatively little injured. The disease occurs on all
soils, swampy, sandy, or rocky, manured or not, near
the sea, and inland.

With regard to treatment, Petch says:

36 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

At the first appearance the diseased part should be cut out,
the wound burnt with a torch, and then covered with hot coal
tar. The pieces cut out must be burnt. When the disease has
advanced so far that this local treatment is impossible, the tree
must be cut down and burnt. This treatment is said to have
been successful. .

Reports in subsequent years indicate that the disease is
well under control.

One planter stated that he had known the disease
for sixty years, but it was first made a subjett of report
in 1903. It was found along the Negumbo Canal, at
Hendala, also at Nalla, where in 1906 more than 3000
trees were found infected. None had died, and the.
yleld was not evidently affected, but the disease was
spreading. ‘The disease is also knewn at Veyangoda,
Kurunegala, Mirigama, Heneratgoda, Marawila, Am-
balangoda, and Dumbala. It is also\ found in India. —
However, Butler has found the same fungus on the
trunks of various apparently vigorous palms in India, and
does not regard it as at all injurious. The same fungus
does not necessarily produce the same effect under
different conditions; and, as is true of various human
diseases, there may be light forms and dangerous forms
of the one pest.

This fungus is also charged with causing the pine-
apple disease of Javan cane, another disease of cane in
Hawaii and the West fades and the canker of coffee.
Rorer reports a bleeding disease of coco-nut trunks in
the West Indies caused by TZhielaviopsis paradoxa,
the same fungus also attacking sugar-cane and pine-
apple.

Pestalozzia palmarum.— This is a microscopic
fungus parasitic on the leaves of the coco-nut. It was
first described from British Guiana, but seems to occur
throughout the tropics. While it must always weaken
the trees, it does not often itself kill them, and is not
known to have become even locally very destructively
epidemic except at Kempit, in the Banjoewangi Presi-
dency, Java. This outbreak was studied and reported

®

III DISEASES AND PESTS 37

upon by Bernard. ‘The first symptoms are the appear-
ance of minute whitish spots; these grow and become
grey-brown, with a narrow white border; finally the
centre dries. The spots are usually elliptic in shape.

The disease was first reported at Kempit in August
1905, and the Director of Agriculture recommended that
the infected parts of plants be burned, and that the
plants be sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. In January
1906 it wag reported that the disease was making de-
structive progress, and Bernard was sent into the field.
It was found that in order to burn the diseased leaves
they had been cut and then carried across a field hitherto
free of infection to the place of burning. One field of
50 bouw, 5000 trees, and an adjacent one of 70 bouw,
7000 trees, had almost all the trees infected. The soil
was virgin and rich, and there was no dry season. There
were 150 bouw, 15, 000 trees, a little over a year old,
3 kilometres away, separated from the diseased fields by
forest ; these were free from the disease. In the field of
50 bouw more than half of the trees were so seriously
attacked that there was already no hope of saving them.
About 1000 were already dead, and 650 had already been
replaced. In this field the trees were just over a year
old. In the 70-bouw field the trees were recently set
out, and the disease was doing less injury. _

The period of incubation, as determined by putting
some diseased leaves in the crown of a sound isolated
tree, is about two months. The failure to get results
from the use of Bordeaux mixture in these fields is
attributed to the probable fact that the trees were
generally infected before it was used. The disease is
not regarded as dangerous except to weak trees. At
about the age of a year, they have used up the nourish-
ment in the parent nut, and are not at once in a
condition to vegetate without it vigorously enough to
resist the fungus.

Bernard’s recommendations are :

1. That plants likely to be exposed be sprayed with
Bordeaux mixture—2 kilograms of copper sulphate in

38 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

50 litres of water, poured into 2 kilograms of lime in
50 litres of water—at intervals of fifteen days. One
should take especial care to reach the youngest leaves.
The use of corrosive sublimate is also suggested.

2. Cut all infected leaves and burn them in sztu.

3. Watch for the reappearance of the disease.

4. In the case in question, sacrifice the 50 bouw
worst infected, and use the land for some other crop for
a year Or So.

5. In planting, avoid planting great numbers of
equally old trees at once, so that many may not at
once reach the susceptible age. Also, leave barriers of
other crops, or interplant crops which will overtop the
young coco-nuts until they pass the time of danger.

Another fungus, Helminthosporvum ineurvatum,
follows Pestalozzia, and contributes to the injury.
Pestalozzia is also found in Java on tea, Para rubber,
guttapercha, and other plants, to which it usually does
no evident harm. It should always be kept in such
check as is practicable, to keep it from doing serious
damage when conditions become temporarily more
favourable for the fungus than for the host.

Horne states that, though never known to be itself
fatal, this is probably doing more damage than any
other fungus disease of coco-nuts in Cuba. Because of
its prevalence, it was at one time supposed to be the
cause of bud rot.

Stockdale has investigated what he regards as
merely a geographical variety of the same disease in
Trinidad, and furnishes the following information in
regard to it:

Many trees have leaves which appear to be drooping, and
with the tips of the distal leaflets of a greyish colour. An
external examination of the leaflet shows that whereas the
tip is quite dry and dead and many parts of the edges of the
leaflet are in a similar condition, there are small yellowish
spots, more or less regular in shape, which may be observed
to increase in area. . . . During the growth of the spots, they
gradually change from a yellowish colour to a greyish white,
and each is bordered by a margin which is of a dark colour,

II DISEASES AND PESTS 39

generally an intense greenish brown. ... After a time, when
a large number of disease spots have made their appearance,
the whole leaf assumes a yellowish appearance, and gradually
becomes greyish and withered... . When a large number of
the leaves have been badly attacked the terminal bud is left
standing alone; and it is only a question of time before this
falls over, and the death of the palm results. . . . Close
examination of the upper surface of the leaf of one of the
disease spots when it has assumed the grey colour shows
minute warts not larger than the head of a small pin. They
are blackish-grey in colour, and are irregularly distributed,
often being very numerous. ... These small pustules bear
the spores of the fungus. . . . The distribution of this fungus
appears to be fairly general in Trinidad, but it is a serious pest
in only two districts.

Stockdale advises that all dead trees be cut down,
and all dead material burned. If a tree has but a few
diseased leaves, these should be cut off and burned, and
the tree watched for more. If a fungicide is tried,
Bordeaux mixture is recommended.

Preuss reports Pestalozzia as doing serious mischief
to seedlings in the Bismarck Archipelago.

Diplodia.— The exact botanical standing of the
fungi which cause the disease or diseases to be described
next is still in doubt. This is not a matter of merely
scientific interest, but one of very practical importance ;
for so long as we do not know just what organisms
cause each of the forms of disease in question, we are
not likely to know that the diseases of petioles and those
of roots are or are not identical, nor whether or not the
coco-nut and cacao harbour pests dangerous to each
other. Without such knowledge preventive measures
must be taken partly in the dark, or else grave risks
be run.

The following account of the Trinidad “‘ root disease ”
is extracted from the report of Stockdale, who regarded
it in 1906 as the most dangerous of the three diseases
he found on that island :

An attack of this disease is generally first shown by the
leaves. They show a slightly wilted appearance, then turn

40 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

yellow, first at the tips, and then gradually all over the leaflets.
These dry up, blacken, hang down from the “cabbage,” and
often remain for a considerable time before they are shed.

The petiole partly or completely breaks. Sometimes
the outermost, sometimes some other cycle of leaves is
first to wilt.

After the yellowing of the leaves, trees bearing a good crop
of nuts as a rule gradually shed most if not all of them,
irrespective of their size and state of development, and the
flowers subsequently produced do not set. In fact, it is possible
for a person to pick out with certainty trees that are diseased,
before any yellowing of the leaves is noticed, by carefully
looking at the condition of the leaves and at the latest flowers
that are being put forward.

The general appearance is similar to that produced by
drought. Petioles of badly diseased trees, after they
fall to the ground, almost always show a large number
of minute ruptures of the epidermis. The first point of
attack appears to be where the petiole merges into the
sheath. ‘The fungus bears hyaline, unicellular spores,
capable of germinating in this state, but these at full
maturity become two-celled and brown. Patouillard
classified it as a Botryodiplodia.

The roots of the same trees always have a fungus,
which destroys the cells of the cortex. This fungus has
not been seen to fruit, but is believed to be the same as
that which attacks the petioles. The wood in the trunk is
reddish in the parts connecting with diseased roots and
petioles. As the trees die with the symptoms of drought,
and in some cases diseased roots were found on trees
with sound petioles, it is believed by Stockdale that it
is by attacking the roots that the fungus does most
serious injury. In the Guapo and Cedros districts
“three or four months is usually the time that inter-
venes between the first external symptoms to the death
of the tree, and usually within another three months a
ring of diseased trees is noticed around the dead stump.
In Mayaro the disease is much less prevalent, and the

rat DISEASES AND PESTS 41

death of diseased trees does not take place so rapidly,”
taking nine to twelve months.

It would appear probable that the disease may spread :

(1) By mycelium through the soil from root to root.

(2) By spores blown from tree to tree.

(3) By germinating tubes of spores from petioles attacking
either the roots of the same tree or the roots of another.

(4) By germinating “chlamydospores” from decaying
petioles.

There are six principal ways in which we may hope to
attack this disease. They are:

(1) Destruction of all diseased material.

(2) Isolation of diseased areas (by a trench 30-45 centi-
metres deep).

(3) Resting of infested land before planting “supplies.”

(4) Spraying and application of chemicals.

(5) Improved cultivation and drainage.

(6) Searching for and propagating disease-resistant varieties.

The first of these ways is the most important. If
chemicals are to be used, unslaked lime is recommended
for the soil and Bordeaux mixture for the leaves.

While it has not been found possible positively to
identify the fungus on the roots in Trinidad, a fungus
infesting the roots in Travancore has been cultivated
by Butler, and found to develop as a Botryodiplodia.
It is highly probable, but not certain, that this is the
same fungus which causes the root disease in Trinidad.

The disease has long been known in Travancore,
but has only of late years been recognized as the cause
of great damage.

Very recently Hart has inoculated a healthy cacao
pod with the Botryodiplodia from coco-nut petioles,
and produced all the symptoms of the ‘“‘ brown rot” of
the cacao. The fungus growing on this infection differs
from Diplodia cacaoicola, the specific cause of the
brown rot, only in having slightly larger spores. It is
not yet possible to state positively that the brown rot
of cacao is identical with the coco-nut disease. But it
is certain that they are very nearly related, and that in
at least one direction an infection may pass from one

42 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

tree to the other. Dzplodia epicocos is a very common
fungus on dead coco-nut leaves in the American tropics,
which has generally been regarded as quite harmless.
Diplodia and Botryodiplodia have spores exactly
alike, but are supposed to differ in that the former bears
its reproductive structures directly on the vegetative
ones, while the latter develops from its vegetative
filaments a solid dark mass of fungus tissue, on which
in turn the reproductive cells arise. It is perfectly
possible that the same fungus should produce its re-
productive: bodies directly from the vegetative under
some conditions, as on the pod of cacao or on the dead
leaves of coco-nut, but indirectly under others, such as
it finds on the coco-nut petiole and roots.

The latest word on these fungi is that of Bancroft,
recently Mycologist of the Federated Malay States, who
raised an ascospore form of the Diplodia on Hevea,
certainly the same as that infesting cacao, and showed
that its proper name is Zhyridaria tarda.

According to Fredholm, the fungus causing the
petiole disease, which he calls Diplodia, very generally
initiates the bud rot in Trinidad. From the careful
description of the symptoms of the latter in Cuba, given
by Horne, this seems possibly to be the case in that
island as well. The damage done by Diplodia by
creating conditions favourable to the spread of bud rot
might prove many times as serious as anything it can
do directly and by itself. However, Bancroft writes
that he has often found it on diseased buds of coco-nut
in the Malay States, but regards it as a mere saprophyte.

An unknown fungus is said to attack the nuts them-
selves in British Guiana. Another is reported from
Vitilevu, where it destroys the lamina of the leaves,
leaving the midrib naked; this reads more like the
work of some insect.

As already noted, there are many fungi saprophytic
on the coco-nut. ‘There are several dozen of these in
the Philippines. It is very probable that some of these
have the power to advance the decayed tissue in which

ur DISEASES AND PESTS 43

they live, at the expense of any living tissue which may
adjoin it. But there is no reason to suspect any one of
these of being able to attack a sound tree, or of being a
serious additional enemy of injured trees.

BUD ROT

The most incurable and, unless strongly handled,
the most dangerous diseases of the coco-nut are the bud
rots. These attack the soft young tissue at the apex
of the stem, and sooner or later destroy the growing
point itself. Since the coco-nut does not branch, and
never renews its growing point, this immediately stops
the formation of new leaves and flowering branches,
and very soon kills the tree.

Iixcept in the case of the Godaveri River bud rot
and that of the West Indies, the organisms causing these
diseases are not positively known. Whether or not
they themselves cause the disease, gas-producing
bacteria are always present in the rotting mass and
produce a vile odour. From a diseased or dead tree,
spores or germs can be carried by insects or by the
wind to other trees. When a tree is once infected by
bud rot, it is practically impossible to save it in any
way, and energetic action must be taken to prevent the
spread of the disease. Bud rot has been reported in the
West Indies and about the Caribbean Sea, in Portuguese
Kast Africa, in Ceylon, in the delta of the Godaveri
River in India, andin Luzon. Since different organisms
seem to cause the bud rot in different parts of the world,
and the disease therefore does not everywhere run
through the same course, it is worth while to describe
the symptoms and the methods of treatment tried in
the different regions.

-India.—A bud rot in Travancore is described in
the Indian Forester of 1894 and in a letter in
Ferguson’s All about the Coco-nut. Itisa

. . . decay of the tender, unexpanded leaf-shoot. At first, the
lower end of the shoot grows discoloured, and in a few days

4A. THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

general putrefaction of this and more or less of the cabbage
ensues; the shoot droops, and in some eases falls to the
ground; the tree decays soon after, and we are left lookers-on
and losers. . . . It is only the most vigorous trees that are, as
a rule, affected.

The natives were said to ascribe it to falling stars.

A bud rot of the Palmyra and other palms near the
mouth of the Godaveri River is said to have been seen
as long ago as 1894, but was not reported until 1904,
and not, at this point, on the coco-nut until 1905.
Butler published a careful study of this disease in 1907,
at which date it infested a circle of about 14 miles
radius. The first symptom is a discoloration of a
recently expanded leaf, which then turns white and
withers ; other leaves follow; the nuts fall prematurely
and no more are formed.

The leaf-sheaths of all diseased trees are marked by
irregular sunken spots in greater or less number. In the
earlier stages . . . the spots are white; later on they become
brown. They are always sunken, and usually have somewhat
raised edges. They begin in the outer sheaths and may be
traced in through succeeding ones toward the heart of the
bud. As the inner layers are softer, the imside patches are
often larger than those outside, and may even give rise to new
patches which extend out again to the outside sheath... .
The earlier patches are dry and either free from any appearance
of a parasite on the surface or covered with a white mycelial
felt. Very soon a wet rot follows, which extends with great
rapidity in the delicate central tissues and converts the whole
heart into a foul-smelling mass of putrefaction, in which every-
thing is involved and the original agent is lost sight of.

It is only in the early states before the wet rot starts that
the true cause can be made out. This is a fungus of the genus
Pythium. ... In quite young spots the mycelium is found
only within the leaf tissues, where its threads extend between
the cells, sending little branches or haustoria into them... .
Later on it comes out on the surface, forming often a dense
white felt of filaments bearing sporangia. There is no positive
information as to its dissemination. No remedial measures
intended to cure trees already attacked are possible.

It was at first recommended by Butler that all

infected trees be burned, and that apparently healthy
trees in infected districts be treated with Bordeaux
mixture. A considerable force of men was employed in
the immediate restriction of the disease in this locality.
As a result of experience under the local conditions,
the use of fungicides was given up, and the work con-
centrated in the cremation of the sources of infection.

A report of Mr. Macrae, Entomologist of the
Government of Madras, reports that in spite of all that
it has been possible to do to restrict this disease, it is
up to the present time continuing to advance at the
rate of a little over a mile a year. With minor excep-
tions the area affected remains continuous. The advance
has naturally been impeded for a time by such barriers
as river channels and palmless areas, but on the whole
has progressed in all directions at a remarkably even
rate. The campaign against it has resulted in a con-
siderable decrease in the mortality. The intensity of
the disease varies. Along water channels, on the side
of paddy lands, and on heavy or wet soil in general,
the mortality is greater and more rapid than in drier
situations. ‘There is enough evidence now available to
show that the disease spreads :

Ist. Chiefly by palm climbers.

2nd. To a smaller extent by insects (palm weevils
and rhinoceros beetles).

8rd. Occasionally by the wind and by birds.

The disease continues to attack the Palmyra palm
chiefly, the coco-nut being comparatively immune and
the Areca still more so. The coco-nut is rarely tapped
for toddy and the Areca never, and this is probably
the reason for their comparative immunity. There is
no doubt as to the share which is played by insects also
in carrying this disease. The rot has been found
especially prevalent near certain fishing villages, where
there were piles of decaying refuse, in which the coco-
nut beetles could multiply freely. Getting rid of coco-
nut beetles is one of the methods of restricting the
spread of the disease.

4.6 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

From numerous infection experiments it appears ©
that the time from infection up to the death of the
growing point is up to ten months. Field observations
would extend this period almost to two years, and three
years or more may pass before the palm is reduced to
the bare pole. It is reported that there are rare cases
of recovery even after a great part of the crown has
withered. This is due to the growing points having
escaped injury. Such trees remain susceptible and
usually die as a result of renewed attack.

Ceylon.—Bud rot is reported by Petch as having
appeared in Ceylon in 1906. It was found only in a
small isolated patch of 10 acres, about 800 trees, of
which 50 were dead or dying. The infected trees were
three or four years old, and old trees were not found
ailing.

The first indication of the disease (in the case of young
plants) is the withering of the youngest unfolding leaf. This
turns brown, and can be pulled out of its sheath; it is then
found to end in a soft brown mass. . . . The decay of this leaf
is followed by that of the other fronds in succession, commenc-
ing with the youngest and proceeding outwards and downwards.
The fronds decay and fall off until only a conical stump
remains. If the dying fronds are removed and the bud
exposed, there will be found, instead of the white cabbage, a
pale-brown semi-liquid mass, which becomes dark brown with
age and possesses an odour resembling that of a tan yard. In
an advanced stage this rot includes the whole of the cabbage,
and stops only when the woody portion of the stem is reached.

The organisms responsible for this decay are bacteria, which
are found in abundance in the rotting tissues; they are short
thick rods with rounded ends which form whitish colonies of
slow growth on sugar agar. . These bacteria appear to find
an entrance to the cabbage along the youngest leaf.

Diseased trees should be felled and the terminal bud burned.
It should not be allowed to lie on the ground and become dry.

. If steps are taken to remove dead and dying palms as soon
as they are observed, there need be no fear that this disease
will become a serious menace to coco-nut cultivation. Felling
and burning diseased trees is no doubt an expensive process,
but it must be remembered that the work is of the nature of an
insurance effected on the remaining trees, and its cost should

ul DISEASES AND PESTS AT

be estimated in terms of the survivors, instead of being com-
pared with the actual value of the trees destroyed.

Close planting favours the spread of the disease, by
preventing the evaporation of moisture from the young
shoots.

The bud rot in Hast Africa is known from a letter
cited by Petch, who quotes from it: “If the dead
tree is not immediately destroyed by fire, the disease
rapidly spreads to the neighbouring trees, and finally
throughout the whole plantation.”

Luzon.—The history of epidemic bud rot in the
province of La Laguna, in the Philippines, is here given
at some length because the measures employed against
it have in this case proved their thorough efficiency.
The disease was first reported in 1907, but had existed
in the region for many years. The description of it is
taken from a report made by myself in 1908.

In the badly infested districts there are patches where
almost every tree is smitten, and larger ones where fully half
of the trees are dead or dying. Under conditions favourable
to it the’ disease will kill half of the trees in a single year.
Under less favourable conditions it is less violently epidemic ;
and in its present form it will never prove violently destructive
in most parts of the Philippines. The fact that a given tree
escapes one year is no guarantee that it will not be killed the
next. Under conditions favourable to the disease it is only a
question of time, unless vigorous restrictive measures are carried
out, when practically every tree will succumb.

The climatic condition permitting the disease to be exceed-
ingly destructive is a very moist atmosphere. Bud rot is
epidemic only in the upper belt of coco-nut country about Mt.
Banahao, which is one of the most humid districts in the Islands.
The coco-nuts at the foot of San Cristobal, which are compara-
tively unreached by the wet ocean winds, are free from bud rot.
Below the zone where the bud rot is most at home, there is of
course a region in which infection can occur under conditions
temporarily favourable, or affecting single trees or small
localities. As every tree for miles around is likely to receive
the germs, it is inevitable that in this lower zone some will be
infected each year. As these die the damage is cumulative,
and the gaps caused in lower groves increase in number or size.

48 THE COCO-NUT cae

But there is no good evidence that the region in grave peril is
widening downward.

Further evidence that humidity is a condition of contagion
is found in the fact that young trees are more susceptible than
old ones. About the crown of old tall trees the air moves
comparatively freely, and keeps them comparatively dry. For
every old tree killed, two which are just coming into fruit, or
would do so within a year or so, die, although the total number
of such trees is naturally much less than that of adults. On
the other hand, very young trees, of two years or less, are com-
paratively rarely attacked. Since humidity is the condition of
easy infection, the extension of the disease occurs principally
during the most humid season.

The first symptom, always in young trees, and almost always
in old ones, is the yellowing and wilting of the youngest still
folded leaf. The disease attacks the soft undifferentiated tissue
of growing points. It is likely that infection normally occurs
where the germs can get direct access to these points without
penetrating through mature tissue; but the germs might also
be borne by insects which could carry them in through
mechanical lesions in old tissue. In young trees the youngest
leaf presents the only possible path of direct unaided infection ;
and, however infection may occur, the youngest leaf is directly
inserted in the tissue susceptible to rot, and must die before
the rot embraces the most of the soft tissue commonly called
the cabbage. As soon as the youngest leaf is noticeably dis-
coloured, it can easily be drawn out. The next youngest leaves
follow in rapid succession. Within from two to four months
after the disease can first be detected, the most of the leaves
will have fallen. A few of the oldest leaves grow from tissue so
hard that the rot makes little or no progress in it; these
leaves, four to a dozen in number, persist for months after the
younger leaves are gone. It is in this stage, with a thin whorl
of old leaves crowning the stem, that the most of the diseased
trees are found. These leaves very likely fall only when their
natural time comes, uninfluenced by the rot.

In the case of old trees, the young flowering branches, like
the youngest leaves, spring from the soft heart. Infection can
occur along these branches, and they can give the first external
sign of disease; but these are exceptional cases. Branches
whose nuts are more than half grown are grounded in tissue
so mature that the disease does not usually prevent the nuts
from ripening. But no new nuts are set after the appearance
of the rot, and the youngest nuts almost or quite always fall
without becoming ripe.

.

IIT DISEASES AND PESTS 49

As is true of bud rot everywhere, the decaying tissue
has a powerful and vile odour. The stench is very characteristic,
but not easily described ; one of its components is the smell of
tan. Several organisms have been isolated from the decaying
bud, but no one has been proven to be the cause of the rot.

Some of the owners of groves have found that if the first
leaves affected are pulled out, and the rotten mass removed as
completely as possible, new leaves will sometimes appear after-
ward, and that in some of these cases the tree recovers. One
planter states that 25 per cent of cures can be effected in this
way; but I believe that if any trees ultimately recover they
are exceedingly few. For practical purposes the tree, once it
shows any symptoms of the disease, is valueless, and the thing
to be done is to prevent the spread of the disease from it to
other trees. The use of any disinfectant chemicals, unless in
the hands of experts, cannot be expected to be effective, because
of the difficulty in making them reach every part, or even any
part, of the diseased tissue.

The only agent which can be relied upon to destroy the
organisms is fire. Every tree which shows symptoms of the
disease should have its heart, and the structures immediately
around it—the apex of the trunk and the bases of the leaves—
completely burned. During the drier months this is a matter
of but moderate difficulty, but during the rainy season it can
be done only by the use of kerosene. A vigorous campaign of
six months should so restrict the disease that it will cease to
be a serious menace to the coco-nut industry.

This recommendation had been made a year earlier
by a botanist of the Bureau of Science, without any
result whatever. It has been made by every one who
has made a study of bud rot; but a mere recommenda-
tion will not stop a pest. In this case, while the field
study was being made, and after it was finished, pains
were taken to talk with as many as possible of the men
owning or in charge of coco-nuts in the affected region,
and to give practical demonstrations of what ought to
be done. The municipal councils were then persuaded
to pass ordinances requiring the burning of all infected
trees. These ordinances had no legal force, being
beyond the power of the municipalities. But they
showed the disposition of the people and officials of the
towns, and so made it easy to get similar legislation by

E

50 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

the Provincial Board, and then to keep up the interest
of the town officials in its enforcement. The Act passed
by the Provincial Board of La Laguna and still in force
is as follows : |

Whereas it has been represented to the provincial board by
duly qualified inspectors of the Bureau of Education and by the
owners of coco-nut plantations and the municipal officials of
various municipalities that in certain districts of this province,
especially in the jurisdiction of Lilio, Nagcarlan, and Magdalena
municipalities, the agricultural pest known as bud rot has killed
many coco-nut trees, is becoming widespread, and is a serious
menace to the coco-nut groves throughout the province: There-
fore, be it hereby

fesolved, That by authority of law the provincial board
hereby approves for the entire Province of La Laguna the follow-
ing resolution :

Any owner or lessee or person or persons having the manage-
ment of coco-nut plantations, coco-nut groves, or coco-nut trees
shall, upon the appearance of the pest or disease known as bud
rot, immediately report same to the president of the munici-
pality in which such trees are located.

Further, Such owners, lessees, managers, person or persons
who receive information, either by observation or otherwise, that
the coco-nut trees are dying because of the pest or disease
known as bud rot, or from any cause known or unknown, shall
immediately report the matter to the municipal president of the
municipality in which such trees are located.

Each municipal president is hereby designated as an inspector
ex officio of the provincial board, for the purposes of this resolu-
tion, and shall, upon receipt of information that the disease
known as bud rot exists or has appeared, immediately inspect
such trees and require the owner, manager, or “‘ encargado” of
such coco-nut trees to cut down such trees and destroy com-
pletely, by burning, the crown or top of every tree so cut down
and having the disease known as bud rot.

Further, Any municipal president, as inspector, who fails to
take the action required by this resolution and especially the
foregoing paragraph, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding
P. 200 or thirty days’ imprisonment, as may be decreed by the
court having jurisdiction.

Further, That when any owner, manager, or “encargado ” of
coco-nut trees refuses to cut down and destroy completely the
top or crown, by burning, of all trees having the disease known
as bud rot, the destruction of which is authorized or directed by

Ii DISEASES AND PESTS 51

the municipal president as inspector, he shall be subject to a
penalty consisting of a fine not exceeding P. 200 or thirty days’
imprisonment, a8 may be decreed by the court.

For the purposes of this resolution, all inspectors duly
appointed by the director of education have the same authority
as conferred by this resolution on the municipal president as
inspector ex officio. Such inspectors appointed by the director
of education are hereby authorized to enforce the provisions of
this resolution in the same manner as the municipal president,
1.€. by charging any person (or persons) who refuses or fails to
comply with.the inspector’s order to destroy the trees having
the disease known as the bud rot before the court of proper
jurisdiction.

For the purposes of this resolution, and under authority of
section 13 of paragraph (£) of Act No. 83 as amended, the pro-
vincial board of the Province of La Laguna hereby confers juris-
diction upon all justices of the peace of the Province of La Laguna
to try violators of the foregoing resolution or regulations, and
there is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the provincial
treasury not otherwise appropriated a sufficient amount for the
necessary expenses in paying costs of prosecutions before justices
of the peace.

Be it further resolved, That six certified copies of this resolu-
tion be furnished each municipal secretary; one copy for the
municipal president as inspector, the other five copies to be
posted in five conspicuous places in the municipality. A certi-
fied copy shall be furnished each justice of the peace, a certified
copy to the director of education, and a certified copy to the
honourable judge of the Court of First Instance of the Sixth
Judicial District.

This resolution was passed March 13, 1908, but
almost immediately rescinded under orders from Manila.
It was re-enacted October 14, and this time followed by
a very vigorous campaign of fire, although the season
was far from favourable. Three months after this work
began a tree showing symptoms of bud rot had become
an uncommon sight. In the villages I visited at this
time the new cases appearing were certainly not one-
tenth as numerous as they had been a year before. I
have since made a practice of visiting this district once
or twice every year. This year, 1913, for the first time
since the vigorous campaign against bud rot, I found

52 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

half-a-dozen dying trees in the course of a walk of
several miles, and these I suppose were burned immedi-
ately afterward. ‘The absolute extermination of a pest
is usually impossible, and the disease will probably
become epidemic again at some future time if given a
chance. But for the present it is practically harmless.

The means by which bud rot was reduced to practical
harmlessness in La Laguna are the same which should
be taken wherever any epidemic must be fought. They
are three:

1. Determining the most practical field measures.

2. Securing legislation strong enough to ensure con-
certed and vigorous action.

3. Educating the people. If any one of these is
more important than the others, it is the last. Printed
matter ought not to be relied upon to do this anywhere;
it is not convincing enough. The most of the villagers
of the Laguna coco-nut country cannot read at all, but
they would have had to be shown in the same way in
any case.

America.—Bud rot is known in the West Indies
and on the American continent in various places. The
earliest dates which can definitely be placed on its
known presence are 1870 in Cuba, 1875-6 in Demerara,
1891 in Jamaica, 1889, with a probable report as early
as 1834, in Grand Cayman, and 1893 in Honduras. It
received no real study until the last decade, but has
recently received more attention here than in any
other part of the world.

Cuba.—In Cuba it was considered dangerous enough
to demand the appointment of a commission for its
study in 1883; in 1901, Busck, an entomologist of the
United States Department of Agriculture, was sent to
investigate it. He was unable to make more than a
euess at the cause of the disease, but, irrespective of
the particular organism causing it, soundly advised the
destruction of all diseased material. Immediately after
this the Jamaican bud rot was reported by Earle as
bacterial. In 1904, Dr. Erwin Smith, the foremost

LI DISEASES AND PESTS 53

authority on bacterial diseases of plants, made a personal
visit to the infected districts in Cuba; and other visits
were subsequently made under his direction.

The Estacién Central Agronomica de Cuba began the
investigation of the disease in 1904. The results of this
study were published by Horne. John R. Johnston has
since published a monograph on the subject. The
disease is certainly known from Havana to Artemisa, at
Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Manzanillo, Banes, on the coast
west of Santiago de Cuba, and practically throughout
the Baracoa district. A plantation cannot be established
in any part of the island, with any reason to feel safe
from the appearance of the disease, before the trees are
mature. Horne believes this to be true of all the
neighbouring areas, although the disease is unknown
_ and apparently not present in Puerto Rico.

The description of the disease is taken from Horne:

In a bearing tree the first symptom noted is usually that
the young nuts drop. The half-grown nuts usually fall a little
later, but often a few ripe nuts hang on the tree until it is
completely dead. After the dropping of the first small nuts
the flowers will be seen to be blackened and, as the disease
advances, the flowers and racemes will be blackened when the
sheath bursts and allows them to protrude.

As the disease advances still further, younger swords
(tetas) are affected and their development is stopped. When
these affected swords are examined, on the surface of the outer
sheath there is a rot which evidently is progressing downwards.
In the case of the youngest ones this may penetrate into the
cabbage of the trunk, but those nearly ready to burst before
being affected have never been found with the rot following
down to the trunk. Lvidently the tissue of the lower part of
the stalk of the opened flower cluster is too hard. Infection of
the inner sheath always follows that of the outer, and that of
the rachis is still later. Single flower buds are found blackened
inside the still unopened sheaths, where apparently there is
no chance for the entrance of insects or the introduction of
infection.

During these studies no case has been found in which
the disease had attacked and destroyed part of the flower
clusters and finished its course, leaving the rest of the tree
healthy, although in the very severely attacked groves at

54 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Baracoa one very beautiful flower cluster opening on one side of
a tree has often been seen and many young nuts still attached
on the same side, while on the part of the tree towards the pre-
vailing winds and facing the worst affected portion of the grove,
all nuts had dropped and the young flower clusters seriously
affected. “Y'

The dropping of part of the nuts of a cluster, or of
all the nuts by trees just coming into bearing, cannot
be taken as evidence of bud rot.

Fading or turning yellow of the leaves is the symptom by
which it is generally possible to recognize the disease in trees
of all ages. This is generally first noticed in the case of some
of the oldest leaves. ... The leaves gradually become light
yellow, and the leaflets dry from the tips and sides. As the
disease progresses the leaves become weak and break with
the wind in various ways, the lower ones usually falling off.
Examining a mature leaf which is about dead, nothing can be
found on the leaflets or outer petioles to account for the trouble,
but on the upper surface and at the base there is more or less
decay, and this usually reaches a little way into the trunk.

The most characteristic symptom of the disease is the rotting
of the youngest undeveloped leaves in the centre of the top.
This symptom generally appears after the others have become
well developed, but it may be the first one noted. The first
stage of this is the appearance of watery decayed spots on the
surface of the unopened leaves.

If a very young leaf with only the growing point coming out
into the air is affected, it rots rapidly, and, from the base of
the tree, nothing is seen to be wrong until the bud is examined.
[By analogy with the accounts of the Trinidad bud rot, this is
what is to be expected if the disease is caused by bacteria alone,
without the presence at first of fungi. |

Once well started the rot moves down along the surfaces of
the undeveloped leaves, rapidly penetrating the tender tissues
and destroying them completely. . . . The whole central column
is converted into a soft stinking mass. When the terminal bud
is reached it rots, and the tender upper end of the trunk also.

The tree is usually in the advanced stages within one or
two months from the time the first signs of the disease appear.
Usually three or four months more elapse before the stump is
left bare. . . . So far as our observations go, there is in nature
no recovery. Apparently all genuine cases of bud rot prove
fatal.

mr DISEASES AND PESTS 55

Johnston says that from two months to two years
may intervene between infection and death.

Various insects and fungi are found associated with
the bud rot ; prominent among the latter are Pestalozzia
and Diplodia. The disease spreads chiefly in the
direction of the prevailing winds.

Basing his advice apparently on Jamaica experi-
ence rather than on his own, Horne recommended two
remedial measures :

Flaming, or burning out, the tops of all early cases,
or trees suspected to have the disease.

Spraying with Bordeaux mixture in the hope of
curing early cases, and for the protection of healthy
trees.

With regard to his own experience with burning out
the material of the crown, Horne says:

A trial of flaming to cure sick trees was carried out by the
present writer at Baracoa in the summer of 1907... . No tree
was saved which had a well-developed case of the bud rot, and
none was saved in the part of the grove where the disease was
in its most destructive form. Some of the flamed trees ‘which
had been very carefully observed, and which evidently had the
disease when treated, were apparently recovering at the last
visit in September. Treatments were made in March, June,
August, and September.

_ The effect of burning a tree depends to a great extent, first,
on the weather ; second, on the condition of the tree.

Of 144 trees treated in March, June, and August,
1907, 113 were already dead in September. The re-
maining 31 were said to be apparently recovering.

The use of Bordeaux mixture was not given a good
test in Cuba. Five pounds of common salt was scattered
into the top of each of five trees supposed to have bud
rot; all died with the usual symptoms except one, and
it is doubtful if this one ever had the disease.

The chief reliance has certainly to be placed on the
careful destruction of the diseased trees, to get rid of
the sources of infeetion. The means of destruction are
the same the world over. As another preventive measure,

56 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Horne suggests the use of wind-breaks as barriers to the
spread of the disease. Strips of natural timber, left
when forest land is put into coco-nuts, can be expected
to have a limited value in this way against the spread
of this and other diseases. Close planting is certainly
favourable to the spread of the disease, and is to be
condemned for this as well as for other reasons.

The Cuban Government made an appropriation of
fourteen thousand dollars to carry further the study of
this disease, but without results of value.

Jamaica.—Remedial measures have been better
tested’ in Jamaica than anywhere else. The flaming
method originated here. The Director of Agriculture
reported in 1905 that “ Mr. Cradwick has been engaged
at intervals during the last two years in applying various
remedies suggested by me. These experiments are still
in progress, but I may say that I find the most effectual
remedy is to spray with the Bordeaux mixture, at
intervals of six to nine months, until there is no trace
of the disease.”

The mixture used was :—

Copper sulphate . . 6 pounds.
Lime : : ‘ Mo eee
Water . : . 50 gallons.

More definite reports showing the value of Bordeaux
mixture have since been made, applying, of course, only
to cases in the early stages of the disease. Advanced
cases are destroyed. The cost of buymg chemicals and
applying the mixture is estimated at two peuce in
Jamaica. This is cheaper than it is possible in most
countries to do the work well enough to give any chance
of success. Mr. Fawcett is quoted by Horne as stating
that ‘‘a variety known as ‘green skin’ in Jamaica is to
a large degree resistant, and that the San Blas is the
worst affected variety.”

Trinidad.—In Trinidad it has been established by
Fredholm to his own satisfaction that bud rot appears
in two forms. One of these is caused, so far as it has

UI DISEASES AND PESTS 57

been possible to determine, by bacteria alone; the other
by bacteria following an initial attack by a fungus,
which Fredholm calls Diplodia. If one may judge at
a distance, from the descriptions of the symptoms, he
will conclude that both forms occur throughout the
American tropics, and that the complicated form is
decidedly the commoner and more dangerous.

Stockdale’s report, already quoted for other diseases,
takes up also bud rot, and under this head deals almost
entirely with the purely bacterial form. Quoting from
him :

The youngest leaves appear to stand upright and do not

unfold as they should. Afterward they turn yellow and then
brown in colour, and the whole appearance is that of a withering
tree with the centre of the cabbage in an unhealthy condition.
.. . After a time the terminal bud falls over, frequently leaving
a ring of quite healthy-looking leaves at the top of a “ headless”
trunk. .. . This rot, in a diseased palm that is still standing,
is invisible until the harder outer coverings of the bud are
removed and it is found to be limited to the softer tissues. .
A badly diseased bud is generally full of fly larvae, etc., and
the smell is awful. . . . Microscopic examination of the roots
and stem indicated that they were quite normal, while those
portions of the terminal bud, in the advancing margin of the
disease, showed in most cases bacteria of different kinds.

The few isolated cases in the Cedros district would indicate
that this disease is not of a very infectious character, but large
numbers have been killed out in the Siparia district, the spread

being very rapid and apparently from the windward... . It
would appear: to be largely due to unfavourable conditions of
soil, drainage, etc... . With our present knowledge of the

nature of the disease, it is impossible to suggest a remedy for
trees that are already infected, and therefore steps must be
taken for preventing its spread. It is suggested that the top
four or five feet should be cut from the diseased trees and
buried deeply with lime.

Fredholm also found a few cases of bud rot in which
no Diplodia could be found with the microscope, and
in which the characteristic symptoms of the latter were
absent. When the bud rot is purely bacterial, then,
the first symptoms are shown by the youngest leaves.

58 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

In the complicated bud rot the first attack is made
by the Diplodia. Quoting Fredholm :

The earliest sign of the disease is retarded growth of the
“set” fruit, soon followed by the dropping of immature nuts.
At the same time none or very scant new fruit is “set.” Next,
some of the leaves, generally the lower, begin to droop and turn
yellow at the tips, which yellowing progresses until the whole
leaf is involved. About the same time that the leaves become
discoloured the basal portion of the petioles commences to
show a dark-brown discoloration. Shortly the leaves dry and
are found hanging down along the trunk, finally falling either
as a whole at one time, but not infrequently breaking and
coming down piecemeal. Thus leaf after leaf withers, until all
are hanging from the “crown.” But long before all the leaves
have dried, or even become yellow, the last leaf just emerging
from the top of the “crown,” and as yet unexpanded, will be
seen to shrivel and die.

The pustules already described in connection with
the Diplodia disease can be found on the bases of the
petioles. The death of the tree is to be expected three
months after the first symptoms are observed.

If the crown of an infected tree is split, the usual
decay of the cabbage will be encountered. Unless
putrefaction 1s too advanced, the sides and top of the
decaying region will be found bordered with a reddish
tissue.

Not seldom similarly discoloured areas will be found at the
base of a pedicel or a petiole below and at some distance from
the cavity and unconnected with it. Such conditions, when
met with, serve to illustrate matters of great importance, as
will be perceived when the mode of introduction of the
disease is studied. This discoloured material, if examined
microscopically, is found to consist of cell-tissues undergoing
destruction by the mycelium of a fungus. If the petiole is
split open its tissues will also be seen to be discoloured and
permeated by strands of mycelium.

The disease is endemic ... and is not infrequently met
with in the high woods. It is highly infectious, and after gain-
ing a foothold in a plantation it speedily becomes epidemic.

Evidences point to the wind as the main factor in the
distribution. The disease is seen to progress more rapidly in

III DISEASES AND PESTS 59

direction with the prevailing wind, but the spores do not seem
to be carried great distances, as it has been observed that
patches of open land or low intervening hills can contribute
barriers affording protection to a considerable degree.

Although air-currents are the principal agencies of dis-
tribution, no doubt exists that the disease can also be con-
veyed by insects. ... Instances of infection by means of
insects are often found on diseased plantations, and to this
agency can be attributed isolated cases of the disease occurring
at considerable distances from infection centres. Such isolated
cases, if not properly treated, will soon develop into new
centres. nae

The disease is spread by means of the two kinds of spores
produced by the fungus. In common with other members
of the genus Diplodia, it is a wound-parasite, 7.¢. effects its
entrance into the host through wounds. When a spore falls
on a cut or otherwise ruptured surface, it quickly germinates,
producing a mycelium which with great rapidity pushes its
way into the tissues of the host, and the first phase of the
disease is established. The disintegration and softening of
the tissues consequent on the growth of the fungus facilitate
the entry of the bacteria, which readily find the way to the
interior succulent parts filled with nutriment, wherein they
set up their destructive fermentation process.

The most usual point of attack has been found to be the
“common pedicels ” of the fruit clusters, into which the fungus
gains entrance through the wounds made when picking the
nuts. It is a well-known fact that this disease rarely attacks
palms not arrived at the age of bearing—and the reason is
very patent. Carefully conducted inoculation experiments in
the laboratory have established the fact of wound infection.

Fredholm holds out no hope of saving any tree
known to be infected. Good cultivation is urged as
likely to make trees more resistant. The planter’s
energy should be focussed on sanitation. ‘‘ Burning by
some method or another” is advocated. Fredholm
seems to know from experience that burning completely
is not too easy. And it must be complete to have
any value. The more promptly it is done the better.
The trunk should not be split unless necessary, as it
burns. The use of lime is also suggested. A vigilant
watch for fresh outbreaks is urged, and it is noted that

60 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Diplodia spores can germinate after at least three
months.

First and foremost among measures tending to prevent the
entrance of the fungus into the palm is the doing away with
all unnecessary wounding of the trees, maliciously, thoughtlessly,
or otherwise. The cutting down of dead leaves is uncalled for.
Nature will bring them down in due time, and no wound
will result. Whenever a wound is inflicted it should at once
be dressed with tar or some other aseptic preparation, and
such dressing should be frequently inspected and renewed when
required.

Fredholm advised dressing the wounds made in
cutting the nuts. Commenting on this, Mr. W. Greig
of the Cedros estate says:

All practical planters, I am sure, will realize the impossibility
of having this done thoroughly, and unless it is done thoroughly,
it is worse than useless, so I suggest that picking be stopped
on estates suffering from this disease, and that the palms be
allowed to drop their nuts. This would necessitate a little
more expense in keeping undergrowth down, and in collecting
nuts, but the nuts would be of better quality than picked nuts.

Where the nuts are used for copra-manufacture or,
as is general practice in Trinidad, for oil-making on the
plantation, the product is likely to show a very prompt
increase in value, as a result of leaving the nuts to fall
off themselves.

The full account which has just been given of
observations and conclusions of different men at
different places in the West Indies is justified by the
tremendous importance of the subject, and by the
discrepancies between the different accounts. While
all of these reports have been made within the last
seven years the most comprehensive treatment by
Johnston is later than any of those already quoted, and
a brief but pithy statement by Rorer has been published
since the appearance of Johnston’s work. Johnston’s
most signal contribution to the understanding of the
subject is the absolute demonstration that bud rot can
be produced by Bacillus colt. This has been established

II DISEASES AND PESTS 61

by isolation and identification of the germ from
diseased trees, and by the imoculation of previously
healthy trees with pure cultures of this bacterium, even
by cultures of animal origin, and the consequent
production of the disease. A few of Johnston’s ex-
periments seem to indicate that other similar bacteria
may also produce bud rot; but it is certain that in
the great majority of cases this organism is present
and pathogenic. This fact is completely confirmed by
Rorer, who has found, moreover, that, whether or not
infection is sometimes or usually at points already
injured mechanically or by fungi, a culture of Bacillus
colt poured into the crown of an apparently perfectly
sound tree is able to produce the disease.

Neither Johnston nor Rorer believes that Diplodia
has anything to do with the bud rot. In this con-
nection Rorer says :

Although Stockdale has attributed the root disease to a
species of Diplodia, there is no ground for this assumption. In
fact, work which has been carried on here for the past two years
points to the conclusion that physiological conditions, rather
than any specific organic parasite, are responsible for the trouble.

I take the liberty of saying that Bancroft, whose
especially thorough study of Dzplodia in the Federated
Malay States has already been mentioned, expresses the
decided opinion that this fungus is not an active parasite,
and is accordingly very unlikely to be a precursor of
bud rot. ;

In spite of the joint judgment of these latest writers,
I have thought it worth while to give the conclusions
of Fredholm and Stockdale with considerable fulness,
not merely for the sake of completeness, but also because
their work in itself seems at a distance to be entitled
to some respect. It is difficult to believe, even from
Johnston’s own account of the various ways in which
the symptoms of bud rot develop, that a single organism
is always entirely responsible. When the first symptom
is the fall of the older leaves, one who holds to the

62 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

opinion that the disease is always purely bacterial must
suppose that the bacteria either attack the old leaves
directly or that the progress of the disease toward the
heart of the tree is very slow in such cases, and that
recovery in such cases is not rare.

With regard to treatment, Johnston has made a care-
ful test of some of the remedial measures repeatedly
suggested in the West Indies. In his experience none
of these offers any promise. With regard to chemi-
cal treatment, Johnston reports experiments with salt,
copper sulphate, and Paris green, without good results
in any case. His report on tree No. 286, page 57
of his work, is typical.

March 11: Nine spikes of nuts and good open flower spike.

May 28: Same.

June 6: Practically the same.

June 29: Appeared unhealthy.

July 6: Had dropped 15 immature nuts; 5 spikes of few
nuts; and above were 5 or 6 spikes of no nuts; 3 good
swords and good middle leaves. Placed 1 kilogram of
copper - sulphate crystals at the bases of the leaves.
Rains were so frequent that the crystals were soon
dissolved.

July 21: Showed one open discoloured flower spike.

August 6: Only 2 nuts and many empty spikes on tree; a
dead flower spike, opened some time ago, and one just
opening.

October 21: Central leaves bent over dry and dead; swords
dead ; many empty spikes; all leaves yellow.

Johnston did not try flaming the trees because
satisfied in advance it would be useless.

It has been contended by some people applying this treat-
ment to their trees that there was subsequent recovery from
the disease, at least to the extent of flower spikes opening out
and setting nuts. It should be noted, however, that the tree,
while retaining the disease, may send forth new flower-spikes
and nuts for a period of at least a year after infection has
taken place without any treatment having been applied.
The writer possesses records of individual trees which show
this. In many trees flamed the disease progressed subsequently,
so that it presented to the writer no evidence of the value of

II DISEASES AND PESTS 63

this treatment. As a diseased tree is certain to die if not
treated, there can be no error in flaming it; but to try this
method with healthy trees in the expectation of warding off
infection is not advisable, because (1) there is no evidence that
the treatment would succeed, and (2) there is the certainty
that the tree would be seriously injured in a way that would
make it more susceptible to infection.

My own experience with fire in healthy tree makes
me very sceptical as to the advisability of attempting
to save trees by this method, especially in any place
infested by Rhynchophorus. ‘The most favourable of all
the reports on the result of flaming, showing a possible
saving of 31 out of 144 trees, has already been noted.
The red beetle is not, indeed, as dangerous a pest as the
bud rot; but the difference is not great enough to
make it worth while to apparently save less than one-
quarter of the trees from the one pest at the cost of
making them subject to the other.

Altogether there are two conclusions which can
certainly be drawn at this time with confidence that
they will permanently hold good :

First: The best way of fighting these diseases is
by destroying the sources of infection.

Second: Attempts to save infected trees are at
best a waste of time and effort. Even if some trees are
saved, it is at a cost for the whole work of more than
those saved are worth. When unsuccessful these
attempts lose time and preserve sources of infection.
If I had stopped to test the efficiency of remedial
measures, as I was urged to do by some of the coco-nut
planters of La Laguna, I would not merely have delayed
checking the bud rot, but at the same time would in-
evitably have lost the confidence of the people to an
extent which would have made such success as was
achieved impossible.

INSECT ENEMIES

Oryctes rhinoceros.—This is one of the two
decidedly most important insect enemies of the coco-

64 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

nut. It is most commonly known to the English
planters in the Orient as the black beetle.

The hinoceros Beetle-—In the French colonies
it is usually called ‘“‘ Rhinoceros,’ and this name is
also used in English and German (Nashornkdfer). Of
these,/fhe Tagalog name “Uang” and the Cingalese
name “‘ Kurunimiya” have been taken up in literature.
This species, Oryctes rhinoceros, ranges from India at
least to the Dutch Hast Indies and the Philippines.
It is not yet known in Polynesia: O. rhinoceros is
unknown in Africa and Madagascar, but is represented
by a number of related species having the same habits.
Prudhomme names O. anglias, O. colonicus, Cog.,
O. nsularis, Cog., O. pyrrhus, Burm., O. ranavalo, Coq.,
and O. sinnar, Coq., as found in Madagascar. Vosseler
has made a study of O. boas, F., and O. monoceros,
Ol., in German Hast Africa; and Morstatt reports and
figures the remarkably large O. cristatus, Snell, from
the same region. O. preussi is reported from New
Guinea.

It has no immediate relative dangerous to the
coco-nut in the American tropics, although an American
species of Oryctes does prey on another palm.

O. rhinoceros attacks several other palms as well
as the coco-nut; among them are Elaezs (oil palm),
Borassus (Palmyra palm), Roystonia (royal palm),
Nipa, Corypha, and perhaps Areca (betel palm).

The adult rhimoceros varies from 34 to as much
as 60 mm. in length according to sex and the condition
under which the larva grew; as a rule the males are
between 40 and 50 mm. long, and the females less
than 40 mm. Both are very dark and shiny brown
or practically black above, and lighter brown beneath.
The head is small for so large an insect, but conspicuous,
at least in the male, because of the horn. In large
males this is often a centimetre or more in length. In
females it is smaller, and sometimes hardly evident.
The mandibles are stout and strongly toothed, and, as
pointed out by Banks, used by the insect in making

THE BLACK OR RHINOCEROS BEETLE, ORYCTES RHINOCEROS
ADULTS AND PUPA.

Photograph by Bureau of Science, Manila.

To face page 64.

a DISEASES AND PESTS 65

his hole in the tree. The thorax has a large concave
area in the front, and back of this a point which is
sometimes quite prominent in males. ‘The hard wings
are finely striate lengthwise, and do not quite cover
the abdomen. The legs are hairy.

The egg of Oryctes is not positively known except
from specimens dissected from the females. These
specimens are 3'°5 mm. long, and 2 mm. in diameter,
being a perfect ellipse in outline. The total number
of eggs deposited by one female is probably not more
than two dozen.

Beginning at the size » of the ego, the larva grows
until it sometimes reaches a length of considerably
more than 1 decimetre and a diameter of usually not
more than 1 centimetre. The head of the larva is
black, and the body, which is made of thirteen more or
less indistinct segments, varies in colour from dull
white to brownish yellow. ‘There are no eyes. The
front three segments of the body are provided with
legs. The entire body is wrinkled, soft and fleshy,
smooth in spots, and in spots bearing fine spines. It
is ordinarily found bent downward in the same general
form as the grub of Rhynchophorus. But, unlike the
larva of Rhynchophorus, it 1s not greatly thickened
posteriorly. There is no satisfactory and definite in-
formation as to the length of life of a larva. According
to various authorities, it is usually from eighteen to
twenty-four months. Vosseler fixes the life of the
larva of the species he studied.at least one year.

There is likewise no general agreement as to whether
or not this larva is injurious to the coco-nut tree. It
lives without question in the decaying wood of the
coco-nut; and as young larvae are frequently found
in decaying parts of the standing trunks, there is no
reasonable doubt that the eggs are laid in these places.
I have never seen the larva of the black beetle in any
part of a coco-nut trunk which was not considerably
decayed, and am therefore inclined to believe that
these larvae do not channel the way through the

F

66 THE COCO-NUT ‘omnes

fresh cabbage of the tree. If it is true that they
live only in more or less decayed wood, then the
larva itself is not to be regarded as directly injurious
to the coco-nut, but merely as a thing which should
be got rid of because of the damage which it might do
in the future in another form or in other generations.
The grubs are found in a great variety of decaying
substances beside the decaying coco-nut wood or refuse.
Favourite places of these grubs are decaying manure
and decaying sugar waste, but wherever there is any
considerable mass of decaying vegetable material there
are likely to be a large number of Oryctes larvae
growing in it. It is a common thing to find scores
of these larvae in a small pile of rotting manure; and
the manure dump from a large stable is sometimes
found fairly filled with these larvae in all sizes. The
following quotation from the Tropical Agriculturist,
22 (1902), 258, shows how readily the black beetle
will breed in any kind of waste matter :

Mr. E. V. Carey writes from Klang to the Malay
Mail as follows :

As instancing the danger of having any sort of rubbish
lying about an estate, or in private compounds, the following
little anecdote may be of interest. Some four months ago
I had to discard a number of old sacks; these were thrown
in a heap on the ground, covering a space just six feet square,
and left there. Last week I had happened to notice them, and
stood by whilst they were being removed. From this one
little heap no less than 201 larvae of the rhinoceros beetle
were collected. . . . Moral: Let every one keep his grounds -
scrupulously clean, and have even the insignificant and
harmless-looking collections of rubbish promptly burned.

The cocoons are found in any places where the
larva can live. In going from the larval to the pupal
stage, the insect shrinks greatly in size so that the
length of the entire cocoon is likely to be rather less
than that of the larva, the pupa itself being not more
than half as long as the larva was. The cocoon is
made of different substances. The cocoons whose larvae

Ul DISEASES AND PESTS 67

lived in the coco-nut are made of coco-nut fibres, which
are usually transversely and quite compactly matted
altogether.

As already noted, the adult of Oryctes is provided
with jaws by means of which it can cut its way through
hard wood. Its practice, however, is to go through as
little hard wood as possible. We are not concerned
here with the method of its entrance into other breeding
or feeding places. In entering a coco-nut tree, the
rhinoceros lands in the crown and then walks downward
until he is out of sight between the leaf sheaths, or
often not so far but that the place is visible when it
turns and begins to eat its way inward into the tree.
As a rule, it eats fairly directly inward. The only
certain object of the rhinoceros in visiting coco-nuts |
is to obtain food. It does not seem, however, that
it eats any of the pieces which it chisels or tears from
the tree. It squeezes these pieces and consumes the
juice which is squeezed from them. The rate at which
the beetle can tear its way through such tissues as
those of the base of a mature petiole has been measured
by Banks and by the students of the Philippine College
of Agriculture, and in both cases found to be 1 milli-
metre a minute.

So large a beetle, of course, makes a very large hole.
This would itself be conspicuous enough unless covered
by leaf bases outside the point where the hole begins,
but is made still more so by a plug or wad of torn-
up fibres which the beetle pushes out behind itself as
it digs deeper into the tree. If a fair watch be kept
over a coco-nut grove, as is done wherever a number
of men are steadily employed to kill the beetles, these
wads will be readily seen while fresh, and it is then
easy to remove them and to remove or kill the beetle
by means of a sharp piece of iron, or even of bamboo.
In some places the practice is merely to kill the insect.
by punching a hole through it; in others, a spiral wire,
like a flexible cork-screw, is used, by means of which
the beetle is removed and killed. The catching and

68 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

killing of these insects has been done with especial
care in the British colonies of the Straits Settlements
and Federated Malay States, and Ceylon; but in a
smaller way it has been practised in many other
countries where these beetles occur.

Experience as to the effectiveness of this warfare
has not been uniform. In Ceylon it has not been found
that, as beetles are caught year after year, there is any
decrease in the number of black beetles which can still
be caught. On the other hand, there has been a very
great decrease in the number which can be caught in
the Malay States and Straits Settlements. The reason
for this is without doubt to be found in the warfare of
an altogether different kind which has been waged in
the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States at
the same time at which the beetles were being collected
and killed individually.

This latter warfare is against the larvae of the beetle
and consists of the destruction of their breeding-places.
The first systematic piece of work in coco-nut sanitation
on the part of any Government was the Coco-nut Trees
Preservation Ordinance of the Government of the Straits
Settlements, passed in 1890. This was amended in
1895, and has since that time been in force.

The terms of this ordinance as amended are as
follows :

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS
ORDINANCE No. LV. oF 1890.

AN ORDINANCE FOR THE PROTECTION OF CoOCcO-NUT TREES
FROM THE RAVAGES OF CERTAIN BEETLES. ©

6th March 1890.
L. S. Ceci. C. SMITH,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief.

WHEREAS it is expedient to make provisions for the pro-
tection of coco-nut trees from the ravages of certain beetles:

It is hereby enacted by the Governor of the Straits
Settlements with the advice and consent of the Legislative
Council thereof as follows:

III DISEASES AND PESTS 69

1. This Ordinance may be cited as “The Coco-nut Trees
Preservation Ordinance 1890.”

2. It shall be the duty of the owner or person in charge of
every coco-nut tree which is dead or is attacked by the beetle
secondly described in the schedule forthwith to uproot such
tree and either to consume it with fire or to bury it in the
ground at a depth of not less than three feet, or to keep it
completely submerged in water so that the beetle and all eggs
and larvae thereof may be totally destroyed and that the tree
may not serve as a breeding-place for any or either of the
beetles in the schedule mentioned.

3. If any person without reasonable excuse (the burden of
proof whereof shall lie on the accused) neglects or refuses to
perform the duty imposed upon him by the last preceding
section, he shall be lable to a fine not exceeding five dollars for
every tree in respect of which such neglect or refusal occurs,
and the Director of Gardens and Forests, or the District
Officer, or such other Officer as the Governor may appoint in
that behalf, may cause to be performed the duty so neglected
-or refused to be performed, and may recover the cost of such
performance from the defaulter in the Court of Requests.

4. (1) If any person keeps on his premises dead coco-nut
trees or stumps of coco-nut timber, rubbish heaps or other
accumulations of dung, vegetable refuse or other matter which
would be likely to harbour or become breeding-places for the
said beetles, and neglects or refuses to remove or destroy the
Same when required so to do by a notice in writing from
any of the persons mentioned in the next following sub-section,
he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty-five dollars.

(2) A notice in writing under the last preceding sub-section
may be given by any of the following persons, namely :

(a) The Director of Gardens and Forests.

(b) Any District Officer.

(c) Any Officer whom the Governor may appoint in that
behalf.

(d@) Any owner or occupier of land planted with coco-nut
trees and situated within one mile of the premises on which
such dead coco-nut trees, or stumps, or coco-nut timber, or other
accumulations of dung, vegetable refuse, or other matter are kept.

(3) Upon the conviction of any person under this section
the Magistrate may make an order authorizing :

(a) The Director of Gardens and Forests,

(6b) Any District Officer,

(c) Any Officer appointed to give notice under sub-section
(2) hereof,

70 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

(d) Any Police Officer,
to cause such trees, stumps, timber, rubbish heaps, or other
accumulations to be removed and destroyed, and any person
so authorized may do all acts necessary for the execution of
such order and may recover the costs of such removal and
destruction from the defaulter in the Court of Requests.

5. All Officers of the Government Gardens and Forest
Department, and the District Officer and his assistants, and
any such other Officer as aforesaid, shall have access at all
reasonable times into and upon any land whereon any coco-nut
tree is growing for the purpose of inspecting such tree, and also
into and upon any land or premises where there is reason
to suppose that there are kept any such things as in the last
preceding section are referred to.

6. The Governor may from time to time, out of moneys to
be voted by the Legislative Council, make such compensation
as he may think fit to any owner of any coco-nut tree who,
being in needy circumstances, is required to destroy such tree:
provided always that the compensation shall not exceed five
dollars for each tree, and that the compensation given in one.
year to any one person shall not amount to more than one
hundred dollars.

7. A person charged with an offence against this Ordinance
may, if he thinks fit, tender himself to be examined on his own
behalf and thereupon may give evidence in the same manner
and with the like effect and consequences as any other witness.

Passed this 6th day of March 1890.

A. P. TAERGr
Clerk of Counetls.

In the Federated Malay States the campaign against
beetles is carried on under “‘ An enactment for the pro-
tection of coco-nut trees from the ravages of certain
beetles” (Enactment IV. of 1898). This is patterned
after the enactment of the Straits Settlements, from the
amended form of which it differs most essentially in
giving no authority to the owners of coco-nut planta-
tions, but in centering the entire responsibility upon
the employees of the Government. For this work the
Government of the Federated Malay States employs an
Inspector, two European Assistant Inspectors, and six-
teen Sub-Inspectors, who are mostly Malays. The best
endorsement of Acts of this kind is the results which are

III DISEASES AND PESTS ak

obtained in their operation. The results have been so
conspicuously good that these Acts should stand with
the Laguna bud-rot resolution in a class by themselves,
as legitimate models.

The methods to be followed then in getting rid of
black beetles are:

First.—To get rid of every possible breeding-place
for the larvae. This must be done for considerable
districts in order to be effective. Any single planter
who takes the proper care will naturally fail to obtain
the proper immunity for his coco-nuts if the plantations
of his neighbours are not kept in equally good condition.

The campaign against the black beetles should be
carried out in the way which has already been described
in the case of the bud-rot. The individual owners of
coco-nut trees and plantations, and other occupants of
lands in the neighbourhood of coco-nuts, must be made
individually to understand the evils of permitting any
breeding-place for the black beetles to exist on their
premises. Laws or ordinances, varying more or less in
their application as the circumstances may demand, must
be passed and must be enforced. The thoroughness of
practical enforcement will depend on the thoroughness
with which the campaign of education has been carried
out. It must be kept constantly in mind that there are
many other substances in which these beetles breed just
as rapidly as they do in the decaying wood or rubbish
of the coco-nut, and that these other substances—
manure, cane waste, or of whatever nature—must be
got rid of just as carefully as the wood of the coco-
nut itself. It should also be understood that Oryctes,
at least at times, breeds in the ground, where it is
in general beyond the reach of effective attack. The
destruction of visible or accessible breeding- places,
however it may abate the nuisance, can therefore not
be expected to get rid of the pest completely.

Second.—When all of the measures provided for in
the preceding paragraph have been vigorously executed,
then, and then only, it is worth while to undertake a

72 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

campaign against the individual beetles im the coco-nut
trees. The most effective way of fighting these which
is known at this time is by killmg them with a sharp
iron or stick in the holes in the tree, or pulling them
out of the holes and then killing them. After this is
done, it is a good practice to plug the hole with a piece
of clay, or in any other handy way, in order to prevent
other beetles from entering easily in thesame place. In
some places the beetles are said to be driven out by
merely pouring water into the holes.

Third.—\t has been observed that trees which are
tapped for the production of toddy are rarely, if ever,
attacked by the black beetles. These beetles are
frequently found drowned in the vessels which are
used to catch the sap, and it may be that the freedom
of the trees from attack is entirely due to the greater
attraction for the beetles which is exercised by the sap
as it begins to ferment. In groves which are rather
severely infested by beetles it is a good practice to use
a considerable part of the trees for a few months for the
production of toddy in order to get rid of the beetles,
even though the toddy is hardly profitable in itself.
In neighbourhoods where the beetles are constantly
numerous, and where it is impracticable to get rid of
the outside sources of infection, it will be found good
policy to tap occasional trees, even as many as one tree
in every four, for the sake of the protection of the
tapped trees and their neighbours. Where there is a
demand for the toddy, it is not an unusual condition
that the trees which are tapped yield higher returns
than those which are used for the production of copra.
This method of fighting beetles therefore has a great
advantage over all others in that the campaign can
itself be made a source of profit instead of expense.

There are other ways of less importance which have
been advocated for the suppression of these beetles.
Considerable work has been done at the Philippine
College of Agriculture in an attempt to poison the
beetles without poisoning the trees. It has been found

I DISEASES AND PESTS 73

that with sufficient care this can be done by means of
carbon bisulphide or hydrocyanic acid. Hxcept in the
most expert hands, however, neither of these can be
used without some danger to the tree, and both are
dangerous in the hands of careless persons. Neither
can be advised for general plantation use. The use of
salt, and of sand and ashes, or best of all of very finely
ground glass, any of them sifted among the leaf-bases
of the crown of the tree, has been recommended as a
means of keeping the beetles from going into individual
trees. The immunity which can be provided in this
way probably rests upon the irritation of the beetle by
particles which get between the segments of its body
and cut into him; but this immunity is at best only
partial, Hither poison or this method may sometimes
be used to good purpose in protecting individual trees
which are especially valuable, as, for instance, where
they are used for decorations on lawns; but on a
plantation scale it has not been shown that the use
of the ashes or other fine particles produces a sufficient
freedom from attack to make it worth practising.

Since the completion of this manuscript, three papers
have arrived, dealing with the presence of Oryctes
rhinoceros in Samoa. The most comprehensive of
these, being in the nature of a review, is in the Gardens’
Bulletin of the Botanic Gardens at Singapore for
December 1913. A very full account of the work is
also given by Friederichs in Der Tropenpflanzer, 17
(1913), 538. The beetle is supposed to have reached
Samoa in 1910, or possibly in 1909, ina shipment of
rubber stumps from Ceylon. It was first noticed,
November 4, 1910, in coco-nuts near the Customs
House at Apia. |

Quoting from the Singapore publication, by Burkill:

On the 8th of November 1910, the Government of Samoa
issued a proclamation in vernacular to the effect that the beetles
and their grubs should be collected, and promising a reward of

74 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

one mark (36 cents) for every twenty beetles and the same for
every fifty grubs. Seventeen days later a law was promulgated
stopping coco-nut planting, ordering the cleaning up of all
existing plantations, forbidding the using of coco-nut trunks
for bridges and pig-styes, and arranging for inspections. About
£2000 was the cost of this method of dealing with the pest up
to the end of January 1912, and yet no satisfactory impression
had been made on its numbers. Therefore on the Ist of
February 1912, it was made compulsory to search for and
destroy the insect. Following this there was issued on April
19th, 1912, a decree calling into being a commission with
powers to inspect and compel owners of coco-nuts to keep their
estates clean, and to remove structures made of coco-nut
trunks, or standing dead trees, at the owner’s expense. Then
on the 10th of May 1912 appeared an order requiring all able-
bodied persons in the affected districts to turn out at six o'clock
on every Wednesday to search for beetles and grubs, which
were to be brought to the village headmen, counted and
destroyed by fire or hot water. Into this great holocaust
passed the grubs of beetles which happen to be similar to those
of Oryctes. Friederichs names them specifically; but their
number is a matter for estimation. From the 1st of April
1912 to the 31st of March 1913, roughly, ten million grubs
and a quarter of a million beetles were collected and killed on
the island of Upolu; allowing for the grubs of the similar
beetles, Friederichs puts down the Oryctes larvae destroyed as
six million and the beetles as two hundred thousand—a nice
little family originating in a few grubs imported in 1910 or
possibly 1909.

To this figure has yet to be added the number of the grubs
and beetles collected on the European Plantations. On the
estate of the Deutsche Handels- und Plantagen-Gesellschaft
der Sudsee-Inseln zu Hamburg over the same period were
collected and destroyed about 350,000 grubs and 23,200 beetles.
Further, the number of insects trapped by the Commission over
the same period was 180,000 eggs, 776,000 grubs, 220 poe,
and 11,300 beetles.

A plant pathologist was secured from Germany,
particularly to fight this beetle, and a considerable force
has been employed in the campaign, both by the
Government and the leading plantation company.
Almost every method has been employed, and these
are fully described and discussed in Friederichs’ paper.

ut DISEASES AND PESTS 75

The method which has given most satisfaction is
trapping the insect in holes.

For the making of a trap a hole is dug in the ground
from nine to twelve feet square, and about two and a half feet
deep. Rotten coco-nut stumps, plantain stems, and soil are
put into it; and over the top large leaves, such as coco-nut
leaves, bread-fruit leaves, and plantain leaves, are placed, rising
perhaps a foot above the surface of the soil. Into these pits
the female beetles penetrate to lay eggs and the male beetles to
find the females. What beyond digging the traps is necessary
is that they should be opened at regular and at not too distant
periods, or that the beetles in them may be in some way killed.

At distances of about one hundred yards along some of the
roads in Samoa these traps have been made in series, and on the
plantation of the Deutsche Handels- und Plantagen-Gesellschaft
there is one trap to every hundred standing trees.

On the latter estate the traps are opened every six weeks
or two months.

Burkill’s paper contains a considerable amount of
information on this beetle in other countries, including
a review of a careful study at Pusa in India. He
believes that under favourable conditions six to seven
months are enough for the insect to pass from the egg
to maturity, and with this opinion I am in complete
agreement. The paper closes with an account of
Rhynchophorus, which is short and altogether to the
point.

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus.—This pest is most
commonly known as the red beetle, the name used by
the planters of Ceylon and British Malaya. Banks
calls it the Asiatic Palm Weevil. Its native name in
Ceylon is “‘Kandapanuwa.” In Annam it is called
“Con-Duon.” The Tagalog of Luzon do not distinguish it
from ‘“‘ Uang,” which is usually Oryctes. Some Visayans
of Samar call it ‘“ Dalipos,” and those of Negros,
‘“Bagangan,’ but these names are also applied to
Oryctes. It is the most deadly insect of the coco-nut,
but, since it cannot attack sound trees, not the hardest
to combat. Its known range is from India to the

76 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Philippines,’ and it is almost certain that it reaches to
New Guinea. Beside the coco-nut, it attacks some
other palms, but no plants of other kinds.

Other species of Rhynchophorus having the same
habits are f. phoenccis in Africa, and R. palmarum in
the West Indies and on the American continent. And
there are other species with f. ferrugineus in the Far
Kast. What is said here about its treatment applies
equally to its immediate relatives. R. palmarum lives
also on sugar-cane.

The red beetle belongs to a group of insects, the
weevils, practically all of which are destructive to
vegetable substances, and among which it is remarkable
for its great size. The adult varies from less than
3 to more than 5 centimetres in length. Like
other weevils, it has a boat-shaped body narrowing to
both ends, and a long, slender snout, the end of which
curves downward. The female is said to use the snout
to punch holes in the tree, and to lay her eggs in these
holes. The short antennae are attached to the snout
near its base. The head is very small compared to the
thorax. The whole insect is very variable in colour;
from reddish-brown to almost black. The thorax often
has large dark spots on a lighter background. The
median dorsal band is usually darker or lighter than
the rest of the body. ‘The elytra, or hard wings, are
ribbed lengthwise, and at least their borders are usually
nearly black. The egg, as described by Banks, is
2°4 millimetres long, and 0°6 millimetre wide at the
middle, slightly more pointed at one end than at the
other, and a very light ochre in colour. To the naked
eye its shell is smooth and shining, but under the
microscope it is finely reticulate. The eggs are
deposited in the soft wood.

The destructive stage in the life-history of the red
beetle is the larva. Beginning at the size of the egg,
this grub grows until it becomes considerably longer
than the adult, with a thickness of two-fifths or one-

1 T follow Banks.in calling the Philippine insect &. ferrugineus.

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THE RED BEETLE, RHYNCHOPHORUS FERRUGINEUS, ADULTS
AND LARVA.

Photograph by Bureau of Science, Manila.

To face page 76.

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111 DISEASES AND PESTS 17

half of its length. It eats a channel through the soft
wood or the heart of the tree, the channel necessarily
widening as the larva grows. ‘The larva begins its life
inside the tree, and normally never comes to the surface.
Therefore, neither it nor its work is directly to be seen.
It can sometimes be heard if the ear is held closely
against the outside of an infested trunk. As a rule, the
first indication of its presence is the appearance of
mutilated leaves or the collapse of young leaves. A
tree badly infested by these larvae may be expected to
be killed, promptly or slowly, by the destruction of its
heart. Young leaves may simply cease to appear, or
may be killed one at a time after they appear, or the
younger part of the crown may be undermined so that
it falls out.

The head of the larva is brown, rather large, and
without eyes. Its body is white, and is thickest behind
the middle. It has thirteen seoments. The surface is
velvety in appearance, and much wrinkled. Scattered
all over the body are shiny spots, each of which bears
one bristle, excepting the spots on the next to the last
segment, which bear six bristles each, and four pro-
tuberances, each with two longer bristles, on the last
seoment. The larva is without real legs. As usually
found, it is curved strongly downward.

The cocoons of Rhynchophorus are made of coarse
coco-nut wood fibres, closely woven together. They
are elliptical in outline, 5 to 12 centimetres long,
and more than half as much in diameter. They are
numerous in badly infected trees, sometimes being
found in the thick bases of the petioles, whence the
adult will be able to escape directly into the air. They
have always been described as formed close to the
surface, but in decaying crowns are produced at the
last points reached by the larvae, where the tissues are
just softened, at whatever depth from the surface of
the trunk, Within the cocoon is the pupa, showing all
the parts of the adult.

There is a wide difference of opinion as to the time

78 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

required for the life-cycle of Rhynchophorus. Mr. E. E.
Green, Government Entomologist of Ceylon, says:
‘“‘T have found nearly fully grown larvae of the beetle
in trees under conditions that indicate that they must
have developed within a period of six weeks. It seems
possible that the insect may reach maturity in from
eight to ten weeks’ time.’ Banks estimates the necessary
time at eighteen to twenty-four months. I have found
numerous cocoons containing larvae, apparently mature,
in trees which had been cleaned perfectly and used for
bait ten weeks before. Vosseler puts the duration of
the life-cycle of Rhynchophorus phoencis, F., at one
year ; the pupa rests six to eight weeks.

The adult does not fly during the day, and apparently
travels, as a rule, but a short distance. All vulnerable
trees immediately around a badly infested one are almost
sure to be attacked, while those even 50 metres away
are comparatively safe. It is moderately attracted to
light, but not so strongly that any great numbers
can be destroyed by bonfires. It needs no food, and
enters a tree only to find a place to lay eggs, or a place
of refuge.

The methods to be employed in fighting Rhyncho-
phorus follow obviously from the fact that it cannot
lay its eggs in sound trees, but only in those where the
softer tissues have already been exposed in some way.
Coco-nuts usually become susceptible to its attacks in
one of the following ways:

1. By mechanical injury done by men.
2. By previous attack by other insects.
3. By injury by violent storms.

4. By being burned.

1. Mechanical injury is done to trees, by those who
think they are taking care of them, in several ways, as
by cutting notches in the trunk, in cutting down the
nuts, and by unduly clearing the crowns. While the
general view in English colonies has been that these
beetles attack the top of the tree directly, Banks thinks
it no less normal for them to enter through lesions in

111 DISEASES AND PESTS 79

the base of the tree, or where steps have been cut in
the trunk. ‘The latter cases are comparatively rare but
certainly happen. If steps are cut deep enough to
expose any soft wood, they furnish a possible place for
the beetles to lay their eggs; therefore they should
be cut as shallowly as will serve the purpose, and
should not be made within 15 metres of the
height at which the nuts are borne. The first few
crops of nuts from a tree should be harvested without
cutting any steps, whatever may be done later. Nuts
intended for the manufacture of copra or oil would
better always be left on the tree until they fall of their
own accord.

The red beetle rarely or never enters a tree through
the wounds normally made in cutting down nuts, even
if they are cut young for immediate local use. But
the careless use of a knife in gathering nuts sometimes
results in making wounds in which the eggs can well
be laid.

It was formerly generally believed that the careful
removal of all dead matter from the crown, and of all
hanging leaves, was an important part of good sanita-
tion. Experience has amply shown that such treatment,
except in exceptional cases, is a costly blunder. The
fibrous leaf-bases, which at first are complete sheaths,
are the natural protection of the young, still soft wood,
and at first of all the underlying structures which have
not yet become woody. Nature is not wasteful. If
the fibrous stuff is cut away before it would naturally
fall, the tree is deprived of a protection which it needs,
and the advantage is given to the beetles.

Two illustrations of the effect of too much injudicious
care have appeared in Ferguson’s Coco-nut Planter’s
Manual; they are copied here from p. 38 of the fourth
edition :

On one property the trimming system had been carried on
for years, till, indeed, more than one-third of the original

plants perished, before the estate was ten years old, and they
were going at the rate of three trees weekly. The work of

80 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

trimming was stopped for the reasons offered above; the loss
of trees continued for some time afterwards, but at the end of
six months it had entirely ceased. On another property,
beetle-men had been employed for ten years, and trees were
being constantly lost; from the day that the “beetlers ” were
discontinued two trees perished within the month, and not
another was lost in the subsequent seven years.

2. In spite of Vosseler’s doubt,’ the general feeling
must be taken as correct, that the red beetle commonly
makes use of the holes made by the rhinoceros beetle,
in securing a proper place to lay eggs. Where both
kinds of beetles occur, the adults of both can often be
found in the same holes. Even if the red beetles enter
these holes for the sake of shelter, it is hard to imagine
that, finding themselves in a suitable place for laying
egos, they refuse #o deposit them. I have seen groves
in which both beetles were too common, but in which
practically no trees not attacked by the rhinoceros
beetle contained any adults or larvae of the red one.
As the rhinoceros beetle can enter a sound tree, but the
red one cannot, the conclusion forces itself that injury
by the former is a necessary condition for any attack
by the latter. Ovyctes, the rhinoceros beetle, is not
itself as dangerous or destructive a pest as is Rhyncho-
phorus; but, where both are present, the campaign
should be directed first against the former. While it
remains common, the Rhynchophorus will be beyond
our reach, and when it has been disposed of, if other
conditions are as they should be, Rhynchophorus will
disappear.

Small insects, making holes too fine to permit the
entrance of the red beetle, might still furnish places for
the latter to lay their eggs; but I have not known of a
case in which this happened.

8. Storms do not, in themselves, do as much injury
to coco-nuts as is often supposed; in fact, it would be
very difficult to find another crop as little liable to
damage by them. But by breaking the petioles, tearing

1 Der Pflanzer, 3 (1907), 304.

II DISEASES AND PESTS 81

the fibrous bases, and sometimes causing splits in the
trunks, very severe storms make it possible for the red
beetles to lay their egos in many trees, and so to
multiply rapidly. This is obvious, and the fact and its
consequences may not rarely be observed.

Mr. EH. H. Green reports a remarkable increase in the
number of red beetles after a cyclone which visited the
Batticaloa district of Ceylon in March 1907. The
beetles had been systematically collected since 1903,
the number decreasing steadily ; the records for various
plantations being complete by months. In one case,
where 199 had been caught in May and June of 1906,
1906 were captured in the same months of 1907. In
another instance the increase in the same months was
from 128 in 1906 to 3889 in 1907. This increase was
almost entirely in the number extracted from the stand-
ing trees, taking no account of those blown down, in
which also the beetles can of course multiply.

The only way in which this kind of damage can be
prevented is by having no beetles at hand to take
advantage of storms.

4, Burning away the fibrous leaf-bases must be
expected to result in the same way as their removal by
any other means. In Cuba one of the methods of
combating bud rot is by scorching the crown by burn-
ing the light and inflammable stuff. Since Rhyncho-
phorus palmarum is the chief insect enemy of the tree
in that region, such treatment appears decidedly risky.
In the Old World I have never heard of such treatment
as intentional. If young plantations are uncultivated,
they will go into grass for a time, the grass ultimately
being supplanted by brush. As long as they are in
grass fire is likely to go through them on any dry day.
In the land bought by the Philippine College of Agri-
culture was a small grove which was partly run
through by fire in March 1909. The work of red
beetles was evident within three months, and in eight
months every tree reached by the fire was apparently
moribund. Outside of the burnt area there was no

G

82 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

sign of red beetles except in occasional trees where
Oryctes furnished a place to enter.

Young trees are most liable to damage by fire, both
because a grass fire will not reach the inflammable
sheaths of tall trees, and because old groves are not
likely to be in dry grass.

The most of the means to be employed in prevent-
ing damage by Rhynchophorus have already been made
clear. If the eggs are laid in a tree, the metamorphosis
may be complete by the time the presence of the insect
becomes evident ; and even if the larva chances to gnaw
leaves about to grow into sight, and so betrays itself
early, it is often impossible to extract it without
practically destroying the tree. Every effort must
therefore be made to prevent the laying of the eggs,
and the measures by which this is to be done follow
from a knowledge of the ways in which the tree becomes
susceptible.

Trees attacked by Rhynchophorus may die as a
direct and immediate result if the larvae happen to
destroy the growing point. ‘This does not usually
occur, the larvae more often missing the embryonic tip,
and the tree escaping from the first attack with less
than fatal injury. Such trees are unquestionably left
more subject to subsequent attacks. They are also
obviously rendered less productive; for nuts are made
by the use of food manufactured in the leaves, and
when the leaf-surface is reduced the number of nuts is
necessarily diminished. So the planter who waits to see
if trees will recover from an attack by the red beetle can
expect them at best to be for some time weakened, and
liable to renewed attack.

Worse than this, from such trees a crop of beetles
escapes to seek a chance to attack other trees. The
attempt to save one tree may thus result in the loss of
many. It is better policy to destroy a tree as soon as
it is known to be infested by the red beetle, without
even waiting for the maturing of nuts already so
old that they would surely ripen if given a chance.

ur DISEASES AND PESTS 83

If this practice is strictly followed, and a good
watch is kept for signs of the beetle, there is a good
chance that they can be exterminated in any locality,
and this is more than can reasonably be hoped for in
the case of most pests. British planters in Ceylon are
so convinced of the soundness and necessity of this
policy that, besides destroying their own infested trees,
the more enterprising also destroy any others in the
neighbourhood, if necessary paying damages for them.

As to methods of destruction of trees, my own con-
fidence is all in the prompt and thorough use of fire.
Burying, and submerging in water, are sometimes
proposed as alternatives to burning. Burning is not
easy, and unless there is more rubbish than ought to
be at hand, and unless the time is very dry, it usually
requires the use of kerosene. All the soft parts of the
crown must be burned; the length of this soft part
depends upon the age and vigour of the tree. If the
rhinoceros beetle also must be reckoned with, the whole
trunk must ultimately be destroyed, but this need not be
done so promptly. Burying the trunk may be effective
when only the red beetle is concerned, but cannot be
relied upon in the case of Oryctes. Submerging will
prevent the use of the dead wood as a place to lay eggs,
but cannot be trusted to prevent the escape of beetles
already mature or nearly so.

Three other methods of fighting Rhynchophorus are
in use:

1. Extracting the beetles or larvae from their
burrows and from places of concealment on the tree.
This method is widely used in combating Oryctes, and
adult red beetles are sometimes caught with the black
ones, both kinds in the same holes. So far as larvae
and eerie in the burrows are concerned, it is not as
practicable against the red beetle alone as against the
black, if used in proper conjunction with other sanitary
measures. However, Green says, in commenting on
the catches from 1903 to 1907: “It is noticeable that
up to the present year the annual total of captures of

84 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Rhynchophorus—not of Oryctes—has steadily decreased,
a fact which seems to prove conclusively the value of a
systematic collection of the insects.”

2. The use of bait and traps. This method has
found considerable favour in the American tropics,
where ft. palmarum, called the palm weevil, is a
dangerous pest. Some palm of less value than the
coco-nut, which the weevil is known to attack, is felled
and cut into convenient lengths, say 1 metre, and
some of these are split. ‘The open pieces are exposed
until the soft heart becomes sour, which is likely to be
in one day. They are then watched, and beetles are
killed as they are attracted by the sour smell. A test
of this method is reported in the Trinidad Bulletin of
Miscellaneous Information, April 1905. The tree was
cut February 2, and the first beetles came to it forty-
eight hours later. They were collected mornings and
evenings, the numbers being :

February 4 4 é 23
5 : 19
6 ; : 6

9)

29

The trunk was opened February 18 and a number
of larvae were found. ‘The pieces of the tree sacrificed
for bait should of course be burned before any insects
can possibly mature in them.

Mr. J. T. Seay of British Honduras has perfected
this method by furnishing a place for the insects to hide
after laying their eggs. This can be done by putting a
little pile of rubbish close to the bait. But a better
way is to use the top of a palm and to have some holes
in this in which the insect will hide. Mr. Seay uses
the ‘‘ salt-water pimento,” which he cuts off just above
the cabbage; he then cuts a hole into the latter. The
beetles hide in this hole and in the cavities within the
leaf-bases. Such a trap lasts for a week or two and is
then destroyed. Mr. Seay states “that 3 or 4 miles
is no distance for the insects to fly in search of a sickly
tree or one that is beginning to bear fruit, because then

Ill DISEASES AND PESTS $5

the bark is soft, and the sun will make cracks and the
sap, which is liked by all of these pests, oozes out in
quantities.” It also appears that the American palm
weevil flies by day as well as by night.

I have repeatedly used the remains of infested coco-
nut trees as bait, removing every trace of insects and
leaving the stub to attract others. From the second to
the fifth day after the operation there is always a harvest
of beetles in the little piles of rubbish deliberately left
for them to hide in, when there is not room for all in
cracks and holes in the stub itself. Such stubs must
not be left, as in a few weeks they are full of larvae
and pupae as far down as they have softened enough to
be penetrable.

Vosseler recommends, as bait, mangoes crushed in
coco-nut milk and water, and exposed in shallow dishes.

8. The use of poison. As the holes by which this
insect enters the tree are not necessarily visible, and
the channels in the tree become of appreciable size only
as the larva grows, it is not usually practicable to kill
the weevil in any stage by the use of poison. However,
when the holes or channels are open, or opened, carbon
bisulphide can be introduced and the hole plugged
again; any insects that the vapour can reach will die.
This method has been tested, using carbon bisulphide,
potassium cyanide, and hydrocyanic acid, against
Rhynchophorus and Oryctes, at the Philippine College
of Agriculture, without results of practical value.
Vosseler advises the use of carbon tetrachloride.

The larva of Rhynchophorus is said to be regarded
as an especially choice morsel by various natives in
America, where it is known as the gru-gru worm. The
oldest report of these insects, dating back to 1726,
emphasizes this usefulness. The larvae are eaten in
Africa and Malaya also; but, so far as I have personal
knowledge, they are by no means esteemed a delicacy.

Rhynchophorus palmarum seems to be a less serious
pest than ft. ferrugineus. Urich states that “ young
trees up to four and five years of age are those mostly

86 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

attacked. Full-crown trees are not touched.” “The
remedies employed have been preventive, and consist

in tarring wounds. ... As long as the bud is not
damaged, the larvae are cuta~and the wound dressed
with tar.” deh 6

R. phoenicis is also a less-known pest because it is
prevalent in countries where a great coco-nut industry
has not yet been developed.

Minor Beetle Pests, Weevils.—Beside Rhyncho-
phorus, of which more than one species 1s found, Banks
has encountered three other weevils in Philippine coco-
nut trunks. One of these, Cyrtotrachelus, is a common
enemy of the betel-nut palm, but sometimes attacks
sound, or at any rate apparently healthy, coco-nuts.
The trees found attacked have usually been those about
to come into bearing. This weevil is much smaller
than Rhynchophorus, the larva being 20 millimetres,
the pupa 13 millimetres, and the cocoon about 35 milli-
metres, and the adult 17 millimetres in length, snout
included. The same measures to be taken in guarding |
against the two chief beetle pests will probably provide
immunity against this one.

The shot-hole coco-nut weevil is about the same size
as the preceding, but does not form a cocoon. It is
able to penetrate old hard wood, and is not uncommon,
locally, init. It is found in living trees, but rarely, if
ever, In sound ones or sound parts of trees, and there-
fore seems unlikely to do direct injury. The third of
these insects, called by Banks the four-spotted coco-nut
weevil, is decidedly smaller, the body of the adult being
only 5 millimetres long. This also is found only in
dead parts of the tree, where other enemies have gone
before ; it probably never does direct damage.

Sphenophorus obscurus, Boisd., is a weevil nearly
related to Rhynchophorus, which is found in Polynesia,
reaching as far north as Hawaii, and west to New
Guinea. It is better known as a pest of sugar-cane,
and is accordingly known as the “sugar-cane weevil.”
The insect is about 2 centimetres in length, with black

III DISEASES AND PESTS 87

head and snout, and deep reddish-brown body with a
black blotch behind the head, the thorax. coarsely
punctured above, and the hard wings striate. Damage
is done by the larva, with regard to which the following
quotation is made by Froggatt from Doane:

The larger larva usually works closer to the base of the
leaf, often killing the leaf by burrowing all through it. Some-
times the larva will keep close to the edge of the leaf or go
only as far as the centre, boring a tortuous chamber from half
to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The burrow is
usually filled with the chaff and castings, and the larva is
usually found at the upper end of the burrow. Often from the
blackened portion of the infested leaf the resinous exudation
will be issuing in several places, making it appear that several
larvae are at work in the same leaf. This is sometimes the
case, but a single larva may bore along a leaf stem for 12 to 15
inches, causing the exudation to flow in abundance from several
openings, and making many large discoloured spots, beneath
which the tissue is soft and decayed: The older leaves are
usually attacked. After attaining its full growth the larva
bores close to the surface, and constructs a rude oval cocoon
out of the fibre that it has been eating, and transforms to the
pupa stage, from which it later issues as the adult beetle.
These cocoons may usually be found quite abundantly in the
chaff at the base of old leaves or on the old leaves. In some
instances the larva bores into the trunk of the tree for a short
distance where the broad leaf-base joins the tree. In one
instance I found the beetle quite abundant in and around the
growing tip of a young tree that was dying, whether as a result
of the work of the beetle or from some other cause I was
unable to determine.

The beetles are trapped in some places where they are
especially destructive to cane sugar.

American beetles closely related to those mentioned
are Metamasius hemapterus, L., M. connamominus, and
a species of Rhabdobaenus. These attack the trees under
the same conditions as Rhynchophorus palmarum and
can be guarded against in the same manner. Another
enemy of coco-nuts and other palms in the same part
of the world is the “‘ bearded weevil,” Rhina barbirostris.
This attacks mature trees but not the younger ones.

88 THE COCO-NUT bpaer

The larvae bore into the hardest parts of the stem,
although scorching is said to make the tree more liable
to their attack. Concerning this insect in Trinidad,
Urich reports, ‘‘ The methods of control adapted have
been preventive, and consist in tarring the stem of trees
that have been scorched. A mixture of white lime, to
which is added 5 pounds of arsenate of lead to every
50 gallons of solution is also used.” Calandra tartensis,
Guerin, called by Froggatt “the small palm weevil,’ is
a serious pest, at least in the Society Islands. Com-
paring it with Sphenophorus, Doane says :

The smaller weevil, C. tattensis, seems to be much more
abundant, and, on account of its habits, is perhaps more in-
jurious than the larger species. It is found more commonly
boring in the edge of the base of the leaf-stem. Its presence
is indicated, as with the larger species, by the presence of a
gummy exudation mixed with castings. These are often in
the shape of long twisted strings } to 4 inch long. As the
larvae do not work so deep in the tissue of the leaf as do those
of the larger species, the damage here is not very great, but
when they work further out at the base of the leaflets, many of
the leaflets are destroyed. A still more serious damage is done
where the larvae attack the spikelets, killing them at the point
of attack, and working towards the base.

Preuss mentions still another weevil which, in German
Hast Africa, bores into the young nuts.

A considerable number of beetles related to Oryctes
are also pests of the coco-nut. Stratequs titanus is a
large beetle found in the inflorescences of coco-nuts in
Cuba, and believed locally to be injurious ; but Busck,
who encountered it during his preliminary study of bud
rot, believes it to be practically harmless. Strategus
anachoreta is an enemy of the coco-nut in Trinidad,
and is probably identical with the large beetle which is
known in British Guiana as “the cockle.” This is
known in Trinidad as the “rhinoceros beetle,” because
of a horn-like projection on the upper part of the
thorax of the male. It is 4 to 6 centimetres in length
and chestnut-brown in colour. It is a broad, thick-set,
powerful-looking beetle with strong front legs with

ur DISEASES AND PESTS 89

which it burrows into the ground or forces its way
through woody tissues. The damage is done by the
adult. ‘‘A hole is made in the ground near the stem
of a young tree: those about two years old are usually
selected. Externally this opening looks like a crab-
hole—sometimes there is a heap of earth blocking the
entrance ;—either of these indications is a sure sign
that a beetle is at work. Generally one beetle only
is found, and it is sufficient to destroy a tree if not
removed in time.” It may be killed or removed by
means of a wire. Lime around the young trees is an
effective preventive. It is suggested that some trees
be left unprotected as bait and watched. The larvae
live in rotten wood; this stage lasts three to four years;
the pupal stage lasts four to six weeks.

Xylotrupes gideon, of which X. numrod is sometimes
regarded as merely a form, is known well over the whole
Malay-Polynesian region, and is reported as a pest in
Java, the Philippines, and Solomon Islands. X. lorquin
is reported from New Guinea. These very large insects,
popularly known as ‘elephant beetles,” are readily
recognized by the two huge projecting horns, one from
the head and one from the thorax, which reach forward
like a pair of curved tongs. In its attack on the coco-
nut the elephant beetle works in the same way as the
rhinoceros beetle, and is fought in the same manner, by
dragging the beetles out of their holes in the tree.
Froggatt reports that a related species of the same
genus collects on the jacaranda, an ornamental tree
common along streets in the tropics, and suggests that
this may accordingly be used as bait. There is a state-
ment in circulation to the effect that elephant beetles
do to palms more incidental damage with their horns
than they do directly in feeding or burrowing. It is
not easy to see how such an unwieldy insect does any
damage at all.

Another ‘related beetle reported by Froggatt is
Trichogomphus semalinkt, Ritz., which he calls the
“Solomon Island rhinoceros beetle.” In appearance it

90 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

is intermediate between Xylotrupes and Oryctes. It is
reported to damage young coco-nut palms in the same
manner as Xylotrupes. Chalcosoma atlas, L., is a huge
beetle, in appearance still more remarkable than Xylo-
trupes, which has been alleged to have larvae which
attack the trunk of coco-nut in the Philippines. Of
this I have no personal knowledge.

Scapanes is another genus of huge beetles, each
with three great horns. S. australis, Boisd., and S.
grossepunctatus, Sternb., occur in New Guinea and
destroy young trees two or three years old; adult trees
are not attacked. Barrett reports a species believed to
be S. australis in the Philippines.

Other beetles reported as injurious to coco-nut in
New Guinea are Pimelopus (four species), Camelonotus
quadrituber, and Oryctoderes latitarsis.

Froggatt further reports as a pest which does a
great deal of damage to young coco-nuts in the Solomon
Islands Eurytrachelus pilosipes, Waterhouse, which he
calls the “coco-nut stag beetle.” The adult bores into
the stem under the shelter of the base of the leaf-stalk.
Froggatt anticipates that where the land as a whole
has been brought into cultivation, and there is no fallen
timber for these beetles to breed in, they will cease to
be a serious pest. Hurytrachelus intermedius has also
been mentioned as a pest of coco-nuts. Another stag
beetle, Passalus tridens, is reported to have done much
damage to coco-nuts in Demarara.

Barrett, in a general resumé of insect pests of the
coco-nut, writes with especial respect of Meltomma
ensularis of the Seychelles and Madagascar region,
which he calls “perhaps the most insidious trunk-
infesting coco-nut pest in the world.” “This insect
enters the stem at the base, among the roots, and,
partly by its own voracity, and, it is thought, by
reason of ‘caustic liquid’ excreted by the larva, soon
kills the tree.”

Ambrosia beetles or Scolytidae are wood - boring
beetles. They are found in various places, and in Cuba

It DISEASES AND PESTS 91

are common enough in apparently healthy trees to be
suspected of doing damage both directly and indirectly,
in greater measure, as they furnish places for infection
by fungi, or for the laying of the eggs of the palm
weevil.

Leaf-eating Insects (Bronthispa).—Of the small
leaf-eating beetles of the family Hispidae several have
been reported as serious local pests of the coco-nut.
Among these, Froggatt describes Bronthispa froggatts
as certainly the worst pest the planters of the Solomon
Islands have to fight in their young plantations. This
was first reported in 1903 from New Britain, where it
was also a serious pest, and fully 50,000 plants were
sald to be already ravaged by it. Both the adult and
the larva feed upon coco-nut leaves.

The beetle measures up to half an inch in length from the
tip of the antennae, which stand out in front, to the tip of the
body; but they are often much smaller and variable in size,
and are very slender, not more than one-tenth of an inch across
the broadest part of the back.

The general colour is shining black, with the thorax and
fore pair of legs dull yellow, and the second pair marked with
yellow. The head is small, the eyes project on the sides, the
front is produced into a lance-shaped point standing out be-
tween the basal joints of the stout antennae. These antennae
consist of eleven small segments, the basal ones irregularly
rounded, the apical ones cylindrical and fitting close into each
other. The. thorax is almost square, slightly hollowed out on
the sides, and curved round in front behind the eyes. The
long slender body is covered with stout black wing-covers
deeply and finely marked with parallel furrows, which are
finely and deeply punctured, so that the whole surface is finely
but regularly pitted. The tips of the wing-covers are depressed
and rounded.

The beetles crawl into the folds of the opening fronds as
they are expanding, and under their shelter lay their small
horn-coloured eggs, from which the curious flattened larvae
hatch and feed upon the surface of the leaf. Both the beetles
and larvae damage the leaves, and the whole life-history of the
pest can be studied in a single frond. The larva, when full
grown, measures just two-fifths of an inch in length; it is
slender, cylindrical, and somewhat flattened, with the segments

92 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

well defined. It varies in colour from dull horn-yellow to dirty
white. The head is small, lobed, with short jaws on the under
side of the head; the small legs are divided at the extremities,
forming two rounded feet. The abdominal segments, eight in
number, are furnished on the sides with a slender, rounded,
fleshy tubercle; and the anal segment has the tips flattened
and produced into a pair of short, incurved, flat, calrper-like
processes, which, curving inward, form a perfect crescent
between them. They are ornamented with a few warty
tubercles and fine hairs.

The result of the attack is that the leaves are
reduced to skeletons connected by dead membranes
before they are well unfolded. When the attack is
serious, the tree is of course weakened until the pro-
duction of fruit is impossible. On the Solomon Islands,
gangs of boys are kept at work killing the insects by
shaking tobacco and soap wash into the still folded
leaves. Preuss recommends the use of nitrogenous
fertilizers to help the trees to resist attack.

Koningsberger reports what may be the same insect
and is at any rate nearly related to it as a serious local
pest in Hastern Java. It is extremely flat, and there-
fore able to penetrate between the leaflets, or the halves
of a leaflet, even while the leaf is still tightly folded.
It eats the epidermis next it and the green tissue,
but not the other epidermis; the latter soon dies and
remains as a yellowish semi-transparent layer. At the
same time the females deposit numerous small yellow
egos, from which equally flat larvae develop. These
feed like the adults. They pupate in the same place,
and a new generation of beetles flies out in eight to
ten days. a

A leaf attacked by numerous beetles and larvae is
too weakened to unfold; or, if it still unfolds, is value-
less to the tree. By the destruction of many successive
leaves the tree may be killed. However, the work of
the pest is conspicuous, and if the infested young leaves
are removed and burned the trees are easily saved. The
beetles are about 9 millimetres long and 2 millimetres
wide and, as already said, very flat. The head is

III DISEASES AND PESTS 93

yellowish-brown, and has a small spine-like prominence
between the black antennae. The full-grown larva is 10
to 11 millimetres long and of a yellowish-white colour.

In the related genus Promecotheca three species
are known as coco-nut pests, P. cumingw in the
Philippines, P. antigua in New Guinea, and P.
opicicollis in the New Hebrides. The Philippine
species has been studied by Jones, who describes it as
follows :

The beetles vary from 7°5 to 10 millimetres in length, ex-
clusive of the antennae, and from 1°6 to 2 millimetres in width.
The thorax is much narrower than the slender body. General
colour brown ochre, head small, eyes and mandibles black,
elytra finely punctate in parallel furrows. Antennae 11-jointed,
tarsi broad and flat, one larger spine on inner side of each
femur with a corresponding depression on the tibia. The body
is pilose.

The beetles are sluggish and do not fly readily upon being
disturbed. They rest by clinging lightly to the under side of
the leaf with the antennae extended forward close to the leat.
They crawl about promiscuously on the leaves of the young
coco-nut and feed extensively upon the tissues between the
veins of the leaflets. The injury has the appearance of a sight
cut, but does not entirely penetrate the leaf.

The damage done by the larva is greater than that by the
adult, as a single larva will excavate a place in the leaf from
12 to 16 millimetres long and 14 to 3 millimetres wide.
The tissue attacked soon dies and becomes brown, and in badly
infested areas the numerous dead leaflets give the palm the
appearance of being unhealthy or half dead; where the trees
are used for decoration this effect 1s very displeasing. The
palm is also injured by the loss of these leaflets.

The eggs are inserted by the female beetles just beneath
the epidermis of the leaf. They are deposited singly, and
hatch in from 13 to 15 days. The period of incubation varies
but little. The larvae upon hatching enter the parenchyma of
the leaf and here spend the entire larval period, which is about
32 days. They do not form any pupal cell, but pupate in the
middle of the excavated chamber formed by feeding. The
average length of the pupal stage is 7°5 days. The adult after
emergence remains from 2 to 4 days within the food chamber
before it bursts the epidermis of the leaf and escapes.

1 Philippine Agricultural Review, May 1913.

94 THE COCO-NUT pea

In the Philippines this pest is largely controlled by
its natural enemies. Jones found two hymenopterous
parasites, one on the egg and the other on the larva
and pupa, which together, in a hundred leaflets ex-
amined by Jones, were killing about half of the pests.
The infested leaflets are readily recognized, and may be
easily removed and burned ; or the adults may be picked
off by hand, and the leaflets infested by other forms
removed and burned.

P. antiqua is reported as so serious a pest in New
Guinea that trees over considerable areas are made
entirely unproductive for a year or more. It attacks
even the oldest and tallest trees. It has a dark brown
head and hard wings (elytra), which are three-fifths
orange and two-fifths dark blue. P. opicicolles has black
elytra each with a yellow spot. In New Guinea trees
standing in alang-alang (cogon) grass are especially
subject to attack and the beetles seem to disappear when
the grass is eradicated.

Oxycephala froggatti, mentioned by Preuss, may be
identical with Bronthispa froggatte.

Lepidoptera.—A number of moths and butterflies
attack the coco-nut, but are up to this time known only
as local enemies. Koningsberger has published in the
Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture of the Dutch
Indies, 1908, an account of two of these. Brachartona
catoxantha is a small moth, measuring only 14 or 15
mm. with its wings expanded. It is uniformly brown
above. Beneath, the thorax, abdomen, and legs are
yellow; the fore wings brown with- yellow patches at
base and apex of costa; and hind wings brown, with
the costal area yellow and the veins on it black. The
caterpillar is about 10mm. long. The head and thorax
are yellowish brown; the body greyish brown with a
black dorsal streak bordered by white and finely hairy.
The caterpillars are found on the upper side of the
leaves. They eat through to the nether epidermis,
but leave the latter, thus making brown spots, which
are 1 to 2 mm. wide and up to 30 mm. long. When

U1 DISEASES AND PESTS 95

a tree is badly infested, these spots almost cover the
leaves. The leaves then curl up, and so furnish the
caterpillars a place for pupation.

Brachartona has recently made itself seriously felt
in the Federated Malay States. It goes through four
generations in eight months, by which time it multiplies
enough to become locally epidemic. Then it disappears,
having become abundant enough to let its own enemies
multiply in excess. When the Brachartona is almost
exterminated, its parasites die off, and after perhaps
two years the Brachartona reappears as a pest. If it
can be detected as it reappears it can probably be con-
trolled by spraying with kerosene emulsion ; but this will
demand careful watching, as its work is not conspicuous
until it has multiplied greatly.

The other pest reported by Koningsberger is Hidarz
wrawa. The caterpillars of this butterfly are reported
as very numerous at Sawah Loenta, on the west coast
of Sumatra, feeding upon the leaves of the coco-nut.

From the Philippines likewise two of these insects
have been described by Banks. One of these is a
skipper butterfly, Padraona chrysozona, Plétz. Quoting
Banks, Philippine Journal of Science, 1906 :

During the months of September and October many of the
leaflets of small coco-nut trees of from 6 to 15 feet in height
are partially destroyed. Certain of these leaflets have their outer
edges sewn together by means of a pure white silk which is
decidedly elastic, so that the leaf may be pulled slightly apart
without tearing the fastening. Inside these folds the light
yellowish-green caterpillar, having a chitinous head, somewhat
darker than the body and boldly marked with a very regular
pattern, is encountered.

Toward the latter part of October the semi-active pupae are
found in these “cradles,” partially covered and surrounded by
a snow-white flocculent substance, which has a wax-like feel.

The adult insect is 15 to 16 mm. in length, a bright
yellow ochre in colour, with dark-brown markings.
The eggs are deposited, usually singly, on the under
surface of the leaf; they hatch after seven or eight

96 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

days. The larva is at first 3°5 mm. in length, and
grows to about 45 mm. This insect lives upon the
betel-nut palm also. It is preyed upon and held in
check by hymenopterous parasites, and Banks does
not believe that it is likely to become a dangerous
pest.

He holds the same opinion regarding the moth
Thosea cinereomarginata, the larva of which is a slug-
caterpillar, easily recognized by having along each side
of the body a row of spinous tubercles. Like the
insect just described, this does moderate injury to coco-
nut leaves in Manila.

Thosea and Padraona, and with them Hrionota
thrax, another of the skippers, are known in the
Federated Malay States.

Another butterfly, whose larvae live upon the leaves
of the coco-nut in the Philippines, is Amathusia
phidippus. The same insect is found in British India,
where its food-plant is also the coco-nut. It is not a
common butterfly here, and is not known anywhere to
do very great damage. Jb. Coert, nevertheless, states
that in the Dutch East Indies the larvae sometimes
become numerous enough to defoliate trees (see Wilborn,
in Bull. Kolon. Museum, Haarlem 41 (1909), 122).

Very serious local damage is reported by Schultz,
the horticulturist of the Canal Zone, as done to the
coco-nuts of Panama by Brassolis isthmia. In May
1906 the majority of the coco-nut trees in the vicinity
of Ancon were defoliated by its caterpillar. Trees
which had been prolific for several years were left with
their bare petioles and midribs looking like skeletons.
Some trees recovered, under special care; others were
cut down. In September the caterpillars again appeared
in smaller numbers. ‘“ All coco-nut trees were, there-
fore, sprayed with a strong solution of arsenate of lead,
a most tedious and troublesome, although very effective,
method of fighting these insects, in view of the height
of the trees, which were mostly from 30 to 35 feet.”
Rain washed the poison off within a few weeks, but all

III DISEASES AND PESTS a7

the insects on the treated trees had been killed. It has
since reappeared.

The larvae feed only at night. At daybreak they
retire into a tough nest, shaped like a narrow bag, from
30 to 60 cm. in length, in which 700 or more often
crowd together. ‘The nest is made with the help of the
pinnae, and where their tips meet, at the lower end, is
slightly open. As many as four nests are sometimes
found in one tree. ‘The larvae are 5 to 10 cm. long.
They can entirely strip a bearing tree of its foliage in a
few nights, and give it such a check that under con-
ditions otherwise most favourable two or three crops
are lost; ‘‘ And it is no rare occurrence that a tree dies
outright or becomes so weak that it cannot resist fungoid
and other diseases, and gradually perishes.”

The chrysalis stage lasts twelve to sixteen days.
The larva of an apparently dipterous insect is parasitic
on the chrysalis, and helps to hold the pest in check.
The simplest and easiest way to fight this pest is by
cutting down and burning the nests; but watchfulness
and diligence are necessary if this method 1s to be really
effective. Brassolis has also been found on the royal
palm, and some other trees of the same family.

A related species, Brassolis sophorae, has been
known in Trinidad since 1892. It is scattered over
the whole of that island, and while not common, is
becoming more so. The adult flies at dusk. The life
eycle lasts nine weeks. Like B. asthnua, it skeletonizes
the leaves, and is therefore conspicuous. On some
estates it has been held in check by cutting down the
nests and crushing the larvae, at the cost of two cents
per nest. In the same island the larvae of Hyperchiria,
called the ‘“‘spiny coco-nut caterpillar,’ skeletonize the
leaves. This species is gregarious, but not nest-building.
So far it is not a serious pest.

Omiodes blackburn, “the palm-leaf roller,’ is a
Pyralid moth reported on coco-nuts in Hawaii. Preuss
reports larvae apparently of the same family, which
destroy young nuts in New Guinea. A Tineid moth,

H

98 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

large for its group, with light-grey, black-spotted wings,
occurs on coco-nut leaves in Ceylon.

Locusts.—Prudhomme states that the most of the
coco-nut plantations of North-Western Madagascar have
suffered seriously from these insects, being completely
defoliated, and made unproductive for at least six
months after the flight. JI have seen a young grove
in Mindanao thoroughly stripped, and so set back that
fruiting must have been delayed for two years. Any
country subject to visitations of this pest is likely to
have similar experience.

However, the coco-nut is no favourite food of the
locusts, which will first consume such crops as rice,
maize, and cane. Getting rid of locusts is a big general
economic problem, likely to be solved in- any country
only by reforestation, and extending the land in cultiva-
tion, until wild grass and brush land, the locusts’
breeding-place, disappear. When the scourge is bad
enough to involve the coco-nuts, something may be
accomplished in a small way by means of fire, noise, and
agitation ; but the locusts are likely to have their meal.

Busck notes the common occurrence of the egg-holes of
a large Cicada on the stalks of the lower leaves of Cuban
coco-nuts, but states that the damage is insignificant.

Graeffea cocophaga.—Graeffea cocophaga, called
by Froggatt “the coco-nut phasma,” one of the walking-
sticks, is known from New South Wales northward and
eastward across Polynesia. It feeds on coco-nuts
wherever they are found, and has temporarily done
considerable damage in Samoa and on the Hervey island.
In spite of its size, fully 20 centimetres in length, the
insect is inconspicuous because of its colour. As a rule,
it is kept closely in check by its natural enemies; but
when these happen to be temporarily wanting, it is
capable of rapidly doing great damage. When they
become a pest in plantations, Froggatt suggests burning
the ground over or cultivating it as a means of
destroying the most of the eggs.

Aspidiotus destructor.—Of the various scale insects

II DISEASES AND PESTS 99

occasionally found on the coco-nut, this is the only one
ever found in large numbers or charged with doing
serious damage. In the same genus, Aspidiotus, are
the San José scale, and a number of other pests of trees
of temperate lands. A. destructor is probably found
in every land where coco-nuts are grown. Beside the
coco-nut, it has a considerable number of other common
hosts, among them the papaya, annatto, betel-nut, guava,
and mango.

The worst reports concerning this scale have come
from the Caroline Islands, the staple crop of which is
the coco-nut. The scale is said to have been introduced
from the Philippines in 1892, and a few years later to
have cut the crop in half. It is especially destructive
in dry places and during dry seasons. Dryness favours
the insects directly, because they do not endure great
humidity well; and indirectly, because drought weakens
the host. Trees of all ages are attacked, and those
weakened by any kind of unfavourable conditions are
sooner or later killed. On arid ground whole groves lose
their natural green colour and turn a pale yellow, due
to the loss of the green tissues and the layers of scales
on the leaves. It is the local practice to sell the whole
nuts. No part of the crop is returned to the soil, which
grows steadily poorer, so that old groves have not the
proper strength to resist any attack. Young trees
planted under old ones do not receive light enough to
make them vigorous and able to resist. And the native
custom of eating the sweet “foot” of their seed-nuts
ensures the weakness and susceptibility of the seedlings.

It should by no means be assumed that vigorous
trees are less subject than weakly ones to the attacks
of all pests; but in the case of the scale this rule would
seem to be a good one. Therefore, to guard against
injury from it the trees should be amply spaced, provided
with plenty of water in the ground, and, if necessary,
cultivated and manured. If other pests or diseases are
present, it must be remembered that these will help the
scale to destroy the trees.

100 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Being a sucking insect, the scale will not eat any
poison. If it is deemed necessary and worth while to
attack the scale directly, the ordinary kerosene emulsion
will in most places be the best weapon. As the
emulsion is to be applied to the leaves it must not be
too strong. An emulsion of palm oil and soda is safer ;
it has been used in Togo and found entirely effective,
but at an altogether prohibitive cost. This will be
found true in general of any direct attack on the scale.
It is of course possible to spray a bearing coco-nut tree,
or to enclose it in a tent or balloon and disinfect it with
hydrocyanic acid—a method gaining in favour in the
fight against the San José scale; but such measures
are not in general practically worth while. The treat-
ment is very costly in proportion to the value of the
tree; if the tree is healthy it is not likely to suffer
much from the scale; and if it is susceptible it is not
worth much, and is sure to be attacked again.

The chief check on the coco-nut scale is furnished by
its natural enemies, foremost of which are lady-birds of
the genus Chilocorus. In Cuba, in the Philippines,
and probably in almost the whole range of the scale,
these predaceous little beetles are found with it. If
for any reason the scales become numerous, the food
of their enemies thereby becomes abundant; and the
latter multiply and the scale is suppressed.

Schwartz, writing in Der Tropenpflanzer, has urged
that the attempt to combat any pest by means of
parasites on it is of necessity futile, and that reliance
can never be placed on natural enemies to prevent injury
from a pest. It is obviously true that its parasites
cannot exterminate a pest. They reduce it in number
until there is no longer support for the parasite, but
the parasite is the one which will usually disappear
first. Practically, however, it must be maintained that
when a pest has been so reduced that its parasites can
no longer maintain themselves upon it, it must itself
have ceased to be a pest. It 1s beyond question that
Aspidiotus destructor is itself kept in check in this way

ASPIDIOTUS DESTRUCTOR

COCO-NUT SCALE,

THE

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aph by the Bureau of

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Photo

To face page 100.

It DISEASES AND PESTS 101

in almost or quite all of the lands where it would other-
wise be utterly destructive to the coco-nut industry,
and that it is only in occasional outbreaks and these of
limited duration that its damage is seriously felt. That
other insect pests, among them the sister species
Aspidiotus vastatrix, have also been restricted in the
same manner, is abundantly proved by experience, in
spite of the fact that no pest has ever been exterminated
in this way.

This scale has gradually worked its way eastward
over Polynesia, and in some groups of islands as in
Tuamotou, has done grave damage. In other islands
it is held in check by its natural enemies, and in this
way prevented from becoming dangerous. The means
of its migration from island to island, as far as is
known, are entirely human help. Unhusked coco-nuts,
or young seedlings or parts of plants of other hosts of
the scale, are carried in boats from island to island, and
the living scales are in this way introduced. Under
these conditions the obvious method of preventing its
spread in this part of the world is by prohibiting
the carrying in boats of unhusked coco-nuts or of
anything else on which the scale might live. The
natives of Takotu and Fakahina have vigorously en-
forced a quarantine against the introduction of any
living plant, even taro, and by such means have kept
themselves immune against damage by the scale.

In Trinidad Aspidiotus destructor is often pro-
tected by the ant Azteca chartifex, and in this way is
completely guarded against the attacks of its natural
enemies. In such cases the scale insect does considerable
damage to coco-nuts. To protect the coco-nuts the
planters’ business is to destroy the ants, and other
insects will then destroy the scales.

Not less than thirty other species of scale insects
have been reported upon the coco-nut. None of these
has ever been known to do it serious damage. Whether
or not some of them might develop and become de-
structive, if not destroyed by other insects, is unknown,

102 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

and it need not be a cause of surprise if other scales
from time to time do sporadic mischief.

Related to the scales is the coco-nut mealy wing,
Aleyrodicus. A. cocois was described long ago in the
West Indies, and of late years has been noticed as a
parasite of the coco-nut. It feeds on guava and other
trees.

A. destructor has recently been reported by Macke
in the Philippine Agricultural Review for March 1912
as a very serious pest in a limited district in Oriental
Negros in the Philippines. It attacks trees six to eight
years old. It does not kill them, but weakens them
enough to prevent the production of fruit, and so
renders them at least for the time being of no value.
It is recommended that leaves which are infested be cut
off and burned. As this is a sucking insect, kerosene
emulsion is recommended if sprays are to be used. As
an indication of governmental alertness, it may be noted
that the governments of the Straits Settlements and
Ceylon have quarantined against the Philippines to pre-
vent the possibility of the introduction of this pest. It
shows no present indications of being likely to spread
at all, and no measures have been taken to confine it
to the limited region where it has so far appeared.

Termites.—As is true of the locusts, the white ants
destroy whatever they find, without any predilection
for the coco-nut. They therefore demand no discussion
here. The nuts when planted are especially likely to be
consumed, and their protection, so far as it is practicable,
is taken up in the discussion of the seed beds.

Even the lengthy list which has been given does
not include all of the insects which have been stated to
feed on the coco-nut. There are, for instance, several
which are known to feed upon the flowers or pollen.
None of these have done evident injury to the industry.
As our knowledge concerning a large majority of the
pests already mentioned has been obtained during the
last decade, it must be expected that the next few years |
will show great additions to the list.

1038

TS

DISEASES AND PES

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IT DISEASES AND PESTS 105

MISCELLANEOUS PESTS

The robber crab, Birgus latro, is a huge crab,
sometimes more than a foot long, living on the coasts
of the Islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. From
Samar across Polynesia it is known as an enemy of the
coco-nut. Its claws are so powerful that it can tear
the husk from a ripe nut and break the shell, either
directly or by beating it on a stone. It then eats the
meat. A crab can consume two coco-nuts daily, but it
is likely to have time for only one, as it works chiefly
during the night. The crab not only destroys fallen
nuts, but has been certainly known to climb trees and
fell the nuts. The crab itselfis a highly prized article
of food, and is therefore kept in check where there are
enough people to have coco-nut plantations. It has
been suggested that with the decrease of the Polynesian
population the crab may increase in number, enough to
become a dangerous pest; but as men will always live
where there are coco-nuts, and there is no interest in
coco-nuts where there are no people to care for them,
this danger is probably not great.

Snakes are not an enemy of the coco-nut, but are
rather serviceable in that they kill rats. Where rats
are abundant, snakes are not rarely found in the crowns
of the trees, and have been known to kill men gathering
nuts or toddy.

Among birds a parrot is said to destroy young nuts
in parts of Polynesia. The crow is an enemy of coco-
nuts in most parts of the tropics. It picks holes in the
young nuts for the sake of the water, and all nuts which
have so been opened fall to the ground. In times of
drought, when water is hard to find elsewhere, the
damage done by crows becomes very serious. The most
practical way of getting rid of them is to shoot as
many as possible, and hang their carcasses in the
trees. The same method will probably serve against
the parrot.

The huge fruit bats, sometimes called flying foxes,

106 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

are found, in different kinds, throughout the range of
the coco-nut, and occasionally molest the nuts. In the
West Indies, and still more in East Africa, they do
appreciable mischief to this crop, but in general they
find other fruit more to their taste. Something can be
accomplished by shooting in the plantations; but where
they are numerous it is necessary to find and break up
their roosts.

The rat is an enemy of the coco-nut in scattered
localities throughout the tropics. The rat is most
dangerous as a bearer of bubonic plague, and in places
it has been found worth while to practically exterminate
the animal for this reason. When this is done, the
coco-nuts are freed from the pest at the same time.
To get rid of rats in coco-nuts, the most practicable
method is probably surrounding the trunk of each tree
with a collar of tin or sheet iron, several inches wide,
and attached so that it slants outward and downward
from the tree. This treatment of the trees is costly
enough, so that it is not worth while except where the
damage done by rats is especially serious, or where the
rats are being got rid of for sanitary reasons.

The bandicoot, a huge rat reaching a length of as
much as 2 feet, native in India and neighbouring
regions, kills young trees outright for the sake of the
tender internal structures. Trees four to five years of
age are not yet free from such attack. A report from
Ceylon tells of 150 trees killed in a few weeks, in a
grove of 7} acres.

The porcupine attacks smaller trees and kills them
in the same manner. ‘Trees one and a half to two and
a half years old are in greatest danger from this enemy.

In the Malay States bears are classed with pigs and
rats as dangerous enemies, and the three are said to do
more damage than is now done by beetles. In Lower
Perak bears recently destroyed more than a thousand
trees in one year.

Of the higher animals the most dangerous to the
coco-nut is probably the hog. In the coco-nut regions

U1 DISEASES AND PESTS 107

of the old world, the wild hog is almost everywhere
present, and may be expected to destroy all young
coco-nuts which it can reach. In the Philippines
many plantations of young trees have been almost
wiped out by these pests. Something can be done in
keeping them away by means of dogs, but this kind of
protection usually proves ineffectual where wild hogs
are numerous. Coco-nuts are not safe unless protected
by good fences, and a fence to be reasonably hog-tight
must be of barbed wire, with at least six wires, the
lower ones not more than four inches apart and close to
the ground, and very tightly stretched. If such a fence
is built, it should then be patrolled at intervals of not
more than one week, to see that hogs do not open holes
under it, and use them as runaways. Planters some-
times have the idea that coco-nut seedlings are cheap,
while the fence is expensive, and that it is economical
to keep hogs away as well as possible with guns and
dogs, and to replace such trees as are still destroyed.
This policy may be trusted not to succeed. ‘The hog is
both wary and venturesome. If seedling coco-nuts can
be reached, he is likely to find them, and where there is
abundant bait many hogs may be expected. In the
Philippines, instead of the effectual barb wire fence a
light rope, or a heavy cord, is sometimes soaked in tar
or in hog dung, and strung around the field to be
protected; for a time this affords reasonably efficient
protection and can be renewed without much cost.

In some places appreciable damage is done by
monkeys and apes of various kinds. Very moderate
use of a gun will usually drive such animals away.

CHAPTER IV
SELECTION AND TREATMENT OF SEED

A. Varieties of Coco-nuts.— There have nowhere
been any prolonged experiments in the breeding of
coco-nuts; there are no seedsmen who deal in coco-
nuts as seedsmen do in the seed of the field and
garden crops of temperate countries; and except the
French Ministry of the Colonies, no government has
carried on any systematic study of the different
varieties, races, and strains which may be recognized —
among the coco-nuts, or made any effort to compare
in a single place the races from different countries.
There are very numerous names which are given
in different parts of the world to more or less
distinct varieties. Practically none of these forms are
so well characterized and understood that it is possible
to say positively whether or not similar varieties
found in different parts of the world are identical.
This much can be stated positively, that we do not
know thoroughly distinct varieties which can be trusted
to breed true, as for instance, the different races of
horses or of maize will do; but that there are in all
countries, where the raising of coco-nuts is an important
industry, strains or varieties which are suited to differ-
ent purposes, or which are of unequal value. With
regard to the suitability of different varieties for differ-
ent climatic or soil conditions, nothing whatever is
known.

The best study of the varieties of coco-nuts which

108

CHAP. IV SELECTION OF SEED 109

has so far been made seems to me to be that undertaken
in Madagascar by Prudhomme. The Colonial Govern-
ment collected, by visiting different lands with well-
developed coco-nut industry, the best-known varieties
of Ceylon, Indo-China, and the islands of the Indian
Ocean. These were grown together, but no publications
have so far been made which show how the different
varieties have behaved when grown side by side.

As to the number of varieties which may be
recognized, Prudhomme presents a plate showing
photographs of twenty apparently very distinct forms.
These represent the most conspicuously distinct varieties
from Ceylon, Nouméa, the Seychelles, and continental
India. ‘The list of names for varieties can be carried
very much higher. Simmonds lists thirty varieties,
and Shortt names thirty for Travancore alone. On
the other hand, Watt reduces all the Indian forms to
five varieties. Jumelle states that at least twenty-five
varieties are known in Java. But both he and Hubert
also state that there are more than forty known in
the Philippines; and this figure, if it has any basis
whatever, can only rest on the number of dialect
names which it is possible to distinguish.

The more conspicuously different varieties are for
the most part unquestionably duplicated in the different
lands where coco-nuts are grown. It is possible to
distinguish varieties in various ways. for instance,
the colour of coco-nuts varies from green to yellow
and brown. ‘The brown nuts and green nuts are very
different in appearance ; but a careful analytical study
made by Walker at San Ramon failed to show any
constant differences whatever in size, in yield of copra,
or in richness in oil. Different, then, as these nuts
appear, there is no practical object whatever in dis-
tinguishing between them. There is no reason to
suppose that this statement does not apply equally
in every part of the world.

So far as any careful observations show, differences
in form are likewise unimportant. It is easy in any

110 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

place with many coco-nuts to find a considerable
difference in shape. The extremes are from spherical
to a form which is at least twice as long as it is thick.
The tip may be indented or beaked. These differences
are usually the characteristics of the tree, the nuts on
a single tree being alike. ‘They could therefore easily
be maintained by selection and developed into race
characters. But there is obviously no object in this
so long as we do not know that any form is superior
to any other.

There are practically to be distinguished in the
Philippines the following varieties :

First: What may be called the San Ramon nut,
because it is the characteristic tree of the San Ramon
district, and because it has received especially careful
study there. This is a very large and productive
coco-nut. The average production, year after year,
from the San Ramon hacienda and the neighbouring
plantations, is one picul of copra from every 200 nuts ;
at this rate, 3270 nuts are needed to produce one ton,
or 2240 pounds of copra. Apparently the same nuts
are found near Dapitan, on the same island, where
they are known as ‘ Romano.” ‘They are also in
general cultivation in the coast district of the province
of Pangasinan in Luzon, and are found occasionally
in various parts of the Philippines; and individual
nuts, larger than any I have seen at San Ramon, have
been exhibited from the islands of Marinduque and
Bohol. This nut is found in various coco-nut countries,
ranging at least from Ceylon across Malaya and Poly-
nesia, and probably in the West Indies. But there
are no records from any other part of the world of
plantation averages showing such size of nut as those
of San Ramon. There was one cutting for the entire
plantation at San Ramon in 1905, when the average
production was one metric ton of copra from every
2800 nuts. This represents nuts more than twice as
large as the average for the whole world. Under
reasonably favourable conditions the San Ramon nuts

Iv SELECTION OF SEED 111

are produced in fairly large numbers—as many as a
tree can well carry—of nuts of this size. One tree
especially well situated produced during the entire
time which I spent at San Ramon at the rate of 220
nuts per year, 55 being the average for three successive
cuttings three months apart, and understood to be the
usual yield of this tree.

Second: The Laguna nut. This is the ordinary
coco-nut of the archipelago as a whole, and represents
in creditable form the typical coco-nut of the whole
world. Of these nuts the average number required is
5600 for each metric ton of copra. As a basis for
comparison with some other couuitries, it may be said
that this would represent very satisfactory nuts in
Ceylon ; that in Samoa 6000 nuts are in general re-
garded as necessary for each ton; that weighing of
a few African nuts indicates 6450 as needed to make
one ton of copra; and that of the usual run of Trinidad
nuts 6600 are required. It is to be understood that
the dwarf varieties are not included in any of these
figures. The Laguna nuts, like the San Ramon nuts,
will occasionally produce fruit in five or six years;
under altogether favourable conditions a plantation
should be in general bearing in eight years, the time
under less favourable conditions being from ten years
upward. ‘These figures represent in general the time
necessary in every country which has a great coco-nut
industry.

Third: The coco nifio or baby coco-nut. This
variety is found in the Zamboanga district accompany-
ing the San Ramon nuts, from which it is locally
exceedingly distinct. Seven thousand or more of
these are required to produce one ton of copra. This
coco-nut produces fruit at the age of four years, when
the trunk is so short that the nuts can be collected for
several years by persons standing on the ground. This
nut has a rather thick and hard copra, and, as far as
regards the number of nuts, is exceedingly productive.
The tree which has already been mentioned, which in

112 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

successive cuttings two months apart produced 112
and 106 nuts, was of this variety.

Fourth: The Pugai, a very dwarf nut. The name
given here is a Bicol name. Specimens which I have
from the province of Camarines have the nut proper,
7 centimetres in diameter, surrounded by a husk not
more than 2 centimetres in thickness. Apparently the
same nut is known in Pangasinan as “ Piligpog,” and
the same variety is found also in Zambales. These
very small nuts are used as curiosities, one of the eyes
being punched out to represent a mouth, so that the
germinating end looks like the face of a monkey. They
are also used as household banks, or they may be
stuffed with candy or sweetmeats. The Pugai is likely
to fruit in three years. ‘There is also a variety, very
likely identical with this, in India, which fruits in this
time, and the same is true of a dwarf variety which
was introduced from Ceylon to Madagascar.

Forms intermediate between the coco nifio and the

Pugai are the dwarf nut known in the Visayan islands
as “ Dahili,” and probably a nut known in Laguna as
‘““Majigipod.” ‘The latter is said to produce fruit when
the tree is so small that the cluster rests directly upon
the ground. The dwarf Jaffna variety of Ceylon and
Kalapa Babi of Java are like the Mafigipod or identical
with it. »
Clear cut and distinct as are the San Ramon nut,
the Laguna nut, the coco nifio, and the Pugai, when
only these four forms are considered, it would probably
not be difficult to collect in the Philippines an unbroken
series without a break of 1 millimetre in diameter
which should connect the largest nut and the smallest
nut; and while the extremes in some places are perhaps
not so great, it would probably be easy to make an
equally perfect series as far as 1t went in every country
where coco-nuts constitute an industry.

Among these varieties, or among the equivalent
varieties known in another coco-nut country, choice
must be made according to the market on which the

IV SELECTION OF SEED 113

product must be placed. As a rule, the product will
be marketed in the form of copra or of oil. In this
case the first consideration is the total amount of copra
or oil which a variety will produce, and next in im-
portance to this is the size of the individual nuts. For
between two varieties of approximately equal total
productiveness, the one with the larger nut is decidedly
the more valuable. This is for the obvious reason that
it costs about as much to harvest, to husk, and to open
a small nut as it does a large nut, and that therefore
any given amount of copra can be manufactured more
cheaply from large nuts than it can from small ones.
It is further to be observed that the copra of large
nuts will sell on a really discriminating market at a
higher price than the copra of small nuts, because it
can be marketed in larger pieces. The difference in
economy in handling large nuts and small nuts is so
great that even though one of the dwarf nuts, which in
general mature several years sooner than the large nuts
do, were approximately equally productive with one
of the very large varieties, it would still in the long
run not be economical to select the dwarf nut for the
manufacture of co} 1a.

If the product of the coco-nut is to be marketed
in the form of jaggery (tuba, or coco-nut wine) or used
to make alcohol, sugar, or vinegar, then the choice of
variety will be entirely different. The value of the
product is here independent of the size of the nut, but
depends on the total vigour of the tree and on the
number of fruit clusters which are formed. The number
of these fruiting branches is often greater on the dwarf
varieties than it is on the varieties with large nuts.
Since the dwarf varieties are also productive at a much
earlier age, it is obvious that these are the ones to be
chosen. In the Philippines the coco nifio is the most
valuable nut for this use.

There are also special uses of the coco-nut and
special markets for some of the products. To meet
these a special selection of the seed nuts or special

I

114 THE COCO-NUT CHAP,

choice of variety should be made. From various parts
of the tropics whole coco-nuts are shipped to the
temperate zones, and in different places these are
bought on different terms. Where the local custom is
to pay a given price per coco-nut, irrespective of the
size, the planter who produces large nuts is at an
obvious disadvantage, for small-fruit varieties almost
always produce most nuts. If the nuts were bought by
weight, each variety might be expected to sell according
to its actual value; but as a business procedure this is
hardly possible, because of the variable amount of water
contained inside the nuts. In Trinidad the nuts are
sold by number, but only nuts above a certain minimum
size will be accepted. For such a market, it is evident
that the most desirable variety, from the point of view
of the planter, is one which produces a crop which is
uniformly just above the minimum marketable size.

If coir is the product which is expected to be of
greatest value, the qualities which make a nut good or
bad are the amount, quality, and ease of preparation of
the fibre. Some but not all of the varieties grown in
the Maldive and Laccadive Islands produce a particu-
larly good fibre. As a rule, the market prices are such
that coco-nuts are worth more for copra or oil than for
coir, and it is therefore not advisable, except under
peculiar local conditions, to sacrifice anything in the
copra producing power for the sake of superior fibre in
the husk.

In the Philippines, in the province of La Laguna
and in the coco-nut district immediately around it, and
locally elsewhere, there is found a peculiar variety
known as “ Makapun6,” which, instead of having a
cavity inside the hard endosperm, has a moderately
light but still firm tissue filling the entire interior of
the nut. Makapuné nuts themselves will not germinate,
but are likely to be produced on trees which grow from
ordinary nuts borne on trees part of whose nuts were
Makapun6é. The Makapuné nut is valued as a delicacy,
and the individual nuts sell frequently at a price of

IV SELECTION OF SEED 115

20 centavos or more, on a market where the ordinary
nuts cost 3 or 4 centavos only. In such a case it is
evidently good business practice to select seed which
will be likely to reproduce this peculiar freak.

Other peculiar nuts for which there is a local and
limited demand are those known as “‘ Loné” in Albay,
which have a soft endosperm instead of a hard one such
as could be used well for the manufacture of copra;
and the variety whose husk is sweet so that it may be
eaten like sugar-cane. This variety is called ‘“Tabén”
in Pangasinan, ‘‘Cuyamis” in Northern Mindanao, and
“ Kalapa Tebu” in Java. Finally, the coco-nut, like
other palms, is valuable for decorative purposes. Tor
such use one or other of the dwarf varieties is usually
chosen, because these are peculiar and unusual, and
because of their early fruiting habit. In the island of
Marinduque there is a variety which has the foliage
as well as the nuts yellowish in colour. This variety
is regarded as inferior for the ordinary uses of the
coco-nut, but is valuable as a decorative tree. This is
probably the Palamcotta of Simmonds’ list.

Still other varieties are recognized in certain limited
localities in the Philippines. Thus in La Union, beside
the ordinary nuts, large and small and of various
colours, and the Taban already mentioned, there is a
variety called ‘‘Tataguden,” which has a thick husk
used by weavers to clean their fibre. ‘‘Tutupaen” of
the same locality is a small nut with very thick shell.
These shells are beaten together and bets are placed on
which will break the other. An especially hard-shelled
nut of this variety is probably the highest priced of all
coco-nuts. ‘“‘Lupisan” is a large nut with very thin
husk in the same province. A notably large number of
varieties are distinguished by name in the Visayan
island of Leyte. Among these are the Makapund,
already mentioned; “ Agtd,” characterized by nuts so
dark a green that they are almost black; “‘ Bulao,” with
pale-brown fruit ; “ Busag,” which is a very pale green ;
‘‘Burawis,’ which has both fruit and foliage a very

116 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

shiny yellow; ‘ Luné,” identical with the ‘ Lond”;
‘““Cayumanis,’ identical with the “Cuyamis” already
mentioned ; and “ Lincoranay,” characterized by its low
growth. The Lincoranay includes a number of minor
varieties, having fruit red or green and large or small,
including also “‘ Dahili,” and the still smaller nut called
‘““Inano,” which is not as extreme a variety as the
“ Pugal.”

To sum up what we know about the varieties of
coco-nut: there are many forms to be found in all
the leading coco-nut countries. How distinct these are,
or how true they will breed, or how far they are
identical in the different countries cannot at present
be said. According to the form in which it is expected
that the product shall be sold, different varieties may
be entitled to first choice. If the product is to be sold
in the form of copra or oil, the most desirable variety
is one which at the same time has large individual nuts
and a large total production. It would obviously be
desirable to take the percentage of oil in the endosperm
into account in selecting the seed, but this refinement
is not at present possible.

B. Selection of the Seed.—Whatever variety of
coco-nut may be chosen, the seeds which are to be
planted should be selected as the product of
mndividual trees, and these trees should be very care-
fully picked out and should be the ones which most
exactly have the qualities which it is desirable to
give to the entire plantation. There is no point in the
coco-nut business where careful personal attention is’
more necessary or will prove more profitable than in the
selection of the ¢rees which are to furnish the seed nuts.
Leaving out of account selection for any of the minor
uses, and considering only the production of copra or
oil, there is one safe and sufficient rule. Select the seed
of the TREES which are conspicuously MORE PRODUCTIVE
THAN are THEIR NEIGHBOURS which are GROWING UNDER
THE SAME CONDITIONS.

If a tree is especially productive because it grows

IV SELECTION OF SEED 117

in especially rich soil, or because it is well watered or
well fertilized, or because it is freely illuminated on all
sides, then no matter how conspicuously productive it
may be, there is no sound reason for choosing it as the
source of seed. Seeds are chosen for their hereditary
qualities, and a good environment cannot be inherited.
A tree in the middle of a grove which regularly pro-
duces more nuts or larger nuts than its neighbours,
and is without any compensating drawback, should be
selected as the source of seed, even though a tree at the
outside of the same grove which is still more productive
be passed over.

The selection of nuts from piles or at any time after
they are cut from the tree is not to be recommended.
A tree bearing very few nuts is for that reason likely
to bear large ones, and it will thus often happen that
the selection of large nuts from the nut pile is in effect
selection from trees which are not very productive. More-
over, there is a: chance that the large nuts in general
nut piles are from trees which produce large nuts because
they grow under especially favourable conditions, and,
as we have just seen, there is no reason whatever why
the fruit of such trees, however good it may be, should
be selected for propagation.

When the trees which are to be the source of seed
nuts have been selected, their nuts should be regarded
as having a value which is based on the value of the
trees they will produce, and as therefore out of all pro-
portion to the value which they have as mere nuts. It
is worth while to harvest these nuts with a care which
would be economically impossible for nuts intended for
the production of copra. It is well worth while to collect
the nuts of a good seed tree by lowering them to the
ground by hand in order that there can be no risk of
breaking or cracking them. A cracked nut will never
germinate.

The nuts are ready to be used for seed at the same
time at which they are really ready to be used for
copra, that is, when a third or a half of the water in

118 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

the interior cavity has been used up. This condition
can be recognized by the heaviness of the nut and by
the noise which it makes when shaken.

C. Gernunation of the Seed.— Under exceptional
circumstances seed may be planted directly in the
field before waiting for it to germinate. This could
well be practised, for instance, if the land is already
in cultivation with a crop which would not be inter-
fered with by the presence of the coco-nuts, or with
such a temporary crop that it would be difficult at
any later time to stake the ground off and make the
holes for planting the coco-nuts. In general practice,
however, since some coco-nuts will not germinate and
blanks will thus be left in the field, and because the
coco-nuts in the field are exposed to the attacks of
various enemies which can easily be guarded against
while the nuts are kept in small beds, and since it
is usually desirable to have the nuts germinating and
getting their start at the same time that the land is
being prepared to receive them, for all of these reasons
the nuts are germinated collectively, and are subse-
quently transplanted to their permanent places.

The way that the nuts can best be handled while
they germinate depends somewhat on the time which
is to elapse before they are transplanted, and partly
upon local climatic conditions. Leaving out of account
the mere piling up of the nuts without order, which
is mere shiftlessness, there are several ways which, under
different conditions, may be recommended for the
treatment of the seed nuts. One of these is to tie them
in pairs and hang them over a pole. When this is
done, the nuts will obviously receive no water from the
soil; it is therefore a method which can be employed
only where the climate is exceedingly humid or where
it is very easy to sprinkle the nuts at any time. [If
the nuts are hung where no water will fall upon them
except artificially, the rate of germination is entirely
subject to control. This method is therefore a good
one when it is desired that the germination should be

NUTS HUNG UP IN PAIRS TO GERMINATE.

Photograph, Reimold.

NUTS STACKED ROUND A POLE

TO GERMINATE.

To face page 118.

a”

Iv SELECTION OF SEED 119

slow. Or if it is known for any reason that trans-
planting will be long delayed, this method is to be
recommended, because the nuts are so placed that the
development of the roots is hindered more than the
growth of the plumule. Another method essentially
like this, which is sometimes practised in the Philippines,
consists in putting the nuts up in the form of a hollow
cylinder around the posts which support the houses.
They are then dependent on an artificial supply of
water, so that germination may be hastened or made
slow as is wished, and likewise so that the development
of the root is relatively checked.

The use of seed beds is far commoner than that of
the methods which have just been described. It has
the advantage that the nuts require less attention, and
the disadvantage that the development is under less
perfect control. It is, moreover, obvious that the nuts
can be more perfectly protected against hogs, white
ants, or any other enemies if they are hung up or tied
up under the house than if they are in any other
position.

The arrangement and care of the seed beds, and the
method of planting the nuts in them, are determined
by the length of time that the nuts are expected to
remain there. From the standpoint of the nut, it is
desirable that it be transplanted to the field and
permitted to begin the development of a permanent
root system at as early an age as possible. In practice,
however, transplanting may have to be delayed while
the land can be prepared to receive the nuts, or because
of the difficulty of protecting the seedlings after they
are transplanted, or for still other reasons. Germination
itself requires from three to six months. The most
rapid development can be expected if the seedlings are
transplanted into the field before the plumule exceeds
15 centimetres in height. If it is to be expected that
this practice will be followed, then the seed beds need
not be cultivated to a depth of more than 20 centimetres,
unless deeper cultivation will result in a better supply

120 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

of ground water, and therefore in an economy of
sprinkling; and the nuts ought not to be buried for
more than a third of their own thickness. In such case
also the nuts may be placed in contact, side by side.
If, on the other hand, it is anticipated that the nuts
must remain in the seed bed for a year or more, then
the soil in the seed bed ought to be worked fine to a
depth of at least 30 centimetres. The nuts may well
be buried to about their entire thickness, and there
should be left between the neighbouring nuts a space,
the width of which must depend upon the size which
the seedlings will reach before they are transplanted.

Under all conditions it is desirable to choose for
the seed bed a place where water is easily available
for sprinkling, where the ground is well drained, and
where there is light shade. ‘The nuts should be
placed on the side; and it is probably worth while, in
order to facilitate germination and to guard against
occasional distortion of the young shoots, to slice off
a piece the size of the palm from the husk, near the end
at which germination occurs, and to place the nuts with
this cut surface on the upper side. The cultivation
of the seed bed and the ground immediately around it
should be thorough enough to protect it from any
danger of white ants, and it is usually worth while
to enclose the seed bed with a fence to keep off larger
enemies.

While it is very strongly to be recommended that
the seedlings be transplanted before they have an
opportunity to develop a root system in the seed beds,
and while there is no necessary reason why any nut
so transplanted should not live and thrive, it is still
not fairly to be expected that every nut transplanted
will ultimately produce a tree. To fill up vacancies
which may subsequently occur in the field, a small
reserve seed bed should be maintained. It is worth
while to space the trees in this reserve bed as far
apart as 1 metre by 50 centimetres, and to remove the
alternate trees as they are needed in the field. The

IV SELECTION OF SEED 121

trees left then will be 1 metre apart, and these can
be drawn upon to fill vacancies in the field at any time
until the trees are at least four years old. If planting
is going on over a term of years, trees used to fill
vacancies should be older than the trees among which
they are placed, as they will be relatively backward
on account of previous crowding and of injury done
in transplanting.

In many places, probably in most places, it is
customary to postpone transplanting from the seed bed
to the field until a year or a year and a half after the
nuts are placed in the bed. While no considerable
damage is likely to be done by transplanting nuts
whose shoot is not more than 15 centimetres in height,
without regard to the roots which may be broken, the
same thing does not remain true as the seedling
becomes more developed; and it is questionable if it
is ever economically practicable in the establishment
of a plantation to keep dirt about the nuts when they
are transplanted into the field.

If the seedlings are left in the bed until the shoots
are 50 centimetres high, they are damaged so much
by transplanting that they are likely to be overtaken
by plants transplanted at the same time, but which
have not reached more than one-third of the height.
If seedlings are allowed to develop in the seed bed
beyond the point where the first leaves begin to expand,
care should by all means be taken that transplanting
does not happen at or about the time that the last of
the reserve food of the nut is consumed. If they are
left in the seed bed until most of the food stored is used
up, they ought then to be left for a considerably longer
time to permit the plants to develop such strength
that they can recover from the injury of transplanting
without the use of the food in the nut. If the nuts
are placed closely side by side or if the seed bed is too
densely shaded this will never happen.

The practice of delaying the planting of the nuts
in their permanent places reaches its extreme in the

122 THE COCO-NUT CHAP. IV

northern part of Ceylon. What is known as the Jaffna
method, because in use in that district, consists in a
double transplanting. The nuts here are placed in
seed beds at distances of 30 centimetres apart. After
eight to twelve months they become too large to be
left so close together. They are then transplanted into
larger beds, and spaced in general about 1°5 metres
each way. In these they are left for three or four years,
and during this time are manured, watered, and given
careful cultivation. So much care and attention is not
economically possible in most places; but the treatment
given the trees in this second bed can well be applied
elsewhere to the beds used for reserve nuts, since it is
worth while in order to prevent vacancies in the
plantation to fill blank spaces at a cost greater than
would be reasonable for the average of all the trees.
The Jaffna method demands cheap labour; and even
with labour cheap in proportion to the value of land,
it is only worth while where the soil is light and there
are severe dry seasons.

"CEL abnd aonf OT,

‘OZIS SI} 0} Jo, JI todsvep petanq oq pyNoys syuu oyy sodvyd qysow UI { WOTseL prumny ATOA B UI ST SI],

‘GNNOUOMOVEA NI SANVA HIM Gad Gaus

CHAPTER V
FIELD CULTURE

A. Preparation of Land.—The preparation which
land needs to receive in advance of the planting of
the coco-nuts in the field depends of course altogether
on its previous condition. If it has been already
in cultivation in other crops, there is obviously no
especial advance cultivation required. If, it has
been previously in cultivation and is now occupied
by grass, the preparation needed before it can be
used for coco-nuts offers no particular problems,
and may therefore be passed over with a word. For
- coco-nuts, as for most other crops, this is the worst
condition in which land can begin to be used. However,
in many parts of the world this grass-land, or land in
which grass and brush are mixed, is the only place
which is practically available. If possible, such land
should be ploughed repeatedly until the wild grass has
been practically eradicated, and short-lived catch-crops
should be made to pay the cost of this work.

Wherever it is available, the first choice of land
will be given to virgin forest, or to second growth
forest as old as possible. In many parts of the tropics,
notably in Africa, the valley of the Amazon, and some
of the large and sparsely populated islands of the
Old World, such as Borneo, New Guinea, Celebes,
Mindanao, and Sumatra, such land is still to be secured
at a very low price. This is true, however, solely because
of the absence or scarcity of inhabitants, and this

123

124 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

condition creates a labour problem which should be
solved by every prospective planter before he tries to
establish himself. The problem is a personal one in
its nature; the man who is acquainted with local and
neighbouring conditions, and who is apt and skilled
in handling labour, will solve it with little difficulty.
The stranger or the man without the genius for holding
and handling his labour will not succeed under such
conditions.

Land which is covered by forest will show the
measure of its fitness for coco-nut production to the
practised eye at the first glance. Both the moisture of
the air and the moisture in the soil show themselves in
the character of the native vegetation. There are in
all lands characteristic trees and other plants which
serve the local expert as infallible guides to the local
soil and climatic conditions. Only the local expert can
read such clues; but it can be taken as a quite safe
general proposition that wherever in the tropic lowlands
there is a heavy stand of large and evergreen trees the
coco-nut with proper treatment can be made very
productive. The clearing of this land will have to be
done by local labour, and this labour will usually do its
work best if permitted to do it in its own way. In the
Malayan region the native practice is to cut first the
smaller plants, the vines and the younger trees, and to
burn these when they become sufficiently dry. The
larger trees are usually felled after they die as the result
of ringing or of fire, or rarely are left to fall to pieces
as they decay. The practice, on any large scale, must
be to fell all trees and to burn the waste vegetation as
completely as possible. This is most often done by
burning three times; what does not burn the first time
is gathered into piles for the second, and this operation
is repeated with what is left for the third burning.

Whether or not the local vegetation, as it is cleared
off, will furnish saleable products which will pay for the
work, or yield a profit, is a question depending al-
together on local conditions. It ought not to need to

v FIELD CULTURE 125

be said that where a profit can be obtained as the land
is cleared, it should be done; still I have seen more
than a few cases where planters were so eager to reach
the stage of cultivating the land, and so occupied with
this single aim, that they wasted the natural resources
and failed to get any return whatever from marketable
timber sufficient to have paid the whole cost of establish-
ing the plantation.

As already said, it will be necessary to burn the
eround over several times to get rid as completely as
possible of branches, trunks, and stumps which would
interfere with the use of theland. This burning wastes
the nitrogen stored up in the native vegetation, and
usually causes the soil to retain its original fertility for
a shorter time than it would if the vegetation were
permitted to decay in place. Nevertheless, it is often
the only possible practice, because in the absence of fire
the vegetation which has been removed will be replaced
by brush before it is sufficiently out of the way to
permit effective cultivation, even by hand.

The removal of stumps is a different question. In
temperate countries no good farmer tries to convert
woodland into field without removing the stumps of
the trees. Rubber planters in the Orient are rather
generally agreed that they should do the same when
planting rubber on virgin land, and some English coco-
nut planters in Ceylon have maintained that the plant-
ing of coco-nuts on land from which the stumps have
not been removed is a slipshod device which cannot be
regarded as decent farming. This probably depends
largely upon the relative value of land and labour.
Where the land is expensive and labour is cheap, it is
good business to invest more money in labour and less
in land than it is in places where the conditions are
reversed. The former condition is the general one in
Ceylon. Where land is as cheap as it is in the
Philippines, and where labour is as expensive, I am
very sure that any man will in the long run get far
greater returns on the capital he invests if he clears and

126 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

plants as much land as he can expect to care for and
invests no part of his resources in pulling or grubbing
out stumps. It would cost more to remove the stumps
than it usually does in temperate countries; and on the
other hand, with the tropical heat and moisture, white
ants or other insects, and the fungi will get rid of
the stumps far sooner than decay would remove them
in the North. The rubber planters’ objection to the
presence of stumps is chiefly that they serve as breed-
ing-places for white ants, which then attack the living ©
rubber. It will rarely happen that the termites do any
damage to coco-nuts planted in the field; and where
they are troublesome they can be guarded against by
poison or by cultivation far more cheaply and effectively
than can be done by grubbing out the stumps.

Assuming that the land is cleared, by labour and by
fire, as completely as is feasible, it should then be
brought into immediate use, both by coco-nuts and by
catch-crops for the coco-nuts. The first thing to be
done is to line off the ground, marking accurately the
spot for each tree. The regular arrangement of trees in
the field is a matter of very considerable permanent
importance. Cultivation is obviously made much easier
by it, and this applies not only to the coco-nuts but
to any other crop which may be interplanted. More
important than this, however, is ease in supervision.
Whether or not the management and care of the farm
be handled by contract, it is very desirable that it be
easy to check at all times the work which is done on
the field. This will of course be very much easier if
the trees are regularly arranged so that the grove can
easily be divided up into units. Before the ground can
be lined off, a decision must be made as to the distance
between trees, a point on which practice in different
places varies very widely. —

Those who have written about the coco-nut have,
without exception, recommended wider spacing than is
often to be found in practice. One factor which has

v FIELD CULTURE 127

contributed considerably to close planting is the fact
that a coco-nut plantation is usually valued by the tree
instead of by its area or even by its production. In
the principal coco-nut region of the Philippines the
younger groves are usually planted more closely than
those twenty years or more old. Filipino planters have
themselves told me that they do not get a greater yield
by the closer planting; and as a matter of fact I am
satisfied that the yield of the newer groves, even after
they come into full production, is quite appreciably less.
But, as business is done in these islands, if a man
desires to sell his grove, he is likely to receive from
three to eight pesos a tree, the price depending upon
the location and upon the current market price of copra,
but not upon the closeness of the planting nor upon the
actual number of nuts which the trees produce.

It is said that natives in Ceylon, Indo-China, and
some other parts of the Old World, plant their coco-nuts
as close together as 4 metres when they are not mixed
with trees of other kinds. According to Watt’s
Dictionary, the Indians of Bombay plant their trees
about 4°5x5°5 metres, and in Mysore 6x6 metres.
The customary distance in Zanzibar is given as 4°55 x6
metres. Prudhomme regards 7°5 metres as the least
proper distance in poor soil. It is my opinion that
where this distance is the greatest which the coco-nuts
can use to good purpose the conditions are so unfavour-
able that coco-nuts should not be planted. The usual
distance on larger plantations in Trinidad is from 7°3
to 8 metres (26 feet); 7°3 metres (24 feet) is the
commonest distance between them. Coert, in a care-
fully worked out prospectus for coco-nut plantations in
Java, assumes the distance between trees as 8°4 metres.

Semler regards 10 metres between trees as in
general the best distance, and cites as evidence the
experience of the Alma estate in Penang. A part of
this estate, planted with 100 trees to a hectare (that is,
10 metres apart), yielded an average of 60 nuts per
tree, or a total of 6000 nuts; while another part having

128 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

the trees 8 metres apart yielded 30 to 35 nuts a tree,
or a total of about 5000 nuts. In Polynesia there are
various Huropean plantations on which the trees are
spaced 10 metres, and some on which an even wider
spacing is in use. So far as the nature of the ground
permits regular planting, 10 metres has also been found
a proper distance in the Seychelles. Van Oijen, in the
Bulletin of the Colonial Museum at Haarlem 41 (1909)
30, states that on the plantation of 'Tjikeumeuh, in Java,
the trees are set about 13 metres apart; and summing
up all the information and experience at his disposal
gives 12 metres as in general the distance which can
be most confidently recommended.

The effect of sunlight on the productiveness of
coco-nuts is illustrated by records made by myself at
San Ramon in Mindanao. There are coco-nuts in
double rows, one on each side of each narrow road, on
this plantation. In such a row, which contained no
non-bearing trees, I found the yield at one cutting to
average 22 nuts to the tree. It is customary here
to cut the nuts four times a year. A single row of
trees along the well-drained bank of a slough yielded an
average of 27 nuts, all trees producing. A single tree
standing by itself in the open yielded 55 nuts, which
was the average of this tree for several successive
cuttings. In the centre of an old grove the average for
the producing trees was about 11; and in the same
situation in a large grove on the neighbouring hacienda
of Talisayan the average yield of bearing trees was
only 8 nuts; the individual trees in the area in which
this count was made were less than 6 metres apart,
their crowns interlacing freely and producing a rather
dense shade; and many trees were without ripe nuts.

In determining the distance to be adopted, the
favourableness of local conditions, both climatic and
of the soil, and also the treatment which the grove is
likely to receive, should be taken into account. If the
conditions are unfavourable, the trees may well be
planted somewhat closer together. However, I do not

y FIELD CULTURE 129

believe that a less distance than 8 metres is ever to be
recommended ; where the trees cannot make good use
of all the space when they are this far apart, it is not
worth while to go into the business of raising coco-nuts.
If the trees are planted 10 metres apart they will fruit
well enough so that under any conditions, excepting at
any rate those which are very exceptionally favourable,
they will give a larger return per hectare than if they
are placed much farther apart. It must be observed,
however, that the total returns from the land do not
have to depend upon the coco-nut alone, and that if a
wide spacing is adopted, the opportunity for catch-crops,
or for the use of the same land as pasture, may make
the total and the net returns greater than if attention
is given entirely to the coco-nuts. This consideration
will presently be discussed at more length.

The given distance between trees having been
decided upon, it should be observed that the common
method of planting in squares, so that the rows run
regularly in two directions which are at right angles to
one another, does not make as complete and perfect a
use of the land as can be done by having the trees
alternate in the alternate rows. The latter method is
commonly known as planting in quincunx, or may be
described as planting in diamond or triangle. Adopting
this method and assuming a distance of 10 metres
_ between trees, the stakes for the first row made will be
this distance apart in a straight line. Returning then
to the beginning of the second row, describe an arc of
a circle with a radius of 10 metres from each of the
first two trees in the first row. The point of inter-
section of these two lines is the location of the first
tree of the second row. The second tree is located
likewise by arcs described from the second and third
trees of the first row, etc. The distance between the
first row and the second row is about 82 metres. The
other rows are located in the same manner and of
course fall the same distance apart. But while these
rows are approximately 8§ metres apart, there is no

K

130 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

tree which is placed less than 10 metres from any
other tree, and the distance between the trees is the
thing which is important. Planted in this way, and:
maintaining the distance of 10 metres between trees,
each hectare of ground, instead of 100 trees, will
support 115°47 trees. To find the number of trees on
one hectare with any given spacing, if the trees are
planted “in square,” divide 10,000 by the square of
the distance between trees expressed in metres; if the
trees are in quincunx, divide 11,547 by the same figure.
Whatever the spacing, any given area has room for
15°47 per cent more trees in quincunx than in square.
The advantage of this method of planting, provided
the distance between trees is not altogether too short,
is too obvious to need further argument.

B. Transplanting.—The preparation which it is
worth while to give to the spots where the nuts are to
be planted depends on the nature of the ground and
the price of labour, and on the age at which the seed-
lings are transplanted. An ideal method under all
conditions would be to prepare a very large hole and
to fill this, around the nut, with very rich and well
prepared soil. It is especially important in an altogether
practical sense that the coco-nut should grow rapidly
from the very start. It is obliged to compete for light
with other plants unless it receives really good cultiva-
tion. Competitors for light are not dangerous unless
they are nearly as tall as the coco-nut, or taller. By
the time the coco-nut is three or four years old, it is
a very simple matter to protect it against this kind of
competition, and the sooner the leaves can be made to
grow up to the point where they overtop the neighbour-
ing vegetation, the cheaper will be the cultivation which
is necessary to bring a grove into profitable bearing. It
is therefore a general principle that the smaller the tree
is, the more need it has for cultivation and the better
return it will pay for even a small amount of fertilizing ;
and the easiest and best time at which to provide it
with soft and rich soil is when it is being transplanted.

v FIELD CULTURE 131

But, while the ideal treatment would be the digging
of a very large hole, there are practical limits, fixed
chiefly by the price of labour; and it therefore rarely
happens that a planter digs holes of such size as most
writers recommend. It is also evident that in soft and
rich ground, the coco-nut can take care of itself with
comparatively little help. In actual practice, it is
probable that most coco-nuts when transplanted are set -
into holes just large enough to receive them. Such
xtreme economy of labour certainly does not pay.
There are probably no economic conditions in any place
such that it would not be worth while to open a hole at
least 35 centimetres wide and deep, even though the
cost of preparing these holes limits the number of trees
which can be planted. In soil which is light and rich,
it is probably not worth while to make the holes much
larger than this, and this is especially true if the space
between the coco-nuts is going to be used for catch-crops
which will keep the land in a state of tilth, but will not
rob the coco-nut of light. On heavy land, the holes
can profitably be made considerably larger, and the
same is true of sandy but poor soil, where a larger hole
should be prepared and filled with earth better than the
most of the surrounding or underlying soil. The figure
as recommended for practice in Ceylon is 90 centimetres
(3 feet) in each direction. Watt recommends that on
poor or heavy soil a hole should be 90 to 180 centi-
metres in diameter, and 70 centimetres deep. Simmonds
goes to the extreme, recommending that on level ground
the holes should be 135 centimetres in each diameter,
and that on slopes they be made from 180 to 225
centimetres across.’

Unless there are conditions such as the necessity of
transplanting seedlings before they become too large, or
of getting the coco-nuts into place before brush can
grow up, or before the presence of catch-crops would

1 Tropical Agriculture, p. 224: ‘‘In a level, loose soil, the hole should be a
cube, of a yard and a half, on hill-sides 2 to 24 yards, but in low grounds half or
three-quarters of a yard deep with one yard square is sufficient.”

132 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

interfere with easy transplanting, the holes should be
dug from one to three months before they are to be
filled. This will permit the exposed soil to weather,
and will often make soil which, when first dug, would
not be fit to pack around the nuts, serve very well for
this purpose ; and where it will serve well, it is naturally
most convenient to use this soil. It is, however, good
general practice to rake or hoe a thin layer of the
surrounding surface soil into the hole when the nut is
transplanted, and to pack this around the nut.

Regarding the cost of digging the holes, Prudhomme
quotes Keating as stating that at Tamatave a labourer
under good management can dig in a day eight or nine
holes of a cubic metre, or twelve to fifteen holes 80
centimetres wide and deep. The filling of the holes is
said to take about the same time. In most tropical
countries it certainly will take good management to
make labour show this measure of efficiency. In
Trinidad, using light soil, the nuts are buried a depth
of 8 or 10 centimetres, and the holes are dug just big
enough to permit this. Three or four handfuls of lime
are thrown into the hole; the nut is put in, covered,
and tamped in; and some dry straw is thrown over it.
One labourer can transplant one hundred trees in this
way in a day.

When the time comes for actual transplanting, the
hole should be filled with weathered soil in the way that
has just been mentioned, up to such a depth that, when
the seedling is put in, the level of the nut will fall at or
just below the level of the ground. The nut should
then be placed in the middle of the hole, and the space
around it filled up in the same way, and the soil around
the nut should be placed firmly enough to ensure that it
will be sure to keep its place and hold the nut securely.
If it is practicable to apply manure or fertilizer of any
kind, this should be mixed with the soil which is placed
under and around the nut. The soil should be made to
cover the nut with a thin layer, but not to cover the
short plumule. In places which are naturally wet,

we FIELD CULTURE 133

or if transplanting is done in especially wet weather,
the nut should be planted a little more shallowly so
that when the soil is packed around it, it will stand
somewhat above the general level of the surrounding
ground.

On good and even ground, coco-nuts planted accord-
ing to the directions just given will develop a large
bole, a sufficient part of which will be below the general
level of the ground to ensure the perfect anchorage of
the tree. ‘There is therefore no necessity for planting
at a greater depth, and if the nuts are planted more
deeply, their subsequent growth for a considerable time
is likely to be retarded. In wet situations this danger
is especially great. As an illustration of this danger,
I have experience at San Ramon, where the manager of
the government plantation undertook to put the seed-
ling nuts out of the reach of wild hogs by digging deep
holes and then planting the nuts so far down that the
upper side was 30 to 50 centimetres below the surface
of the ground. The soil where this was done was well
drained and reasonably light, and as the holes were left
open above the nuts, it could be seen that in this place
the deep planting did not result in the presence of
stagnant water about the nuts. Nevertheless, the
growth of these seedlings was so slow that when they
were eighteen months old they were hardly as large as
properly planted seedlings would have been at the age
of six months.

On the other hand, if the nuts are not planted
sufficiently deep in the ground, there will be danger in
many places that the roots as they begin to grow will
find themselves in too dry soil; and in all places too
shallow planting results in the production of a bole
which is not buried to the extent that it should be, so
that a large part of the roots come out of it above the
surface of the ground. These aérial roots grow ex-
ceedingly slowly, and so impede the development of
the tree, and such trees are not as perfectly anchored
as they should be. I have seen small plantations

134 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

deliberately planted in this way because they were on
wet land, and it was desired to put the younger trees
where they would not be injured by the rise of the
eround water. With proper handling such trees can
be made to develop rapidly and produce reasonably
well. But such a situation is not one to be recom-
mended where the planter has freedom of choice.

Reference has already been made to the desirability
of filling vacancies, which are bound to occur from one
cause or another in every growing grove. The Ceylon
planters of highest repute are said to make it their
regular practice to fill all vacancies which occur in
groves up to eight or even ten years old. It is very
important that trees which are transplanted to fill these
vacancies should be at least as advanced in their develop-
ment as the general stand of trees in the grove. The care
which can well be taken in transplanting trees which have
already reached a considerable size is again a business
question which must be settled after a consideration of
the local cost of labour and of the distance which the
trees must be moved, and the probable necessity and
ease of watering them after transplanting.

Under all conditions, there should be transplanted
with such a tree a ball of earth so large that no roots
need be cut so as to leave them less than 30 centi-
metres long. If it can practically be done, they should
be left longer than this, but by the time the coco-nut
becomes four years old it is a good load if accompanied
by even a small ball of earth. The most of the leaves
should be cut off, leaving not more than the two or
three youngest ones. Ifa larger mass of earth can be
transplanted, it will be safe to let more leaves remain
on the tree; and recovery from transplanting will of
course be quicker in this case. The hole to receive the
tree should be made considerably bigger than the ball
of earth, which is transplanted and the extra space should
be filled with fine, well-weathered and very rich ground
which must be packed firmly into place. Care must be
taken that there is no opportunity for the roots of such

v FIELD CULTURE 135

a tree to become dry; for at least two months after
transplanting the tree will have to be well watered un-
less this is made unnecessary by rain.

C. Cultiwwation of Young Groves.—The treatment
to be given the young grove is primarily a business
question, the first question to be decided being whether
or not catch-crops shall be grown. It is evident that no
crop can be grown between the coco-nuts and harvested
without removing something from the fertility of the
soil, and that this taken by itself is bad for the coco-nuts.
The growing of coco-nuts, however, is a business, and the
planter will usually not be particular where he gets his
returns. Ifthe land can be made to yield a greater profit
by growing more than one crop on it at a time, and there
are not too great difficulties in the way of doing this, the
planter will naturally prefer not to use it for the coco-
nuts alone. If labour conditions permit, that is, if the
supply of labour is so ample that its use in the cultiva-
tion of catch-crops will not interfere with the extension
of the coco-nut plantation, it will be found then, under
any reasonably good market conditions, that there are
various crops which can be taken from the ground and
made to pay some profit, above the cost of raising them
and purchasing fertilizers more than sufficient to
replace what they have taken from the soil; and that
their culture will keep the coco-nut plantation in
better condition than can be expected if attention is
devoted to the coco-nuts alone.

On the other hand, the use of catch-crops is very
likely to prove unprofitable in the long run, even
though it may yield some immediate returns, unless
some fertilizers are returned to the coco-nuts to make
up for what the temporary crop has taken from the
soil. If such a return is made, and in full measure,
the coco-nuts will fare better for the operation ; because
the food of the catch-crop is taken from the area between
the coco-nuts, and the fertilizers can be applied more
immediately to the neighbourhood of the young trees.
And this is bound to result in their growing more rapidly

136 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

than they would if they had all the ground to themselves,
but were not helped to reach their food.

The labour problem will often make the use of
catch-crops on plantations of any size impossible.
Where the supply of labour is too lmited—and it is
more or less limited in all places—the attention put
upon the catch-crops must result in interference with
the extension of the planting of coco-nuts. For there is
no catch-crop, even among those which demand the
least care, which can be handled without the use of
considerably more labour than is needed to keep the
coco-nuts themselves in such conditions that their
growth will be satisfactory. Catch -crops will also
require the care of the manager, and on plantations of
any considerable size, the attention of the manager can
usually be better devoted to the promotion of the coco-
nut culture alone.

Assuming, then, first, that catch-crops will not be
used, the thing to be done for the coco-nuts is merely to
see that they have a decent chance to grow, both in the
air and in the ground. Coco-nuts themselves do not
demand much cultivation of the ground, and except in
places where there are decidedly dry seasons what
cultivation there is must be quite superficial. On
light soil it is the general practice, and probably good
practice, to be contented with merely keeping the
surface clean. On soil which is very heavy or which
is inclined to crack, a little surface cultivation should
be given if labour is cheap enough to make it practicable.

Concerning the cleaning of the soil, it is necessary
to see that other plants do not interfere with the
supply of light for the coco-nuts, and that the other
vegetation around the trees is not thick or close enough
for its roots to interfere with the roots of the coco-nuts.
For some time after transplanting, a space of at least
50 centimetres around the nuts should be kept so
short as not to shade the coco-nuts at all. The best
plan is that for a metre or more around each tree,
the vegetation should be cut as near the ground as is

v FIELD CULTURE 137

most convenient, and that immediately around the tree
the ground be hoed often enough to keep it thoroughly
clean. The rest of the space between the rows of trees
can be left to itself so long as trees do not manage to
erow init. After six months it is desirable to extend
the circle which is hoed or thoroughly cleaned to at least
ametre. ‘This, however, is not so necessary that it is
recommended in places where labour is especially ex-
pensive, or so scarce that its use for this purpose would
interfere with the extension of the planting.

Such attention as has just been recommended is all
that under favourable conditions needs to be given
until the trees come into bearing. It is not only useless,
but is distinctly undesirable to clean and keep clean the
entire space between the trees, unless it is also kept in
cultivation. If the ground in the tropics is kept clean
and is not in use, it is sure to deteriorate both by
washing and by baking.

As deviations from the procedure which has just been
recommended, some writers have advised moderate culti-
vation for the coco-nuts at all times; and it is said that
at least in Ceylon there are some planters who make this
their practice. Mr. Orville Wood, an American planter
on the gulf of Davao, in Mindanao, states that as an
experiment he cultivated a part of a small grove of
young trees back of his beach, keeping the rest of the
grove clean but without working the ground; and that
at the end of six years the cultivated trees averaged
four inches more in diameter than the others. This is
indeed a very striking result, and it may prove, as the
trees produce, that the money spent in cultivation pays
better returns than it would have done if used in planting
and giving the merely necessary attention to a larger
number of trees. It is my personal opinion that under
most labour conditions, such care cannot profitably be
given to coco-nuts, and | am sure that where it is
practicable to cultivate to this extent, it is advisable to
raise catch-crops.

On the other hand, there are many planters in most

138 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

or all tropical countries who give their trees less attention
than is here advised. It is even stated that once the
coco-nut has been planted and been given a chance to
begin its growth, it can take care of itself without any
further attention. The fact is that in most places a
large part of the trees will survive if left to them-
selves; but no good planter will be contented with
merely seeing his trees survive. What the planter
wants is not coco-nut trees for themselves, but the
profit which they can be made to yield, and merely
surviving does not yield returns. I have seen prospectuses
and estimates which provide practically nothing for
labour on plantations from the first year up to the time ©
that the trees come into bearing, and which provide for
a full crop in ten years, with the further statement that
at least a fair crop should be expected earlier than this.
So far as I know, there is no country where coco-nuts
left to themselves in this way can be expected to come
into general bearing in ten years. They do better than
can be expected with any confidence if they come into
what is called full bearing in fifteen years, and full bearing
for such plantations never means what it does for those
which are decently cared for. I have seen various
plantations, for the most part small ones, which received
practically no care while young. In every case, there
were a considerable number of vacancies; the trees
always spindling, with a smaller crown than. coco-nuts
ought to carry; and as a rule, such groves as a whole
do not bear a decent crop of nuts when they are fifteen
years old. In spite of the fact that a great many
people treat their coco-nuts in this way, I do not
believe that anybody who has observed the matter
carefully enough to frame a sound opinion will hold
that the money invested in such plantations has been .
used to the best purpose.

Taking up now the other assumption, that a
catch-crop is to be cultivated, choice must be made
among the various crops which in different places are
used for this purpose. The catch-crop must be one

“SEL ahnd anf OT,

‘ajod v fq paqaoddns st young youg ‘sivod uades qnoqge ye ATIAvOT] Ivaq 04 SuluULsog

“HAUL ONNOA

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Vai ie
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v FIELD CULTURE 139

which does not need to keep the land for a long enough
time to interfere with the development of the coco-nuts,
or to have to be sacrificed when the coco-nuts need the
whole of the ground. This is equivalent to saying that
it must be a crop which can either be removed at the
end of not more than three years, or which can endure
being shaded after that time, by the coco-nuts. In
spite of the fact that it has already been advised that if
any catch-crop be grown a return of fertilizers be made
to the soil to balance what the catch-crop removes from
it, it is advisable in choosing the catch-crop to give the
preference to one which is known not to make too
heavy demands on the soil’s fertility. For instance,
tobacco if at all intensively grown, makes very heavy
demands on the fertility of the soil. In other respects,
it would be a valuable catch-crop, but for this one
reason, it is not in general to be recommended. So far
as possible, it is advisable to give the preference to
a catch-crop which will be consumed on the ground,
rather than to one which provides an article of commerce
which contains in considerable quantity any mineral
food ; and a crop whose seed or grain only is sold from the
plantation is better than one of which the whole plant
is sold.

Taking up now a few individual crops which might
be used in this way, the commonest choice is rice or
some other grain. Rice used in this way must be
upland rice. Except during the first year of use of
land previously in forest, upland rice requires a great
deal of weeding, and this work takes so much time
that where it must be done by hired day labour, this
labour must be exceedingly cheap or the crop can not
be made to pay a profit. Owners of small groves,
whose children or whose dependants can do this weeding,
and who therefore do not have to take its cost into
account, can raise it as a catch-crop among coco-nuts
better probably than any other crop. If nothing but
the grain is taken away from the soil, the latter is
impoverished in but a very slight degree, and the

140 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

expense for fertilizers to prevent this impoverishment
is therefore very little. Practically the same considera-
tions apply to other grains as do to rice. Maize is
everywhere easy to raise. Its use therefore makes less
demand upon labour. In most places it too is a
profitable crop, though the gross returns are not likely
to be comparable to those from rice. Because of its
height, maize must not be planted too close to young
coco-nuts.

In recently established coco-nut plantations in the
Philippines, it has been a very common practice to mix
coco-nuts and abaca. With a reasonable measure of
neglect, rather than of attention, the abaca is expected
to begin to yield returns during the third year, and to
continue to do so up to the tenth year. The theory is
that, in about ten years, the coco-nuts will come into
full bearing and the abacd will be worn out. This
combination of crops has little indeed to recommend it.
The abacd shades practically all of the ground by the
time that it comes into bearing. If an attempt is
made to plant it so far from the coco-nuts that the
latter are not shaded, there is practically no place left
to be occupied by the abaca (Musa textzlis).

Whenever I have seen the combination in practice,
the coco-nut is shaded, except for the tips of a few
leaves which grow straight up and close together,
before the end of the first year. The coco-nut, therefore,
during the first years, when the bole is first getting
established and the tree is fixing its habits of growth,
receives so little light that it forms fewer leaves than
it should, and these of slow growth, and starts life with
a slender stem which never afterwards becomes as stout
as it should be. From the standpoint of the coco-nyts,
the interplanting with abacd is therefore a thoroughly
bad practice. The mixture of the two crops might
still be a good business practice if it yielded very large
returns during the years that the abaca is in production.
But this is not the case. While the abaca at first
shades the coco-nutg, and hinders its development and

v FIELD CULTURE 141

does it permanent injury, the situation will be reversed
after three or four years, that is, almost immediately
after the abacd, begins to yield good crops. From this
time on, the abaca is shaded by coco-nuts. Shaded
abacd will never yield as good returns as abacd which
receives the whole of the sunshine, and uses the whole
of the sunshine in the building up of its fibres. More-
over, abacd is a crop of uncertain value. There are
years when its price is so low that it hardly pays to
harvest the fibre, and there is no return for the work
which it has taken to bring it to maturity. There are
other times when it pays handsome returns, and if one
is counting on his returns at this time of high prices,
he can certainly not afford to cut them in two by
shading his abac& with coco-nuts. Finally, both the
abacaé and the coco-nuts are surface feeders. Before
either one has yielded any crops, their roots will be in
active competition and doing each other mutual harm.

In spite of all these considerations, some abacd
planters maintain that their abacd cannot be expected
to return crops of fibre for more than ten or twelve
years, and that unless they have interplanted the
coco-nuts they will then have nothing of value on the
land, and that even rather inferior coco-nut trees are
much more valuable than nothing whatever. The
latter contention must be granted, but the former is
not true. Abacd which is given proper cultural treat-
ment will certainly continue to give big crops for at
least twenty-five years; this I know from actual
observation, and there was no reason to suspect that
the plantation which had given good returns for
twenty-five years might not continue to do so for as
much longer.

My own preference in the choice of a catch-crop,
if it is possible to utilize it, is manioc. Manioc is an
exceedingly heavy producer and can be made to pay
a very large return for the use of the land. This can
be done either by feeding the roots to stock, which
however can’ be recommended only with certain

142 ‘ THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

qualifications, and often only with certain treatment,
or by using the roots for the manufacture of starch or
alcohol. This is not the place to discuss these industries.
They are distinct and separate from coco-nut culture,
and must be understood both in their industrial and
their market relations before they can safely be
undertaken. Where market conditions are satisfactory,
it is practically certain that the production of manioc
starch or alcohol can be made in two crops to pay for
the necessary manufacturing equipment, for the clearing
of the land, planting of both crops, and the cultivation
needed by the land, and the return of fertilizers, and
still leave a good profit from the operation of establish-
ing the plantation.

There are various crops, of the garden rather than
of the field, with which this can be done on a small
scale, but there is no other which makes such slight
demands upon labour, nor which can safely be under-
taken on so large a scale, the reason for the last
statement being that the manufactured products from
the manioc are not perishable, and are marketable on
the world’s markets.

There is a superstition, or it might be more
respectful to say belief, that manioc is an exceedingly
hard crop on the soil. This is caused by the practice
formerly common in the Malay Peninsula, of clearing
land for manioc, and abandoning it, to return to grass
or brush, after harvesting two or three crops. There is
no doubt that land treated in this way deteriorates very
rapidly. In the Philippines land is very commonly
treated in exactly the same way, except that the crop
temporarily raised on it is usually rice. Still nobody
believes that rice is distinctly a hard crop on the soil;
and neither, as a matter of fact, is the manioc. The
soil would deteriorate almost as rapidly if the rice or
manioc were ploughed under and nothing at all taken
away from the ground. Observation has given me
considerable confidence in the opinion that the soil does
not deteriorate as rapidly in manioc as it does in rice.

v FIELD CULTURE 143

This has little to do with the relative rate of removal
of mineral food, but is simply because the manioc
keeps the soil more nearly in what may be called its
virgin condition.

All that has been said so far presumes that the
eatch-crop will be grown by the coco-nut planter
himself or under his direct supervision. If catch-crops
are to be grown, this is the most desirable way of
handling them. Frequently, however, it is not the
most practicable. All reasonably populous coco-nut
countries have also what may be called a tenant system,
known in different countries by different names, the
most familiar word adopted into English for this use
being “‘ Guioa,” the native Singalese name of a tenant.
In most parts of the world, this business is conducted
on the same general terms. The tenant has the use of
a young plantation during three years, more or less.
In return for the use of the “land, he keeps, or is supposed
to keep, the coco-nuts in proper condition. In some
places he is required to plant them; in others he enters
on the use of the land after the coco-nuts are planted.
In some places he pays some rent, in others he does not.
These conditions depend primarily upon the relative
value of labour and land. This arrangement spares the
coco-nut planter the necessity either of looking after
the condition of his coco-nuts or having his time taken
up with their care. The latter consideration is a valid
argument for the tenant system; but the former, so far
as the planter takes advantage of it, is almost sure to
work to his disinterest. Where no rent is paid for the
land and the tenant is not required to plant the coco-
nuts, the arrangement is in effect that the planter pays,
for such attention as his young trees receive, a certain
share of the freshness and fertility of his soil.

The attention which the trees receive in this way
is usually not worth the price. There are, of course,
conditions possible, and sometimes realized, under which
this tenant system is the best way in which the young
trees can receive any attention, or even the only way.

144 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Except where such exceptional conditions make its
adoption necessary, it is not to be recommended. It
will in general be more satisfactory, if tenants must
be employed at all, to shorten the time that they are
promised the use of the land, and to use the necessity
of renewing the contract as a means of insuring proper
attention to the coco-nuts.

CARE OF ADULT GROVES

From the standpoint of the care which it should
receive, a grove may be considered to be adult from the
time that it ceases to be possible to raise in it catch-
crops which require a considerable amount of light.
Except where the harvest is concerned, there is no
reason for treating differently a grove which has come
into bearing, and a grove in which the trees occupy all
of the space, but have not quite yet begun to bear.
Leaving neglect out of consideration, there are three
ways of handling groves whose trees have reached
practical maturity. The ground may merely be kept
decently clean, or it may be put into pasture, or catch-
crops may still be grown. If no attempt is made to
get returns from the ground except from the coco-nuts
themselves, it must still be given such attention that
no weeds can grow up to dispute the space with the
coco-nuts, or develop strong root systems. ‘The demands
would be satisfied in practice by going over the ground
with scythes or knives not oftener than twice a year,
and cutting off the vegetation at whatever height is
most convenient. In too many places the trees do not
receive even this attention.

The principal reason for taking greater care to keep
the grove really clean is one which will be emphasized
in discussing the methods of harvest. Where it is
customary to cut the nuts from the trees before they
become ripe enough to fall off themselves, it is not very
difficult to find the nuts after they are on the ground,
even though there be considerable vegetation to cover

AN ILL-KEPT GROVE.

Twelve to fifteen years old, beginning to bear.

To face page 144.

so

v FIELD CULTURE 145

them up. Some nuts are, of course, lost, but not many.
It will be shown, however, that for various reasons it is
a better practice to permit the nuts to ripen on the tree,
and to fall when fully matured. When this is done, it is
necessary to keep the vegetation between the trees cut
very close to the ground, as otherwise many of the nuts
will never be collected.

If the grove is kept in such condition that all nuts
on the ground can easily be found at any time, there is
no reason, from the standpoint of the coco-nuts, nor any
general reason on grounds of good farm practice, why it
should not serve at the same time as pasture. In almost
any part of the world, if the vegetation is steadily kept
cut so close to the ground that a coco-nut could not be
hidden, in time the weeds and woody plants, and even
the coarser grasses, will gradually be killed off, and their
places will be taken by more succulent grasses; and
these can be kept cut close to the ground much more
cheaply by the use of cattle than by the use of knives.
Kept on the plantation in such numbers as the rate of
srowth of the pasturage will justify, cattle therefore
will perform a useful service in keeping the plantation
in neat condition.

In young groves the use of such catch-crops as have
already been discussed becomes impossible after three
or four years, the time depending on the growth of the
coco-nuts. From this time on, if the trees are all equally
advanced, cattle may with advantage be turned into.
the coco-nut groves for pasture. It is not, however,
practicable to use them to keep the grove in good
condition while the trees are younger than this, because,
however well fed the cattle may be, they are sure to
tear the coco-nut’s leaves if the latter are within their
reach.

A great deal has been written regarding the fertilizing
value of the manure of the animals turned into the
coco-nut groves. Some of the most involved and
prolonged discussions come to the conclusion that at
the best cattle cannot be made to pay a profit in this

L

146 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

way. ‘This is self-evident without any discussion. Un-
less feed is purchased for cattle, or secured elsewhere
than from the coco-nut plantation, they can return
nothing to the soil which did not come from it. There
is therefore no opportunity for profit here; and suppos-
ing that their food does come in part from elsewhere,
and that therefore they add something to the richness
of the soil, it is hardly conceivable that this outside
food is obtained for less than its value as fertilizer. In
a small and not very important way the fertility of
coco-nut groves may be influenced by the use of cattle.
They may be kept in corrals or stables, all the time or
at night, and in this way their manure may be concen-
trated, and then applied to single parts of the grove
where it seems to be especially needed. Or the cattle
may be tied at night in places where their manure is in
demand, or may be tied for days or weeks at a time in
certain parts of the grove, and fed there with materials
from other parts of the grove or elsewhere. Where the
cattle are tied, the ground is fertilized and also cropped
closely. It is also likely to be tramped hard, and under
some conditions this tramping may seriously injure the
soil. As is true of most practices, any attempt to
influence the distribution of the manure or the fertilizers
in this way must be done with judgment, or it will do
more harm than good. In the use of stables, special
care must be taken that manure is not allowed to remain
in piles for long periods, else it will become a breeding-
place for the larvae of the rhinoceros beetles. One large
crop of this pest turned loose from the manure heap
can do more damage than can be compensated for by
the value of the manure.

The general subject of fertilizers is still to be taken
up. With regard to the value of cattle manure, it can
be confidently said that it is a good fertilizer; that
under exceptional conditions it is possible to distribute
it artificially or by control, and to apply it to points
where it is most needed, but that in general such
attempts are practicable only on a small scale, and that

v FIELD CULTURE 147

no important results can be expected from them; and
that at the best the cattle only return to the soil what
they take from it, somewhat improved in availability
but decreased rather than increased in amount.

From the standpoint of the coco-nut, the use of the
land as pasture is, on the whole, rather an advantage.
Such use takes practically nothing from the coco-nuts,
and saves expense in the care of the grove. ‘The question,
then, which the planter has to decide is, whether or not
he is sure of a satisfactory profit from the cattle. In
using coco-nut groves for pastures he has land which
practically costs less than nothing for this purpose, and
which for other reasons should be kept in good condition
for pasture. With free land already in good pasture
grass, it might seem most extraordinary if it were not
possible to raise cattle at a good profit. Nevertheless,
there certainly are places in the tropics where the
growing of cattle m large numbers, even with these
advantages, would be a doubtful undertaking. Whether
or not the individual coco-nut planter lives in such
a place is a question which he must settle for himself.

We have so far spoken only of cattle in connection
with the use of the grove for pasture. ‘There is nowhere
in the tropics any great industry in horses, nor are there
any data by which one might decide that a coco-nut
grove might possibly be used for horse pasture. It will
generally happen, however, because of the differences in
the feeding habits of the beasts, that horse pasture has
more need than cattle pasture of exposure to the light,
and that therefore the coco-nut grove is more likely to
be well used for cattle. There are also in the tropics
extensive industries in pigs and in goats. The goat
business 1s one which does not thrive on a large scale,
there being no extensive commerce in goats or any of
their products. This is not the case, of course, for the
products of hogs, and there is no apparent reason why
the tropics should not develop a business in pork, lard,
etc., the importance of which will be in some proportion
to the ease with which the feed of the hogs can be

148 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

raised. I am satisfied that it is possible to raise hogs
more cheaply in the tropics than in any temperate
country, and therefore expect to see the day when such
products as pork, as articles of commerce, shall reverse
their present direction of movement. But hogs in large
numbers are not desirable tenants of coco-nut groves.
They do not keep the groves as uniformly clean as
cattle would do, and their rooting is not good for the
roots of the coco-nuts. Where, however, the utilization
of the product of the coco-nut on the plantation is
carried to the point of the extraction of oil, oil-cake
is produced as a by-product; and if this is done, it is
almost certain to be the best economic practice to use
the oil-cake on the ground. Although the oil-cake is
an article of commerce as a fertilizer, a greater profit
can be obtained from its use by feeding it to cattle,
chickens, or hogs, and getting their excreta for use as
fertilizers, and getting the animals for sale.

We have discussed already catch-crops for use in
young plantations. These were by-crops, of kinds
which do not endure heavy shade. There are other
catch-crops which can be grown in old groves, and which,
at any rate on a small scale, it is good practice to grow
under old coco-nuts, unless the land is fully used for
pasture. I donot speak here of such trees as the jack-
fruit, tamarind, nor of any of the various others which
are occasionally found interplanted with the coco-nuts,
but which are more or less equal to the coco-nuts in
height, and which, therefore, are to be regarded as tak-
ing the place of a part of the coco-nuts in the field. A
catch-crop in adult coco-nuts must be a plant which
endures the shade of the coco-nuts, instead of disputing
the use of the sunlight with the latter.

Among possible catch-crops in coco-nut groves are
certain fruit-trees such as the lanson (Zanszum) and pili
nut (Canarium). Hither of these trees will thrive reason-
ably in the shade of the coco-nut, and will pay a bigger
profit for the use of the land than will the coco-nut
itself, provided it grows close to a good market. Neither,

THE PHILIPPINES.

Reimold

NOR PRODUCTS IN

MI

9

Photograph

To face page 148.

v FIELD CULTURE 149

however, produces products which can at present be put
on to a general world’s market in large quantities. The
practicability of raising them is therefore a_ local
question, and is usually quite limited. There are certain
garden crops, such as ginger, which are frequently grown
in shade; so far as these have to be of local consumption,
the same conditions apply to them as to the lanson and
similar fruits. Pine-apples are often grown under coco-
nuts, but, so far as | know, this is never done on so
large a scale that it is possible to dispense with the
demands of the local market and can the fruit. Among
crops which are able to reach wider markets, and there-
fore to be raised on a large scale, are cacao, coffee, and,
on a smaller scale, black pepper. As a general proposi-
tion, both coffee and pepper are crops into whose pro-
duction large quantities of labour must enter. It would
therefore seem that they might be very desirable acces-
sory crops for one which like coco-nut requires very
little labour. Asa matter of general economic propriety
this is no doubt the case ; but in practice at the present
time any district or country with an extensive coco-nut
industry is sure to be prosperous; and with prosperity
the price of labour usually rises to a point where it is
economically impossible to devote it to the production
of either coffee or pepper. The situation with cacao is
somewhat different. Labour for the production of cacao
does not have to be quite so cheap as is demanded for
the crops just considered, neither does it have to be so
abundant.

Markets for different crops change their relative
positions from year to year, and what could best be raised
last year may be produced at a loss by the next. Just
at this time it would appear that in places with extensive
coco-nut interests, but with population so dense that, in
spite of the high profit to be derived from the coco-nuts,
the value of labour remains reasonably low, the best crop
to be grown on a large scale on the same land which is
occupied by the coco-nuts is probably cacao. Where
coco-nuts are the principal crop, and the population is

150 THE COCO-NUT ue

not very dense, it will usually be found impracticable to
raise any other crop on a large scale between the
coco-nuts ; and the best practice in such cases will be to
cut down all vegetation between the coco-nuts and to
put the grove into pasture.

FERTILIZERS

More attention has been given to the effect of
different fertilizers than to any other phase of the study
of the crops of temperate regions. It is a widespread
feeling that the same attention would be equally profit-
able in the case of the coco-nut. In appreciation of the
importance of the subject, rather than in the expression
of our knowledge on it, Prudhomme devotes nearly one
hundred and fifty pages to the discussion of the need of
fertilizers under various conditions, of the fertilizers to
be employed, and of the method and time of application.
There are other treatises on the coco-nut which dismiss
this subject with a page or so, and even then omit very
little definite information. ‘There is no cultivated crop
which cannot be made more productive by the applica-
tion of fertilizers. If a cropis harvested year after year
from the same ground, as is done with the coco-nut,
there is a steady removal of food material. It is per-
fectly obvious that, assuming that this material comes
from the soil about the roots, there must be a steady
depletion of the stock of available food. This food store
is always a limited one. Moreover, it is almost always
less, even when the crop is planted, than would produce
the most thrifty development and yield. Fertilizers are
needed, then: first, to cause a production more ample
than the natural store of food suffices for; and second, to
replace what is taken away or tied up in the growth of
the plant.

Remembering as always that agriculture is a
business, we must consider, as each farmer must do for
himself, not merely what application of fertilizers would
produce an increased yield, but the profit which this

v FIELD CULTURE 151

increase of yield can with reasonable confidence be
expected to pay, over the cost of the fertilizers and of
their application. At the present time we have no sufhi-
cient knowledge as to the effect of any fertilizer upon
the coco-nut. If we had this, it would still be necessary
to take into account, from the standpoint of the coco-
nut, the different conditions in different localities, and,
from the standpoint of the planter, the relative value of
money invested in fertilizers, and of the same money
applied in other ways. ‘The effect of fertilizers is to
produce greater crops on a given area of land with a
given application of labour. If both land and labour
are expensive, the use of fertilizers will be relatively
profitable. Their cost varies comparatively little from
place to place throughout the world. They have a fixed
or but moderately varying value in the main centres of
distribution. Their value elsewhere is this primary cost
plus the expense of transportation; and the cost of
transportation, even though in some places considerable,
still results in a local value or cost of fertilizers very
much less fluctuating, from place to place through the
tropics, than are the values of land and labour.

There are also available in every place fertilizing
materials of local origin, which in most places are
neglected even though their cost would be very slight.
_ There are places in the tropics where both land and
labour are cheap, but such places are usually at decided
disadvantages in other respects. There are places, such
as the Philippines, where land remains cheap but labour
is becoming rather expensive; and others, such as
Ceylon, where land is expensive and labour remains
cheap. Where the combined cost of land and labour is
such that the establishment and maintenance in decent
condition of a plantation is relatively inexpensive, money
is likely to bring a better return if invested in the
extension of a plantation than it is if devoted to secur-
ing the highest returns from a given area.

- Aside from these purely business considerations, and
from the actual richness of the soil as indicated by

152 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

analysis, it has also been made as clear as possible in
these pages, that the utility of fertilizers depends
upon various factors which influence the physiological
behaviour of the trees, and upon soil conditions which
are not revealed by chemical analysis. The mineral
food of the soil is taken up by the plants in solution.
What they do not take up is at the best without value
to the trees, no matter how rich analysis may show the
soil to be. The conditions which cause active transpira-
tion will increase the mineral food at the disposal of the
plant, and will produce the same results as would the
application of fertilizers to the soil at the expense of
the planter. The same results can be achieved again
by such cultural methods as result in an ample develop-
ment of a root system free from competition with the
roots of other plants.

It is a foolish practice, indeed, to apply money to
the purchase and application of fertilizers, and then
allow these to be absorbed by weeds, or to be lost
because the root system of the coco-nut is not what it
should be, or to prevent the most complete possible
absorption of them by planting the coco-nuts so close
together that a proper rate and amount of transpiration
is impossible. Under proper conditions, the artificial
application of fertilizers will certamly be profitable.
But before recourse is had to this expensive method
of increasing the yield, intelligent care should be taken
that none of the cheaper methods of accomplishing the
same result have been overlooked, and that the cultural
treatment is such as will imsure the most complete
possible utilization of the fertilizers applied.

Turning to the soil conditions, it has been emphasized
over and over that the typical habitat of the coco-nut
is one in which it draws its food not merely from the
soil about its roots, but also from a moving body of
water continually coming to this soil from land located
above it. Soils which, if judged by chemical analysis,
would have to be regarded as hopelessly poor, are often
seen to produce coco-nuts with all the luxuriance which

v FIELD CULTURE 153

could be. desired. This is the condition along the
seashore at San Ramon. In such a location the
application of fertilizers will indeed produce some im-
provement in the crop, but is likely to result in very
little profit, or even in a loss of money. ‘The current
of water in the soil which brings other food to these
coco-nuts is usually taken up in very small part by the
roots of the trees. The rest moves onward, and if
fertilizers are applied to such trees in such quantities
as would produce the best results with crops differently
situated, the current of soil water must be expected
to carry a large part of them away with it. In the
ease of trees planted along the beach, artificial fertilizers
will therefore be carried into the sea and absolutely lost.
The propriety of using fertilizers, therefore, depends
upon soil conditions which can be recognized by analysis,
and upon other conditions which elude analysis.

It also depends directly upon the available supply
of water for the use of the plant. In localities which
have pronounced dry and wet seasons, fertilizers, to be
profitable, must be applied with especial care. Unless
water is artificially supplied, there will be parts of the
year in which the material in the soil is at least in
considerable part unavailable, because not dissolved in
water which the roots could absorb, and other parts
of the year when it is likely to be washed or leached
away by excessive water. The propriety of applying
fertilizers depends also upon the method of handling
the grove, whether or not catch-crops are grown, what
these crops are, and what they remove from the soil
or contribute to it. Sufficient details on this phase of
the question have already been presented.

Aside from our general knowledge of the demand
of plants for their mineral and nitrogenous food, and
of the conditions under which they will absorb and use
such food, there are two general methods of investigating
the need of particular crops for particular foods, and
of the utility and profit of applying particular fertilizers
to particular plants. ‘The first of these is chemical

‘

154 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

analysis. This is the quicker method. But in inexpert
hands even a good chemical analysis is not a safe guide
to practise, and even in the most competent hands
it is most valuable as a guide to experimentation.
A number of analyses of the parts of the coco-nut tree
or of whole trees, and of the products, have been made
in different parts of the tropics. Some of these analyses
are on their face not reliable, because the total of
constituents falls too far short of one hundred per cent.
Others seem to be good analyses, but are based on so
little material that they cannot be assumed to indicate
general conditions even for the locality where made.
And the remaining published analyses, which come
down to not more than three sets of figures made in
different countries, constitute together too small an
amount of information to be more than a general
indication of the demands which the coco-nuts make
upon the food in the soil. There are many crops of
temperate countries concerning which we have such
complete information as to the chemical composition
and the demands upon the soil, that it is possible from
the analysis of the produce of a given piece of land
to state almost positively that the crop in question
has, or has not had, a proper supply of each of the
most essential elements. In the case of the coco-nut,
the information is so meagre that it would be ridiculous
to draw such a conclusion from any analysis.

Our knowledge of the chemical composition of coco-
nuts, and of the products which are usually marketed,
is summed up in essential in the following tables. The
first table gives the weight of each part of a nut and
the per cent of the whole nut. The figures are averages,
based on the number of nuts indicated at the head of
each column.

[TABLE

v FIELD CULTURE 155

ANALYSES OF SAN Ramon Nuts, BY WALKER

. From one tree.
Sea-shore, 1000.) Inland, 1000.

Hardly ripe, 10.| Fairly ripe, 9. | Dead ripe, 10.

Perey |r per per
enh ao eee eentan ona ea cont

20-0) 268A SE 520) 30°4

5°8| 214 94] 201 | 12°9
10°3| 465 | 20°6) 453 | 29-1
13°9| 437 | 18°9| 384 | 24°6

2363 | 100-0 | 2285 | 100°0 | 3958 | 100°0 | 2384 | 100-0 | 1558 | 100°0

AsH ANALYSES

Grams, average, in one nut at San Ramon.

N. K,0.
Hick 94). |) 1609. | 3-915
Shelly a0). 140-660 | .0-947
Micah. a) ee 4-683 9-475
Mite en hy ste e313

Figuring on 173 to the hectare—the actual number
on a part of the San Ramon farm—and allowing for
an annual production by each tree of 40 nuts, or a
round total of 7000, the annual loss is:

In nuts. | In leaves. Total.

kg. kg. kg.
59°43 31°69 Seh2
60°55 74°82 US ossif
16°73 24°65 41°38

The following analyses by Lepine and Bachoffen
differ from Walker's in being based on single nuts
instead of large numbers. Bachoffen’s nut cannot
have been thoroughly ripe.

[ TABLE.

156 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

By Lepine. By Bachoffen.

Per cent of total ash. Per cent of total ash.
Total ash,

per cent Total ash
of total Calcium

weight. | Salts of K. Phosphate.

Ehask 721) 6°08 73°69
Shell’ © ckite 1°41 86°94
Meat. .. 1°10 61°81 24°54
Water .. 46°15 19-22

Coco-nut Caxkz, BY Sanson (Compilation)

Total ash . : : 4°46
Potash ~ \’. oi 40 Dt
Soda ‘ : : 2°30
é Lime - . ° Ae
Magnesia . ‘ : 2°95
Tron oxide : 3°56
Phosphoric acid .) ESOS

‘There is also about 3 per cent of nitrogen.
ry (ry Qrdinary copra contains about 6 per cent of water,
2°5 per cent of ash, and 1 per cent of nitrogen.

From these analyses it is safe to conclude that the
coco-nut uses both in its products and in its body a
conspicuously large amount of potash. The amount
of potash in ordinary soils is small enough, so that it
is a safe general conclusion that coco-nuts dependent
upon the local soil supply, without the continual
addition of fresh quantities brought by the soil water,
will respond to a profitable extent to the artificial
application of additional potash. Experiments here
and elsewhere indicate that this is the case.

To a less conspicuous degree as compared with crops
in general, the coco-nut ties up in its own substances
and in its products an appreciable amount of nitrogen.
To a still less extent, as compared again with crops in
general, it removes the phosphorus of the soil. It may

y FIELD CULTURE 157

be accordingly stated as a probably correct conclusion
that of these three most important fertilizing substances
the coco-nut in general demands potash first, nitrogen
next or withit, and then phosphorus. Even this much
of a conclusion must be regarded as tentative and of
by no means universal application. As evidence against
this order of importance, it should be remarked that
fish refuse, which is a fertilizer conspicuously rich in
phosphorus, seems always to produce a conspicuously
more thrifty development of the coco-nut.

The second method of investigating the need of
fertilizers and their effectiveness is experimentation in
their application and observation of the results. This
is the only method which gives absolutely reliable
evidence from the scientific pomt of view, or which
can give evidence which is certainly applicable to .any
particular coco-nut grove. The information available as
a result of work of this kind is astonishingly meagre.
The German Potash Syndicate has published a few
results indicating the profitableness of applying potash
alone and in combination. From personal knowledge
of the methods employed by the: Potash Syndicate in
securing such information, I can say that no suspicion
attaches to the validity of these statements because of
their origin. It has been clearly shown here, and on
private plantations in Ceylon, that the application of
potash has resulted in sufficiently more thrifty develop-
ment to make the treatment decidedly profitable. In
the experiments made, the application of phosphorus in
the form of basic slag has been likewise profitable.

There are also in the literature a considerable
number of notes by individuals, which purport to show
that by the application of fertilizers of one kind or
another excellent results have been produced. Such
statements are usually of questionable general value,
because experimentation of this kind by individual
planters is usually inexpert. The experiments are
likely to be undertaken without the necessary pre-
cautions to exclude interference by other factors, and

158 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

notes on the previous condition of the trees are very
often kept with too little care.

It is no unusual thing for a planter to apply a
fertilizer to a grove, and to report the immediate
increase in the yield as a result, and then to consider
that the experiment has been closed. An increase in
the yield during the six months following the applica-
tion is indeed not impossibly a result of it; but if a
very marked increase is observed during that time, it
is more likely to be due to something else than to the
fertilizer. From what has been stated in the earlier
pages, and from the observations which are made by
each class in this college, it is perfectly evident that
the principal effects of such treatment will make them-
selves felt from a year to two and a half or three years
after the application.

The most considerable result must be very indirect,
by an increase in the general vital activity of the tree.
In its application to the nuts, this may show, first, in
the production of larger nuts, which may be manifest
within six months but surely not much sooner than this;
or second, in the production and ripening of more nuts
on each bunch, which can hardly be evident within nine
months of the application, and is never likely to be the
chief factor in the increase ; or third, in the production
of a greater number of bunches of nuts, or, in other
words, in the more rapid succession of bunches. The
same factors which will so influence the thriftiness of
the tree as to cause the more rapid production of new
bunches can also be expected to produce larger nuts,
and are likely to cause rather more nuts to mature on
a bunch. The rate at which the bunches of nuts follow
one another depends upon their rate of development,
and on the rate at which they begin to be formed. So
far as we know, fertilizers have little or no influence
upon the rate of development. This is certainly con-
trolled by the supply of water in much more con-
spicuous degree. The number of bunches cannot be
greater than the number of leaves produced in any

v FIELD CULTURE 159

given time, and this is determined by the rate at which
the leaf primordia are developed around the growing
point of the trunk. Dissections of coco-nut trees show
from 17 to 23 or 25 distinct leaves which are not yet
visible without dissection. Microscopical study would
of course increase this number.

Assuming that there are 24 such leaves, and that
the rate of appearance is 16 a year, the youngest of
these will require a year and a half before the tip can be
detected in the crown of the tree. After a leaf becomes
visible, it requires at least six months for the production
of flowers in the axil and still another nine months for
the production of the fruit. Under the conditions which
have been assumed, which are approximately those
occurring in nature, it will therefore be two years and
nine months before an improvement in the cultural
conditions can, by increasing the rate at which the
new leaves are formed, increase the production of a
marketable crop.

It follows most obviously that data as to the
effectiveness of the application of any fertilizer are in-
complete unless carried on for more than three years
after the application. ‘The fertilizer has no direct effect
on the size of the nuts, or the tree’s ability to mature all
which set, or even the rate at which new clusters of
nuts are produced. Its first visible effect may be upon
the growth of roots or of leaves, both directly and in-
directly. Chiefly through its effect upon growth, a
fertilizer is expected to increase the rate of formation
of organic material by the leaves. And it is only after

it begins to make itself felt by an increase in the
assimilative activity of the leaves that it can begin to
have any influence upon the production of a crop.
If the time necessary for this effect upon the general
vegetative activity of the tree be added to the two
years and nine months,—which is probably already below
the time in which the rate at which the new leaves are
laid down can begin to influence the production,—it is
obvious that rather more than three years must pass

160 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

before the principal effect of fertilizing should be
realized. The effect of the best application of fer-
tilizers is by no means exhausted even during this
long interval. By improving the general vegetative
activity of a tree, the planter does not merely produce
an increase in the marketable crop in the ways which
have just been suggested; but beside this the supply
of organic food which the leaves produce makes possible
the development of larger leaves and so compounds the
advantage. The better supply of organic food tends to
produce greater activity in the growth of the roots, and
thus greater ability to absorb water and the food about
the base of the tree. There is then a greater area and
bulk of soil upon which the tree can draw for its water
and mineral food; and this in its turn tends to insure
a still greater production, even aside from the greater
richness of any given cubic foot of soil, resulting
directly from the application of the fertilizer. In these
ways the effect of a fertilizer may be felt over an in-
definite number of years.

On the other hand, the advantage which ought to
be secured from the use of fertilizers may be entirely
lost by failure to follow up the application by continued
proper treatment. The failure of the water-supply may
undo the profits which should be expected after two or
three years, by making it impossible for the tree to
properly develop the additional leaves and fruit clusters
which have been formed in embryo as a result of
temporary good treatment. If the tree is stimulated to
the production of more and larger leaves, which should
promise a continued increase in the crop, a failure of
water may still make this greater leaf expansion a
reason for fear; for the greater the need of water, the
greater the injury which will follow if the supply is very
inadequate. Again, the expansion of the root system,
which should follow the use of fertilizers, will have no
result except to bring the trees in keener competition
with each other, if they are planted so close together that
the available soil of a grove is already fully occupied.

v FIELD CULTURE 161

Good treatment of the coco-nut is a full system of
procedure, not a single act, nor a spasmodic burst of
attention. In order that any detail of the treatment of
a grove, however strongly to be recommended in itself,
may have the results which in a business sense should
be expected from it, it must be co-ordinated with all
of the other treatment which the plantation has received
and will receive in the future. The propriety of using
fertilizers depends not merely upon the amount and
upon their cost, and the cost of possible extension of
the grove, but also upon every detail of the treatment
which the grove receives in other respects, and upon
the attention which is given to all of the other needs
of the trees.

It is presumably because of the complexity of the
problem and of the difficulty in the interpretation of
results, and still more because of the long time which
must intervene between the application of fertilizers
and the drawing of even approximately final conclusions,
that reports from the various governmental stations
which have undertaken such work with coco-nuts are
still wanting. At least four such stations in the
tropics have published accounts of the undertaking of
systematic work of this kind, but none of them have
as yet made the results public.

We turn now to a brief discussion of the fertilizers
which are to be recommended, although on other grounds
than a sufficient knowledge of the results of their
application. The first and greatest need of the tree
seems to be that for potash. This can be furnished
in the form of ashes or manure, or as a commercial
fertilizer. The second need, for nitrogen, will in most
cases be most economically supplied by the use of green
manures. ‘he necessity of furnishing nitrogen depends
upon the method in which the grove is handled. If
it is kept clean by the burning of the fallen leaves
more nitrogen will be lost by the soil than if these
leaves are permitted to decay. If the grove is used
for pasture this may consist in considerable part of

M

162 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

leguminous plants which, with the excreta of the stock,
will maintain or even increase the soil’s natural wealth
of nitrogen. Hither as pasture or as a crop to be turned
under there are various legumes which will accomplish
this end. ven the sensitive plant which, as a weed,
is widespread in coco-nut plantations is eaten by cattle,
and contributes very materially to the stock of soil
nitrogen. There are other legumes which in young
groves will return a direct profit, but these have already
been mentioned under the head of catch-crops. The
third need of the plant for a mineral food is for
phosphorus. There are various commercial sources of
which the most common is perhaps basic slag.

The coco-nut removes, as compared with other
crops, but little of these elements from the soil. Aside
from the fertilizers which provide single food con-
stituents there are in general available for use on
coco-nut plantations the manure of live stock, and,
if oil is manufactured, the oil-cake of the coco-nut.
The manure of different animals varies in composition.
That of cattle contains in general terms 0°3 per cent to
0°5 per cent of nitrogen, 0°1 per cent to 0°2 per cent
of phosphorus pentoxide (commonly, but inaccurately
called phosphoric acid), and 0°01 per cent to 0°2 per
cent of potash. Cattle manure is a weaker fertilizer
than many people realize, and accordingly must be
applied in large quantities to produce conspicuous
results. It may then well be supplemented by the
application of ashes, or of a commercial fertilizer rich
in potash. Applied in sufficient quantities, it will pro-
duce results that are conspicuous indeed, as is evidenced
by one of our groves, a part of which has been used
as a corral.

The oil-cake contains materials which ought never
to leave the farm unless at a profit which will permit
the purchase of fertilizers to replace the material lost.
The composition of the oil-cake of course varies from
place to place according to the way in which it is

secured. Its ash, as a general proposition, amount to

——

and nitre Gen
d

v FIELD CULTURE 163

about 8 per cent of the total weight. The composition
of this ash can be seen from the table of analyses
already given.

The need of fertilizers on the plantation obviously
depends in a very high degree upon the use to which
the trees are put; that is, upon the commercial product
which is sold from the plantation. If, for instance, oil
is sold and the oil-cake is kept on the place, and either
applied directly as a fertilizer or fed to animals whose
manure is returned to the soil, the theoretical loss of
food material is reduced to zero. There is of course
a slight actual loss, as nothing can be taken from the
soil and kept upon its surface without some being
washed away, and as decay is inevitably accompanied
by a loss of more or less nitrogen; but such losses
are inconspicuous. If the trees are used for the pro-
duction of toddy the loss of mineral food is again
very slight. Fresh toddy contains about 0°02 per
cent of nitrogen, and the total ash amounts to about
one-fourth of 1 per cent. If from the toddy, sugar
or alcohol is produced, a considerable part of the
fertilizmg materials in the sap will be separated as
waste products and can be returned to the soil.

If copra is produced and sold, the amount of
material lost from the soil can be calculated from the
analyses already given. In making such a calculation
it is merely necessary to assume a reasonable number
of trees per hectare and a reasonable yield per tree.
To make calculations for a given plantation the number-
of trees actually present and the actual yield of nuts
will furnish a basis for the calculation. As a genera]
proposition copra contains from 1 per cent to 3°65
per cent of ash; a convenient approximate figure is
2°5 per cent. The larger part of this is potash, which
is 1°35 per cent, more or less. Phosphoric acid amounts
to about one-half of 1 per cent. If the product
marketed is desiccated coco-nut, the loss of food from
the soil is the same as when copra is sold. If coir is

sold, or if for any reason the husks of the coco-nut

164 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

leave the plantation, there is of course a very great
additional loss of fertilizing materials. If the husks
themselves are sold, the loss is materially greater
than when the coir is sold after its extraction from
the husks. The greatest loss of all is of course by
the sale of the whole nuts. Yet this is the common
form in which to market the produce in some parts
of the world, and the chief form wherever transportation
facilities are such that nuts can be laid down at
reasonable cost at the centres of commerce in temperate
countries.

In the past the manuring value of the constituents
of the coco-nut has been better understood, or at least
better appreciated in practice, in various temperate
countries than it has where the coco-nuts are produced.
It is evidently in the permanent interest of the planter
to produce oil on the ground rather than to sell copra.
But the oil-cake made in many tropical countries is
without local cash value, while it has sufficient value
in other places, so that copra-buyers can, if necessary,
bid up to the full oil value of the copra, and make
the profits and the cost of transportation and manu-
facture out of the sale of the oil-cake.

THE HARVEST

The proper time for the harvest of the nuts depends
somewhat on the use to be made of the crop. In the
rare cases in which the production of coir is the chief
end the nuts are not allowed to become very nearly
mature. But in most cases the making of coir is not
a consideration at all, and only copra is directly pro-
duced. The copra in its turn is sooner or later used
for the manufacture of oil, and its value depends
entirely on the quantity and quality of the oil which
can be made from it. ‘To produce the greatest quantity
and best quality of oil, and to produce it most easily
and cheaply, the nuts must be entirely ripe. A nut
is ready for the seed-bed when it is really ready for

iy FIELD CULTURE 165

copra-manufacture. By that time the husk has become
shrunken, the meat thoroughly hard, and the hollow
inside it about one-third empty, so that when it is
shaken the water will make a sharp splash against the
meat. The nut loses in weight and size for more than
two months before it is ripe, but throughout this
shrinkage there is a material increase in the content
of oil.

This change in weight as the nut ripens is shown
by the following analyses of San Ramon nuts, by
Walker.

Hardly ripe. Fairly ripe. Dead ripe.
Average of Average of Average of
10 nuts. 9 nuts. 10 nuts.

Husk antes f 20 Og, 1268 g. 520 g.
Shell : : : 227 214 201
Meat : 405 465 453
Water . : 4 BAT 437 384
Total : : 3958 2384 1558

These nuts were all taken at one time from one tree.

As the husk grows tougher and the shell harder,
at the same time that the nut becomes much lighter
in ripening, dead ripe nuts are very much less likely
to be broken by falling from high trees than are nuts
which are not fully ripe. If nuts are harvested by
cutting, it is impossible in practice to wait until each
bunch is fully ripe, and in old groves there is always
an appreciable loss, from the breaking of some of the
nuts not yet ready to fall. Moreover, if the nuts are
cut it is not economically possible to separate the dead
ripe nuts from those nearly ripe, even though they can
be distinguished. They are all opened together, and
in this way some oil is lost, and the copra produced is
not uniform. In a business sense the most inexcusable
of all losses on a coco-nut plantation is that resulting
from the production of any but the highest possible
grade of copra. ‘This is equally true, whether the

166 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

copra is sold, or whether the oil is extracted on the
place.

For a number of reasons, then, it is clear that the
best way to harvest the nuts is to permit them to ripen
fully on the tree until they fall.

In spite of the strong reasons for this conclusion
most coco-nut planters, the world over, cut the nuts
down. The chief reason for this is that they do not
understand that incompletely ripe nuts produce less
copra and poorer copra, and that it is harder to dry.
And it is a fact that the individual planter must usually
sell his copra on a market where he gets a price fixed
by the general quality of the product of his region.
There will be more to say on this point in connection
with the manufacture of copra. Another reason why
nuts are cut is the force of custom. Men with few
trees have everywhere preceded plantations. It is
convenient for them to harvest a crop and use it, and
be done with it for some months. The same is true of
. plantations just coming into bearing. The first crops
are too small to justify frequent search for fallen nuts,
or the constant or very frequent drying of copra, and
immature nuts are not likely to break when they fall
from young trees. As plantations develop the custom
of cutting down the nuts is kept up, after the real
reason for it ceases to exist.

There are of course reasons to be found for cutting
down the nuts. It is sometimes found that nuts
germinate without falling. This is a bad characteristic
of rare trees; their nuts should be rigorously excluded
from seed-beds. Excessive dampness can also, rarely,
cause germination on the trees; coco-nuts will not
thrive where the air is so damp that this is common.

It is objected that some nuts are lost if they drop
as they ripen. If the place is decently clean, even
though it be on a steep hillside—at least as steep as
coco-nuts will thrive on—less nuts need be lost than
would be broken if prematurely cut. There are
sufficient reasons, altogether aside from the ease of

v FIELD CULTURE 167

finding the fallen nuts, why the grove should be kept
in such condition that very few nuts need be lost. It
is said that the collection of fallen nuts is expensive,
because of the necessity of frequent search for them ;
but search as frequent as is necessary does not cost as
much as cutting down the nuts. And finally, there are
many energetic planters who think their trees are not
well cared for unless the crowns are cleared of the dead
bases of leaves and fruiting branches, and who find it
most convenient to have this work and the cutting
down of the nuts done together. If this cleaning is to
be done it is true that cutting down the nuts costs
practically nothing in addition. But the cleaning out
of the crowns is itself, more often than not, a misguided
effort. ‘There are cases in which it is necessary; for
instance, when there are rats’ nests to be removed.
But in general it is not necessary, and unless very care-
fully and moderately done it is dangerous. Any care-
lessness in such work may make the tree a victim of
red beetles, or of certain fungi, or possibly of bud rot.
And it is no rare occurrence for cleaning to be so
excessive that the lower, heavy bunches of nuts are left
without sufficient support. Even if a knife does no
more than cut off the green stem of a cluster of nuts it
leaves a possible point of infection by some of the
enemies of the tree.

And still most planters have the nuts cut down.
This is done in various ways, each land having its local
method, in the practice of which the men concerned
become very skilful. In the upper part of the great
coco-nut forest encircling Mount Banajao, in Luzon, the
trees are not climbed, but the clusters of nuts are cut
off by men who remain on the ground, using the
‘“halabas.” <A short, sharp knife is firmly fastened to
the end of a slender bamboo, so that the blade points
obliquely downward, toward the lower end. A good
pull severs the stalk of the nut cluster. For work in
groves of much age additional pieces of bamboo are
slid into the lower end of the first one and firmly tied ;

168 THE COCO-NUT eee

several of these extra joimts have to be used in old
groves. When the nuts are cut in this way the crowns
are not cleaned, and the trees thrive on this kind of
neglect. Another advantage is that the trees are not
notched. And this is the most expeditious way in
which nuts can be cut down. There would seem to be
somewhat more danger of cutting greener nuts than are
wanted than there is when the tree is climbed; but
the gatherers are so well acquainted with their business
that they usually know exactly what they are getting.

When the trees are to be climbed the commonest |
practice is to cut notches at convenient intervals on the
alternate sides of the tree, so that the climber holds the —
tree with his hands and walks upit. If the notches are |
not cut in too young wood, and are not made too deep,
they do not seem to injure the tree; but these condi-
tions cannot be guaranteed. In groves of notched trees
there are always many individuals showing deep decayed
spots, starting from the notches. The notches must
also permit occasional attack by red beetles and fungi.
The safest practice is certainly never to touch a healthy
tree with a knife.

In the extreme west of Africa the natives stick pegs
in the side of the tree and use these as steps.

It is possible to climb the trunk and cut down the
nuts without any special arrangements whatever. This
seems from Prudhomme’s account to be the practice in a
large part of Madagascar, where the native climbers are
said to become so expert that any special devices would
seem superfluous.

In many places, for instance in Ceylon and India, it
is common practice to facilitate the climbing by passing
the feet through a loop just long enough to hold them
where they will hold the trunk most tightly. The loop
is most effective if twisted once between the feet.
Holding the trunk with the feet and the hands the
climber goes up it like a measuring worm. A longer
rope or band passing around the trunk of the tree and
the hips or waist of the climber is sometimes used as a

ie FIELD CULTURE 169

help in climbing, and is very useful when the top is
reached. ‘The climber leans back, pulling it tight, and
then has both hands free for his work. This arrange-
ment is used by the toddy-gatherers of Ceylon and
India, and in collecting the nuts by the Bicols of
southern Luzon. It may be regarded as the most
refined method of cutting down the nuts.

In spots in the Dutch Indies and in Sarawak
monkeys are sometimes trained to climb trees and throw
nuts down. Regarding Sarawak, this statement is
made on the personal observation of Dr. Foxworthy.
Most of the monkeys are held and controlled by a cord
while they work, but some of them become expert and
reliable enough so that they are let loose and will
collect only ripe nuts. A few of these trained monkeys
are exported from Sarawak to the Malay States.

%

°

CHAPTER VI
COCO-NUT PRODUCTS

Toddy.—If you cut or break the skin and continue
to irritate the spot, there will be produced a sore from
which a fluid which is not blood will be excreted. This
flow of fluid is not due to pressure from the inside, but
is excreted by the activity of the sore itself. The same
treatment will produce a similar result from a mass of
active vegetable tissue, and this fact is taken advantage
of to secure a flow of juice from various palms. The
juice obtained in this way from the palms is always
rich in cane sugar (sucrose), and may therefore be used
as a beverage, or for the manufacture of an alcoholic
beverage, or of sugar, or of vinegar. Where palm saps
are the base of any considerable commerce, they are
usually obtained from the Palmyra or Nipa palm or
from a species of Phoenix, rather than from the
coco-nut, which furnishes other products which are
better adapted to taking a place on the world’s markets.

The general practice in producing a palm wine from
the coco-nut is to use for the purpose such coco-nuts as
are already at hand; these are usually trees which have
been planted for the production of nuts. It has already
been pointed out, in the discussion of varieties, that the
dwarf varieties which come into bearing after about
four years, which ought never to be planted for copra
production, have great and evident advantages as
sources of toddy, and should always be planted when
this is expected to be the chief source of revenue.

170

COCO-NUT TAPPED FOR TODDY.

Photograph by Bureau of Science, Manila.

T'o face page 170.

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CHAP: VI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 171

The method of obtaining the sap differs with the
different palms. In the case of the coco-nut the sap is
obtained from the unopened inflorescence. The first step
in securing it is to bend the inflorescence down so that
the sap will drip freely from the cut end. This bending
must be done slowly and carefully in order that the
stem of the inflorescence may not be broken. The
operation begins when the inflorescence is 45 to 75
centimetres long, in general when its length is about
60 centimetres. -The toddy-collector recognizes as a
mere matter of general judgment the proper condition
for the beginning of this work. If a rule is called for
in the Philippines, that given is that an inflorescence is
ready for the bending to begin when the next younger
inflorescence has about reached the length of 10 centi-
metres. The bending is done two or three times a
day, the tip being drawn downward a very little each
time, and the whole operation requiring one or two
weeks. When the bending down is more than half
done the tip of the inflorescence is removed with a
sharp knife, enough being cut off so that the upper
ends of the younger branches of the panicle are also cut.

In Java it is customary to remove at the same
time the entire bract (the spathe) which enclosed the
panicle, but this is not done in the Philippines, Ceylon,
or India. If this is done, it is obviously necessary to
tie the branches of the panicle very firmly, so that they
may not spread out at all. In Ceylon and India it is
customary to bind the bract very firmly by taking a
thong and winding it around the inflorescence, working
from the base upward, and putting in a knot each
time that the thong goes around the spathe. This is
sometimes done in the Philippines, but is not a general
practice, to prevent such a growth of the inflorescence
as would burst the spathe. It is also the practice in
Ceylon and India to pound the cut end and the outside
of the bract with a bone or piece of hard wood. The
beating bruises the cut surface and contributes to the
production of the condition of the wound which will

172 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

result in the flow of sap; and also by slightly bruising
the unexpanded inflorescence inside the bract, contributes
to preventing such a growth as would burst the latter.

In the Philippines and Java the usual practice is to
rely on the cutting alone to produce the flow of sap.
After the tip of the spathe has been removed the cut
is renewed morning and night, and sometimes a third
time daily, a very thin slice being removed each time,
with as sharp a knife as possible. The length of time
that this treatment must continue before the sap
begins to flow depends upon the expertness of the
worker, and probably upon the condition of the tree as
well. A good worker will get a flow of sap after three
days; but the time said to be usually necessary in
some countries is four or five days, or sometimes even
longer. When the sap begins to flow, a vessel is tied
under the tip of the inflorescence to receive it as it
drops. or this purpose a joint of bamboo is always
used in the Philippines and Malaya, while in India and
Ceylon an earthenware jar is employed. An explana-
tion of this difference may be that in the Philippines
the sap is used only as a beverage or for production of
liquor, while in India the toddy is often used to make
sugar. The top of the bamboo is sometimes screened
in Java. In the Philippines there is not only no care
taken to keep this bamboo jar clean, but a clean joint
of bamboo is regarded as unsuitable; the reason for
this being that bamboo tubes which have been used
contain ferments which hasten the production of
alcohol in the toddy. To prevent attack by insects, or
fermentation in the cut tip, a Philippine practice is to
put the juice of red pepper on it daily.

In Ceylon and India the practice is for the toddy-
collector to climb each tree. These men are known in
Ceylon as ‘‘sanars,” and naturally become exceedingly
expert climbers. They climb the trees by the aid of a
rope which fastens the ankles together, and at the top
of the tree pass another rope around the tree and their
own bodies, so that both hands are left free for work.

gos =:
_---
ge
Y a I ieee
Me ah CRN Re 8 j
J > .

GROVE DEVOTED TO TODDY, LA LAGUNA.

Photograph, Reimold.

TnereeRsm

To face page 172.

oe

mee COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 173

The usual work of one sanar is to care for thirty or
forty trees. In the Philippines it is customary to
devote a solid grove to toddy production, and to
connect the trees of this grove by bamboos, which are
tied from tree to tree just far enough below the crown
so as to provide a convenient stand for the toddy-
collector’s work. Hach of these bridges is made of two
bamboos, one to walk on and one to hold to. The
toddy - collector always carries a vessel, whether a
bamboo or not, into which he pours the sap which has
flowed from each inflorescence, leaving in its old place
the vessel into which the sap has dropped. By the
method in use in the Philippines it is common for one
collector to take care of as many as a hundred trees.
Kach time that the tree is visited another thin slice is
removed from the cut surface. Expertness in this work
consists very largely in the removal of the thinnest
possible slice by a single clean stroke of the knife. If
the cut is not a clean one the flow of toddy is interfered
with, and the thinner the slice the longer the flow of
toddy can be kept up from each inflorescence.

The business is so highly developed in the Philip-
pines that one special form of knife is made for
the cleaning of the inflorescence which goes with the
bending, and another special form of knife for the
slicing of the cut end. These knives are not articles of
commerce but are made locally for the purpose. Failure
to remove the slice when the toddy is collected results
promptly in a decreased flow. If a slice is removed
three times daily instead of in the morning and at
night only, a greater flow can be obtained for the
twenty-four hours. But this increase is not proportional
to the number of slices removed, and therefore results
in a decrease in the total yield of an inflorescence.

If the work is expertly done, each inflorescence will
continue to give a good flow until the remaining stub
becomes so short that it is not practicable to collect the
juice, or until only the stem of the inflorescence remains.
In Ceylon a single inflorescence flows for thirty or

174 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

forty days, or less. The result is that the usual number
of inflorescences producing toddy at one time is the
most of the time only one on a tree. In the Philippines
there are usually two inflorescences being tapped on a
tree, and it is not rare to find three. If a tree is used
exclusively for toddy production it becomes weakened
after a time, the flow of sap decreases, and the tree
may be permanently injured. To prevent this the
Ceylon practice is said to be to permit about one in-
florescence in three to produce nuts. In the Philippines
every inflorescence of the tree is used for some months,
and the tree is then given a rest and allowed to produce
nuts only for some time.

With regard to the yield of sap there is a wide
divergence in the figures given. The yield obtained
depends very largely upon the expertness of the
collector and also on the condition of the tree, which in
turn is much influenced by the weather. In periods of
drought the yield is much less than when the tree is
well supplied with water. There is one statement
quoted from Watt's Dictionary of Economic Products
of India after Cleghorn, that forty trees yield about
12 Madras measures daily, seven in the morning and
five in the evening ; this indicates a production by each
tree of about 200 cc. a day. Another statement by
Watt after Shortt is that the average quantity obtained
is three or four quarts daily for two or three weeks
from each spathe. Watt further states that in
Ratndgire the yield is 35 to 64 imperial gallons a year ;
and in Kolaba, 2°2 litres a day or 47°7 litres a month,
the latter rate being equivalent to 1°56 litres a day.
The most careful measurements from Java are those of
Molisch, who obtained 0°57 of a litre a day for fourteen
days, 0°54 of a litre for nine days, and 0°3 to 04 of a
litre, daily for fourteen days, from three different in-
florescences. Molisch found at one time a flow of more
than a litre a day from a single spathe. *

Gibbs has recently made careful observations, on a
large scale, of the yield in the Philippines. For one

INTERIOR OF DISTILLERY.

To face page 174.

vi COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 175

year, from April 1909 to April 1910, the average daily
yield of 5785 trees, which furnish toddy for seven
distilleries in Tayabas, was 0°65 of a litre. The
averages for the different distilleries varied from 0°36
of a litre daily for 700 trees up to 1°03 litres daily for
1052 trees. ‘These differences could not be explained
by Gibbs except on the supposition that in many cases,
or in all; the want of expert treatment resulted in a
much smaller yield than might have been obtained.
Accordingly, he had measurements made on 100
supposedly average trees in the groves whose product
was brought to one of the distilleries. These measure-
ments continued over 33 days, and the average
yield was 1°435 litres per day for each tree. Two of
the days were rainy, and leaving these out of account
the average for 31 clear days was 1°38 litres. Since
the average yield for all the trees under observation
for the year was 0°65 of a litre, while 1°38 litres were
obtained by especially expert collecting, Gibbs concludes
that intelligent management will increase the production
per tree by more than 112 per cent. There is no
doubt that this high rate of production would exhaust
the tree rather rapidly. Nevertheless, the principal
item in the cost of toddy is the collecting, and it would
therefore be a very great improvement in the business
if the collectors were all expert, and the trees given
correspondingly longer resting periods.

There are Philippine data available on a still larger
scale. For the calendar year 1909 there were tapped
for toddy in the province of La Laguna 10,109 trees,
and the total yield was 2,103,286 litres, or an average
for the year of 208 litres per tree.

Composition of the Sap.—Gibbs’s analysis of the
composition of sap in which fermentation had been pre-
vented as completely as possible shows the following
results :

[TABLE

176 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Flow
from one
flower-
stalk
during
the night.

Density

a Total Polariza- | Sucrose

F a Invert Preservative
solids. aul ony a ae sugar. employed.

Sample
No.

— I ] |. |), |

cc.

1 665 17-75 | 0°88 | 15:02 15°66 | 0°87 | 1 ce. formalin
2 635 18-08 | 0°40 | 14:28 | 14:99 | 1:78 \:

3 575 17-25 | 0°34 | 14°92 | 15°55 | 0°39 | 1g. HeOl,

4 470 L797) | OF86 15°23 15°89 aa ~

5 3860 17°95 | 0°39 10°75 12°95 7°13 | 1 ec. formalin
6 360 17°95 | 0:32 14°12 14°42 1°53 oa

7 440 19°13 | 0°39 | 15°31 | 16-02 | 0-71 | 1g, HeCl,
Sas 440 18°32. | 0°47 14°99 16°49 0°71

39

The first four trees in this table were forty years old,
and the last four twenty to twenty-five years. ach tree
had two flower clusters giving sap at the time the sample
was collected. Five of the samples showed no acidity,
two contained 0°03 of 1 per cent figured as acetic acid,
and one contained 0°08 of 1 per cent. Only one of the
samples showed a trace of alcohol.

From this table, and from some other analyses,
Gibbs concludes that perfectly fresh sap may be expected
to have about the following composition, stated in
grams per 100 ce.

Density . : Ae
Total solids. ‘ i ie
Acidity . : : : . Trace
Ash : : : ; : . O40
Sucrose . y : : ‘ . 465
Invert sugar . ‘ ‘ Trace

Undetermined nitrogenous compounds, etc. 0°60

Reducing sugars are nearly or quite absent in the
perfectly fresh sap.

This sap no sooner falls from the tree than its com-
position begins to change; and if the fermentations in
it are not interfered with, they go through a series of
which the first 1s under the influence of an unorganized
ferment or enzyme, called invertase. This is formed in
the sap in the presence of oxygen, and acts with
remarkable speed, so that by the time the toddy is_
collected from the trees but little sucrose remains, and

*

vi COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 177

the sap is rich in reducing sugars unless these in their
turn have been fermented. The reducing sugars are
fermented, with alcohol as a main product, by means
of yeast. As the alcohol accumulates, it, in turn, is
acted upon by still a third ferment, in this case a
bacterium, and this time the principal product is acetic
acid. How rapidly this series of fermentations goes on 1s
illustrated by one of Gibbs’s analyses of a sample preserved
at 10 o’clock in the morning, the sap being that which
flowed during the preceding night. The analysis is
given in grammes per 100 cu. cm.

Density : : soe Ot
Total solids . ; sy hon
Acidity as acetic . Tj O08
Alcohol : : * G:00
NSH é 4 POA
Sucrose : ; re O29
Invert sugar : Baie se).

How far these fermentations should be allowed to
proceed and what efforts should be taken to prevent
them depend of course upon the use which is to be
made of the toddy.

The principal uses of the toddy are:

First: As a fresh beverage.

Second : For the production of alcoholic beverages.
Third: For the production of sugar.
Fourth: For the production of vinegar.

The last of these is of comparatively little importance.
Another minor use is as a source of yeast for making
bread. Throughout the Hast, toddy is the usual source
of yeast, both for indigenous people and for Kuropeans.

Fresh toddy will usually have about the alcohol
content indicated in the above analysis, that is, 6 per
cent, unless pains have been taken to prevent the
alcoholic fermentation. In some parts of the Hast it is
usually used with about this amount of alcohol, while in
others the preference is for a sweeter and fresher drink.
Where the demand is for a moderately alcoholic beverage,
no attempt is made to keep the vessels in which the toddy

N

178 THE COCO-NUT ae

is collected clean. In Java the more general demand is
for a sweet drink, and to secure this the bamboo vessels
used are changed each time the toddy is collected, and
a new one, or one which has been carefully cleaned, is
used for each collection. Where earthenware vessels
are used, the same pains are taken for the same purpose.

The value of the toddy depends altogether on the
local demand for it and on the supply. Its taste is
somewhat different from that of toddies obtained from
other palms, so that its price is not fixed by the latter.
It sells at a higher price than some of the other palms’
saps. In the Philippines, the commonest price is one
centavo a glass. Where the sap is scarce for any reason
the price is high, and where there is a large distilling
business the price is low because this is above the price
paid by the distillers.

The toddy remains a desirable drink for a very short
time, and therefore is never an object of other than local
business. In the neighbourhood of cities, large numbers
of coco-nut trees can be used for its production, but on
plantations, or where there is an extensive coco-nut
industry, only a very small fraction of the trees can be
tapped with profit. So far as the market exists, this
use of the tree is a very profitable one. Welborn figures
that at two cents for each collection from a tree and
collecting the sap twice daily, the total yield of a tree
will be 14°60 fl. per annum, while the usual rental value
of a coco-nut tree is only two guilders. The fresh toddy
has a peculiar taste which is not usually found agreeable
at the first taste, but for which an appetite is easily
acquired.

Sugar.—The use of coco-nut toddy as a source of
sugar is very old throughout the Far East. The
business, however, is everywhere a purely local one.
The sugar content of the sap as it flows from the tree
is high enough for the sap to be figured as:a cheap
source of cane sugar, but the fermentation is so rapid
that the sugar which can be made from it is decidedly
high-priced. Where there is a considerable commerce

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 179

in palm sugar in southern India, the coco-nut is not its
source. For personal use, many of the peoples of
Malaya and Polynesia prefer coco-nut sugar to cane
sugar because of its flavour, and in certain parts of
Java, especially in Bagalen and Kedoe, there is a
sufficient manufacture of it to amount to a local
industry of some importance. The same is true on the
west coast of Sumatra. For the manufacture of sugar,
it is necessary to inhibit the fermentation of the sap as
completely as possible. The commonest way of doing
this in Malaya and Ceylon is to put into the vessels
which collect the sap a little of some finely powdered
bark which is rich in tannin. The sugar which is
Lay in this way is called “jaggery.” From good
sap, yy the weight of jaggery can be produced. The
quality of the j jaggery depends altogether upon the care
with which it is prepared. It can be refined and made
into a clean, white sugar, but this is rarely done, and
probably does not increase its commercial value.

Arrack.—Arrack is the Malay name of strong liquor,
and has been taken up by Europeans for the liquor
distilled from palm saps. In the Philippines this name
is found in the form “alak,’ but the product is now
generally known by the Spanish word “ vino”’ (‘‘ Bino”),
although strictly speaking it is a brandy rather than a
wine. The manufacture of arrack, whether as a local
industry or on a reasonably extensive scale, is wide-
spread in the East and in most places under strict
governmental supervision. In Ceylon the revenues reach
two million pesos a year. In the Philippines the direct
tax on the manufacture of coco-nut arrack in 1910 was
P698,823, and the business is increasing from year to
year. From taxes on the traffic in alcoholic liquors,
the government derives considerable additional revenue.

~The amount of yield of arrack and its value can best
be shown by reproducing Gibbs’s tables.

[| TaBLE

180 THE COCO-NUT

CHAP.

THE Cost oF PRODUCTION AND THE SELLING PrRicE oF Coco DISTILLATES,
TOGETHER WITH THE AVAILABLE DaTA FOR THE PRODUCTION FROM A
FEW DISTILLERIES AND PROVINCES DURING THE CALENDAR YEAR 1909.

The prices in this table are expressed in Philippine currency. One peso is equivalent
to $0°50 of United States currency. Proof alcohol is 50 per cent.

to} 9) ‘ ome voy oO mo 4 a
A i 5 2ea|/¢8 | saute eee
b> is z Pra | 2 Ra | 8 B5
Province. © Ss =s 3; zo) ae a o8 |wau| -s
a 7 & a°5|Sy | SE | on8| &8
zs = 3S Eon | 8. | Se eee ore
A z 8 |aes|ese| <° |Ske| &
E pes ht eve pe eer
litres. litres.
Tayabas 1 162,355 | 1,273,396 | 7°40] 6°76 | 90°50] 0°19 | 0°50
As 2 261,193 aa 8°23 | 6°07 | 82°00} 0°20 | 0°52
bs 3 280,899 8°43 | 5°93 | 86°50] .. 0:52
nm 4 93,096 7°52] 6°65 |90°50} ... | 0°49
a 5 89,698 8°18 | 6°11 whe 0°21 | 0°54
he 6 148, 204 7°85 | 6:37 0°22 | 0°54
HS 7 215,751 As 7°89 | (Graoy ae 0°55
Laguna All | 2,103,286 | 2,103,286 | 7°84] 6°38 | 78°00 0°425
Albay . 1 633,719 | 1,145,119 | 8°35] 5°99 | 57°00 0°466
NeThy hae is tua 2 511,400 ae 10°30 | 4°85 | 58°50 0°41
A. Camarines. 1 337,820 | 1,257,163 | 7°60] 6°58 | 55°00 0°39
sh 2 478,760 we 8°65 | 5°78 | 60°00 0°407
cs 3 386, 400 7°84| 6°38 | 60:00 0°40
4 8°88 | 5°63 | 55:00 0°39

554,183 |

Recorp oF THirty Days’ Run oF SEVEN DISTILLERIES IN THE

Distillery No.

po
bo
(or)

325
329
372
532
533
604

PROVINCE OF TAYABAS.

2 PH | BS
Bo Soe ies
3g | Be | s

as E ge] 82s
- et
Z| Asa | ee
697 1.) 1S) aa 117
1,050 | 17 | 386,480
1,086 | 20 | 21,060
400 7 5,062
700 6 7,427
1,000 | 14 | 18,106
850 | 13 | 24,240

of sap
in the

stills on working

Litres
handled
days.

produc-
tion from each

Daily
tree.

Number of
proof litres
of alcohol
produced.

Average
proof of the
alcohol.

High
grade.

Low | High | Low
grade. | grade.

grade.

SCOoOoOCOHKOCS
OAWK AEG
NOMANEASO

438
1,249
1,872

460

973
2,172
2,817

968
3,306
769
193
None
None

Percentage yield
of alcohol from

the sap.

5°4
6-2
6°3
61
6°6
6°0
5°8

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 181

.It appears from this table that the average yield of
alcohol from the toddy is 61 per cent by volume, equiva-
lent to an original sucrose content of 9°5 per cent. Since
the sugar in the fresh sap is from 3 to 7 per cent above
this, there has evidently been a very high loss. This is
in part due to fermentations which are unavoidable, but
in large part to careless handling. Along with the
inversion of the sugar, and the alcoholic and acetic
fermentations, there is always more or less activity of
putrefactive organisms. This can largely be prevented
by cleanliness. An analysis of the figures given in the
last table for distillery No. 325 shows that the daily
production of proof spirits by the distillery was 268
litres, or 0°255 litres of proof spirits per day for each
tree. Now, if the profit of the proof spirits be figured,
for the distillers in the Philippines, from the data in the
preceding tables, the profit per day per tree would seem
to be 3°8 centavos, or a total profit for the year for each
tree of P15:96.

Vinegar.—lt is generally stated by writers on coco-
nut and its product from various countries that a
superior vinegar can be made from the coco-nut toddy,
and for local use such vinegar is made in various places.
This vinegar is usually regarded as having a superior
flavour, and it keeps well. The only reason that it is
not made on a large scale and has never become an
article of commerce is probably the high price of the
toddy as compared with other sources of vinegar of
good quality. For the manufacture of vinegar, care
must be taken to prevent any putrefaction in the sap.
This is done by the use of bark rich in tannin or by
coating the vessels with lime. The tannin will pre-
cipitate a large part of the nitrogenous material in the
sap, and it is this material which is the essential subject
of putrefactive fermentation.

The advisability of using trees for the production of
toddy is a purely local business question. So far as there
is a local demand for the toddy, a tree will always yield a
greater gross revenue if tapped than if used for the

182 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

production of copra; but local demands are limited and
this business can therefore not assume a great scale in
the sense in which the copra market or oil market is
great.

COIR

Coir is the commercial name of the fibre prepared
from the husk of the coco-nut. The word is Malay or
Indian in origin, but has been adopted into European
languages. In countries where coco-nut culture is very
old, the use of this fibre likewise dates further back
than our knowledge reaches. In Polynesia and extend-
ing as far west as the Marianne and Caroline islands,
this is the main material used for cordage. It was in
use as far west as Ceylon before the discovery of this
part of the world by Europeans. In these parts of the
world it served not merely for rope, and for string to
make fish nets, or to tie the parts of houses together,
but to caulk boats, and in various other ways. For
caulking boats it is better than most other durable
fibres because it will swell more when put into water,
and will therefore make a tighter plug.

The chief peculiarity of coir rope is its elasticity.
The coco-nut fibre will stretch fully 25 per cent without
breaking. The amount which ropes made of it will
stretch depends upon the method of manufacture, but
in all cases they will stretch more than ropes made of
any other of the commercial fibres. This makes coir
rope especially desirable where it is subject to jerks.
As used for fish nets, and in other ways which demand
exposure to water, coir has the advantage that it is
more durable than most other fibres; that is, it is less
subject to decay. Its tensile strength and its resistance
to decay are illustrated by the following table:

| TABLE

GST ahnd aon OT,

‘eplueyy “aouelog Jo nearing Aq ydeasojoyd

NVENVSOVd LV SLAVE LON-O000

Nes

ab

ae a , a
i, a ad
« ici “a SS
P
ms
a |
es,
= i
a) A
> - a h. 7
5 : 4 |
= - ee wa
Ie
* J A ee
F * i
ea 7
ae ;
> v 4
, ‘i a
i py es vi) he
. x
Tear ,
-
’
ot -
me ; ie
‘7
»
>
‘
a 3 .
i
<
a
=“ P
rascals
a
a
¥
“=
s > ol

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 183

5 Breaking strength Breaking strength
Name of Fibre. when fresh. after 116 days in water.

kg. kg.
Arenga saccharifera . 43 42
Com . ‘ d 39 24
Juter |. : : A 30-31 18-22
Sanseviera zeylanica 54 13
Crotalaria juncea . ai 31 decayed
English hemp 47 5
Calcuttashemp . - . 34 55
Agave americana . A 50 -

Of the fibres represented in this table then, the most
resistant to decay are Arenga (the sugar-palm, Cabo
Negro) and after it coir. Arenga is the best of them
where it can be obtained, and is accordingly first choice
in all such places, but it is not an article of general
commerce.

In the comparison of fibres it is a matter of interest
to know the relative measurements of the cells which
make up the strand of fibre, and the word fibre is some-
times applied not to a whole strand but to one of these |
individual cells. When these cells are very long they
are accordingly fastened firmly together. Other things
being equal, the longer the cell the stronger the strand
of texture. The following table, taken from Lecomte’s
Textiles Végétaux, gives these data for a few of the
important commercial fibres :

Average length | Average diameter

Name of Fibre. in mm. in microns,
Boehmeria nivea—Ramie . ; 150 40
Cannabis sateva—Hemp . 28 20
Linum usttatissimum—F lax. 20 25
Musa textilis—Abaca : 6 24
Agave americana—Hennequin . 2°0 24
Corchorus—J ute 1:9 17°5
Cocos nucifera—Coir 0-7 20

184 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

Of the fibres which have been incorporated in the
table—and it represents the most of the important
commercial fibres which are extracted from the tissues of
plants—the coir has the shortest individual cells.

The strands which are extracted from the husk of the
coco-nuts and which are referred to in common speech
as the fibres are 30 cm. more or less in length, depend-
ing of course on the size of the nut from which they
are taken. The diameter is about 0°3 mm. In cross
section, they are roundish or somewhat heart-shaped,
the concavity or groove along one side being the place
where the vessels were located. The strands are harsh and
more or less dark in colour according to the nuts from
which they were secured and the method by which the
fibre was extracted. The fibre is strongly lignified, and
to this is due its colour and harshness, and its relative
brittleness as compared with pure cellulose fibres.

From what has been said as to the qualities of the
coir, it follows that for ropes it is to be recommended
where elasticity or resistance to decay are especially
desired; but for general use it is an inferior cordage
material because the brittleness of the strand makes it
wear out more rapidly than many other kinds of rope,
and because it is weaker than the best rope material.
As a textile fibre it is of: very little general value
because of its coarseness, harshness, brittleness and
colour. The colour can be removed, at least in very
large part, by chemical bleaching, but this treatment
leaves it too weak for practical use. On the other
hand, the qualities of harshness and stiffness and dark
colour all make it an especially good material for door-
mats and hall-mats and for various kinds of brushes.
It is for these uses that the coir has its chief market
value. This combination of stiffness and elasticity also
gives it a certain value as a stuffing fibre, and the poorer
qualities of coir are marketed, under the name of
mattress fibre, for such use.

The market value of coir, as compared with other
vegetable fibres, is indicated by the following table,

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 185

showing quotations at Havre, September 19,1913. The
prices are stated in francs per hundred kilogrammes.

Francs.

Sisal , 2 . Good Mexican WALT
Good superior Javan 87-88
Abaca. . Superior 168-178
Good current 145-149
Fair current 76-78
Mauritius : . Superior 72-73°50
Good 66-68
Maguey . ‘ . Manila No. 1 48-50
Cebu No. 1 65-70
Jute ; ; . Calcutta superior 85-86
Best native TO= Ot
Ramie . : - ) Hime 120-125
Good 100-115
Coir : ‘ . Superior 54-59
Good 44-46
Kapok . : . Java extra 155-185
Calcutta 114-130
Cotton; . i . sea Island extra fine 380
Upland middling 178
Bengal fine 120

There has never been as careful a study of the
source of coir and of the natural qualities of the husk
of the coco-nuts under different conditions as the im-
portance of the product would justify. While there
are no definite statistics on the subject, there is still no
doubt that certain varieties of coco-nut are more
valuable than others for the manufacture of fibre, and
that there is a proper time for the harvesting of the
crop for this purpose, before which and after which the
cor is less in quantity, and less valuable weight for
weight. What this time is cannot be stated definitely,
but may roughly be said to be the beginning of the
maturing of the nut. [It may be the time at which the
nut as a whole is largest, or may be a little later than
this, but is certainly considerably before the time when

186 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

the nut should be harvested to get the greatest and
best yield of copra. As the ripening of the nut goes
on, the coir becomes exceedingly lignified, and so dark,
harsh, and brittle that its value decreases very
materially. |

With regard to the variety of nuts, some of those
found in the Laccadive and Maldive islands have the
best reputation in this respect. There are also some
ill-defined varieties in Ceylon and southern India which
are preferred for this use. These districts furnish ©
almost all of the coir which is an article of European
commerce. Ceylon has first place in this respect, but
the product of Cochin has been regarded as the best in
quality, with the result that the term “Cochin coir”
has come to mean not merely that which originates in
Cochin but the finest quality whatever its source. The
condition here is exactly the same which obtains with
the oil of the coco-nut.

From what has been said with regard to the variety
and the nuts, it is evident that the same trees cannot
be made to produce coir to the best purpose, and oil to
the best purpose, but that one or the other product
must be in a measure sacrificed. The planter must
decide according to market and local conditions which
he best can treat as a by-product. As a general con-
dition, the copra or oil is certainly the more valuable,
and any planter who selected varieties primarily for
their yield of fibre, or who harvested his nuts before
full maturity for the sake of the coir, would fail under
present general conditions—and these conditions are
likely to be quite permanent—to get the greatest
possible returns.

It is not many years in an industrial sense since the
extraction of the coco-nut fibre was carried on altogether
by hand. The first step is obviously the removal of
the husk from the nuts and is therefore the same as the
first step in copra manufacture, except where, as in
Samoa, it is customary to split the entire nut, husk and
all. The husks are then macerated by soaking in water,

‘OST abnd aonf o7,

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vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 187

whether fresh, stagnant, or salt, until the fibres can be
freed easily from the waste matter in which they are
imbedded. How long this takes depends on how the
maceration is performed and on what means are used
to clean the fibre after it is completed. When the fibre
is to be cleaned by hand, and the retting is done in
clean, fresh water, the husks are said to be left in it for
at least several months, and sometimes for as much as
a year and a half. In salt water maceration is more
rapid, and in stagnant water still more so. Further
the maceration may be hastened by boiling or by skin-
ning the husk, and it is a common practice to hasten the
decay by opening the husks before the soaking begins,
so that the water may immediately penetrate the in-
terior. If the soaking stops soon enough, the fibre is
hard and clean; but if it continues too long, the fibre
becomes dark enough to lower its value, and loses its
strenoth by decay. It should therefore be allowed to
goon as short a time as will make it economically
possible to clean the fibre. When the cleaning is done
by hand, the husks, after soaking, are beaten thoroughly
and then scraped and combed. The more thoroughly
this is done, the better price the product will bring.
The larger part of the fibre put on the market, and
the fibre of best quality, is now the product of factories
where the work is done by machinery. In the best
equipped of these factories, the husks are soaked in
concrete tanks in fresh water and for only two or three
days. They are then taken out and subjected to a
mechanical combing by a device which holds them
against a revolving cylinder set with long sharp teeth.
This combing is repeated perhaps four times. After
this, the fibre is washed by brushing in fresh water, and
this is continued until the fibre is practically clean. It
is then dried in the sun, either in open yards, or, in the
best establishments, on concrete courts. When well
dried it is again combed by hand and at the same
time sorted into different qualities. This combing and
sorting may be repeated two or three times, and finally

!

188 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

the product is put up according to grades. The better
part of it is put up in small packages of about 7
kilogrammes, and is known as bristle fibre; the bristle
fibre in turn may be in several grades according to
length and other qualities. From the fibre which is not
fit for bristle fibre, chiefly, that is, from the residue from
the hand combing, the dust is beaten and shaken out,
and the resulting irregular fibre is put up in bales and
goes on to the market as the better quality of mattress
fibre. A poorer quality, containing the fibres made
from the waste of the mechanical combing, or these
mixed with inferior waste from the hand combing as
well, is known as baled fibre, and marketed in that
form. Still another factory product, which is made by
twisting into cord the fibre which is a waste product
from the sorting of the bristle fibre, is known as coir
arn.
: In this factory work there is a man in charge of
each of the mechanical combs, and these men have the
help of boys in keeping the pieces of husk constantly
applied to the cylinders. This work is paid by the
task. For four combings, the factory price in Ceylon
is P10°00 a cwt. The washing and drying are done
by women, who receive about 8 centavos a cwt. of
coir. A good day’s work is the washing and cleaning
of 200-250 kilogrammes of fibre, in which case the wage
is about one peseta. The workers around the establish-
ment are paid in general not more than 30 centavos
a day. A coir industry in places where labour is better
~ paid must work at a considerable industrial disadvantage
as compared with a similar establishment in Ceylon.
With regard to the yield, a thousand husks, that is, the
husk of a thousand nuts, will yield 68 to 79 kilogrammes
of coir if the manufacture is by hand, or about 89
kilogrammes of coir in well regulated factories ; and this
89 kilogrammes is made up of 66°75 of bristle, and 22°25
kilogrammes of mattress fibre. Where the manufacture
of coir is performed on the plantation, or in connection
with oil or copra making, the price of the husks does not

ow COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 189

appear by itself; but where coir manufacture is a separate
business, the husks are bought from the surrounding
coco-nut planters, and the usual price is P2-00 a
thousand. :

It has already been stated that coir has not become
a factory product nor an article of commerce except in
and near Ceylon. In the Philippines, the Government
at one time assembled a quantity of husks, locally called
“binuti,” at its San Ramon farm, but did nothing with
them. ‘The best natural location in the Islands for such
an industry would be Pagsanjan, where twenty-five to
fifty thousand nuts a day can be secured steadily ; but
the price of labour is higher than coir manufacture can
stand.

In Java a company was organized not long ago at
Koetoardjé, Residency Kadoe,* for the manufacture of
coir and coir products for the European market.
Opinions as to its chance of success differed. Hoyer,
a Government expert sent to British India to investigate
the business, recommended the use of locally-made
machines modelled after a successful Singalese type,
and had two of these made; but at the same time that
he reports the successful working of the machines he
says the fibre is inferior to that of Ceylon, and the
cost of production greater. Vlaanderen’ states that
Javan husks may be expected to produce 80 to
115 g. of textile fibre, and 30 to 40 g. of brush fibre
each ; but to allow for the inferior quality charged by
Hoyer, these figures are cut down to Ceylon standard
estimates of 60 g.+ textile and 12 g.+ bristle fibre
per nut, and 100 nuts a year from a tree. Taking as
normal London prices crude fibre £6 per metric ton,
coir yarn, etc., £15 per metric ton, bristle fibre f1.25 per
metric ton, the gross returns figure out, per tree and
per annum, f1.0°79 if sold as fibre, or f1.1°44 if all the
inferior fibre is made into coir yarn. The chief fault of
estimates is that one cannot know how much they

1 Bull. Kolon. Mus. Harlem, 48 (1909) 15.
Ibid. p. 47.

190 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

should be discounted. A study of the coir possibilities
in Indo-China led to the conclusion that the husks are
most valuable there as fuel. They serve this use well
throughout the tropics.

COPRA

Copra is the most important, in a plantation sense,
of the products of the coco-nut. It is not itself an
article of ultimate consumption, but has its place on the
world’s markets because of the oil it contains. In most
coco-nut countries, or, at any rate, on most plantations,
it is not practicable to make and ship oil, but it is
every where economically possible to prepare and market
copra. Where conditions are all favourable, it is good
business to manufacture oil on the plantation. This
demands apparatus of some kind for the extraction of
the oil, and containers for shipment. But it has the
advantages that transportation on everything except
the oil is saved for the planter, and that the oil-cake is
available for local use. However useful the oil-cake
may be on the plantation, whether to feed, to stock, or
for direct use as a fertilizer, its money value is, as a
rule, so much greater in Kurope than it is in coco-nut-
growing countries as to pay for the cost of its transporta-
tion. In fact, oil mills in the Philippines have been
driven out of business because the copra buyers were
able, at least for a time, to bid for the local copra the
whole of its oil value, paying the cost of transportation
and the profit on the business from the oil-cake which
could be put on the French market.

The importance of proper methods in harvesting
nuts to be used for the manufacture of copra or oil
has already been emphasized. Walker's table on the
copra and oil content of nuts of different degrees of
maturity shows the great importance of never using
any except perfectly ripe nuts for this purpose. If
immature nuts are used in copra making, the chief loss
is not so much because less copra or poor copra is obtained

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 191

from these nuts, but because poor copra mixed with good
copra lowers the market value of the latter, and so
keeps the planter from getting its real value even for
the good copra which he may produce. Another of
Walker's tables shows that nuts cut from the trees
increase in yield of copra and oil if allowed to stand
in piles for some weeks before they are opened. This
is naturally not to be expected if the nuts are allowed
to fall from the trees when ripe, and are then collected
from the ground. In this case they should be used
without delay. The practice of letting the nuts lie in
stacks after they are fully ripe is one of the reasons
given for the lower quality of much Ceylon oil, as
compared with that from Cochin. At San Ramon,
where Walker’s study was made, the nuts are collected
regularly once in three months. The nut-gatherers
have no other profession and are regularly employed
on this plantation. They must be regarded as expert
in this business, and they have no inducement to cut
young nuts. It should therefore be safe to conclude
that wherever nuts are cut regularly, once in three
months, the copra will be improved in quantity and
quality if the nuts are left to ripen or seasoned for a
time before they are opened. There must be a time
when each nut is at its best for copra manufacture.
This time is not sharply marked. At least in dry
weather, the improvement up to this time is more rapid
than the deterioration immediately after it, because the
first changes which take place in germination go on
very slowly. The best yield from a large pile of nuts
will therefore be obtained when the majority of the nuts
are slightly beyond their prime.

In most countries the first step in copra manufacture
is the removal of the husks, whether the husk itself has
any use or not. The only general exception to this
rule is in the islands of the Pacific, where the commoner
practice is to split the entire nut, husk and all, with a
heavy axe. Andes (Kokosbutver, p. 38) describes and
figures a machine which splits the entire nut into three

192 THE COCO-NUT. oe

é

parts, and with which “bei eiiger Ubung” two men
can open 6000 nuts a day. The recent journals mention —
another machine with which a man can husk one hun-
dred nuts an hour; but this is no more than an efficient
labourer does without any machine. Various methods
of removing the husks have been in use. But the use
of a sharp iron bar set firmly in the ground or in a
block, so that it stands with its point aimed directly
upward a little higher than the worker's knee, has now
come in fairly general use throughout the tropics.
Husking a thousand nuts a day may be regarded as
satisfactory work, and for this a little more than the
common daily wage is sometimes paid. After the
removal of the husks, the next step is breaking the nut
open. The usual and best practice is to do this with
a sharp blow of a heavy knife so that the two halves
are as equal as possible. The water inside is spilled as
the nuts break. Good vinegar can be made from the
water if a little sugar is added, but the market in coco-
nut countries does not make this worth while. Care
should be taken that the water is thoroughly drained out,
because if any remains it will add to the difficulty of
drying the copra and will materially injure its quality.

The methods of drying copra may be classed under
three heads: sun-drying, grill-drying or smoking, and
kiln-drying. The first of these is obviously the most
primitive and the least subject to control. To dry
copra in the sun requires from four to seven days of
favourable weather. If there is no rain and the treat-
ment of the copra is not inexcusably careless, this
method produces an article of very high quality. It
is therefore a proper method in places where the planter
may be sure that there will be no rain during the dry
seasons. This condition is a rather rare one in the
tropics. If rain falls while the copra is drying, the
latter must be protected against it either by bringing
it within doors or by placing a shelter over it. Hither
of these necessitates having considerable labour avail-
able for prompt use, and available labour is an expensive

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vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 198

luxury. If such care be not taken, or if the rain be
too sudden to be guarded against, the copra on which
it falls is permanently damaged.

The best copra can only be produced by uninterrupted
drying from the time the nuts are opened until desicca-
tion is complete. It is especially important that the
copra become surface-dry as promptly as possible. Tor
this reason, where the sun is relied upon, it is good
practice to open no nuts as late as the middle of the
day. However dry and regular the climate may be, it
is usually necessary to shelter the drying copra at night,
either by bringing it under a roof or by putting one
over it. If the copra is brought in, its position will
incidentally be changed as the drying proceeds. When
the copra has dried sufficiently so that it begins to
shrink from the shell, it is easy to remove it, and this
should be done. Hven though the work of removing it
were no consideration, it should not be taken from the
shell until it is ready to come out easily and whole,
because good copra is more valuable if marketed in
large pieces than if broken up. In many places the
sun is relied upon for the preliminary drying up to the
time of removal from shell, where the subsequent drying
is performed on grills or in kilns. In Tahiti, where the
whole nuts are split, strips are then torn from the husk,
and by means of these the half-nuts are then hung up,
face downward, in the sun. In three or four days the
meat contracts from the shell and falls. It is then
dried for several days more. Good copra is produced
in this way; but the labour required to hang up the
half-nuts makes the method impracticable on large
plantations.

If split nuts are laid out on ordinary ground to dry,
they are almost certain to get dirty, either in handling
or from dust blown over them; if half-dried copra
without the shell is so treated, there is no chance of
its drying clean. Specially prepared areas, smooth and
hard, whether of cement or not, are used where sun-
drying is intelligently practised ; these are commonest

O

194 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

in lands where such places were first used for coffee or
cacao. In Cochin the copra is spread on mats to dry,
and the mats are brought in before showers and at night.
Care in drying the copra is the chief explanation of the
high quality of Cochin oil.

From start to finish sun-drying may take from five
to nine days. If more time is needed, it takes too
much work, and the resulting copra is inferior.

In almost every country which produces copra
more or less of it is dried over free fires, from which it
receives the smoke and soot as well as the heat. The
fuel is almost always the dry part of the nut—husk
and shell or one alone. The hottest and cleanest fire
is made by the shells, but these alone are not sufficient
except when most of the drying is done by the sun.
Except for the small part marketed as ‘Cebu sun-dried,”
practically all Philippine copra is dried in this way.
The drying houses are mere shacks, as cheap as possible.
Roof and sides are usually made of coco-nut or nipa
leaves, or the roof may be of bamboo; corrugated iron
is unusual, though the owners are seldom too poor to
afford it. The shacks are usually a scant 2 metres
high, and just big enough to each handle the nuts from
a small grove. The fire may be on the ground, but is
more often in a hole 30 to 60 cm. deep. Over it is a
grating, usually of coco-nut wood, on which the drying
isdone. Iron in contact with drying copra discolours it ;
but as smoked copra is never white anyway, the use of
wood in the grills is a mere matter of local convenience.
Larger and better smoke houses are sometimes built.

The procedure in drying varies in different lands,
and even-in different provinces in the Philippines.
Exceptionally, the drying is uninterrupted. As a rule,
the half-nuts are first heated until the meat will come
out of the shell; this takes two or three hours. The
meat is then put back on the grill and heated either
until dry, or on two successive evenings for about two
hours each, which dries it. The total time of firing is
then only about six hours. To dry it so rapidly the

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IV COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 195

heat must be sufficient to discolour it, but smoked copra
is not subject to injury in this way. No effort is made
to get it drier than is necessary to make it soluble. No
man who takes pride in his copra, or who sells it on its
quality, smokes it; and the man who sells it as mere
copra, regardless of quality, naturally wants to sell as
much water as possible.

While good copra cannot be made by smoking, it is
the best method of making poor copra. It is cheap,
simple, and practically independent of the weather.
From the smoke the copra absorbs creosote or similar
substances, which act as antiseptics, and tend to prevent
its decay. Copra made in part of unripe nuts is
rarely well dried and will not remain so. A variety of
fermentation takes place in it, making it mouldy and
rancid. As a result of these changes some of the
Philippine copra loses as much as one-eighth of its oil
before it is laid down in Marseilles, and if it were not
for the sterilizing substances taken up from the smoke
this loss would be much greater. Smoked copra is the
most cheaply sacked and shipped, because not injured
by breaking into small pieces. It is used for candles,
cheap soaps, etc., but not for food products nor the finer
toilet articles. The larger part of the world’s copra is
at present smoked.

The most uniformly good copra is produced in
drying houses. This method of preparing it is in
comparatively recent use, but the product which may
be grouped as kiln-dried is bound in the near future
to increase rapidly in amount, and may be expected
ultimately to become the standard. Kiln-dried copra
is at present marketed chiefly from Trinidad, the South
Seas, and Ceylon. Driers built on models developed for
other products can be and are used for copra. Beside
these, a variety of houses have been designed especially
for this use. Any clean method of heating the house is
effective. But the coco-nut husks must in most places
serve as fuel, and these produce so much soot that they
are not suitable for hot-water or steam heating.

02

L067. THE COCO-NUT cue

A steam-heated desiccator, notably compact and
efficient, was exhibited by the Bureau of Agriculture at
the Philippine Exposition of 1912. It was made of
two coats of sheet-iron with a middle layer of asbestos.
Inside are lateral iron rails running at an incline
from one end to the other, and far enough apart for
convenience ; down these the trays are slid. A system
of steam pipes covers the bottom and ventilation is at
the bottom and top. The whole structure is about 6
metres long, 3 metres high, and 13 metres wide. Aside
from the heating apparatus, it cost about six hundred
dollars. The copra is first dried in the shell, until it
will separate from it. The copra from several trays is
then put on to one, without the shells, and dried for a
longer time. The capacity is about 1600 lbs. a day.
The fuel used was coal. In demonstration the drier
was altogether satisfactory, the only adverse criticism
being that the planter using it would lose money by
sellmg too little water in his copra.

A tunnel drier devised by a German engineer, but
not yet tested in practice, is described in a recent
number of Der Tropenpflanzer. In principle it is not
very different from that of the Philippine Bureau of
Agriculture, which has just been described.

Three driers, built according to a plan devised by
Pedro Bonito, have been built in the Province of La
Laguna to dry copra by means of steam heat. One of
these, at the town of Magdalena, is illustrated by the
accompanying photographs. - This machine uses a boiler
said to be of six English horse-power. For fuel the
husks and shells of the coco-nuts are used, but only
husks enough are used to supplement the shells. The
copra is dried in cases, of which there are three. Hach
of them consists of nine vertical tiers of trays with
thirteen trays in each tier. Through these cases run
horizontal pipes, containing steam, under a pressure in
ordinary practice of 60 lbs. or at a temperature of
130° C. Both the inventor and the manager state that
the pressure can be raised to 120 lbs. without risk of

VI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 197

injuring the quality of the copra. In drying, the husks
are first removed and the nuts opened, and the half-nuts
then placed on the trays and placed in the drier for a
period of two to four hours. They are then removed
and the half-dried copra is broken into pieces and dried
again. The total time of drying is usually about six
hours. It is practicable to run three charges through
the apparatus during each twenty-four hours.

The company which owns the drier owns no coco-
nut trees, but buys the nuts from the neighbouring
planters. The nuts are bought by the thousand, and
the price depends on the price of copra and on the size
of the nuts. With regard to the size of the nut, no
discrimination is made between the nuts of different
planters, but from season to season the copra-producing
value of nuts varies in response to the climate. Ordin-
arily one thousand nuts yield about three piculs of
copra. After a sequence of favourable seasons, more
than three piculs are produced; but as a result of
drought the nuts become much smaller. As a result
of the drought which ended in June 1912, the nuts
decreased very much in size during the following months,
until in January 1913 scarcely more than two piculs
were produced from one thousand. After this there
was a gradual recovery. At the time of lowest yield
copra was high, and seventeen pesos to twenty pesos was
paid for a thousand nuts, depending on fluctuations in
the market price of the copra.

The copra produced by this drier usually sold shghtly
below the price of Cebu sun-dried. For this the drying
was not responsible, the product being as good as drying
could make it. The copra lacked something of being
first class because the nuts were not all properly
ripened. Mr. Bonito understood what was needed to
produce good copra, and let all nuts bought remain in
piles for two weeks before opening, it being his judg-
ment that, as they had been harvested, this was the
period which would produce the best result from the
local harvest as a whole. ‘The factory is able to produce

198 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

sixty to seventy piculs of copra a day. It employs
fourteen persons at a total wage of about twelve pesos a
day. Husks are removed for sixty centavos a thousand.
The removal of the meat from the shells and breaking up
the meat is paid for at the rate of fifty centavos a thousand
nuts. ‘The factory cost P4000, and when running full
blast pays a profit of about P100 a day, from which
the cost of management must be deducted.

The husks which are not used for fuel are hammered
by means of a machine operated by the same boiler, and
the half-cleaned fibre is sold in Manila for use as caulk-
ing material. Mr. Bonito’s statement is that from one
hundred husks an “ aroba” of coir is produced, and that
this sells in Manila at three pesos an aroba. If this state-
ment is correct, the receipts for the fibre are in excess
of the price paid for the nuts.

The largest copra drier ever built is probably that of
Antonio Navarro of Pagsanjan, in the Philippine pro-
vince of La Laguna. The kiln is in effect the basement
of a one-story building. The excavation is approxi-
mately 2 metres deep, 5 metres wide, and 15 metres
long, and has floor and walls of cemented masonry.
At one end is a very ample fireplace, sunk a little deeper
still into the ground. The rest of the excavation is
covered with heavy sheet-iron and serves as a great flue;
a pipe leading to the high chimney leaves the end
opposite the fireplace. The cover of the flue is the floor
of the drying chamber, which is less than 150 cm. high,
neatly made of sheet-iron, and with trap-doors in the
sides and top. The top of the drying chamber is less
than a metre above the floor of the building, this floor
being hardly more than a hall-way around the drying
chamber. The drying chamber is ventilated by means
of pipes or by the trap-doors. Coco-nut husks and shells
are used as fuel. According to Mr. Navarro’s state-
ments, the temperature of the kiln is controlled without
difficulty, and kept at about 35° C.; the capacity is
then about fifty piculs (roughly three tons) of copra a
day ; and the cost of drying is rather less in operation

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 199

than that of smoke drying. The copra is clean, clear,
and dry, without the least rancidity after six months in
the store-house. As the shells are left in the kiln until
the drying is complete, the copra is all in half-nut
pieces up to the time they are broken in packing.
iixcept for occasional pieces made from unripe nuts—and
far fewer of these than are usually found in the Laguna
product—this copra was in a business sense perfect.

Nevertheless Mr. Navarro has not found it possible
to operate his drier the most of the time at a profit.
Because of a practical corner on the local marketing
facilities held by a leading exporting company, or
because of his ignorance of the real market, or lack of
capital, he has been forced to sell his product at the
price locally paid for the best smoke-cured copra. As
most planters make their own, and pay practically no
attention to the cost of drying it, their nuts cannot be
bought and handled at a profit unless the copra can be
marketed at a higher price than they could get. Pagsan-
jan is so situated, at the junction of two rivers flowing
through a great coco-nut forest, that nuts enough to
keep this drier busy, seventeen or eighteen thousand a
day, are easily delivered. Except in such a place, the
operation of a drier of this size would be impracticable
for reasons other than inability to sell the product for
its real value.

The type of drying house in use by the Deutsche
Handels- und Plantagen-Gesellschaft in Samoa has been
described twice in the Bevhefte zum Tropenpflanzer,
first by Preuss in March 1907. For the sake of clear-
ness Preuss’s figures are copied here.

The house, the outer walls of which are supported
by wooden posts set in cement, is set over a smaller
room of masonry, in which the air is heated. This hot
- room is, in one of the driers described as typical, 5 m.
long, 2°3 m. wide, and 2°3 m. high. Set into the wall
at the middle of one end is the fireplace. A flue of stone
runs from the fireplace obliquely well toward the other
end of the room. It is there connected by a vertical

200 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

piece of tubing with a horizontal system of sheet-iron
flues, consisting of two or three lengthwise sections (two
in the figure) and the necessary crosswise connections.
The iron flues are 30 cm. in diameter, made locally from

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Ea CHAMBER Ly
ay
=o OE
Lee ASQD i
Pra
Ee A ool
SECTION.

A, Fireplace. B, Masonry flue. OC, Connection of masonry and iron flues,
D, Iron flue. E, Wall of stone. F, Smoke stack.

sheets. The ends project beyond the walls, and can be
opened when the pipes need cleaning. The last flue
ends in a chimney 12 m. high. The course of the
smoke is indicated by arrows.

The drying-room proper is directly over the heating

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 201

room and very little larger, and the floor between them
is merely a grating. In operation the drying-room is
filled with trays of copra, each holding about 6 lbs.
Different driers have a capacity of 200 to 394 trays.
The local custom is said to be to remove the copra from
the shell without any prelimimary drying, which is
laborious and inevitably involves breaking it into small
pieces. Assuming a yield of two tons a year per hec-
tare, a drier then will take care of the yield of 150
hectares. How large an area can well be made tributary
to one drier depends of course on the means and cost of
transporting the nuts, as well as on other local condi-
tions. In German New Guinea and the Bismarck
Archipelago a drier is built for each hectares. Preuss
states that one of them will dry 1700 lbs. of copra
in twenty-four hours or about 300 tons a year. The
temperature is kept near 50° C. When the copra is
taken from the drying chamber, it is spread over the
floor of the building to cool and to dry a little more
perfectly. Unless the drymg is finished in this way,
the copra is said to mould; but with proper treatment
the product is of excellent quality. One of these drying
houses costs 1500 to 1750 dollars.

COCO-NUT OIL

The manufacture of coco-nut oil as an article of
world commerce is not a plantation business. The
copra of commerce is the raw material for this business,
and the extraction of the oil is carried on very largely
in temperate countries, especially in France. For a
considerable time there have been a few well-equipped
factories at work in Ceylon, and individual establish-
ments have been set up in other tropical countries. Oil,
as an article of home consumption or of local commerce,
is extracted in all coco-nut countries, and may or may
not be a plantation product. It is only as it may be
a plantation industry that the extraction of the oil
requires explanation here.

202 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

The methods by which the oil of the coco-nut is
extracted fall conveniently under three heads: First,
methods involving no special apparatus, but consisting
in the mere maceration of the endosperm and squeezing
out as much of the oil as can conveniently be ex-
pressed ; second, more complicated methods characteristic
of single regions where they have been locally developed ;
and third, factory production by modern methods.

By the first of these general methods oil is practically
produced only for purely local consumption and in
very small quantities. In such cases the oil may be
produced without heating, or its separation may be
facilitated by heating; and the same is true of its
separation from the liquid mass squeezed out of the
pulp. A very high quality of oil is likely to be secured ~
in this manner, and it is not unusual in coco-nut
countries, at least throughout the Orient, for people to
prepare oil in this way for their own use and to prepare
other oil for sale.

Of the second general method or group of methods,
there are three modifications in wide enough use to
merit mention. In Java the coco-nut oil is extracted
by the same apparatus used for extracting the oil of pea-
nuts. This is not as good a method in any respect as
that used in the Philippines or Ceylon. It consists in
placmg two heavy planks in a framework which holds
their lower edges together but lets the upper edges
spread apart so as to forma trough. This trough is
lined with carabao hides, and inside these are placed
strong bags or sacks containmg the pulp made by
erinding or scraping the coco-nut meat. Wooden
wedges are then driven between the outer parts of the
planks forming the trough and a rigid structure outside
them. As the wedges are driven deeper the trough is
narrowed, and the sacks are squeezed, with the result
that the oil is forced out of them. The pulp is after-
ward heated again with additional water and the
squeezing is repeated.

In Ceylon and in the neighbouring parts of India a

€

Tt |

ll ALA

IPITAN OR OIL PRESS.

Photograph by Bureau of Science, Manila.

ILOHAN, OR ROCKING CRUSHER, LA LAGUNA.

To face page 202.

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 203

peculiar form of oil mill, known as the “ chekku,” is in
general use; and in these countries, especially in
Ceylon, the manufacture of oil by this method has
grown into an industry of such importance that the
produce is an important article of export. The chekku
is a mortar of stone or very hard wood which is anchored
with all possible firmness in its place. It stands above
the ground to a height of about a metre. The upper end
is hollowed out in such a way that the hollow has the
shape of an hour-glass, the lower enlargement being
about half as long as the upper. In this mortar is a
pestle, usually of hard wood, sometimes of iron, about
140 cm. in length. This mortar fits at the top into the
upper end of a piece of wood which is connected with
a long tongue, one end of which is fitted to a groove in
the bottom of the mortar on the outside near the ground,
and the other end is turned by cattle, round and round.
The weight of the tongue and of a driver who sits on it
is accordingly drawn with the action of a lever, pulling
down the upper end of the pestle. At each revolution
the pestle goes around in the mortar and at the same
time rotates on its own axis.

The chekku takes a load of about 16 or 17 kilograms
of copra. It will take six charges a day, using a total
of 100 kilograms of copra; from this 60 kilograms of
oil are produced, leaving 40 kilograms of oil cake.
The most of the oil produced in this way is of poor
quality ; but there is no reason why, if suificient care
were taken to keep the copra, apparatus, and oil free
from dust, the oil should not be of very high grade.
These chekkus are used singly or in groups, sometimes
of as many as twenty in a single factory. The number
in use in Ceylon in 1897 was said to be more than 2800.
With the increase in number of modern factories the
number of chekkus has since decreased greatly.

In the Philippines there are a number of methods
of extracting oil, of which only the commonest is in
wide enough use to merit description. The first steps
are the removal of the husk and the breaking of the

204 THE COCO-NUT CHAP.

nut into two halves. The meat is then immediately
rasped out of the half-nuts. This is done by means of
an instrument known as “ kabyawan.” This kabyawan
is a convex iron burr mounted on the end of an axis
around which a cord is wound several times and runs
down at each end to a pedal. The burr bears teeth all
over its surface. The operator sits in such a position
that his feet will conveniently work the pedals, pushing
them down alternately and so whirling the axis and
burr. The burr is pointed away from him so that when
he takes a half-nut in his hands and draws it against
the burr he can watch the removal of the meat. The
apparatus makes an exceedingly effective rasp for the use
of human power. In ordinary practice the meat is re-
moved from a nut in about thirty seconds. Rasping a
thousand nuts is regarded as more than a day’s work
except when the work is paid by the unit instead of by
time. The grated meat falls into a receptacle under
the burr, and is then put into a cauldron, such as is
used locally for boiling sugar, and heated to the boiling
point of water.

The pulp is then placed in sacks made of rattan,
and compressed between two heavy planks. ‘The sacks
are usually about 45 em. wide and 60 cm. long. The
plank press is called an ‘‘ipitan.” The tightening
is by one or two screws about 10 cm. in diameter
which are set into the back plank, pass through the
front plank in an open hole, and outside it bear$ a
very heavy block of wood which runs on the thread
of the screw. By means of this block great pressure
can be applied to the front plank. Although made
entirely of wood, the press is quite durable and capable
of exerting very great pressure. The sap squeezed out
usually falls directly into a large wooden bowl placed
underneath, or may be collected by a trough. At the
first pressing from one-fourth to one-third of the oil is
obtained. ‘This oil is of superior quality and finds use
as a cosmetic or food. The cake then stands until
fermentation begins, and is then ground with stone or

vI COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 205

wooden grinders and repressed from three to six times.
The grinding and pressing are often done at once by a
very heavy rocking crib called an “ilohan.” The oil
obtained after fermentation is inferior, and is used for
illumination or to make soap.

The figures given by the men running these oil
mills vary too widely to be worth publishing, and no
careful study of the business has ever been made. ‘The
same men who have oil mills practically always have
also grills for drying copra, and the amount of each
product which they prepare varies with the fluctuations
in the market. As a general rule, most of the produce
of plantations having access to cheap transportation is
sold as copra, while a comparatively large amount of
oil is produced on plantations remote from railroads or
good roads. 7

Not much of this oil is exported, but as an article of
domestic commerce it is decidedly important. The town
of Nagkarlan is crossed by the railroad in its lower part,
but the upper and larger part of the municipality can
market its produce only over poor trails. The municipal
statistics for the three months ending in September 1912
show 505,381 trees in this town. The reported harvest
was 6,272,453 nuts for the three months. From this
there were made 404,600 kilos of copra and 499,302
litres of oil. The copra was valued at 13 centavos a
kilo, and the oil at 35 centavos a litre. The oil produce
of the town was therefore worth more than £6000 a
month. Practically all of this has to be packed to the
railroad on the backs of horses.

In the modern oil factories the extraction of the oil
involves two essential phases: first, the maceration of
the copra, and second, the separation of the oil. The
maceration is very perfect, consisting of grating or
scraping and then of very thorough grinding. The oil
is extracted by means of large and powerful hydraulic
pressuzes. In some cases there is first a cold pressure to
produce oil of the best quality, and afterward a pressure
after treatment with hot water or steam; or the pulp

206 THE COCO-NUT CHAP. VI

may be squeezed both times after a preliminary heating
to facilitate the removal of the oil. Oil expressed cold
is as a rule of better quality, and oil destined for use
as food is usually secured in this manner. After the oil
is expressed it is permitted to separate by standing.
The upper layers, usually cold enough to be solid in
consistency, are then removed, and the residue is again
treated to secure the remaining oil of poorer quality.
The best mills in Europe sometimes succeed in
extracting more than 70 per cent of oil from the
copra used. This demands not merely very complete
extraction but also that the copra used should have
contained very little water. With most of the copra
marketed it is impossible by the most perfect treatment
to secure more than 65 to 67 per cent of oil.

' ine j

Africa—
Copra production, 111
Rhynchophorus phoentets, 76, 85
Africa, East—
Bats, 106
Bud rot, 47

Africa, West,—Harvesting methods,

168
Albay—Lono nut, 115
** All about the Coco-nut,”’ 43
America—
Bud rot, 52
Insect pests—
Metamasius hemipterus, 87
Rhina barberostris, 87

Rhynchophorus palmarum, 76, 84,

85
Andes—Copra manufacture, 191
Ants (See also Termites)
Azteca chartifex, 101
Arrack—Yield, etc., 179-181

San Ramon nuts, 155, 156
Banahao, Mount—
Bud rot, 47
Climate and soil, 21, 27

Banajao, Mount,—Harvesting methods,

167
Bancroft—
Bud rot, 61
Fungi disease, 42
Banks—

Insect pests—
Cyrtotrachelus, 86
Oryctes rhinoceros, 64, 67
Rhynchophorus, 76, 78
Moths and butterflies—

Padraona chrysozona, 95
Barrett—
Insect pests—
Melitomma insularis, 90
Scapanes australis, 90
Bats, 105
Bears, 106
Bernard—Fungi disease, 37

Bachoffen—Chemical composition of

207

INDEX

Birds, 105
Bismarck Archipelago (See also names
of places)
Copra manufacture, 201
Fungi disease — Pestalozzia pal-
marum, 39
Bohol—San Ramon nut, 110
Bonito, Pedro,—Copra driers invented
by, 196-198
Burkill—Oryctes rhinoceros in Samoa,
73, 75
Busck—
Bad ret, 52
Strategus titanus, 88
Butler—
Bud rot, 44
Fungi disease, 41

Carey, E. V.,—Rhinoceros beetle, 66
Caroline Islands—
Aspidiotus destructor, 99
Coir, 182
Ceylon—
Climate and soil, 21, 22, 23, 28
Coco-nut oil manufacture, 201, 202
Coir industry, 182, 186, 188
Copra manufacture, 191, 195
Diseases, 33 tee
Bud rot, 43, 46
Thielaviopsis ethacetica, 35
Field culture—
Cultivation of young groves, 137
Fertilizers, 157
Harvesting methods, 168
Preparation of land, 125, 127
Transplanting, 131, 134
Land and labour, cost of, 151
Pests—
Coffee rust, 34
Insects—
Oryctes rhinoceros, 68
Rhynchophorus, 81, 83
Omiodes blackburni moth, 97
Rats, 106
Seed germination—Jaffna method,
122

208

Ceylon—continued—
Toddy—Method of obtaining, etc.,
T7172, 1738 174 179
Varieties, 109
Jaffna, 112
Laguna, 111
San Ramon, 110
Chemical composition of coco-nuts—
. Tables, 154-156
Climate, 19-25
Cochin—
Coir industry, 186
Copra manufacture, 191, 194
Coco-nut cake—Chemical composition
of, 156
** Coco-nut Planter’s Manual,” 79
Coco-nut Trees Preservation Ordinance,

Coert, Jb.—
Amathusia phidippus, 96
Preparation of land, 127
Coffee rust pest, 33, 34
Coir, 114, 182-190, 198
Copra—
Average amount of production from
nuts, 110, 111, 118 :
Chemical composition, 156
Manufacture, etc., 190-201
Cradwick—Bud rot, 56
Cuba—
Diseases—
Bud rot, 52-56, 81
Pesialozzia palmarum, 38
Insect pests—
Rhynchophorus palmarum, 81
Scolytidae, 90
Lady-birds, 100

Dapitan—San Ramon nut, 110
Deli, Sumatra—Effect of humidity on
coco-nut culture, 24
Demerara—
Bud rot, 52
Passalus tridens, 90
Deutsche Handels- und Plantagen-
Gesellschaft—Copra drying house,
199-201
Diseases, 31-63
Bud rot, 33, 42, 43-63
Constitutional weakness, 31
Fungi, 34-48, 55
Botryodiplodia, 40
Diplodia—
D. cacaoicola, 41
D. epicocos, 42
Fomes, 35
Helminthosporium incurvatum, 38
Pestalozzia palmarum, 36, 55
Thielaviopsis ethacetica, 35
T. paradoxa, 36
Thyridaria tarda, 42

THE COCO-NUT

Doane—Insect pests —
Calandra taitensis, 88
Sphenophorus obscurus, 87, 88
Dutch Indies—Use of trained monkeys
for harvesting, 169

Earle—Bud rot, 52

Fawcett—Bud rot, 56
Ferguson—‘‘Coco-nut Planter’s
Manual,” 79 °
Fibres—Coir compared with other
kinds, Tables, etc., 182-184
Field culture, 123-169
Care of adult groves, 144-150
Cultivation of young groves, 135-144
Fertilizers, 150-164
Harvesting methods, etc., 164-169
Preparation of land, 123-130
Transplanting, 130-135
Florida—Latitude of bearing trees, 21
Foxworthy, Dr.— Use’ of trained
monkeys for harvesting, 169
France—Coco-nut oil manufacture, 201
Fredholm—Bud rot, 56-60
Friederichs — Oryctes rhinoceros in
Samoa, 73, 74
Froggatt—Insect pests—
Calandra tattensis, 88
Chalcosoma atlas, 90
Eurytrachelus pilosipes, 90
Graeffea cocophaga, 98
Sphophorus obscurus, 87
Trichogomphus semilinki, 89
Xylotrupes lorquini, 89

German Potash Syndicate, 157
Gibbs—Toddy—
Arrack, yield, etc., Tables, 179-181
Ceree ue of sap—Tables, 175-
177

Yield of sap, 174
Godaveri River—Bud rot, 43, 44
Grand Cayman—Bud rot, 52
Green, E. E.—Rhynchophorus, 78, 81,
83
Greig, W.—Bud rot, 60
Guiana, British—
Fungi disease, 36, 42
Strategus anchoreta, 88
Guiana, Dutch—Rainfall, 22

Hart—Fungi disease, 41
Hawaii—
Insect pest—Sphenophorus obscurus,
86

Omiodes blackburni moth, 97
Hervey Island—

Insect pest—Graeffea cocophaga, 98
Hogs, 106
Honduras—Bud rot, 52

INDEX

Horne—

Bud rot, 53

Fungi disease, 38
Hoyer—Coir manufacture, 189
Hubert—Varieties, 109

India (See also names of places)—
Climate and soil, 21, 28
Coco-nut oil, 202
Coir, 189
Diseases, 33
Bud rot, 43
Fungi— Thielaviopsis ethacetica,
36
Harvesting methods, 168
Moths and butterflies—Amathusia
phidippus, 96
Preparation of land, 127
Rats, 106
Toddy—
Method of obtaining, etc., 171, 172
Sugar made from, 179
Varieties, 109, 112
Indo-China—Coir, 190
Insects (See Pests)

Jaggery, 113, 179
Jamaica—Altitude of bearing trees, 21
Java (See also names of places)—
Altitude of bearing trees, 21
Climate and soil, 22, 28
Coco-nut oil manufacture, 202
Coir, 189
Diseases—
Bud rot, 52, 56
Fungi
Pestalozzia palmarum, 36, 38
Thielaviopsis ethacetica, 36
Insect pests—
Bronthispa froggatti, 92
Xylotrupes gideon, 89
Preparation of land, 128
Toddy—
Method of obtaining, ete., 171, 172
Sugar made from, 179
Uses of, 178
Yield of sap, 174
Varieties, 109
Kalapa Babi, 112
Kalapa Tebu, 115
Johnston, John R.—Bud rot, 53, 55,
60, 62
Jones—Promecotheca cumingti, 93
Jumelle—Varieties, 109

- Kolaba—Toddy, 174
Konigsberger—Pests—
Bronthispa froggatti, 92
Moths and butterflies—
Brachartona cdtoxantha, 94
Hidari trawa, 95

209

La Union—
Varieties—
Lupisan, 115
Tataguden, 115
Tutupaen, 115
Laccadive Islands—Coir, 114, 186
Lady-birds, 100
Laguna, La (See also names of places)
Bud rot, 47-52, 71
Toddy—Yield of sap, 175
Varieties—
Laguna, 111
Makapund, 114
Maiigipod, 112
Leaf, the, 7-18
Lecomte—Fibres—Com parative tables,
183
Lepine—
Chemical composition of San Ramon
nuts, 155, 156
Luzon—
Bud rot, 33, 43, 47
Climate and soil, 21, 28
Harvesting methods, 169
San Ramon nut, 110

Macke—Aleyrodicus destructor, 102
Macrae—Fungi disease, 45
Madagascar—
Harvesting methods, 168
Latitude of bearing trees, 21
Meliiomma insularis, 90
Varieties, 109
Magdalena—Copra driers, 196
Malay Peninsula — Cultivation of
young groves, 142
Malay States
Fungi disease—Diplodia, 42
Pests
Bears, 106
Insects—
Oryctes rhinoceros, 68, 70
Moths and butterflies—
Brachartona, 95
Erionota thrax, 96 *
Padraona, 96
Thosea, 96
Malaya—
Altitude of bearing trees, 21
Preparation of land, 124
San Ramon nut, 110
‘Toddy—
Method of obtaining, etc.,
172
Sugar made from, 179
Maldive Islands—Coir, 114, 186
Manila— Thosea cinereomarginata
moth, 96 (
Marianne Islands—Coir, 182
Marinduque—Varieties, 110, 115
Marshall Islands—Rainfall, 23

210 THE COCO-NUT

Mindanao (See also names of places)
Climate and soil, 21, 29
Cultivation of young groves, 137
Cuyamis nut, 115

Molisch—Toddy, 174

Monkeys—

Damage done by, 107

Use of, for harvesting, 169
Morstatt—Oryctes rhinoceros, 64
Moths and butterflies (See Pests)

Navarro, Antonio—Copra drier in-
vented by, 198
New Britain—Bronthispa froggatti, 91
New Guinea—
Insect pests—
Camelonotus quadrituber, 90
Oryctoderes latitarsis, 90
Pimelopus, 90
Promecotheca antiqua, 93, 94
Scapanes, 90
Sphenophorus obscurus, 86
Xylotrupes lorquint, 89
Omiodes blackburnt moth, 97
New Guinea (German)—Copra manu-
facture, 201
New Hebrides —Promecotheca opici-
collis, 93
New South Wales—Graeffea cocophaga,
98
Nouméa—Varieties, 109

Oil manufactured from coco-nuts, 201-

206
Pagsanjan—Copra manufacture, 198
Panama — Insect pest — Brassolis

isthmia, 96
Pangasinan—Taban nut, 115
Patouillard—Fungi disease, 40
Penang—Preparation of land, 127
Pests, 63-107

Bats, 105
Bears, 106
Birds, 105
Coffee rust pest, 33, 34
Hogs, 106
Insects—
Aleyrodicus cocois, 102
A. destructor, 102
Aspidiotus destructor, 98
A. vastatrix, 101

Bronthispa froggatit, 91, 94

Calandra tattensis, 88

Camelonotus quadrituber, 90

Chalcosoma atlas, 90

Cyrtotrachelus, 86

4 spotted c. weevil, 86

Pests—continuwed—
Insects—continued—

Locusts, 98

Melitomma insularis, 90

Metamasius hemipterus, 87
M. cinnamominus, 87
M, rhabdobaenus, 87

Oryctes rhinoceros, 68-75, 80, 83

. anglias, 64
boas, 64
. colonicus, 64
. cristatus, 64
. nsularis, 64
- monoceros, 64
. preusst, 64
- pyrrhus, 64
. ranavalo, 64
. sinnar, 64
Oryctoderes latitarsis, 90
Oxycephala froggatti, 94
Passalus tridens, 90
Pimelopus, 90
Promecotheca cumingit, 93
P. antiqua, 93, 94
P. opicicollis, 93, 94
Rhina barbirostris, 87

SgSsessesssgs

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, 63, 65,

67

R. palmarum, 76, 81, 84, 85, 87

R. phoenicis, 76, 86
Scapanes, 90

S. australis, 90

S. grossepunctatus, 90
Scolytidae, 90
Sphenophorus obscurus, 86, 88
Strategus titanus, 88

S. anachoreta, 88
Table, 103-104
Termites, 102, 126
Trichogomphus semilinkt, 89

Weevils, 25, 76 (See also Rhyn-

chophorus—this heading)
Xylotrupes gideon, 89
X. lorquini, 89
X. nimrod, 89

Monkeys, 107
Moths and Butterflies—

Amathusia phidippus, 96
Brachartona catoxantha, 94
Brassolis isthmia, 96

B. sophorae, 97
Erionota thrax, 96
Hidari trawa, 95
Hyperchiria, 97
Omtodes blackburni, 97

Padraona chrysozona, 95, 96

Thosea cinereomarginata, 96

Porcupines, 106
Rats, 106
Robber crab, 105
Snakes, 105

Shot-hole c. weevil, 86
Eurytrachelus pilosipes, 90

E. intermedius, 90
Graeffea cocophaga, 98

INDEX

Petch—
Bud rot, 46
Fungi disease, 35
Philippines (See also names of places)
Coco-nut oil manufacture, 202, 203
Coir, 189
Copra manufacture, 194, 196
Diseases—
Bud rot, 47
Fungi, 42
Field culture—
Cultivation of young groves, 140,
142
Preparation of land, 125, 127
Lady-birds, 100
Land and labour, cost of, 151
Pests—
Amathusia phidippus butterfly, 96
Insects—
Aleyrodicus destructor, 102
Promecotheca cumingii, 93
Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, 76
Scapanes australis, 90
Aylotrupes gideon, 89
Toddy—
Method of obtaining, etc,, 171, 172,
173, 174
Uses of, etc., 178
Yield of sap, 174
Typhoons—Effect on trees, 24
Varieties, 109, 110, 112
Coco nifio, 113
Makapund, 114
Physiology of the coco-nut, 1-18
Polynesia—
Altitude of bearing trees, 21
Coir, 182
Pests—
Birds, 105
Insects—
Aspidiotus destructor, 101
Graeffea cocophaga, 98
Robber crab, 105
Preparation of land, 128
San Ramon nut, 110
Toddy—Sugar made from, 179
Porcupines, 106
Portuguese East Africa—Bud rot, 43
Preuss—
Lronthispa froggattt, 92, 94
Fungi disease, 39
Omiodes blackburni, 97
Products, 118, 170-206
Coco-nut oil, 201-206
Coir, 114, 182-190, 198
Copra (See that title)
Jaggery, 113, 179
Toddy (See that title)
Prudhomme—
Diseases, 33
Fertilizers, 150

211

Prudhomme—continued—
Harvesting methods, 168
Preparation of land, 127
Transplanting, 132
Varieties, 109

Ratnagire—Toddy, 174

Rats, 106

Red beetle (See Pests—Rhynchophorus
ferrugineus)

Rhinoceros beetle (See Pests—Oryctes
rhinoceros)

Ridley—Field culture, 29

Robber crab, 105

Root, the, 1-7

Rorer—
Bud rot, 60, 61
Fungi disease, 36

Samoa—
Coir industry, 186
Copra manufacture, 199-201
Insect pests—
Graeffea cocophaga, 98
Oryctes rhinoceros, 73
Laguna nut, 111
San Cristobal—Bud rot, 47
San Ramon—
Preparation of land, 128
San Ramon nut—
Chemical composition,
Tables, 155, 165
Copra production, etc., 110
Transplanting, 133
Varieties, 109, 110
Sanson—Analysis of coco-nut cake, 156
Sarawak—Use of trained monkeys for
harvesting, 169
Schultz—Brassolis isthmia, 96
Schwartz—Pests, 100
Seay, J. T.—&hynchophorus, 84
Seed—
Germination, 118-122
Selection of, 108-122
Semler—Preparation of land, 127
Seychelles, The—
Rainfall, 22
Varieties, 109
Shortt—Varieties, 109
Simmonds—
Transplanting, 131
Varieties, 109
Palamcotta, 115

ete. ,—

_ Singapore—

“Bulletin of the Botanic Gardens,” 73
Climate and soil, 29
Oryctes rhinoceros, 73
Smith, Dr. Erwin—Bud rot, 52
Snakes, 105
Society Islands—Calandra tatitensis, 88
Soil, 25-30

212

Solomon Islands—
Insect pests—
Bronthispa froggatti, 91, 92
Eurytrachelus pilosipes, 90
Trichogomphus semilinki, 89
Xylotrupes gideon, 89
South Seas—Copra manufacture, 195
Stockdale—
Bud rot, 57, 61
Fungi disease, 38, 40
Straits Settlements—
Coco-nut Trees Preservation Ordin-
ance, 68
Oryctes rhinoceros, 68
Sugar made from toddy, 178
Sumatra—Sugar made from toddy, 179

Tahiti—Copra manufacture, 193
Tamatave—Transplanting, 132
Termites, 102, 126
Toddy, 170-182
Arrack, yield, etc., 179-181
Composition of sap—Tables, 175-177
Source of, and method of obtaining,
170
Sugar made from, 178
Uses of, etc., 177
Vinegar made from, 181
Yield of sap, 174
Travancore—
Bud rot, 48
Fungi disease—Botryodiplodia, 41
Varieties, 109
Trinidad—
Ants—Azteca chartifex, 101
Climate, 23
Copra production and manufacture,
111, 195
Diseases, 33
Bud rot, 42, 56
Pestalozzia palmarum, 38
Field culture—
Preparation of land, 127
Transplanting, 132
Insect pests—
Aspidiotus destructor, 101
Rhina barbirostris, 88
Rhynchophorus, 84
Strategus anachoreta, 88
Sale methods, 114
‘*Trinidad Bulletin of Miscellaneous
Information,” 84
Typhoons—Effect on trees, 24

Urich—Insect pests—
Rhina barbirostris, 88
Rhynchophorus palmarum, 85
Van Oijen—Preparation of land, 128
Vanderstraaten—Climate, 19

THE COCO-NUT

Varieties, 108-116

Agta, 115

Bulao, 115

Burawis, 115

Busag, 115

Coco nifio, 111, 113

Cuyamis, 115, 116

Dahili, 112, 116

Inano, 116

Jaffna, 112

Kalapa Babi, 112

Kalapa Tebu, 115

Laguna, 111

Lincoranay, 116

Lond, 115, 116

Lupisan, 115

Makapuno, 114, 115

Mafigipod, 112

Pugai or Piligpog, 112, 116

San Ramon, 110

Taban, 115

Tataguden, 115

Tutupaen, 115
Vinegar made from toddy, 181
Visayan Islands—

Soil and location, 24

Varieties, 112, 115
Vitilevu—Fungi disease, 42
Vilaanderen—Coir manufacture, 189
Vosseler—

Insect pests—

Oryctes rhinoceros, 64, 65
Rhynchophorus, 78, 80, 85

Walker—
Copra, 190, 191
San Ramon nuts—Analyses, 155
Varieties, 109
Watt—
Toddy—Yield of sap, 174
Transplanting, 131
Varieties, 109
Welborn—Uses of toddy, 178
West Indies (See also names of places)
Bats, 106
Bud rot, 33, 43
Fungi disease, 36
Insect pests—

Aleyrodicus cocois, 102
Rhynchophorus palmarum, 76
Wood, Orville,—Cultivation of young

groves, 137

Zambales—Pugai nut, 112
Zam boanga—
Climate and soil, 23, 26
Coco nino nut, 111
Zanzibar—
Preparation of land, 127
Rainfall, 22

Printed by R. & R. CLark, Limirep, Edinburgh.

WORKS ON
TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

COCOA. By Dr. C. J: J. van HAL, Chief of the
Botanical Laboratories, Buitenzorg, Java. Illus-

trated. 8vo. [| Autumn, 1914.

Dr. Van Hall intends his book to play a supplementary part
in the education of the cocoa-planter, supplying the information
which is not to be acquired by practical work in the field. The
eleven chapters are headed respectively: Historical; Geographical
Distribution and Climatic Conditions ; The Chemistry of Cocoa
and Cocoa Soils; The Botanical Characteristics of the Cocoa
Plant ; Varieties of Cocoa; The Cultivation of Cocoa; Ferment-
ation, Washing and Drying; Diseases and Enemies; Cocoa-
Growing Countries; Commerce of Cocoa; and Notes on Cocoa
and Chocolate Industry.

Seber. By Henry N. Ripuey, C.M.G,, E.R.S.
Illustrated. 8vo. 8s. 6d. net.

NATURE.—“ A book of this kind must appeal mainly to planters
in the tropics, and Mr. Ridley’s extensive experience of the needs of
this class of readers has enabled him to produce a volume which
is a valuable addition to the rather scanty literature of tropical
agriculture.”

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMITST.—“ Fascinating reading as
well as valuable information for those engaged in the cultivation of
spices are furnished by Mr. Ridley’s work.”

ECONOMIST.—* Mtr. Ridley’s book, besides giving a great deal
of interesting historical information, contains much valuable technical
and statistical matter, which render it of great use both to the planter
of spices and to the student of commerce.”

LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.
I

WORKS ON
TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

THE COTTON PLANT IN EGYPT: Stupizs
IN PHYSIOLOGY AND GENETICS. By W. LAWRENCE
BALLS, M.A. Illustrated. 8vo. 53s. net.

NATURE,—“ There can be no doubt of the freshness and
originality of mind ,with which Mr. Balls has attacked a great diversity
of problems in their application to the cotton plant. Some of these
questions are genetic, some pathological, some physiological in the
stricter sense, and most of them involve considerations of direct
economic importance. Starting with the intention of improving the
Egyptian cotton crop, the author found himself led on from one
problem to another, and to the solution of each he makes a real
contribution, often approaching to the dignity of discovery.”

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC BIOLOG Y.—“A most interest-
ing volume, full of important results.”

THE DISEASES OF TROPICAL PLANTS.
By Prof. M. T. CooKk, Ph.D. | Illustratediaiaaae
8s. 6d. net.

TROPICAL LIFE.—“ This is a book the appearance of which
we greet with the greatest pleasure. We are told you can have too
much even of a good thing. Plant-diseases are not a good thing, but
a very bad one, so we may be excused for saying that no one can
have too much information about them, and although the amount that
has been crowded in this book is marvellous, yet we only regret that
there is not still more.”

JOURNAL OF BOTANY.— The illustrations are abundant
and instructive, and the book will doubtless be of great value to the
agriculturist in the tropics.”

SYLVICULTURE IN THE ‘TROPICS. By
A. F. BRouN. Illustrated. 8vo. 8s. 6d. net.

NA TURE.—‘* The book is very well printed, illustrated, and
bound, and it contains a large amount of valuable and most interest-
ing information which should make it a useful guide to foresters,
especially in those countries which are chiefly referred to.”

BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL, INSTITUTE.— “This
book should prove of much value to foresters and botanists in the
tropics.”

LONDON : MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.

2

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