The Cocoanut Part 2

SELECTION OF LOCATION.

In the selection of a site for a cocoanut grove it is best to select land near the seash.o.r.e and not extending inland more than 2 or 3 miles. Within this narrow zone there is commonly a deposit of rich, permeable, well-drained alluvium offering soil conditions of far greater importance to successful tree growth than the mere exposure to marine influences. The success that has followed cocoanut growing in Cochin China, remote from the seaboard, in Annam and up the Ganges basin one hundred or more miles from the coast, and in our own interior Province of Laguna, definitely proves that immediate contiguity to the sea is not essential to success.

That the cocoanut will grow and thrive upon the immediate seash.o.r.e, in common with other plants, is simply an indication of its adaptability to environment. That it is at a positive disadvantage as a sh.o.r.e plant may be determined conclusively by anyone who will examine the root system of a seash.o.r.e-grown tree upturned by a wash or tidal wave, and one uprooted from any cause, farther inland. It will be seen that the root system of the maritime plant is immensely larger than the other, and that a corresponding amount of energy has been expended in the search through much inert material to forage for the necessary plant food which the more favored inland species has found concentrated within a smaller zone.

The planting must be made in a thoroughly permeable soil.

The thick, fleshy roots of the newly upturned palm are loaded with water, and tell us that an inexhaustible store of this fluid is an indispensable element of success. If further evidence of this were required, the testimony of drooping leaves and of crops shrunken from one-half to two-thirds, throughout the cocoanut districts and upon our own orchard in Mindanao, as the result of drought, confirm it and bespeak the necessity of copious water at all times.

The living tree upon the sea sands further emphasizes this necessity; for, while its roots are lapped by the tides, it never flags or wilts, and from this we may gather the added value of a site which can be irrigated. The careful observer will note that along miles of sea beach, among hundreds of trees whose roots are either in actual contact with the incoming waves, or subjected to the subterranean influence of the sea, there will never be so much as one tree growing in any beach basin which collects and holds tidal water for even a brief time; and that, notwithstanding the large number of nuts that must have found lodgment and favorable germinating influence in such places, none succeed in growing. From this we may derive the a.s.surance that the desired water must be in motion and that land near stagnant water, or marsh land, is unsuitable to the plant.

It may frequently be observed that trees will be found growing fairly thriftily upon mounds or hummocks, in places invaded by flood or other waters which, by reason of backing or damming up, have become stagnant. An examination of the roots of an overthrown tree in such a locality will show that all of those in the submerged zone have perished and rotted away, but that such is the vitality and recuperative energy of the tree that it has thrown out a new feeding system in the dryer soil of the mound immediately surrounding the stem, which has been sufficient to successfully carry on the functions of nutrition, but altogether ineffective to anchor the tree securely, or to prevent its prostration before the first heavy gale.

While this phase of the question will receive more attention when we come to consider the chemistry of suitable manures, it may be said that, although a.n.a.lysis of the cocoanut ash derived from beach-grown nuts shows a larger percentage of those salts that abound in sea water than those grown inland, yet the equal vigor, vitality, and fruitfulness of the latter simply confirm the plant's exceptional adaptability to environment and ability to take up and decompose, without detriment, the salts of sea or brackish waters. As a victim to the maritime idea, the writer in 1886 planted, far inland, several hundred nuts in beds especially devised to reproduce littoral conditions; sh.o.r.e gravel, sea sand, broken sh.e.l.ls, and salt derived from sea water being used in preparing the seed beds. The starting growth was unexcelled. Then came a long period of yellowing decline and almost suspended animation, ultimately followed by a complete restoration to health and vigor. The early excellent growth was due to the fact that the first nourishment of the plant is entirely derived from the endosperm, and careful lifting of the young plants disclosed the fact that recovery from their moribund condition was, in every instance, coincident with the time that the roots first succeeded in working through the unpalatable mess about them into the outlying good, sweet soil.

The exposure of the plantation is an important consideration, and a maritime site should be selected in preference to one far inland, unless it be on an open, unprotected flat, exposed to the influence of every breeze or the fiercest gales that blow.

The structure of the cocoanut seems well fitted to endure winds of almost any force, and that a remarkably abundant and strong circulation of air is essential to its best development is well shown by comparing a tree subjected to it with the wretched, spindling specimen growing in a sheltered glen or ravine.

Strong confirmation of this may be found within the artificial environment of a plant conservatory, where it is feasible to reproduce, in the minute detail of soil, water, temperature, and humidity, every essential to its welfare except a good, strong breeze. As a consequence, the palm languishes and it has long been deemed, on this account, one of the most rebellious subjects introduced into palm-house cultivation.

THE SOIL.

The soils for cocoanut growing are best selected by the process of exclusion. The study of the root development of the palm will prove to be an unerring guide to proper soil selection.

The roots of monocotyledons, to which great division this palm belongs, are devoid of the well-defined descending axis, which is possessed by most tree plants, and is often so strongly developed as to permit of rock cleavage and the withdrawal of food supplies from great depths.

The cocoanut has no such provision for its support. Its subterranean parts are simply a mat-like expanse of thick, fleshy, worm-like growths, devoid of any feeders other than those provided at the extreme tips of the relatively few roots. These roots are fleshy (not fibrous) and can not thrive in any soil through which they may not grow freely in search of sustenance. It then becomes obvious that stiff, tenacious, or waxy soils, however rich, are wholly unsuitable. All very heavy lands, or those that break up into solid, impervious lumps, and, lastly, any land underlaid near the surface with bed rocks or impervious clays or conglomerates, are naturally excluded. All other soils, susceptible of proper drainage, may be considered appropriate to the growth of the palm. Spons (Encyclop.) advocates light, sandy soils. Simmonds (Trop. Agric.) names nine different varieties suitable for this purpose, describing each at tedious length, and laying more or less emphasis upon a sandy mixture. These might all have been covered by the single word "permeable."

As a matter of fact every grain of sand in excess of that required to secure a condition of perfect permeability is a positive disadvantage and must be paid for by a correspondingly larger area of cultivation and by future soil amendment. For the rest, the richer and deeper the soil the less the expense of maintaining soil fertility.

The preparatory work of establis.h.i.+ng an orchard is light, provided the location is not one demanding the opening of drainage ca.n.a.ls, and on lands of good porosity it involves neither subsoiling nor a deeper plowing than to effectually cover the sod or any minor weed growths with which it may be covered.

It has long been the reprehensible practice of cocoanut growers to merely dig pits, manure them, set the plants therein, and permit the intervening lands (except immediately about the trees) to run to weeds or jungle.

In the Philippines the native planter has not yet progressed beyond the pit stage, nor do his subsequent cultural activities include more than the occasional "boloing" of such weeds as threaten to choke and exterminate the young plants.

Fortunately it will not be long till the force and influence of example are sure to be felt by our own planters. The progressive German colonist of Kamerun, German East Africa, and the South Pacific Islands, as well as the French in Congo and Madagascar, are vigorously practicing conventional, modern orchard methods in the treatment of their cocoanut groves, and it is amazing to read of discussions between Ceylon and Indian nut growers as to the best method of tethering cattle upon cocoanut palms in pasture, so as to obtain the most benefit from their excreta.

With an intelligent study of the plant and its characteristics it is believed that our native planter may put into practical use the knowledge that the veteran Indian planter has in fifty years failed to learn or utilize. He will learn that in time the entire superficies of his orchard will be required by the wide-spreading, surface-feeding roots of the trees, and that pasture crops of any kind, grown for any purpose other than soiling or for green manuring, are prejudicial to future success. He will know that the initial preparation of all of his orchard and its continuous maintenance in good cultivation are essential not only to the future welfare of his trees but as a necessary means in connection with a judicious intermediate crop rotation.

Hence the preparatory requirements may be summed up as such preliminary soil breaking as would be required for a corn crop in similar lands, succeeded by such superficial plowings and cultivations as would be required to raise a cotton or any other of the so-called hoed crops.

SEED SELECTION.

Preliminary to planting the very important question of seed selection calls for close scrutiny on the planter's part.

The small native planter is often familiar with the individual characteristics of his trees. Owners of small estates in Cuyos and about Zamboanga have pointed out to me trees that have the constant fruiting habit confirmed, others that will fruit erratically, and others that flower yet rarely bear fruit. The fruitfulness of the first cla.s.s is undoubtedly a result of accidental heredity, for the planter has in the past made no selection except by chance, nor is the characteristic in any way due to his cultural system, which consists in planting the nut and letting nature and heredity do the rest. One tree in Zamboanga, the owner a.s.sured me, had never produced less than 200 nuts annually for fully twenty-three years. Asked as to the bearing of all of his trees (of which he owned some three hundred), he stated that from the lot he averaged 20 nuts at a picking, five times a year, a total of 100 nuts; that the crop of these was very fluctuating, some years falling to 60 nuts, again running as high as 130. The especially prized tree did not vary appreciably. In very dry seasons the nuts shrunk somewhat in size and the copra in weight, but the yield of nuts never fell below 200, and only once had amounted to 220. He had raised a great number of seedlings, but it had never occurred to him to select for planting the nuts from that particular tree.

PLANTING.

We have pointed out the necessity of selecting seed trees of known good bearing habits, and equal care should be exercised in selecting those the nuts of which are well formed and uniform. This precaution will suggest itself when one observes that some trees have the habit of producing a few very large nuts and many of very small and irregular size and shape, and it is obviously to the planter's interest to lend no a.s.sistance to the propagation and transmission of such traits. In view of what has been previously stated, it is almost superfluous earnestly to recommend planters to sow no seeds from young trees. The principle for this contention--that no seed should be selected except from trees of established, well-known fruiting habits--would seem to cover the ground effectually.

The best seed should be selected and picked when perfectly mature and lowered to the ground. The fall from a lofty tree not infrequently cracks the inner sh.e.l.l, without giving any external evidence of the injury. A seed so injured will never sprout and therefore is worthless for seed purposes.

Freshly collected seed nuts contain in the husk more moisture than is required to effect germination, and if planted in this condition, decay is apt to set in before germination occurs. To avoid this the natives tie them in pairs, sling them over bamboo poles where they are exposed to the air but sheltered from the sun, and leave them until well sprouted. It is, however, more expeditious to pile the nuts up in small heaps of eight to ten nuts, in partial shade, where the surface nuts may be sprinkled occasionally to prevent complete drying out.

Germination is very erratic, sometimes occurring within a month and sometimes extending over four, five, or more months. When the young shoot or plumule (see ill.u.s.tration) has fairly thrust its way through the fibrous husk it is a good practice to go over the heaps and segregate those that have sprouted, carefully placing them so that the growing tip be not deformed or distorted by the pressure of superinc.u.mbent nuts. When these sprouts are 30 to 50 cm. high, and a few roots have thrust through the husk, they are in the best possible condition for permanent planting.

First. The original preparation of the land should be good and the surface tilth at the time of planting irreproachable; i. e., free from weeds and so mellow that the soil can be closely and properly pressed around the roots by hand.

Second. The orchard should be securely protected from the invasion of cattle, etc. It is sometimes impossible to protect orchards against entry of these animals. If the success of these precautions can not be a.s.sured, then the nuts had better be grown in a closely protected nursery until about a year old, when the alb.u.men of the seed will be completely a.s.similated and will therefore no longer attract vermin, and when the larger size of the plant will give it more protection from stray cattle.

In either case planting should be made concurrently with the opening of the rainy monsoon, during which season further field operations will not be required except when an intermittent, drier period indicates the advisability of running the cultivator.

The planting "pit" fetish, in such common use in India, has nothing to commend it. If stable manures of any kind are available, a good application at the time of planting will effect wonders in accelerating the growth of the young plants.

Where the necessary protection is a.s.sured, the young seedling planted out as above recommended should start at once, without check of any kind, into vigorous growth.

The nursery-grown subject receives an unavoidable setback. Its roots have been more or less mutilated and, as we may not prune the top sufficiently to compensate for the root injury, it is generally several months before the equilibrium of top and root is fully restored. In most cases, by the end of the second year, it will have been far outstripped in the growing race by the former.

The history, habits, and characteristics of the cocoanut tree indicate that it needs a full and free exposure to sun, air, and wind; and, as it makes a tree, under such circ.u.mstances, of wide crown expansion, these indispensables can not be secured except by very wide planting.

Conventional recommendations cover all distances, from 5 to 8 meters, with quincunx (i. e., triangular plantings) urged when the 8-meter plan is adopted. But the writer has seen too many groves s.p.a.ced at this distance in good soil, with interlacing leaves and badly spindled in the desperate struggle for light, air, and sun, ever to recommend the quincunx, or any system other than the square, at distances not less than 9 meters and, in good soils, preferably 9.5 meters.

The former distance will allow for 123 and the latter 111 trees to the hectare. They should be lined out with the greatest regularity, so as to admit at all times of cross plowing and cultivation as desired.

From this time forward the treatment is one of cultural and manurial routine.

Annual plowings should not be dispensed with during the life of the plantation. These plowings may be relatively shallow, sufficient to cover under the green manures and crops that are made an indispensable condition to the continued profitable conduct of the industry. Nothing is to be gained by the removal of the earliest flowering spikes. Flowering is the congestion of sap at a special point which, if the grower could control it, he would wish to direct, in the case of young plants, to the building up of leaf and wood. Cutting the inflorescence of the cocoanut results in profuse bleeding and, unless this be checked by the use of a powerful styptic or otherwise, it is doubtful if the desired end would be accomplished. The earlier crops of nuts should all be taken with extension cutters or from ladders. No shoulders for climbing should be cut in any tree, the stem of which has not become dense, hard, and woody. Cut when the wood is the least bit succulent, they become inviting points of attack for borers.

With these reservations, there is everything to commend the practice of shouldering the tree, as offering the safest, most expeditious and economical way of making it possible to climb and secure the harvest. It is, of course, understood that the cuts should be made sloping outward, so as not to collect moisture and invite decay, and no larger than is strictly necessary for the purpose.

MANURING. [5]

The manuring problem must be met and solved by the best resources at our command. The writer has had pointed out hundred of trees that, wholly guiltless of any direct application of manure, have borne excellent crops for many successive years; but he has also seen hundreds of others in their very prime, at thirty years, which once produced a hundred select nuts per year, now producing fluctuating and uncertain crops of fifteen to thirty inferior fruits.

Time and again native growers have told me of the large and uniformly continuous crops of nuts from the trees immediately overshadowing their dwellings and, although some have attributed this to a sentimental appreciation and grat.i.tude on the part of the palm at being made one of the family of the owner, a few were sensible enough to realize that it came of the opportunity that those particular trees had to get the manurial benefit of the household sewage and waste.

Yet, the lesson is still unlearned and, after much diligent inquiry, I have yet to find a nut grower in the Philippines who at any time (except at planting) makes direct and systematic application of manure to his trees.