In Charge of Division of Plant Industry . To Hon. F. Lamson-Scribner , Chief Bureau of Agriculture, Manila . The following pages are written chiefly in the interests of the planter, but the writer feels that the great agricultural importance which the cocoanut palm is bound to assume in these Islands is sufficient to justify the presentation of some of its history and botany. For that part of the bulletin which touches upon the botany of the cocoanut I am indebted to Don Regino Garcia, associate

The cocoanut ( Cocos nucifera Linn.) is the sole oriental representative of a tropical genus comprising nineteen species, restricted, with this single exception, to the New World. Its geographical distribution is closely confined to the two Tropics. 1 Not less than nineteen varieties of C. nucifera are described by Miquel and Rumphius, and all are accepted by Filipino authors. Whether all of these varieties are constant enough to deserve recognition need not be considered here. Many are characte

1 The cocoanut palm has been reared as far north as Indian River, Florida, latitude 28° N., but has not proven a profitable commercial venture. The cocoanut furnishes two distinct commercial products—the dried meat of the nut, or copra, and the outer fibrous husk. These products are so dissimilar that they should be considered separately. Until very recent years the demand for the “meat” of the cocoanut or its products was limited to the uses of soap boilers and confectioners. Probably there is

When freshly expressed, the oil is an exceptionally good cooking fat, and enters largely into the dietary of our own people. The medicinal uses of the oil are various, and in the past it has been strongly advocated for the cure of eczema, burns, as a vermifuge, and even as a substitute for cod-liver oil in phthisis. Its medicinal virtues are now generally discredited, except as a restorative agent in the loss of hair resulting from debilitating fevers. Its value in this direction may be surmised

Fig. 2. —Cocoanut fiber-extracting machine. As the cost of manufacture is generally rated at one-half the selling price, and as we must add a further charge of 20 per cent to cover freight and commission, we have resulting from the sale of the 23 quintals, or 2,300 kilos, at £16 per English ton, a balance of £11 11s. per hectare. But there are other considerations which should not be overlooked. The husks of 10,000 cocoanuts will withdraw from the land 61.5 kilos of potash and 3 kilos of phospho

More than a liter a day is sometimes drawn from one tree, and 5 hectoliters is considered a fair annual average from a good bearing tree. In its fresh state tuba has a sweetish, slightly astringent taste; but, as the vessels in which it is collected are rarely cleansed, they become traps for many varieties of insects, etc., and it is, therefore, not a very acceptable beverage to a delicate stomach. When purified by a mild fermentation it is far more palatable. A secondary fermentation of tuba re

8. The fiber of the husk is used extensively by the natives for calking boats. 9. The milk is used in the preparation of a native dish of rice, known as “casi.” It is an excellent and highly prized dietary article, prepared with rice or in combination with chicken or locusts. 10. The oil, melted with resins, is an effective and lasting covering for anything desired to be protected from the ravages of white ants. 11. The timber is used to bridge streams and bog holes, and the slowly decaying leav

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 mo

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 vigo

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 assistance to the propagation and transmission of such traits. In view of what ha

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 assured, then the nuts had better be grown in a closely protected nursery until about a year old, when the albumen of the seed will be completely assimilated and will therefore no longer attract vermin, and when the larger size of the plant will give it more protection from stray cattle. In

Mr. Cochran’s analysis, based upon the unit of 1,000 average nuts, weighing in the aggregate 3,125 pounds, discloses a drain upon soil fertility for that number, amounting in round numbers to— Reducing this to crop and area, and taking 60 fruits per annum per tree as a fair mean for the bearing groves in our cocoanut districts and on those rare estates where a systematic spacing of about 173 trees to the hectare has been made, we should have an annual harvest of 10,300 nuts, or, stated in round

1 Throughout this paper the writer uses this word in preference to “fertilizing” even when speaking of so-called “commercial fertilizers.” 2 Farmers’ Bulletin 114, United States Department of Agriculture. 3 Conn. Exp. Sta. Rep. 1897, Part II. Harvest of the crop requires but a brief discussion. The nuts should be plucked when ripe. The phenomenon of maturity can not be readily described in print. It frequently is as evident in nuts of a bright green color as in those of a golden-yellow color, an

Outside of certain insects of the order Coleoptera, cocoanuts in the Philippines are reasonably free from enemies; in some districts, close to forest-clad areas, the raids of monkeys do some damage. A tree-nesting rat, which nibbles the young nuts, is also a source of considerable loss. The rat is best overcome by frequent disturbance of his quarters. This involves the removal of the dead leaves and thatch that form constantly about the base of the crown. But the wisdom of this recommendation wi

Remedies may be described as preventive and aggressive, and, by an active campaign of precaution, many subsequent remedial applications can be avoided. Most of the beetles attacking the palm are known to select heaps of decomposing rubbish and manure as their favorite (if not necessary) breeding places, and it is obviously of importance to break up and destroy such; nor can any better or more advantageous way of effecting this be suggested than by promptly spreading and plowing under all such ac

1 Ag. Bull. Fed. Malay States, February, 1903. Material improvement of old plantations may sometimes be effected and, unless the trees are known to be upward of fifty years old, generally repays the labor. Marked increase in crop has followed a heavy thinning out of trees upon the Government cocoanut farm at San Ramon, Mindanao. The improvement that a freer circulation of air and abundant sunlight have effected is very marked. Where it can be done, plowing is also sometimes feasible and should b

1. There are large areas throughout the littoral valleys of the Archipelago, as yet unexploited, which, in the essentials of soil, climate, irrigation facilities, and general environment are suitable for cocoanut growing. 2. The present conditions present especially flattering attractions to cocoanut growers capable of undertaking the cultivation upon a scale of some magnitude. By coöperation, small estates could combine in the common ownership of machinery, whereby the products of the grove cou

6. The natural enemies and diseases of the plant are relatively few, easily held in check by vigilance and the exercise of competent business management. 7. The labor situation is bound more seriously to affect the small planter, wholly dependent upon hand labor, than the estate conducted on a large enough scale to justify the employment of modern machinery. 8. In view of an ever-expanding demand for cocoanut products, and in the light of the foregoing conclusions, the industry, when prosecuted

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