In the selection of a site for a cocoanut grove it is best to select
land near the seashore 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 seashore, in
common with other plants, is simply an indication of its adaptability
to environment. That it is at a positive disadvantage as a shore plant
may be determined conclusively by anyone who will examine the root
system of a seashore-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 assurance 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 analysis 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; shore gravel, sea sand, broken shells, 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.