OCR Text |
Show THE DIG COCOA PALM. Grow In Salty Soli, Defying Hurrl canes of the Tropics. Tho cocoanut moans a groat deal to tho West Indian negro, sajs Country Life. A dark skinned man ran llghtl) up tho tall stem, with suspiciously prehensile feet, stopping at the fruit cluster to select and pull off n grent nut, which he tossed tc tho ground. I examined It with cu rloslty, for It was llttlo enough like tho cocoanut cf the stores In the north A smooth green covering, hard, Impervious to anything but a henvy knife no wonder tho cocoa palm spreads among these Islands' Boat shaped. In n sense, light enough to float easily, tho big seed Is alwayh ready for a sea vojage. Cast ashore on a sandy beach, It quickly germlii ates and holds fnst In tho salty soil oon growing to Its estato of bcaut nnd frultfulnoss and nblo to defy thb hurricanes of tho tropics. Restful as were the Isolated cocoa palms. It was i.ot until I camo upon a real grovo of thoni that I could full) nppreclnto tho tropical latitude A visit to "Crusoe beach." fringed b i,n ...... ..i i -i ..., .. . .. tho great palms, hanging full of heavy nuts, with liberty to wander whero tho sandy .round It was winter, mind jou! was covered, not with fallen leaves of oa'.'. and beech, but with great fronds eight or ten feet long drooped from tho clean stemmed giants with feather duster heads this took nwny tho Inst memory of tho Ico bound nnd eonbsiuokcd north |