Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 125, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1916 — Cocoanut’s. Three Eyes. [ARTICLE]

Cocoanut’s. Three Eyes.

Who can tell why the cocoanut has three eyes? Luther Burbank explains it this way: Cocoanuts usually grow at the edge of the sea or rivers. The nuts are surrounded with a thick husk with a waterproof covering so that when they drop into the water they will float. In floating, the three eyes are always on top. Once in the water nature gets busy. From one of the eyes there comes a shoot which develops broad leaves like sails. The wind catches the sails and wafts the cocoanut on a journey sometimes many miles long. As it sails the other two eyes develop roots, which at first grow among the fibers of the woody husk. In good season, the cocoanut is swept Upon another shore, perhaps on another island. The roots imbed themselves in the Soft earth, the sail becomes the trunk, and a cocoanut palm is growing where none grew before.