Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1901 — Cultivation of Coco. [ARTICLE]

Cultivation of Coco.

The cultivation of coco, says a writer in the Scientific .American, is at present an inviting agricultural pursuit in Trinidad and parts of Venezuela. The coco tree cannot withstand strong sunshine, and the young plants have to be shaded by banana or plaintain trees, and later, when they attain their growth, by tall trees known as “immortels," or the “mother of the coco.” These make a kind of canopy over the entire plantation. The fruit of the coco tree is a pod, resembling a cucumber and growing on the trunk, or large branches, where it “looks as though it were artificially attached.” The seeds are like large, thick Lima beans embedded in pulp. These form the coco beans of commerce. The processes of curing and drying require much attention.