Coconut Selection In Western Samoa

OEING a basic foodstuff and the ** major source of wealth of the area, the coconut is the most im- . portant crop in the South Pacific. : Considerable interest therefore ' attaches to the recorded work of plantation rehabilitation and coconut selection now being undertaken in Western Samoa by the New Zealand Reparation Estates, a plantation enterprise owned by the New Zealand Government.

Since the experience gained will be of value to other territories in the region, the South Pacific Commission is, at the invitation of the New Zealand Government, associating itself with this work. A brief report on the work to date, by Mr. D. R. Eden, General Manager, of NZ Reparation Estates, is here re-printed from the quarterly Bulletin of the South Pacific Commission: The area to be planted is approximately 200 acres of old coconut land, situated at Vailele plantation, in Western Samoa, and approximately three miles east by road from Apia.

The land is gently undulating, and lies about a quarter mile inland from the east coast. The elevation is from 60 to 100 feet above sea level.

The soil is a stony clay loam with good crumb structure. It is weakly acid pH 6.2 to 7.0. A typical pro file taken by Dr. L. I. Grange, Soil Surveyor, in 1938 was:— 6 in. dark brown silt loam with crumb structure, 18 in. moderately free light brown silt loam. 20 in. dark brown compact silt loam. 36 in. light brown compact silt loam on rotten basalt, With the aid of a Fordson tractor and a twin-disc plough, ploughing was commenced after the area had been cleared of its old palms in November, 1951. The top soil was found to be heavily packed and very hard, and the discs penetrated only three inches at the first ploughing, Cross ploughing and subsequent ploughings gave an average furrow depth of six inches, Twenty-five acres were sown under Mauritius bean Mucuna aterrima seed in mid December, a ton of seed being used. The seed germinated in seven days. Growth was rapid, and the land was fully covered by the vines at mid-January, 1952 The vines will be ploughed under

in June 1952, or as early as flower ing commences. After this the area will be lined out and planted under selected seed nuts.

The area will be planted in squares with thirty-feet spacings, giving 48 palms to the acre. This will allow accommodation for 9,600 selections

in the 200 acres. Each palm, when planted, will bear a number, and this number will be repeated on a plan with notes setting out its terri tory of origin and other necessary information.

When further supplies of bean seeds are received, seven further

blocks, each of 25 acres, will be treated, until the whole area has been planted.

A coconut nursery has been es tablished on Vailele plantation near the manager’s homestead, using pure white coral sand, nine inches deep, and of sufficient dimensions to house

3,000 selected coconuts.

Plantings in this nursery to Janu ary 17 last included 1,376 coconut selected from palms planted in 193 from specially-selected local seed and 315 coconuts selected from larg palms (as opposed to dwarf) plant© by the Estates in 1932 from Malaya seed material; in all, a total of 1.69 selections. Some of these seed nut may be rejected later for malform ations in growth, or if growth is nc vigorous or becomes abnormally n tarded.

Selections have been made fror palms originally planted from lo< ally-selected or imported seed. Th seed nuts are taken from palm strong in all members, heavy bearei carrying their fruit on short stall with an evenly-distributed head loa of nuts. The fruit we have selecte is medium in size, oval in shape bi evenly rounded at the median bulg< thin husk. Specimens opened di close the inner shell to be near] spherical, and the average thickne: of kernel as .52 in.

Unfortunately, no individual pali records have been kept over the years of maturity, but the averaj yield of copra per acre over the 8 acres planted from selected loc seed nuts in 1931 has been estal lished at approximately one ton.