MOST USEFUL TREE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17937, 4 December 1923, Page 5

MOST USEFUL TREE.

EVERY PORTION APPLICABLE TO SERVICE. It is a pity we have not got it in our borders, Bays a correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian." Our fruit trees do not give wood, and our wood-yielding trees do not bear fruit. The tree whose every fibre is of use and without which could not' exist is the coconut palm. Jn the oasis of the Sahara, where scarcely another tree grows, it is invaluable, and is used to the last shred. ' Here and. in other tropical and sub-tropical regions its trunk serves as wood for the building and dwelling-houses, the making of furniture, agricultural implements, and countless other utensils. South American Indians hollow it out and make it into a boat. The leaves are used to thatch the roof, the leaf stems to make oars and fishing rods. In the flower buds food is preserved; of the blossoms themselves sugar, vine gar, and a sort of grog are made._ A kind of sago is prepared from the pith of the stem.

The value of the ripe fruit, the coconut, as one of the most nourishing foods of the tropics is well known. From the white kernel a cream is extracted which is added to the milk; coconnt oil is important in the manufacture o£ soap and candles. By natives it is used as a remedy against scorpion bites The mass of the coconut, left after extracting the oil is formed iritp oilcakes. In many southern countries the oil is also us&i as manure. From ths shell or the nut; drinking cups, lamps, bottles, spoons and other objects are made; even toothpowder can be prepared from it, and at the worst it is a good fuel. The fibrous husks produce mats, cushions, brushes, silk, anchor ropes, and nets. The woven fibres about the stems give sieves and make torches. the living tree is the natural lightning conductor of the tropics, for it is higher than any building around.