The ripe nuts drop into the sea, but,
protected by their husks, they float away until the tide washes them on
to the shore of some neighboring island, where they can take root
and grow.'"
"Wouldn't it be nice," said Edith, "if some would float here?"
"A great many cocoanuts float here in ships," replied Miss Harson, "but
they would not take root and grow, because the climate is not suited to
them; it is too cold for them. We cannot have tropical fruit without
tropical heat, and I am sure that none of us would want such a change as
that. You may sometimes see small cocoanut trees in hothouses or
horticultural gardens, where they are shielded from our cold air. The
island of Ceylon, in the East Indies, is full of cocoanut-palm trees,
for they are carefully cultivated by the inhabitants, and the feathery
groves stretch mile after mile. The tree shoots up a column-like stem to
the height of a hundred feet, and is crowned with a tuft of broad leaves
about twelve feet long. The flowers are yellowish white and grow in
clusters, and the seed ripens into a hard nut which in its fibrous husk
is about the size of an infant's head."
"I've seen the nut in its husk," said Malcolm, "when papa took me down
to the wharf where the ships come in. There were lots of cocoanuts, and
some of 'em had their coats on."
"This brown husk," continued his governess, "is a valuable part of the
nut, for the toughest ropes and cables are made of its fibres, as well
as the useful brown matting so generally used to cover offices and
passages.
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