The exposure of the plantation is an important consideration, and a maritime site should be selected in preference to one far inland, unless it be on an open, unprotected flat, exposed to the influence of every breeze or the fiercest gales that blow. The structure of the cocoanut seems well fitted to endure winds of almost any force, and that a remarkably abundant and strong circulation of air is essential to its best development is well shown by comparing a tree subjected to it with the wretched, spindling specimen growing in a sheltered glen or ravine. Strong confirmation of this may be found within the artificial environment of a plant conservatory, where it is feasible to reproduce, in the minute detail of soil, water, temperature, and humidity, every essential to its welfare except a good, strong breeze. As a consequence, the palm languishes and it has long been deemed, on this account, one of the most rebellious subjects introduced into palm-house cultivation. THE SOIL. The soils for cocoanut growing are best selected by the process of exclusion. The study of the root development of the palm will prove to be an unerring guide to proper soil selection. The roots of monocotyledons, to which great division this palm belongs, are devoid of the well-defined descending axis, which is possessed by most tree plants, and is often so strongly developed as to permit of rock cleavage and the withdrawal of food supplies from great depths. The cocoanut has no such provision for its support. Its subterranean parts are simply a mat-like expanse of thick, fleshy, worm-like growths, devoid of any feeders other than those provided at the extreme tips of the relatively few roots. These roots are fleshy (not fibrous) and can not thrive in any soil through which they may not grow freely in search of sustenance. It then becomes obvious that stiff, tenacious, or waxy soils, however rich, are wholly unsuitable. All very heavy lands, or those that break up into solid, impervious lumps, and, lastly, any land underlaid near the surface with bed rocks or impervious clays or conglomerates, are naturally excluded. All other soils, susceptible of proper drainage, may be considered appropriate to the growth of the palm. Spons (Encyclop.) advocates light, sandy soils. Simmonds (Trop. Agric.) names nine different varieties suitable for this purpose, describing each at tedious length, and laying more or less emphasis upon a sandy mixture. These might all have been covered by the single word "permeable." As a matter of fact every grain of sand in excess of that required to secure a condition of perfect permeability is a positive disadvantage and must be paid for by a correspondingly larger area of cultivation and by future soil amendment. For the rest, the richer and deeper the soil the less the expense of maintaining soil fertility.