S6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July 2, 1883. 



the seed the day after I landed here, and had the seed 

 prepared and planted out at once ; a very small proportion 

 appears to have lost its vitality. 



COCONUT CULTIVATION. 



During my sojourn in Oeylon I have paid careful atten- 

 tion to coconut cultivation, and have seen many millions of 

 trees, the greater part of which of course belong? to natives. 



The trees naturally thrives best in sandy soil close to 

 the sea, but I find that it is grown successfully up to 

 2,000 feet, and at a distance of 40 miles from the sea as the 

 crow flies. 



The natives as a rule plant from 100 to 150 trees per 

 acre, while on EngUsh estates the uniform rule is 90 trees 

 to the acre, equal to al)out 2.5' k 25''. 



The general appearance of the trees in Ceylon is markedly 

 inferior to those grown at the Nicobars and to the 

 young plantations of Nicobar seedUugs ; at the Axulamans the 

 nuts too are of a smaller description. I consider th.'i t we are 

 doiug wisely at theAndamaus iu plauting 40 x 40. and several 

 gentlemen interested in coconut cultivation, with whom I 

 conversed, agreed with me that on the Ceylon plantations 

 the tiees are too close. The only point I learned in con- 

 nection with cultivation was that the trees are much im- 

 proved by toddy being occasionally drawn from them, 

 say for one year in every eight or ten. If the toddy is 

 di-awu from a tree year after year, it is highly injurious. 

 I mention this, as I believe on Koss Island the same 

 trees are handed over to the commissariat for this pur- 

 pose year after year. 



The principal coconut estate which I \isited was at 

 "Korekelly," and belongs to a company of which Mr. C 

 E. H. Symons is the Managing Director. The company 

 inanufactm-e "kopara" and fibre. The estate is 800 acres 

 in size and iu full bearing, and contains about 70,000 

 trees. Mr. Symons kindly accornijauied me over the estate, 

 and gave me much valuable information regarding the pre- 

 paration of che fibre for the market. A main line of 

 tramway runs through the estate, and cross lines run at 

 convenient distances. The nuts are picked every two 

 months or si.x times in the year. They are collected in 

 carts, and drawn by bullocks to the nearest tramway hue, 

 then trucked to the manufacturing works-, piled in heaps, 

 and left for about six weeks to dry. They are then 

 split open in the usual way, and the nut divided into 

 two pieces, removed from the shell. It is then dried in 

 the sun on "barbecues," 2:)rovided the weather is fine. 

 In cloudy and wet weather it has to be dried artificially 

 on heated plates of sheet iron. The sun drying is much 

 preferred, as by this mode the nut retains a better colour 

 which considerably affects its market value. The present 

 price of the "kopara,'* which is very low, is 117 per 

 cwt., but there is an unlimited demand for it at this 

 price. The hu.sks are soaked for 24 hours in large vats 

 containing fresh* water ; they are then passed through a 

 coir fibre-breaking machine, a revohing drum with long 

 steel spikes, driven by machinery which cards out the 

 fibre called m the trade "no mark, "and leaves the bristle 

 fibre behind. 



The bristle is then passed a second time through a 

 combing machine, and a fibre called * one leaf *' is removed. 

 The man who handles the bristle during this process 

 picks out any dirt or woody matter which the machine 

 has not removed. The bristle is then made into 

 small bundles, about four inches iu thickness, tied with 

 a piece of the fibre and hung up in the shade to dry. 

 The "no mark" is passed through another roller of a 

 similar description, Ijut of a larger size, which separates 

 it much in the .same way as a hay-maldng machine shakes 

 out hay. It is then washed, dried in the sun, all dnt 

 ,Tnd refuse picked out by hand, and sifted through large 

 cane selves made in the form of a charpoy. The " one leaf " 

 is merely dried in the sun and picked by hand. All three 

 quahties are then removed to a bjiilding. where they are 

 subjected for 12 hours to the fumes of sulphur which is 

 introduced by means of pipes. The proce.ss whitens and 

 improves the colour. Half a cwt. of sulphur is required 

 for 80 cwt. of fibre. The bristle is then packed in large 

 bundles weighing about 30Ib. 



* Mr. Stalkart, of Harton and Comjiany, Calcutta, informs 

 me that for the Calcutta market the nut nuist be soaked 

 in salt water. ' 



The other two qualities are pre.ssed into bales or ballots i 

 measuring 1' 8" x 12" m 6" tied with coconut tmst and are 

 ready for the market. The present rates iu Oeylon are for— 

 No. 1, or bristle, £25 per ton. 

 No. 2, or "one leaf ", EG per cwt. 

 No. 3, or "no mark ", K4-8 per cwt. 



The one leaf is so called because a piece of palmyra 

 leaf is placed in each bale to distinguish it from No. 3 

 or the "no mark." Mr. Symons, however, informed me 

 that if Nos. 2 and 3 were converted into fine two-strand 

 twist of 120 feet in length, there would be a ready sale 

 for it at K17 per cwt., and I learn from the In.spector- 

 General of Prisons that tins is one of the principal in- 

 dustries in the Ceylon jails. 



The nuts if sold in bulk are sold at B25 per thousand. 

 With the large number of coconut trees that will in a 

 few years hence come into bearuig at the Audamans, it 

 ajjpears to me highly desirable that we should introduce 

 the necessary machmery, and make the manufacture of 

 twist one of our priucipal industries. To obtain an even 

 fibre which is necessary to ensure a good market price 

 the twist must be hand-manufactured, and this labour 

 would be highly suitable for old and sickly men and for 

 women. In Ceylon it is considered a more paying busi- 

 ne.ss to prepare the kopara than to manufacture oil • but 

 as our labour costs us nothing, au'l a better price ""can 

 be obtained for coconut oil than for the "kopara", it 

 would appear desirable that we should manufacture and 

 export the oil. The leaves of the coconut are used on 

 a very large scale for roofing buildings and houses in 

 the Islaud. Tlie leaves are plaited and called cadjans: 

 they are laid on in pairs at intervals of t> inches, the 

 leaf haying been first split down the mid rib. The mid 

 rib is tied on to the baton in three or four places ac- 

 corihug to length, by a piece of twist. 



The roofs last well for one year, and considering 

 the rapidity with which they can be made and put on the 

 roof, I think we should certainly adopt them at J'ort Blau- 

 instead of jungle leaves. The leaves used for this purpose 

 should be those which have fallen from the tree, as 

 they last better than greeu leaves which are cut. I'was 

 unable to obtain any accurate information as to the cost 

 of coir fibre machinery, as the Company to which Mr. 

 Symons belonged had purchased the estate with its plant- 

 but Mr. Symons believed that suitable plant for this pur- 

 pose, without engine, to work up 0,000 to 7.0CK1 nuts 

 a day could be obtained for Kl,500 to 112,000, but 

 Messrs. T. E. Thomson, Calcutta, promised to obtain this 

 information . for mo from England. The old steam engine 

 on Chatham could be repaired and fitted up sufficiently 

 to work this machinery. A hydraulic press for packin-'- 

 the coir fibre into bales costs about R4.000, but at 

 Horekelly a press has been made on the spot out of a 

 heavy log of timber, and a crab -mneh ; and as it is foiuid 

 to answer the purpose, we could use similar pre,s,ses here. 

 ciNCnoN.v. 

 As the question of introducing cinchona cultivation at 

 the Andam,ans had been mooted, 1 thought it ad-visable to 

 make enquiries about it and to visit several of the nur,se- 

 ries and plantations. The cultivation 1 find is simple 

 enough, and can be carried on by any per.son who umler- 

 stands planting at all. Dr. Trimen, the Director of the 

 "Botanical Gardens" assures me that cinchona pl.-int.ation 

 in this latitude at any elevation under 2,500 feet would 

 be prefectly u.seless, C. uncciriihra would no doubt grow 

 at a very low elevation, but would cont.ain no alkaloid,s, 

 and I found his opinion was fully corroborated by other 

 persons experienced in cinchona cultivation. If Saddle 

 Pe.ak Mount at Port Oornwallis is really 3,000 feet, the 

 height which is supposed to be, it might be a question for 

 consideration whether it would be worth while opening a 

 small settlement there for the ciUtivation of cinchona. My 

 own opinion, however, is that this cultivation is now being 

 so enormou.sly extended, that in the course of a few years 

 the bark will literally be a di-ug in' the market, and in- 

 stead of paying the enormous returns which it is now 

 doing, it will barely pay the expenses of cultivation. I 

 have met many gentlemen interested iu tins product who 

 hoId.sJ these views; anyhow it appears perfectly useless 

 attempting to grow it at Port Blair. 



