229 



The produce sold in p]urope, as shown above, would realise 

 £36,528 or $311,950. 



The 1,200 acre estate has therefore a credit balance of $187,236 

 to defray its expenses of cultivation, of harvesting, of transport 

 to the mill, etc. i.e. $156 per acre. 



The margin available for dividend will be a small one and 

 might even be to the debit side of Profit and Loss Account. 



The aim of this paper is not, as might be inferred, to make 

 ■& case against the cultivation of Elaeis. The question is too large 

 ^ one to l)e approached with prejudice, for there is little doubt 

 that, placed under favourable conditions, the oil yield of Elaeis is 

 so great that it juits the \)i\\m at the head of all oil-yielding plants 

 of the world. 



The fjuestion, in fact, is full of interest and it deserves to be 

 probed in a much fuller way than is done in this paper. 



The pioneers of Eubber planting were, for a long time, pulled 

 this way and that, in their first steps in the, then, new industry. 

 Some, on expert advice planted Ficus elastica otliers Ceara, and a 

 good deal of money was sunk in putting tliese in the ground — and 

 more money went in cutting them down afterwards. On the whole, 

 however, the Ijirth of the rubber was not a painful one, and the 

 child has grown into a liefty boy. But blunders will cost more in 

 the case of Elaeis: bad selection of land, wrong selection of seed, 

 will kill it. 



Tlie writer has just received, and has now before him, photos 

 taken in AVest Africa and, amongst them, are two bunches of 

 Elaeis collected in the District of Lusango (Congo). One, stand- 

 ing on a table, must be, judging from the height of the man hold- 

 ing it, at least two feet high and nearly as broad, — a perfect mass 

 ■of fruit, but its weiglit is not given. The second one is probably 

 as big, but there being no standard to judge by, it cannot be esti- 

 mated ; its weight, however, is given as 62.750 kilos or 136 pounds ! 



Xow, if the usual computations hold good in this case, that is, 

 that the fruit weighs -| of the weight of the bunch, we have 88 lbs. 

 of fruit, of which the oil-yield as obtained by machinery i.e. 16%, 

 would amount to 14 lbs., and, as a conservative estimate would 

 put the yearly crop of bunches at 5, we should have from one tree, 

 70 lbs. of oil and from one acre of 50 trees — 3,500 lbs. of oil worth 

 £125 in London. If besides, we reckon the weight of kernels at 

 20% of the weight of the fruit, we should get a crop of 88 lbs. 

 for 5 bunches = 4,400 lbs. of kernels per acre worth £74. That is 

 to say, the gross return of one acre would amount to £199. 



There seems no reason why, under careful svstematic cultiva- 

 tion, and under suitable conditions of soil and rainfall, which these 

 countries afford, such bundles should not be obtained; then, of 

 course, the whole aspect of Elaeis planting would change provided 

 the labour is at hand. 



Trees are not uncommonly seen in Malaya with 8 or 10 

 launches : the writer has seen one in Sumatra with 12 bunches 



