COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. 9 



ten years, and then the Ceylonese began to embark upon the cultiva- 

 tion, and in the Western and North- West Provinces especially they 

 brought many thousands of acres of jungle under cultivation, more 

 especially along the valley of the Mahaoya between Negombo and 

 Polgahwela, since 1866, and later in the Chilaw Puttalam district and 

 in the Eastern Province. This movement was a result of the grow- 

 ing prosperity of the people through the money circulated by the 

 coffee enterprise from 1 850 onwards, and of the Government unlocking 

 their low-country reserves of Crown land. 



Since then further extension has taken place in all parts of the 

 Island, and districts where a low rainfall makes dry-farming com- 

 piilsory are being exploited. 



Originally coconut cultivation was confined to the coast and to 

 sea level under the impression that proximity to the sea was a sine 

 qua non ; but this theory having been exploded, we now find it 

 carried on round Kandy, Peradeniya, Gampola, the Dumbara valley, 

 Matale, and up to Badulla 100 miles from, and 2,000 feet above, the 

 sea. At higher elevations the nuts tend to become small. Though the 

 palm will grow even at 4,000 feet elevation it does not fruit at such 

 high altitudes. 



FACTS AND FIGURES FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES, 



The area under coconuts is about 900,000 acres. The chief 

 coconut-growing districts are Colombo, Henaratgoda, Veyangoda, 

 Negombo, Chilaw, Puttalam, Kurunegala, Galle, Matara, Batticaloa 

 and Jaffna, Along the western and southern coast line, the trees 

 are chiefly used for the production of toddy to be supplied to arrack 

 distilleries. 



The cost of opening land for coconuts may be said to be about 

 Rs. 600 per acre — the expenditure being spread over ten years — 

 but the bulk of it would be incurred during the first three years. 



The necessary labour may be reckoned, at a cooly for four o r 

 five acres, at 40 to 75 cents a head. Picking is generally done by 

 contract at about 50 cents per 1,000 nuts. 



Advances are made up to 50 per cent of the value of estates 

 and interest recovered at 8 to 10 percent. The purchase period is 



