102 COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



EXTRACTS FROM A BROCHURE ON "THE PROPER 

 CULTIVATION OF COCONUTS." 



Issued by the Colombo Commercial Company, Limited. 



There are few crops which respond so readily to manuring and cul- 

 tivation as coconuts, and every owner of coconut land should study the 

 question of increasing his crop by the use of up-to-date methods. There 

 are probably very few, if any, coconut estates in Ceylon which have 

 reached anything like the state of efficiency in yield per acre that the 

 modern tea estate has been brought to, and the number of estates which 

 have made no progress at all towards a maximum yield is very great. 

 The scientific cultivation of coconuts is, in fact, only just beginning, 

 and those who will reap the greatest benefit from it will be those who are 

 first in the field. 



It is rather remarkable that the majority of coconut lands aro 

 situated in districts where the conditions of climate make good methods 

 of cultivation essential for success, and yet we find that these estates 

 are for the most part left entirely uncultivated. Even where cultiva- 

 tion is practised, it is done by haphazard methods which fall far short 

 of perfection, and the results of which are a poor recompense for the 

 labour involved. The contrast between the appearance of an average 

 tea estate ana that of the vast majority of coconut estates is very 

 striking even to the casual observer. On the one hand we see neatness 

 and order, a well organised and busy labour force, well-tilled land 

 kept free from weeds, and healthy bushes giving their maximum yield; 

 while on the other hand it is only too apparent that the coconut planter 

 believes in leaving iiis estate alone. The trees are irregularly planted, 

 and badly cared for. Many are scraggy and almost barren. The fronds 

 shew ample evidence of the attacks of beetles, while many are drooping 

 and discoloured, and worst of all, a thick carpet of grass is everywhero 

 allowed to grew, and the surface of the soil is untouched by mammotie 

 or fork from one year's end to another. The photograph on the opposite 

 page shews a typical uncultivated coconut estate in Ceylon. Weeds and 

 grass are growing in profusion, and the picture is a good example of 

 what an estate should not look like. Were the tea planter to neglect 

 his estate in the way that is usual with coconut planters the tea-planting 

 industry would soon cease to exist, and although at the present timo 

 a profit can be made from coconuts without cultivation, yet modern 

 methods will be adopted as time goes on and those who lag behind will 

 find their profits disappear through the competition of their more in- 

 telligent and painstaking neighbours, 



