10 THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF THE COCONUT 



are still in the hands of native proprietors, 

 whose methods of exploitation are slow, primitive 

 and wasteful. The land is cultivated in a careless 

 manner ; the trees are not properly watched and 

 tended ; artificial fertilisation is seldom resorted 

 to ; the preparation of the copra (the dried kernel 

 of the nut from which coconut oil is extracted) is 

 conducted on a dirty and wasteful system ; the 

 husks and milk of the nut are frequently wasted. 

 Even in Ceylon, where coconut cultivation has 

 attained a high level of efficiency, of the 

 2,300,000,000 nuts gathered annually only one- 

 tenth of the husks are utilised. Now, the husks of 

 1,000 coconuts produce 1 cwt. of bristle fibre, worth 

 15s., and 5 cwts. of mattress fibre, worth 40s., or a 

 total of 2 15s. Thus, even in Ceylon alone, over 

 4,000,000 is thrown away each year by the 

 neglect of the husk ; and while this waste has been 

 going on the markets have been absorbing all the 

 available coir fibre at high prices, and could have 

 taken more, because the supply never quite equals 

 the demand. 



From these brief indications it will be seen that 

 there is ample scope for British capital and enter- 

 prise to revolutionise the industry by introducing 

 better planting methods, more scientific cultivation, 

 labour-saving machinery, and the careful utilisation 

 of many products that are now either wholly wasted 

 or only partially turned to account. In this way 



