

16 THE COCONUT AND ITS PRODUCTS 



each may carry as many as ten nuts, consequently 

 a mature tree always carries ripe nuts. A reasonable 

 return from the whole of a big estate, according 

 to an official estimate, would be from 50 to 

 75 nuts per tree. There are, however, certain 

 fertile, well- situated, carefully - cultivated estates 

 which yield as many as 100 nuts per tree 

 per annum ; while individual trees have been 

 known to give 200 and even more medium-sized 

 nuts in a year. This question is somewhat com- 

 plicated and elusive, so greatly do conditions vary. 

 An old planter recently remarked that taking the 

 coconut world all round it is quite possible that the 

 average would work out at forty nuts per tree per 

 annum, but this is probably an unnecessarily 

 conservative estimate. 



It is calculated that every year about 8,000,000,000 

 coconuts are cultivated, besides the vast numbers 

 that grow wild, and that the greater proportion 

 of them is consumed as food in one form or another. 

 In their production there is practically no waste ; 

 in fact, every part of the tree, from the root to the 

 topmost branch, has a definite purpose and value. 



Coconut oil, which is extracted from the dried 

 flesh of the kernel (copra), is used on a colossal 

 scale in the manufacture of nut butter, margarine, 

 lard, soap, candles, etc. It is extensively used as 

 a lubricant and also as an illuminant. It serves as 

 an embrocation and is largely utilised by perfumers 



