THE PLANTATION 67 



employed on the land and the latter for fencing and 

 other useful purposes. 



In coconut planting, as in all industries, whether 

 tropical or otherwise, the question of labour is 

 always important and frequently perplexing. The 

 planter may be able to employ the natives living in 

 the locality, or he may be compelled to import 

 labour, as in Ceylon. The latter system is costly, 

 for it places upon him the burden and expense of 

 housing, feeding, and doctoring the natives, and 

 even providing them with amusement for their 

 spare hours. Such workers need constant super- 

 vision in their daily routine. Unless firmly, albeit 

 kindly, treated, they are liable to sulk, strike, and 

 even desert at the most critical moment of the 

 estate's development that is, the period of planting 

 out the young seed nuts, when the maximum effort 

 is necessary in order to get the work done quickly. 

 Thus it pays to treat them with consideration, to 

 feed them in the manner to which they are accus- 

 tomed when at home and to keep them generally 

 healthy and contented. 



Planting methods vary according to local custom 

 in different regions, but, generally speaking, labour 

 throughout the coconut belt is plentiful, cheap, and 

 fairly efficient when under competent European 

 supervision. In the West Indies a system obtains 

 which is both popular with the natives and profit- 

 able to the planter. This is the metayer system, 



