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involved. It may, therefore, be of advantage if the arguments which 

 prompted the demand for caution, and asked that a number of 

 preliminary records might be obtained prior to the formulation of 

 any actual scheme — avowedly theoretical though many of them 

 then were — are given. 



Reference has already been made to the mixed natures of the 

 palms in any field of an estate, and the manner in which their 

 individual capabilities would affect yield has been indicated. 



We have to add to this, however, the variation which will be 

 caused, the extent has as yet not been investigated, by the varying 

 periodic productions of the palms before they reach their periods 

 of stationary production. 



Thus a quantity of palms will commence fructifying at a 

 particular period ; these will show a definite incremental curve to 

 the attainment of a more or less stationary maximum production 

 which will be attained in a more or less definite time ; but for 

 each of the different sets which fructify at different subsequent 

 periods there will be an incremental curve possibly different from 

 the others, as there will be different periods up to their " stationary 

 productive stages." Add to these the variations which may be 

 attributed to chance pollination and it will be seen that the following 

 variables have to be considered : 



(1) Variety of palm, 



(2) Individual palm, 



(3) Time of initial flowering, 



(4) Time of attainment of stationary yield, 



(5) Lengths of periods between (3) and (4), 



(6) Pollination, 



(7) Culture, 



and, in a crop such as this whei'e the ultimate gain comes down 

 to " oil content," 



(8) Copra and oil content at various stages in growth, i.e., 

 physiological considerations. 



Though as far as can be ascertained no work of analytical nature 

 has been done on the " populations " of palms in estates, and the 

 effect of many of these variables may ultimately prove to be of small 

 dimensions, it seems a moral certainty that the method of division of 

 a stand of young palms into blocks, giving different treatments to 

 some of the blocks and using others as " controls," even if a large 

 number of the latter are taken, will for the detections of small 

 differences due to culture be of very little, if any, utility. It appears 

 perfectly useless to speculate on blocks of palms averaging up ; it 

 seems a matter of pure chance to count on any sympathy being 



