78 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. II 



fibres running lengthwise. The villagers obtain these by split- 

 ting the husks, rotting them in water, and then beating out 

 the softer tissue from between the fibres. There are also many 

 large mills where special machinery is used for preparing coir, 

 as this fibre is called. The uses of coir are many : the fibres 

 are graded according to their stoutness, and used for making 

 brushes, yarn, rope, mats, and many other purposes. There is 

 a large export from Ceylon and other tropical countries. 



Though very many tropical countries have more or less 

 export trade in the products of the coconut, Ceylon, both for 

 home consumption and for export, stands almost at the top of 

 the trade, and the figures of the chief coconut product exports 

 during 1919 may be quoted: 



Coconut oil 675,000 cwt. Desiccated coconut 675,000 cwt. 



Copra 1,759,000 cwt. 



Besides large quanties of poonac, coir, coconuts, arrack, etc. The export 

 from the Philippines in 1920 was over 100,000 tons. 



The trade in coconut products continues to increase rapidly 

 and, though many new countries are now taking part in it, and 

 the extension of planting in Ceylon never ceases, the prices 

 obtained have not fallen but risen. New uses are constantly 

 being discovered for the oil, etc. The complete removal from 

 the oil of its " coconutty " smell has now almost been accom- 

 plished, and butter-like bodies can be made from it, which have 

 already an extensive use in cooking, and will probably come 

 more and more into use as they are perfected. 



There are many directions also in which the cultivation of 

 the coconut is open to improvement. For instance, as in cacao, 

 the use of green manures will probably be found to give better 

 crops at less cost, provided the manuring plants be not 

 attractive to rats, as some that have been tried or suggested, 

 e.g. ground-nuts, are. More careful cultivation is required, and 

 in native gardens the distance apart of the palms should often 

 be much increased. This is a difficult point to teach to a native 

 of the tropics ; he almost always has the idea that the more 

 plants he can get on to his ground, the larger return he will get. 

 A striking instance of this came under my notice some years 



