allowed to spread to European owned plantations, 

 and has caused much damage to younig- palms. The 

 efforts being made to cope with this pest are proving 

 highly successful, and as the beetle is easily trapped 

 and destroyed, its eventual eradication should be 

 possible. 



CAPITAL AND For the cultivation of coconuts a considerable 



REVENUE. amount of capital is required — certainly not less 



than ;^20 per acre. Individuals working on their 

 own account might reduce this figure by as much as 

 25%, no allowance being made for their labour and 

 supervision. The growing of such catch crops as 

 caravonica cotton, beans, maize, sim-sim and chillies, 

 is largely resorted to as a means of reducing the cost 

 of development, and where the conditions are suit- 

 able this is a sound policy. 



YIELDS. No return may be expected from coconuts until 



the sixth year, when, on a well cultivated plantation 

 a yield of 10 nuts per palm may be obtained. This 

 yield rapidly increases, until in the tenth and 

 succeeding years 50 nuts per palm would be the out- 

 put. The usual planting distance being 25ft. x 25ft. 

 or 75 palms to the acre, this would give 3,750 nuts to 

 the acre. 



RETURNS. This is equivalent to rather more than 12 cwt. 



of dried copra, 4 cwt. of shell and 4 cwt. of fibre 

 per acre per annum, which, calculated on the market 

 prices ruling at any time during the past ten years 

 represents a very handsome return on the capital 

 outlay. There is already a market at Mombasa for 

 coconut products, the present-day prices being 

 about £25 per ton for copra, ;^3 per ton for shell, 

 and £t)0 per ton for fibre spun into yarn. The out- 

 put has been steadily increasing for several years 

 past, and in the course of the next few years the 

 export of coconut products from the Coast Belt 

 should assume large proportions. 



BEANS. 



THE SMALL The exceptionally high prices that have been 



farmer's ruling for beans in the European markets since the 



CROPS. outbreak of war have encouraged settlers in the East 



African Highlands to devote more attention to this 

 crop, and had freights been available the Protecto- 

 rate might have undertaken to ship very considerable 

 quantities to Britain. Only a small proportion of 



88 



