126 THE WHOLE ART OF RUBBER-GROWING 



does the pineapple, and, quite apart from this,, 

 the pine is a sun plant and is intolerant of the 

 slightest shade. It is not a very profitable crop 

 under any circumstances, and interplanted with 

 rubber would, in my opinion, prove an expensive 

 nuisance. 



Coconuts as a subsidiary crop to rubber are a 

 botanical cruelty. Nothing in the whole gamut of 

 tropical agriculture save rubber can compare with 

 it as a money-getter. It is well called the Consols 

 of the East. In Ceylon it is regarded as being even 

 a safer and a more sound investment than rubber. 

 Every bit of the tree's product is marketable. The 

 only drawback about the tree from a planter's point 

 of view is that it takes nine years before a profitable 

 crop may be expected. But it gives no trouble. It 

 is sturdy and thrives in all weathers and under all 

 sorts of climatic conditions. Not more than seventy 

 trees may be planted to the acre, and the yield, com- 

 mencing in the seventh year at about ten, will 

 gradually and yearly increase until an average of 

 fifty nuts per tree is reached. The net profit at 

 present prices of nuts in Ceylon is about 2s. 6d. per 

 tree, and coconut estates are selling at over 75. 

 per acre freehold. 



Many native owners in Ceylon are putting down- 

 tea among the young rubber, thus reversing the 

 order of things which is responsible for the diminish- 

 ing output of the first-named product in that island 

 viz., the planting of rubber among old tea. But the 

 Singalese cultivator, if consulted, could not probably 

 give any better reason for this novel departure than 



