6 COCONUT CULTIVATION 



still who can speak from personal experience 

 in the actual planting of the nut, from seed to 

 copra. As planters, however, they have had 

 the experience of local conditions ; of soils and 

 manures ; of the comparisons of one estate with 

 another; and they should be judges of areas. 

 For the remaining details which usually go to 

 make up a report, they turn, as every one does, 

 to Chamber of Commerce statistics and pub- 

 lished handbooks. Regarding the latter, too, 

 a word is necessary. Recently there was pub- 

 lished in London a remarkably well-compiled 

 book on the coconut industry. It contains a 

 wonderful collection of useful information, but 

 does not embrace Malaya, where the best nuts 

 are grown. It is compiled generally from 

 Government statistics, and seems to leave little 

 untold. In it an estimate is given, as an extract 

 'from a Government report/ on the cost of 

 planting and bringing into bearing an area of 

 500 acres ; and the cost per acre at the end 

 of the sixth year is put at 13. Now, this 

 cannot be done in Malaya ; for official figures 

 there, put the cost at about 25 per acre. This 

 figure is certainly on the high side, as, in the 

 opinion of experienced planters who in coconuts 

 dispense with fancy work, 20 per acre should 

 not be exceeded. 



STOCKS OF COPKA 



" Another point to be remembered in connec- 

 tion with this industry is the fact that unlimited 



