8 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



but on the whole an average of say 10 nuts 

 per tree in the sixth year, 30 nuts per tree 

 in the seventh year, and 50 nuts per tree 

 afterwards is all that can be expected, though 

 with good cultivation the crops are often in 

 excess of this estimate. 



" The average price of coco-nuts for the past 

 five years, i.e., from 1905 to 1909, has been a 

 little over $30 per 1,000, and of copra $8.65 

 per picul. An average return of copra under 

 ordinary circumstances is 4/30 piculs per 1,000 

 nuts, but this percentage is often greatly ex- 

 ceeded where proper attention is given to its 

 manufacture.' * 



In order to provide a complete contrast as 

 regards the initial cost of a plantation, we will 

 follow above figures for Malaya with those ob- 

 tained from Micronesia, under recent German 

 auspices. The area of the following enterprise 

 is over twice the size, viz., 500 hectares, say 

 1,250 acres (i hectare = 2*471 acres) ; but the 

 initial divergence is palpably in favour of the 

 latter, where land costs practically nothing worth 

 talking about. The intrinsic value of the land 

 may be slightly inferior on the whole, but it 

 is not so to a radical extent. These quotations 

 are taken from the work of Lieutenant Hans 

 Zapernick, "Die Kultur der Kokos-Palme," 

 Leipzig, 1910. 



1 " Quide to Coco-nut Cultivation in the ' Federated Malay States,' " 

 p. 13, issued by the Malay States Development Agency. 



