58 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



planted shipwrecked nuts thrown up from the 

 sea, and had grown up badly planted, with 

 the palms often packed close together, and 

 consequently yielding very poorly in com- 

 parison to the number of trees. Since then, 

 however, plantations formed some twenty 

 years ago and afterwards have come into bear- 

 ing, so that the exports of coco-nuts from 

 Trinidad have increased as follows : 



Coco-nuts Copra bags 



1888 ... 10,151,228 



1898 ... 12,430,016 



1908 ... 16,622,708 ... l8,22O 



1909 ... 19,158,513 ... i5247 



1910 19,768,223 ... 12,494 



1911 ... 20,466,209 ... 10,315 



Of course the large Indian population in 

 Trinidad and British Guiana (probably 200,000 

 souls between them) has caused a large local 

 demand to spring up for the oil, but, on the 

 other hand, even with prices ranging from 

 93 cents to $1.10 per gallon, the close 

 proximity of New York has raised the f.o.b. 

 value of husked nuts from $24 to $32 per 

 1,000 so that it pays the planter better to ship 

 the nuts, instead of making copra or oil. 

 The increased attention given to the " cult of 

 the coco-nut " of late has caused that excellent 

 institution, the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture, to issue several bulletins and reports 

 on the cultivation and diseases of the palms, 

 all of which are well worth studying. Among 



