Planting in the West Indies 71 



of total weight when extracted by ''chekku" 

 (native) mill (see illustration p. 416), and not 

 by hydraulic press. Under hydraulic pressure 

 perfectly clean, ripe nuts should give 66 per 

 cent, oil and 34 per cent, poonac at least, 

 that is, in theory. In practice it works out at 

 62*5 and 37*5 per cent. only. 



t ton copra = 153 to 156 gallons oil. 



40 coco-nuts = 6 Ib. coir. 



3 large nuts = i Ib. coir. 



On page 190 of this Bulletin we are told that 

 with 2,000 acres or over in full bearing, (some 

 say at least 5,000 acres), the crops will be 

 sufficient to feed an oil-mill, and in connection 

 therewith a coir factory might be erected for 

 the manufacture of rope from the fibre. 



Before leaving the West Indies, we would 

 like to say a few words about Cuba, which at 

 one time must have owned a very large number 

 of coco-nut palms. " For more than thirty 

 years," says Johnston as the opening words of 

 his book on bud-rot, " the people of Cuba have 

 discussed the cause of the gradual dying off of 

 their coco-nut trees and have attempted to 

 overcome it without success." According to 

 Dr. Erwin Smith, writing in 1904, if the bud- 

 rot disease continues to spread during the next 

 ten or fifteen years as it has done during the 

 past ten years, it will inevitably destroy the 

 coco-nut industry of the island. But many 

 parts of Cuba are eminently suitable for coco- 

 nut culture so far as soil and climate are 



