Planting in the Philippines 89 



knife attached to a very long, slender bamboo, 

 as is done in the West Indies with cacao, or a 

 man climbs the palm and cuts the nuts off with 

 a sharp knife. The following figures as to the 

 cost of collecting the nuts, &c., were com- 

 puted by Mr. Byars in 1908 from data collected 

 by questioning dozens of coco-nut growers in 

 Laguna and Tayabas Provinces : 



Per 1,000 nuts. 



Cutting down from trees $5^ P 1 i-oo to 1-20 



Collecting into heaps 0*24 



Husking 0-60 to i-oo 



Halving 0-20 



Drying and making copra ... 2-50 



Grinding meat and making oil i-oo 



A labourer is estimated to be able to cut 

 down from 1,000 to 2,000 nuts a day, according 

 to the height of the palms and the quantity of 

 undergrowth on the ground. One man can 

 husk 2,000 nuts a day, or rasp the meat from 

 I,OOO. a 



The " Decennium Number" of the Mindanao 

 Herald? published in February, 1909, in- 

 cludes an estimate of the cost of planting 



1 P = Philipino = 2s. 



2 In Malaya, husking 500 nuts is estimated as a day's 

 work. " One coolie ought to husk 500 nuts a day," we 

 are told. 



3 The Decennium Number of the Mindanao Herald, to 

 commemorate ten years' American occupation of the 

 Philippine Isles. Published at Zamboanga, Mindanao, 

 Philippine Isles. 



