Laying-out the Plantation 197 



pean auspices where the trees have plenty of 

 room on all sides. It will invariably be found 

 that the native one yields at least one-third 

 less than the latter, one reason being that the 

 leaves rub together, and this friction reduces 

 the yield. 



Such high authorities as the Department of 

 Agriculture in the Philippines, and Professors 

 Semler and Preuss, estimate the average 

 yearly yield of a healthy mature coco-nut 

 palm at sixty useful nuts, but against this the 

 native plantations rarely ever show much more 

 than twenty-five nuts for the same period, and 

 it is generally admitted that large, and very 

 large plantations, taken as a whole, work out 

 on an average of forty, or at the very most, 

 fifty nuts to the tree. 



The natives are wont to express their wealth 

 and income according to the number of trees 

 they possess, and assess a man's income at so 

 many rupees according to his trees, each tree 

 being supposed to yield one rupee clear profit 

 per annum. In the Straits Settlements the 

 same count goes by dollars, worth 2s. 4d. 

 against is. 4d. for a rupee, so the calculation 

 is not a hard and fast fixture to go by. 



Before laying-out the plantations, it is essen- 

 tial to decide definitely upon the location of 

 the factory and store-house, as well as of the 

 dwelling-house. The sites for these, for vege- 

 table and flower gardens, for paddocks, and 

 any ornamental or open spaces, must be chosen 



