Samoa in 1913 441 



On proper representations being made to the 

 authorities, natives were forbidden to throw 

 down coco-nuts under any pretence, and they 

 were further required to carefully sun-dry their 

 output before offering it for sale. This Ordin- 

 ance has for the most part been strictly obeyed, 

 and to-day Samoan copra is, perhaps, the best 

 that enters the Australian markets. This result, 

 and the great extension of the coco-nut planting 

 industry, may be ascribed largely to the efforts 

 of ex-Governor Wilhelm Solf, and those who 

 advised him in Samoa. 



About one-fourth of the Samoan copra crop 

 is kiln-clried, and of course this brings an 

 especially high price owing to its cleanliness. 

 It does not, however, contain a larger percent- 

 age of oil than the discoloured sun-dried copra 

 does. Smoke drying is never practised in 

 Samoa. Coco-nuts left on damp soil will sprout 

 in a short time, and within four or six months 

 they will throw up a shoot of from 8 in. to 

 16 in. ; these nuts are then ready to be planted, 

 and are almost invariably set out on their sides 

 with the shoot standing erect. Nuts which 

 have attained eighteen months or two years of 

 age may, in wet weather, be transplanted, but 

 the set-back which they get when most of their 

 roots are cut off, holds them stationary for such 

 a long period that it is likely that the younger 

 nut will outstrip them, and in the end prove a 

 better tree. 



The weeding of coco-nuts is, of course, a 



