Notes on the Society's Work in 1897-1918. 



on trees, isolated or in widely scattered small clumps, there should be no 

 reason why similarly heavily bearing palms should not be grown over 

 large areas. 



At first Sir Alexander feared that the relatively small size of the nuts 

 produced here would stand in the way of an export-industry and he moved 

 the Board of Agriculture to import selected seed-nuts from Singapore ; but 

 before these nuts arrived he had seen nuts from Wakenaam and from near 

 Lichfield in the Abary district which more than favourably compared with 

 those received later from Singapore. The Singapore nuts were sprouted 

 and some of the palms obtained from them were planted at the Experi- 

 mental Fields ; the majority of them, however, being set-out at 

 Onderneeming. Some thousands of nuts yielded by the palms raised 

 from the Singapore seeds have been distributed for planting-purposes. 

 Sir Alexander Swettenham was, as he was in every way, energetically 

 aided by the late Sir Alexander Ashmore who was largely responsible for 

 the preparation of the earliest leaflet published by the Board dealing with 

 coconut-planting. Oft-times Mr. Ashmore, as he then was, told me " I 

 have never anywhere seen coconut palms bearing such great numbers 

 of nuts as many of them in Georgetown and its vicinity do." 



In January, 1903, the total area planted with coconuts was under 

 3,800 acres, but an impetus to coconut-planting was at once given by Sir 

 Alexander Swettenbam's views so that the area had increased to 

 5,140 acres at the end of 1904 just after Sir Alexander Swettenham had 

 relinquished the Government of the colony. Since then coconut plant- 

 ing has regularly and steadily increased, so that in December 31st, 1917, 

 not less than 23,870 acres had been so planted in British Guiana. The 

 following table will illustrate the progress of the coconut-industry during 

 recent years : — 



Coconuts, Copra and Coconut Oil. 

 Quinquennial Periods. 



