180 



The Philippine Journal of Science 



1914 



cerning protection is very prevalent. This consists in painting 

 tar in the form of snakes on the trunks, the idea being that 

 predatory rats will be frightened away. 



An average palm will produce about 40 full-grown nuts per 

 year, although in well-kept, mature plantations this figure may 

 be nearer 60. There are about 303,644 hectares (750,000 acres) 

 at present devoted to this industry in Ceylon, with an annual 

 crop estimated at 1,250 million nuts, of which 2 million are con- 

 sumed daily as food and the remainder exported in one form 

 or another (Table XIV). 



The Ceylon price during 1913 for good-quality coconuts deliv- 

 ered at buyers' stores ranged from 40 to 56^ pesos per thousand. 



The area devoted to coconuts in the Federated Malay States 

 in 1911 was estimated at 57,782 hectares (142,774 acres). The 

 Chief Secretary of Government in his annual report for 1911 

 stated that this industry had not yet received the attention 

 it deserves. Approximately 65,600 tons of copra were expected 

 from the area devoted to this purpose should the entire crop of 

 nuts be converted into this product. 



The increasing imports of coconuts into the United States 

 during the past ten years may be seen in Table I. 



Table I. — Value of coconuts in the shell imported yearly into the 



United States." 



Year. 



Value. 



Year. 



Value. 



1903 



Pesos. 



1,816,484 

 1,943,704 

 2,172,946 

 2,597,480 

 2,699,124 

 2,879,540 



1909 . 



Pesos. 

 2, 505, 188 

 2, 591, 708 

 3,408,210 

 3. 898, 812 

 3, 562, 754 



1904 



1910 



1905 -- - 



1911 



1906 



1912 



1907 



1913 



1908 







* Compiled from Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance of the United States, No. 

 12. Scries of 1904-5, 1906-7, 1908-9, 1910-11, 1912-13. 



COPRA 



Copra is the kernel of the coconut from which the greater part 

 of the water content has been expelled, either by the natural 

 process of sundrying or by warming over low fires. The method 

 employed by the native of Ceylon is very simple, and consists 

 in merely chopping the nut in half and exposing the hemispheres, 



' One peso Philippine currency equals 100 centavos equals 50 cents United 

 States currency. 



