351 
The Cuairman: Might I ask at what distance apart the 
palms are going to be planted? 
Mr. Barrett: On a general average we put about 75 
coconut palms to the acre, and we think the best distances 
for the sugar palm are from 60 to 80 or 100 per acre. As 
you know the leaves do not droop; they stand up. 
M. Brenier: We have very large numbers of the sugar 
palm in certain parts of Indo-China, so that your communi- 
cation is most interesting to us. Have you in mind the yield 
of sap per tree? 
Mr. Barrett: From the trees which I myself worked at we 
got, so far as I remember, five to ten or eleven litres twice 
a day—that is, in the morning at six o’clock and in the 
evening at six o’clock. In the case of good trees, five to 
seven days after cutting, the yield may run to twelve or fifteen 
litres twice per day. The trees continue to yield for a period 
of two to three months. 
M. Brenier: It may interest Mr. Barrett to know that we 
have tried several times to place palm sugar on the market 
without having met with any success. We have very large 
forests of the palms, and, especially at the Marseilles Exhibi- 
tion of 1906, we had very large samples submitted to people 
who might be interested, but nothing came of it. 
Mr. Barrett: I think there must have been something 
wrong there—either a prejudice against a new thing coming 
in, or that it was not properly advertised. 
M. E. Leptae: This paper is highly interesting, and I should 
like to ask Mr. Barrett at what age these palms begin to flower. 
Mr. Barrett: From the most trustworthy statements of the 
natives, I believe that the male flowers appear at four to six 
years. 
M. E. Lepraze: That is the same age as other palms, for 
example, the oil palms; but I suppose a good yield of sap is 
not obtained before nine or ten years? 
Mr. Barrett: I think before nine years in the Philippines. 
M. E. Leptar: Would you kindly tell us again the yield of 
sap from trees planted about 20 ft. square, say 75 per acre? 
Mr. Barrett: A tree may yield during the year one, two, 
three, or even more male racemes, each one of which will give, 
say, ten litres of sap per day for a period of eight weeks. 
M. E. LepraE: But many of them give twenty to thirty 
litres ? 
Mr. Barrett: Yes, for a short period of, say, two weeks. 
M. E. LeptaE: And that sap contains from Io to 12 per cent. 
of sugar? 
Mr. Barrett: No, 16 per cent., and in some cases 164 per 
cent.; always about I5 per cent. without exception. 
M. E. Leprar: I must congratulate the Chairman of this 
