460 ON THE TRADE IN NUTS. 



gium. France exported in 1834 537,518 kilogrammes oi chestnuts, of 

 which 366,364 went to England, 21,339 to Belgium, and 46,437 to 

 Algeria. But she imported in the same year 124,134 kilogrammes of 

 chestnuts and chestnut flour, of which 86,665 kilogrammes came from 

 Sardinia, and 35,183 from Germany. In 1860 the importation in France 

 had risen to 2,293,003 kilogrammes, and the exports to 2,018,704 kilo- 

 grammes, of which 289,072 went to Algeria. These figures, combined 

 with the amount of local consumption, which reaches to two million 

 hectolitres, is an evidence of the importance of the trade in chestnuts to 

 France. 



Cocoa-nuts, which are now pretty generally termed coker-nuts in 

 the trade, to distinguish them from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao, 

 are becoming of increasing importance in commerce, and maintain 

 high prices, in consequence of the value of the husk or coir as a fibrous 

 material, and of the waste for garden purposes. They are even brought 

 as dunnage in ships on the long sea voyage from Singapore, India, and 

 Ceylon, where they are extensively grown. In Ceylon the cocoa-nut 

 palm gives rise to a very considerable cultivation, and forms a most profit- 

 able investment from the value of the nuts for the oil and husk. 

 They are brought chiefly to this country for sale to hucksters and 

 retail dealers. Boyle says that in Malabar 300 or 400 millions are pro- 

 duced annually. In Travaneore there are from five and a half to six 

 million trees, which produce on an average 80 to 100 nuts a year. Up- 

 wards of 2| million nuts aTe now imported here annually; the largest 

 quantity are brought from Jamaica, British Guiana and Honduras, and 

 some now come from the West Coast of Africa. Last year there was a 

 considerable advance in the price paid for them. France imports about 

 1^ million cocoa-nuts. 



Hazel-nuts come into commerce under the general term of Small 

 nuts ; but included in these are sometimes Peccan and Hickory nuts 

 from the United States. Of the imports of Hazel nuts in 1861, 177,142 

 bushels came from Spain, 30,315 from Italy, and 4,202 bushels from 

 Turkey. 



Hazel-nuts are the fruit of the wild bush of Coryhis Avellana, un- 

 changed and unimproved by cultivation. The fruit differs from that of 

 the domesticated varieties only in being smaller, while the tree is more 

 hardy. This plant, which is a native of aU the cooler parts of Europe, 

 Northern Asia, and Xorth America, is the parent of the many varieties 

 of nuts and filberts now cultivated for their fruit. The trade in hazel 

 nuts is very stationary in this country, and the consumption does not 

 vary greatly. In 1846, we imported, chiefly from Spain, 182,702 

 bushels ; in 1S47, 207,784 bushels ; and in 1848, 150,022 bushels. In 

 the last ten years the imports have ranged between 148,000 and 256,000 

 bushels per annum. 



In trade, though both produced by the variety barcelonensis, the 

 nuts are classed into two kinds : 1. The Spanish, which are the fresh 



