xii 



THE COCO-NUT 



indeed be very useful to prospective investors. But I 

 do not believe that such estimates as have been 

 published are qualified to serve this use. Moreover, 

 the intending investor practically always has the place 

 of investment determined by other considerations. 



Still another omission is the discussion at any con- 

 siderable length of the use of coco - nut products. 

 Beyond the reasonable limits of plantation industry I 

 have not pursued the subject. 



In a business sense it is sufficient that coco -nut 

 raising is profitable and that its future is safe. I know 

 no other business which seems to me quite so certain as 

 this one to continue for a term of decades to pay large 

 profits at all times. The returns at present cannot be 

 described as less than unreasonable. Yet the demand 

 for good copra and good oil is so far beyond the supply 

 that for a very long time to come it seems certain that 

 prices will remain above those which would merely pay 

 a good return on the cost of production. 



There are a number of other works on the coco-nut 

 which should be mentioned here. Ferguson's All 

 about the Coco- Nut, which for years had the field to 

 itself, is a compilation of papers published in the 

 Tropical Agriculturist, dealing very largely with Ceylon 

 conditions, and written in considerable part by planters 

 of experience. Prudhomme's Le Cocotier is the most 

 pretentious work which has appeared on the subject. It 

 is particularly thorough in its treatment of the industry 

 in Ceylon and in its application to Madagascar. It is 

 beautifully illustrated, and very valuable to those who 

 read French. Smith's Coco-Nuts, The Consols of the 

 East, contains the most complete and recent compila- 

 tion of the statistics on the subject, and in its enthusi- 

 astic treatment gives the best expression to the business 

 opportunities which the coco-nut offers. Die Kokos- 

 palrae und ihre Jcultur, by Preuss, which was intended 

 to be part of a new edition of Semler's great work on 

 Tropical Agriculture, more than maintains the Sender 

 standard. To those who read German it cannot be too 



