INTRODUCTION 



xi 



Certain matters to which much space is often 

 devoted in works of this kind have been omitted. One 

 of these is the presentation of statistics on the coco-nut 

 industry of different countries and on the commerce in 

 coco-nut products. So far as I have been able to test 

 them, the generally current statements as to this 

 industry in different lands are unreliable to the point 

 where they are almost valueless. For instance, several 

 books contain a table prepared many years ago in 

 Ceylon, showing the number of acres devoted to coco- 

 nuts in different countries, and in this table the Philip- 

 pines are grouped with Borneo and other great areas, 

 and for the whole group the acreage given is not far 

 from that in one of the provinces on the Island of Luzon. 

 It would be a very difficult matter to prepare a reliable 

 table of this kind, but I cannot see that it would be very 

 useful to any coco-nut planter when prepared. It would 

 be possible to compile comparatively reliable statistics 

 as to coco-nut commerce. But in this case, again, the 

 statistics would not be of much interest to the planter. 



Another omission which may be noted is the absence 

 of estimates showing the cost of establishing coco-nut 

 plantations and maintaining them, and the probable 

 income and profit. Very many such estimates have 

 been published. The best of these are more or less skil- 

 ful guesses. In every such estimate, the cost of labour, 

 whether expressed as such or not, is the principal item, 

 and the only other items likely to compare with it, if 

 the analysis of the expenditures is thorough, are land 

 and supervision. The values of land and labour are so 

 exceedingly different in different tropical countries, that 

 no such estimate has other than a local value. How 

 completely this is the case is illustrated by the fact 

 that equally good labour varies in cost from province to 

 province in the Philippines by fully 100 per cent. If 

 the presentation of estimates could be trusted to show 

 that the establishment of a coco-nut plantation in 

 one country could be expected with confidence to pay 

 better returns than one in another country, they would 



