178 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



is collected clean. In Java the more general demand is 

 for a sweet drink, and to secure this the bamboo vessels 

 used are changed each time the toddy is collected, and 

 a new one, or one which has been carefully cleaned, is 

 used for each collection. Where earthenware vessels 

 are used, the same pains are taken for the same purpose. 



The value of the toddy depends altogether on the 

 local demand for it and on the supply. Its taste is 

 somewhat different from that of toddies obtained from 

 other palms, so that its price is not fixed by the latter. 

 It sells at a higher price than some of the other palms' 

 saps. In the Philippines, the commonest price is one 

 centavo a glass. Where the sap is scarce for any reason 

 the price is high, and where there is a large distilling 

 business the price is low because this is above the price 

 paid by the distillers. 



The toddy remains a desirable drink for a very short 

 time, and therefore is never an object of other than local 

 business. In the neighbourhood of cities, large numbers 

 of coco-nut trees can be used for its production, but on 

 plantations, or where there is an extensive coco-nut 

 industry, only a very small fraction of the trees can be 

 tapped with profit. So far as the market exists, this 

 use of the tree is a very profitable one. Welborn figures 

 that at two cents for each collection from a tree and 

 collecting the sap twice daily, the total yield of a tree 

 will be 14*60 fl. per annum, while the usual rental value 

 of a coco-nut tree is only two guilders. The fresh toddy 

 has a peculiar taste which is not usually found agreeable 

 at the first taste, but for which an appetite is easily 

 acquired. 



Sugar. — The use of coco-nut toddy as a source of 

 sugar is very old throughout the Far East. The 

 business, however, is everywhere a purely local one. 

 The sugar content of the sap as it flows from the tree 

 is high enough for the sap to be figured as - a cheap 

 source of cane sugar, but the fermentation is so rapid 

 that the sugar which can be made from it is decidedly 

 high-priced. Where there is a considerable commerce 



