September, 1912.] 



190 



LAYING OUT A COCONUT PLANTATION. 



I arranged with some lowcountry men to plant up a portion of my 

 land, 2| acres in extent, with coconuts, paying them 75 cents per tree 

 (after 6 years) for the care and attention given by them during this 

 period. They agreed to this on condition that I felled, burnt, fenced, 

 drained and holed the land at my own expense, they then taking chaige 

 and planting the coconuts, the plants being supplied by me, they to 

 have half share of any mioor products planted by them, 



Opening the Land. 



The land was felled in February and March last year, costing meRs, 15 

 per acre. The burning was done at the end of March, and was very 

 successful, the season being dry. The whole burn was over in half an 

 hour. The first shower of rain after several months came on that 

 evening and this settled down all the ashes on the burnt land. 



The next step was to remove all logs and timber that could be cariied 

 out, and for this work I contracted with a man to remove to one spot 

 and cut up into yard lengths all logs that could be carried, paying 33 cents 

 per yard for removal and cutting This gave me 80 yards of firewood 

 which I sold to the Mills at Rs. 1"50 per yard, transport costiug 33 cents 

 per yard. Balance left Rs. 67 - 20. Some good timber was sawn up costing 

 Rs. 75. Value of timber Rs. 150. 



The planters then cleared the land of all roots of small stumps that 

 could be easily removed with a hoe. All this rubbish ( nearly 40 or 50 cart 

 loads) was put up in heaps and burnt in order to get the ashes. Then the 

 land was lined for holing and drains cut where required, the drains being 

 3*4 feet at the top and 1 foot at the bottom, as the soil is a sandy one. 



Catch Crops. 



After the draining, holing and fencing were over, I directed that the 

 land should be planted with yellow pumpkins (ivattaka) alone, but as usual 

 with the natives this did not satisfy them. They put down seeds of ash 

 pumpkin {puhul), karivila, wetakolu, diya-labu, and kekiri. This took up 

 more than half of the ground which in my opinion could have been more 

 profitably used for yellow pumpkin alone. The following will prove this:— 



Received from sale of ivattaka (yellow pumpkin) Rs, 400"00 



,, puhul (ash pumkin) „ 40"00 

 ,, kekiri (country cucumber) ,, 71*00 



diya-labu (bottle gourd) 

 ,, karivila (bitter gourd) 



watakalu (luff a) 



bandaka (okra) 



91-00 



Rs. 602-00 



