September, 1912.] 



209 



THE COCONUT PALM. 



Paper by Mr. A. Karl Beven. 

 [Read before the Low-country Products Association.] 



A Brief History of the Industry. 



Coconuts are recognised even by those who have staked their all 

 in tea, and even rubber, as being the safest investment the Island offers. 

 Tbe cultivation covers a large field, and I shall attempt to touch only 

 lightly on it, in the hope that attention may be directed to the more 

 important phases of the growth and cultivation of the palm. Coconuts 

 are not indigenous to Ceylon. A great authority on the subject places 

 their original habitat in the Eastern Archipelago. In Ceylon tradition 

 locates the earliest groves in the Southern Coast. But it is supposed to 

 be only after the arrival of the Dutch, about the year 1656, that a great 

 stimulus was given to the extension and cultivation of the palm. 



The principal Coconut Growmg Regions. 



These extend now along the North-Western, the Western, and Southern 

 Coasts of Ceylon ; also in the Jaffna Peninsula in the North and in the 

 Eastern Province, the Batticaloa district. In the last mentioned a 

 serious blow was given to the industry by the cyclone of March, 1907, 

 which almost extinguished it on a part of that coast. That event is fresh 

 in our minds. Inland, the extension has been considerable in the North- 

 western, the Western, and the Northern Provinces. Then there are 

 portions of the Central Province where it flourishes around Peradeniya. 

 Gampola, Kandy, and Matale. At Badulla there is a good coconut garden 

 flourishing at 2,000 feet elevation ; but this lies in a well-sheltered valley. 



Area Cultivated. 



In 1860 there were 250,000 acres under cultivation and now, 52 years later, 

 we have over 929,000 acres. The energy and enterprise which have 

 produced such a rapid extension are obvious; and great credit is due to 

 those who have engaged in it, having regard to the slow growth of the 

 palm and the difficulty of handling its bulky products. It is an enterprise 

 which deserves greater assistance from Government than has been given 

 to it. I refer to the facilities that ought to have been extended to it by 

 the opening of railways into coconut districts. How small a proportion 

 of this vast acreage is served by a railway ! It was pointed out not long 

 ago that it was when coffee covered an extent of only 150,000 acres it had 

 a railway given for its special benefit. Remember it was a most difficult 

 and expensive line to construct, and it was planned when the acreage 

 was only 80,000 ! Yet, now, there are over 250,000 acres of flourishing 

 coconuts under cultivation in the Marawila district and in parts of Chilaw, 

 Rajakadaluwa and Puttalam — and inland to the outskirts of the Kurune- 

 gala district included— still awaiting a railway which has been agitated 

 for over the last 25 years. It is a remarkably cheap line to construct, 

 yet the enterprise was attempted to be smothered by every possible 

 obstacle— some real but not insurmountable, and others imaginary that 

 only perversity could conjure up. It was here the Low-country Products 

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