and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— September, 1912. 247 



people dried copra in the sun in five days, a 

 thorough drying occupied seven days. But no 

 one in the Island dried copra in grills in 10 or 

 12 hours ! 



The following table is very instructive : — 

 1 gallon oil weighs 9 lb 4 oz. 

 40 full-grown nuts yield 1 gallon oil. 

 12£ gallons oil or 500 nuts yield one cwt. oil. 

 250 gallons oil or 10,000 nuts yield one ton 

 oil. 



170 to 200 nuts yield one cwt. copra. 

 3,700 nuts yield one ton copra. 



3 nuts yield one lb desiccated nut. 

 45 lb copra yield three gallons oil or 61-8 

 per cent, of total when extracted by 

 "ohekku." 



Under hydraulic pressure perfectly clean, 

 - ripe nuts should give 66 per cent oil and 34 per 

 cent poouac — at least, that is, in theory. In 

 practice it works out at 62'5 per cent and 37 "5 

 per cent. 



The above is in an article on Coconut Planting 

 in the West Indies. Mr Hatnel Smith's remarks 

 on the above are that large soap manufac- 

 turers say that at least 5,000 nuts go to a ton of 

 copra as three nuts go to a lb. of desiccated nut 

 "The difference in lots of weight between coprah 

 and desiccated nut in far too small for it to be 

 necessary to use only 3,700 nuts in the one case 

 and 6,720 in the other." 



Mr W R Westland returned from Papua last 

 year. He called on me and I gave you the re- 

 sults of a conversation 1 had with him on coco- 

 nut planting there. A special chapter is de- 

 voted to Papua in the book under review. The 

 trees are said to start bearing at tive years, and 

 to bear heavily at 8-9 years ; 3,00 ) nuts yield 4 

 a ton of copra and healthy trees will live at letst 

 60 years. The estimate for opening 500 acres is : 

 first year £2,700, 2nd to 5th year £3 750. Total 

 expenditure at end of 6th year £13 per acre or 

 £6,450. It is surmised that this is exclusive 

 of superintendence. There are other esti- 

 mates given which it is unprofitable to give. 

 In the 7th year the yield should bo 40 nuts 

 per tree; in the 9 h year 60 nuts. This is not an 

 extravagant estimate on a rich soil and with 

 systematic cultivation. Catch crops are recom- 

 mended to reduce c ipital expenditure. Unfor- 

 tunately this is not practised in Oeylon except 

 under the " goiy a " system. Catch crop.s will 

 necessitate the land being kept clean and the 

 soil stirred and in good tilth. The result will 

 be that the coconut trees will come into bearing 

 2 or 3 three years sooner thau under the pre- 

 sent syetem. 



There is a very interesting chapter on coconut 

 planting in the Philippines. As is well-known 

 in this Island, coconut cultivation in the Philip- 

 pines is carried on on scientific lines. " In 

 spite of drawbacks, the Philippine exiorts in 

 1909 place the Islands easily first of all centres, 

 as a producer of coconut products. During 1909, 

 23-2,728,116 lb. of copra and 364,788 gallons of 

 oil were exported.'' Possibly the poonac was 

 consumed locally by stock. 



I have suggested a subsidiary crop between 

 the coconut plants on new clearings. This will 

 keep the land clean, will improve the tilth of 

 the soil, will consequently help towards the 

 growth of the plants and will yield an appre- 

 ciable return. A disc-harrow is said to be a good 

 implement to keep down weeds and grass. Mr. 

 Westland showed me photographs of these in 

 use in Papua drawn by mules. Unfortunately 

 our coconut estates in Ceylon are not culti- 

 vated as they should be. We do not resort to 

 labour-saving implements. 



Here, too, we find the groundless fear ex- 

 pressed of injuring the roots of the palms 

 if ploughing be done nearer than 5 feet from 

 the base of the palms. 



I suggested many years ago that the fronds of 

 the palms should be buried, after cutting off 

 their butt-ends, which can be burnt. Fires 

 at nights on Coconut Estates check insect 

 pests, as these are attracted by the tires and get 

 burnt, Barrett suggests the leaves of the fronds 

 baling used with husks, weeds and dead animals, 

 &o , for compost heaps and the midribs being 

 buried. 



In Oeylon, Sinhalese families are housed on 

 different parts of the estate, but the members 

 of these all work together. On a well-kept es- 

 tate, one man oan l»ok alter 20 to 25 acres." Will 

 it not be a good thing to adopt this system in 

 Ceylon and get a family to do all the necessary 

 work on a given area. "One man can husk 2,000 

 nuts a day, or rasp the meat from 1,000." What 

 is this latter operation ? 



An estimate for opening up land is given. I . 

 would suggest, to you, Sir, ttiat a comparative 

 statmneut be prepared of the cost of opening 

 an equal acreage of land in Ceylon and else- 

 where and it can be made an appendix to the 

 latest edition of your publication on Oocoiiuta. 



Uluk costs much money to eradicate and 

 is a source of much worry to planters who have 

 not a sufficient labour supply to tackle it. The 

 English " J umbo " type plough is said to be the 

 best to eradicate this pest. 



