862 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



YIELD OF COCONUTS PER TREE. 



"A good Coconut tree" says the Porto Rico 

 Horticultural News, "should yield an average of 

 one hundred nuts per year, and under favourable 

 conditions two hundred have been obtained. 

 Taking the whole island of Porto Rico, however, 

 a return of sixty-five nuts per tree is probably 

 about the average figure obtained, and no doubt 

 conditions are very similar in the British West 

 Indian islands." 



A Colombo correspondent informs us that 

 he had a tree plucked about two years ago 

 which gave 127 nuts at the one plucking, while 

 we read not long ago of a tree on Klanang 

 Estate in the F.M.S. which had 360 nuts upon 

 it. Not only was this latter tree literally loaded 

 with large nuts but a number of small ones were 

 to be seen on it in the earlier stages of develop- 

 ment. The tree was by no means a large one 

 and was only about eleven years old. 



A good average yield per tree on an average 

 coconut plantation in Ceylon is 30 to 40 nuts. 



THE CEYLON RUBBER INDUSTRY. 



Me. Alex. Faielie's Views. 

 Mr. Alex. Fairlie, head of the firm of Messrs. 

 Jas. Finlay & Co., Limited, and ex-Chairman of 

 Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, who left for home 

 last month, spent his last few days in Ceylon in 

 a visit to rubber estates in the Pelmadulla dis- 

 trict. Thiscompleted a series of motor car trips 

 Mr. Fairlie had taken recently, visiting estates in 

 which his firm are interested. His journeyings 

 took him through Some of the best known rubber 

 centres in Ceylon — Kelani Valley, Kalutara, 

 Maddagedera and Sabaraganiuwa Province— and 

 as a result of his observations Mr Fairlie left 

 Ceylon more deeply convinced than ever of the 

 extreme soundness, agriculturally, of the rubber 

 industry and of its splendid progress in Ceylon, 

 Speaking of Pelmadulla district Mr Fairlie 

 told our representative that the development in 

 that district was most remarkable. Great ex- 

 panses of virgin forest had been cleared and 

 thousands of acres of rubber now flourished there 

 from 4$ years downwards. The rubber grew splen- 

 didly, the beBt of it being very fine. He saw no 

 bad rubber nor heard of any form of disease. 

 Labour was quite ample for the requirements 

 of the district. Clean weeding was adopted on 

 all the estates and all the estates were clean. 

 "As a matter of fact,' said Mr Fairlie, "I 

 consider the future of rubber in this fine 

 district absolutely assured and sound." 



Mr. Fairlie is inclined generally to take a very 

 bright view of the rubber industry agriculturally. 

 •' What about labour in the future ? " 

 "I do not anticipate serious trouble. A half 

 cooly per acre will be sufficient to start tapping 

 with, but as the trees begin to yield increased 

 quantities of latex that number may have to 

 be increased. I believe the demand will be met." 



" And what is the cost of production to work 

 out at when large areas come into bearing ? " 



"The cost of production is ultimately going 

 to be under 50 cents per lb., including every- 

 thing — that is, of course, when we get large 

 blocks of rubber in bearing." 



COFFEE ROBUSTA AS A CATCH-CROP 

 IN PARA RUBBER AND COCONUTS. 



Bulletin No. 7 issued by the Department of 

 Agriculture, Federated Malay States, is on 

 Coffee Robusta by W J Gallagher, .m.a., Direc- 

 tor of Agriculture, F. M. S. The concluding 

 paragraph is as follows : — 



Many of our soils, especially on hard-backed 

 steep hills, are not over fertile, and it is pro- 

 bable that it is the best in the long run to 

 bring rubber into bearing without catch-crops, 

 which all compete with the principal crop and 

 remove a certain amount of available plant food. 

 But many private owners, small syndicates, and 

 even companies cannot wait five years for a 

 return. A desirable catch-crop should be a 

 crop yielding a good profit ; it should not be too 

 severe on the soil ; it should bear early ; it 

 should admit of weeding so as to leave the land 

 in a clean condition when it is taken out. 



Tapioca has been tried and is hardly a suc- 

 cess. In faet it is quite undesirable. Apart 

 from the possibility at present prices of its 

 yielding a very small profit, if any, it is so diffi- 

 cult to weed that a large amount of lalang gets 

 in and the land is in a decidedly dirty condition 

 when the crop is removed. Camphor allows 

 the land to be kept clean, but the time to wait 

 for a crop is too long and then the profit is not 

 much. Coffee robusta offers by far the best 

 catch-crop. A small return will come in the 

 second year and a good one in the third and 

 following years. 



Therefore for those who must put down a 

 catch-crop it is undoubtedly the best. The pro- 

 duction of robusta costs less per picul than 

 liberica. The total cost of production should 

 not exceed $12/- a picul, which returns a profit 

 of $6/- a picul on an average price of #18/- a 

 picul. Plauted as a catch-crop in the way al- 

 ready recommended, i. r., about 1,000 to the 

 acre, a return of 10 piculs of market coffee 

 ought to be obtained by the end of the fifth 

 year. This would yield a profit of f 60/- or over 

 $130/- at present prices. 



These figures are conservative, judging by the 

 example already given from Java. In the F.M.S. 

 we have not sufficient data on which to base 

 close estimates ; but it is evident that if the 

 entire capital cost of the rubber cannot be re- 

 covered, at least from the end of the second year 

 it can be more than upkept from the profits on 

 robusta. 



It must be remembered that the cost of plant- 

 ing the coffee has to be added to the cost of 

 bringing the rubber into bearing, but on the 

 other hand owing to the earlier shade the weed- 

 ing will cost less than in para alone. 



When rubber has been interplanted in liberica 

 it is a common fault to let the coffee practically 

 die out. This should be guarded against when 

 the time comes to deal with robusta. Large 

 robusta of five years old will-compete seriously 

 with para. The robusta should be ruthlessly 

 cut out as soon as the branches of the rubber 

 trees meet and certainly in the beginning of 

 the sixth year. 



