The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



THE COCONUT PALM IN CEYLON. 



OUR SPECIAL REVIEW FOR 1911. 



We may remind our readers that, accor- 

 ding to the most reliable statistics available 

 (until the completed Land Settlement and Sur- 

 vey put us all right) it appears that the Coco- 

 nut Palm agricultural enterprise covers in 

 this island not much below 800,000 acres (in 

 the gardens and plantations of all Ceylonese 

 and Colonists) — while there is a hope that one 

 day the cultivation may extend to the round 

 million acres. One of the largest reserves of 

 Crown land to be bought and utilised by 

 would-be planters and villagers is in the Put- 

 talam district, alongside of the railway which 

 Governor McOallum or his successor is expec- 

 ted to arrange for, northward of Chilaw. There 

 is also room to extend " topes : ' in other parts 

 of the North- Western, in the Western, Southern 

 and even the Sabaragamuwa and Central Pro- 

 vinces as well as in the Eastern (the favourite 

 Batticaloa district), and in the Northern and 

 especially in the North-Central Provinces. In 

 the last Dr. Willis and some more have much 

 faith that fruitful, profitable gardens of coco- 

 nuts can be formed.* 



In respect of this, our principal Palm, the past 

 year has been a very remarkable one in more 

 ways than one. For instance, prices have been 

 excellent throughout ; but the quality of the 

 kernel, as a rule, has been described as exceed- 

 ingly poor, owing, no doubt, to the very dry 

 cycle (1903 to 1911 inclusive)— the drought last 

 year being so severe that a very large number 

 of coconut trees (particularly those grown 

 on cabooky soil and in cinnamon) died out- 

 right. Some people actually hold that the 

 opening-up of the extensive Sabaragamuwa 

 forests is one of the causes of our several conse- 

 cutive dry years with practically half our usual 

 rainfall in Colombo, and, in fact, all over our 

 lowcountry planting districts ; but this idea is 

 too far-fetched, in view of previous dry cycles. 

 And whether there is anything in that forest 

 theory or not, we can at least safely look for- 

 ward to the virgin forest being replaced by a 

 " forest of rubber " or even fields of tea shrubs; 

 and so, apart from our wet cycle now due, there 

 is every chance of getting back to normal 

 rainfalls and to due conservation of "pluvial de- 

 posits " in place of raining suddenly and caus- 

 ing floods. This conservation would be due to 

 the favourite new cultivation of Rubber as 

 well as tea. 



Coconut Oil. — Taking our chief palm pro- 

 duct (coconut oil) first, we find we, have ex- 

 ported for last year 512,269 cwt. against that 

 of our very best year (1908) which had 670, 121 

 cwt. with 616,377 cwt. in 1910. The demand 

 was steady throughout the year, and prices 

 f.o.b. Colombo ranged from Rs.525 to Rs.535 

 in December and the price of spot oil in London 



*For those who are interested to learn how 

 the coconut palm wt.s first introduced and spread 

 in Ceylon, see a Paper in the Royal Asiatic 

 Journal (Ceylon Branch) Number 57, of the 

 year 1906, as in the "Coconut Planters' Manual" 

 published at Obserer Office. 



seemed to be fixed at £43 10s for the same 

 month, while it is now £44. The United 

 Kingdom took, as usual, most of ,the Ceylon 

 oil. Some two years ago it looked as if the 

 " Soya bean " oil would become a regular men- 

 ace to the coconut product ; but this scare 

 seems to have vanished, and the great "soap" 

 industry of the world continues to be our best 

 customer, and, indeed, owing to the increased 

 demand for soap, the manufacturers have even 

 some difficulty in securing sufficient raw pro- 

 duct (nuts or copra) for their requirements. 

 Now this is good news not only to producers, 

 but may be regarded by all our readers, seeing 

 that it means how wonderfully progressive 

 the habit of "cleanliness" is becoming the 

 rule in all Darts of the world ; and when we 

 remember that " cleauliness is next to godli- 

 ness, 3 ' according to the old adage, we must 

 all rejoice in progress in this right direction ! 

 The steady demand for copra also points to 

 there being room for the expansion of coco- 

 nut growing in the Federated Malay States and 

 other parts of the Tropical East as soap is 

 not likely ever to go out of use, but will in- 

 crease in consumption. 



With the opening of the railway to Chilaw 

 the probability will be that new Oil Mills will 

 be opened in that district, and thus a good 

 deal of the copra will be purchased from the 

 boats from the North and be crushed and the 

 result sent in tD Colombo— by the railway. A 

 correspondent, however, thinks that the C.G. 

 Railway will have to reduce the present rates or 

 the bulk of this produce may continue to go 

 by the cheaper old padda boats to Grandpass, 

 as senders will not care to have their copra 

 dumped down at the present over-congested ter- 

 minus ; and he adds that the railway continues 

 to lose a large volume of this important traffic 

 passing its very door daily at Negombo. If rates 

 were reduced, this would all be carried by rail, 

 particularly if a market for its sale was made 

 at or near the new Fort Station. It seems, 

 continues our correspondent, that the General 

 Manager isj afraid to come down to "boat 

 charges " for fear they (the boatmen) go " one 

 better" and reduce their charges ! [But of this, 

 there is little chance, we are assured.] 



Copra.— This has been very even in quantity 

 over the last four years, last year being, 

 strange to say (severe drought and all) the best 

 with no less than 788,695 cwt ! This is clearly 

 a record for the decade, if not for the history of 

 the product. The copra-man proper, that is the 

 man who goes round and buys up all the best 

 nut crops, has a pull over the desiccating miller 

 (as well as on those who buy nuts for ship- 

 ment) in that he can pay a higher price. But 

 with all the huge shipment?, their profit, owing 

 to interior kernels, haa not been so good in 1911, 

 as in former years, as it took in many cases, over 

 1,500 nuts to produce a "candy of copra." As 

 regards distribution, the figures tor the exports 

 for copra are very remarkable; for, while Russia 

 and Germany took this year no less than 728,058 

 cwt., all other countries together took the 

 paltry quantity of only 65, 637 cwt ! Prices fell to 

 Rs. 67-25, to which it dropped during the first 

 quarter. In August it started on a steady up- 

 grade until it reached Rs. 92/50 to Rs. 93-25, or, 



