and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society .—March , 191. 



271 



TEA— COCOA— COCONUTS. 



World's Production and Consumption. 

 Much might be said about the above products 

 and the latest tables which represent their 

 positions in the producing and consuming 

 couutries of the world. But it must suffices 

 present to say that against 1,282,930,000 lb. 

 tea production, the total " exports " are esti- 

 mate d at 737,366,000 lb., the balance of nearly 

 550,000,0001b. representing the enormous "home 

 consumption " — especially in China and Japan 

 where weak tea is drunk morning, noon and 

 night — in all the countries where it is pro- 

 duced. India is credited with 10 millions, Ceylon 

 and Java each with 2 millions of tea "home con- 

 sumption " — figures which ought to rise greatly 

 as years roll on and the merits of the drink 

 become appreciated by " the millions." This is 

 apart from the indigenous Mate tea of South 

 America (now cultivated in Brazil and Paraguay) 

 and of which 200,000,000 lb. are estimated to be 

 produced and consumed, though it seems to 

 us, the reckoning is an over-literal one. 



Of "Cocoa "(the production of "Theobroma 

 Cacao" a plant due to Brazil as much as the 

 " Hevea " rubber tree) the world's production 

 is put at 4,455,500 cwt., Brazil, Ecuador, 'j rini- 

 dadand West Africa being the larger producers; 

 and the United States and Continent of Europe 

 being the great consuming customers, though 

 the United Kingdom has much increased to 

 use of " cocoa" during late years. 



"Coconut Palms Grown in the World " 

 according to our table — the only one (as in 

 the case of most leading tropical products) 

 ever formulated ; or certainly, when first ad- 

 vanced a good many years ago. In this esti- 

 mate, Ceylon is supposed to lead with 

 770,000 acres under this favorite paim (whose 

 habitat according to De Candolle, lies be- 

 tween Java and Sumatra), while South 

 America (500,000 acres) corres next, and the 

 " Eastern Archipelago" and British India (each 

 with 400,000 acres) are supposed to come third. 

 Many authorities — reports of travellers, con- 

 suls and administrative and Customs officers — 

 have been consulted year by year ; but at best, 

 the figures can only be taken as " approxima- 

 tions." The aggregate amounts to 3,170,000 

 acres with 215 millions of coconut palms grow- 

 ing on the world's surface— that is, within 

 the tropics. The annual crop may be fully 

 6,650,000.000 nuts, the larger proportion of 

 which are consumed for food purposes where 

 produced. But for much more respecting this 

 product as well as other staple products, see the 

 forthcoming big book, or else in "The Coco- 

 nut Planters 1 Manual" for the cultivation 

 covered by the title. 



COPRA DRYING. 



We published an article some time back which 

 was reproduced in the "Tropical Agricul- 

 turist" on the systems of copra-drying pursued 

 in Ceylon. It was there pointed out that in 

 Ceylon the copra-producer has not departed from 

 the old methods of sun and grill drying. We 

 repeat this as we have had a letter from a 

 Philippine correspondent, asking us to recom- 

 mend driers of the types used here. 



THE CULTIVATION OF COCONUTS. 



Comparisons in the Methods of Ceylon and 

 Philippines. 

 Through the courtesy of the Secretary of the 

 Ceylon Agricultural Society, a very interesting 

 and valuable article on the cultivation of coco- 

 nuts in the Philippine islands, and a comparison 

 with the Ceylon product, has come into our pos- 

 session, from which we are pleased to reproduce 

 extracts below, showing the methods of cultiva- 

 tion, the difficulties under which copra is pro- 

 duced, and a comparison in prices between the 

 Philippine and Ceylon production : — " Twenty 

 per cent of the Philippine exports in 1909 were 

 coconut products, a fact that shows the extent 

 of the coconut industry in these islands. Among 

 the coconut growing countries of the world, the 

 Philippines rank third, but the Philippine copra 

 is poorest in quality. Our old method of drying 

 and the common practice of using nuts not fully 

 ripe, as well as lack of care in baling the products 

 are responsible for this low classification. Little 

 attention or none at all is commonly given the 

 seed beds and the selection of seeds. Yet much 

 is to be gained in the betterment of our nuts if 

 we select the seeds and only plant those that are 

 posseessed of the characters suited to our pur- 

 pose. For instance, when coconuts are raised 

 for copra, big nuts rich in fatty contents are to 

 be preferred, and if only seeds possesiing those 

 characters are planted, the next generation of 

 trees will produce a greater percentage of such 

 nuts, yielding on the average a bett r quality a 

 large quantity of copra. If on the other hand, 

 tuba is the principal product, trees yielding the 

 greatest number of fruits are more desirable, for 

 more sap is obtained from them. Seeds from 

 such trees are then used to produce seedlings. 

 In selecting Beed nuts, the characters of the 

 trees from which they come are to be taken into 

 consideration, instead of merely the character 

 of the individual nuts. Seedlings are trans- 

 planted usually when they are from six to 24 

 months old. The sooner the seedlings are trans- 

 planted, the better start they are given and the 

 more healthy and productive the trees will be. 

 The age at which to transplant is regulated by 

 economic conditions. The distance between 

 trees depends upon the fertility of the soil. On 

 rich soils the trees must be farther apart than on 

 poor ones; for in the former trees are thriftier, 

 and, therefore, occupy more space than in 

 the latter. Coconut trees grow admirably in full 

 sunshine when furnished with a good supply of 

 moisture in the ground. The arrangement of 

 trees to be recommended is the quincunx- It 

 has the advantages that every tree is equidistant 

 from its neighbours, and there is an increase of 

 eleven per cent, over the number planted on a 

 given area following the rectangular method. 

 The coconut makes good returns when ferti- 

 lized; but in the Philippines fertilizing has never 

 been done, at least on a commercial scale. Ac- 

 cording to Semler, the author of the Tropisc/ie 

 Ayrikultur, when a tree yielding 40 fruits per 

 year is fertilized with a good stable manure, it 

 will increase its production to 50, and another 

 yielding 80 will increase it to 100 during the 

 same length of time. The value of fertilizers can 



