and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— April, 191%. 



383 



brought by sea from Malacca. There is also a 

 ready sale for the fruit in the bazaar. Although 

 the held pine is not appreciated by Europeans 

 afresh ripe fruit is quite palatable, but a fruit 

 plucked before it is ripe, and perhaps a week 

 old, is not commendable. 



If you wish any information on the method of 

 tinning, I will supplement this account by fur- 

 ther notes. — Yours faithfully, 



R. DERRY. 

 for Director. 



PINEAPPLES AND DIVIDENDS. 



WHY PINES MUST BE PROFITABLE 

 IN COUNTRIES LIKE CEYLON, 



While pineapples are probably grown with 

 more profit in the Hawaiian islands than any 

 part of the world, it is only because the planters 

 have studied this product, and applied to it the 

 most adaptable methods to produce a finely 

 matured fruit. And the result has read some- 

 thing like a fairy story from King Midas ; the 

 profits have even astonished the planters who 

 were interested in the estates growing pines 

 And ten years previous to their first big crop in 

 1902, you could scarcely get a Hawaiian plante 

 to look at a pineapple. It was because a long- 

 headed man, then secretary of the Planters 

 Association of Hawaii, told that body of men 

 that some day their sugar crop (which is the 

 principal product of the Islands) would fail. 

 Then what would they have to fall back on, ex- 

 cept small crops of coconuts, rice and bananas, 

 which would not tide them over to another sea- 

 son. Some of the members sat up and took 

 notice. Immediately all the information and 

 samples possible were obtained from the other 

 pineapple-growing countries of the world. Com- 

 panies were formed, areas planted with different 

 species, and the authorities established an ex- 

 periment station, where a scientific study of 

 pineapples was conducted. The outcome has 

 been a most delicious and healthy fruit which 

 is gaining a famous reputation around the worlds 

 The renewed interest in the pineapple situation 

 here begins to look as if the subject would be 

 taken up seriously before long, and investigated 

 with a view to undertaking the pineapple pro- 

 ject on a substantial scale. While most of the 

 planters of Ceylon have rubber to fall back on in 

 case tea should fail, and vice versa, at the same 

 time, inter-planting has seen its best day, and 

 even now many of our largest planters are con- 

 templating its abolition as a method con- 

 ducive to producing either better tea or better 

 rubber, each planted separately. Some of the 

 planters will eventually devote themselves to 

 one or the other exclusively. In any event, both 

 rubber and tea crops are subject to ravages by 

 droughts, pests and storms, while the pineapple, 

 hardy and easily cared for, grows low, and is, 

 in nine cases out of ten, a sure crop. 



That the pineapple is to be one of the princi- 

 pal fruit productions of all tropical countries is 

 exemplified in the reports of the agricultural 

 departments from Japan (covering Formosa) the 

 Philippines, Java, Cuba, Porto Rico, Panama, 

 Florida, Mexico, Southern California, parts of 



India; and experiments are even going on in 

 certain districts of British South Africa. At 

 first the problem of shipping from Ceylon seems 

 a difficult one; but when it is considered that 

 the pineapple can be shipped, partly ripe, and 

 by the time it roaches its destination, is in the 

 pink of condition ; also when the shipments are 

 once under way, and kept going, the trans- 

 portation question shrinks into insignificance. 

 Another point in favour of growing pineapples, 

 is that first-class, finely matured fruit always 

 brings a good market price, and the demand is 

 invariably strong. Second and third grade fruit 

 find a ready market for preserving and canning 

 purposes in all of the big world centres. One 

 large canning factory in New England last year 

 offered to contract for, and take all the pine- 

 apples which Cuba, the Philippines and Hawaii 

 could raise together. And they all refused to 

 make contracts, for the individual marketdomand 

 was so great that they could afford to be inde- 

 pendent. We are glad that our Government 

 officials are looking into the matter, for we have 

 faith in Ceylon as a future pineapple country, 

 and if our planters can produce as fine a grade 

 of this fruit as of tea and rubbor, it is our pre 

 diction that within ten years we will be running 

 Hawaii a close race for first position. Once the 

 pineapple industry is started on a proper scale, 

 and handled judiciously, there is little doubt as 

 to the profits and certainty of crops. Dividends 

 of from 40 to 60 per cent, on common pineapple 

 shares are reported from Honolulu last season, 

 and many of the Cuban companies paid as high 

 as 50 per cent., which is an excellent showing 

 in consideration of the quality of Cuban pines 

 as compared with these grown in Hawaii. We 

 have recently received several interesting letters 

 with regard to pineapple growing, and some 

 definite action will no doubt be taken soon, as 

 to a further investigation of this subject. 



OIL SEED INDUSTRIES OF CEYLON, 

 FRANCE AND MEXICO. 



Washington, March 8th, 1912. — A series of 

 reviews on coconut and other oil seeds in the 

 Cocos Islands, Ceylon, France and Mexico is 

 contained in reports received at the Bureau of 

 Manufactures from those countries : — 



Regarding the manufacture of copra in the 

 Cocos (Keeling) Islands, it is stated that these 

 nuts run about 7,000 to the ton, against 4,000 

 to the ton in the Straits Settlements and the 

 Federated Malay States. The trees were seri- 

 ously damaged by a typhoon in 1909, but the 

 production was heavy during the past year, and 

 the copra product has a large market in Europe 

 and brings high prices. 



Regarding Ceylon, it is shown that during 

 1911 there vrere 511,269 hundredweights of 

 coconutioil exported to different countries, and 

 788,695 hundredweights of copra. Regarding 

 the shipment of oil cake, it is said that 213,982 

 hundredweights of coconut oil cake were shipped 

 in 1911, of which amount 4,681 hundredweights 

 went to Great Britain and 121,000 hundred- 

 weights to Germany. 



The report which comes from the Marseilles 

 district of France says that receipts of oil seeds 

 in that district during 1911 almost equalled 



