and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— June, 1912, 



571 



CEYLON AND THE COCONUT OUT- 

 PUT OF THE WORLD. 



Colombo, May 31st. 



Sir, — Referring to your Negombo correspon- 

 dent's remarks about the coconut position, it 

 would be interesting to have some reliable data 

 for his statement that Ceylon has in cultivation 

 one-quarter of the world's acreage in coconuts. 



The available figures of the world's shipments 

 of copra for 1911 excluding Ceylon show a 

 total of :— 



441,512 tons. 



The Ceylon figures for 1911 are 

 roughly : — 



Copra ... ... 38,444 tons. 



Coconut Oil ... 25,613 ,, 



Desiccated Coconut 14,555 ,, 

 Coconuts ... ... 7,800 ,, 



Foonac 10,700 ,, 



Total . 97,112 tons. 



If the figures representing other countries 

 exports of coconut oil, coconuts, *&c, were 

 given, they would further tell against the cal- 

 culation that this island has such a predomi 

 nant interest as your correspondent indicates 

 unless, of course, it could be shown that tho 

 Ceylon yield was, compared with other couu 

 tries, out of proportion to its acreage unuei 

 cultivation.— Yours faithfully, 



GREAT CAMPHOR TREE OF KYOTO 

 ALMOST LOST BY FIRE. 



A Kyoto dispatch says that an ancient cam- 

 phor-tree, about 120 feet high and 12 feet in 

 diameter, standing on the grounds of the Yasaka 

 shrine, in the city was almost burned down about 

 midnight Wednesday. The tree was looked 

 upon with great veneration by Kyoto people as 

 the shm-boku (or sacred to the shrine), being 

 supposed to be over ten centuries old. The tire 

 started in the hollow of the tree, and continued 

 to rage till about six o'clock Thursday morning, 

 despite the hard efforts of the fir. men to ex- 

 tinguish it. The flames which seem d apparently 

 subdued for a bime, regained strength about 

 eight o'clock add began to burn with redoubled 

 vigour. Then ai)Out fifteen fire-men climbed to 

 the top of tho tree through tho fire and smoke 

 and poured water into tbe hollow from above. 

 This desperate step proved entirely successful 

 and the obstinate fire was at last completely 

 suppressed. The tree, however, has been char- 

 red, so that it 18 feared that it will not survive 

 the disaster. It is supposed that some beggars, 

 who were seeking shelter in the hollow, which 

 was large enough to accommodate five or six 

 persons easily, built a fire which getting out of 

 their control, developed into such serious dimen- 

 sions.— Japan Times, March 30, 



