*Oils and Fats. 13 



wooded trays after being subject to the 

 fumes of sulphur during the night. 

 Copra drying is much easier as the nut 

 is not so perishable and does not require 

 such careful handling as fruit. It is, 

 however, very important that the dry- 

 ing ground be large and open, so that the 

 copra gets the direct rays of the sun 

 during the greater part of the day. It 

 is impossible to turn out first-class copra 

 on a small faulty shady ground. Care 

 must be taken not to break even during 

 the best of sunny weather more nuts 

 than the drying shed would hold in case 

 of rain. 



FAULTILY CONSTRUCTED DRYING SHEDS 



are an abomination and a source 

 of great dissatisfaction. Well con- 

 structed drying sheds should be the first 

 consideration of a proprietor, as other- 

 wise badly dried copra is the unsatis- 

 factory result and a source of dissatis- 

 faction both to the proprietor and 

 superintendent, although unfortunately 

 the latter would more than likely get 

 the blame, although expected to make 

 " bricks without straw." As the saying 

 goes, that the " proof of the pudding is 

 the eating of it," this article would not 

 be complete without giving some idea 

 of the results of my work. I was able 

 in three years to reduce my labour staff 

 from sixty to forty all told, which 

 meant thirty actual labourers, the other 

 ten being watchers, carters, etc. 



THE NET PROFIT 



when I took charge was Rs. 9,000 per 

 annum, and four years afterwaids it 

 amounted to Rs, 29,000 per annum, 

 after erecting some permanent build- 

 ings, planting 24 acres of new land, and 

 doing other permanent work such as 

 drainage, constructing bridges, and 

 making roads, etc. 



In Conclusion 

 I consider that there are various pro- 

 blems to be solved in connection with this 



I [February, 1909. 



industry, and as no individual proprietor 

 has either the time or money needed for 

 experimenting purposes, it should be 



THE DUTY OF GOVERNMENT 



as is done in other countries, to carry 

 out expriments and show the people 

 the best methods; for instance, supposing 

 a land under coconuts was a clay loam, 

 what would be the result if the land was 

 yearly ploughed to a depth of 8 to 

 10 inches, and during the dry months if 

 the soil was constantly kept stirred up 

 by means of a set of disc harrows or 

 other cultivating machines? Expe- 

 rience has proved beyond question in 

 other countries that in planting this 

 process is absolutely necessary, as it bene- 

 fits the trees, thereby greatly increas- 

 ing the yield. But whether it would 

 benefit the coconut tree and make it 

 yield sufficiently to cover the increased 

 cost of cultivation as well as to give an 

 increased surplus, is a question that can 

 only be proved by experiment. Then 

 again ploughing is no doubt better and 

 would be cheaper than hand work if 

 only suitable ploughs with suitable 

 motive power could be procured. Un- 

 fortunately we have neither at present. 

 The ploughs in use at present with one 

 handle and a pole does a half ploughing 

 half scratching business to an uneven 

 depth of not more than 3 to 4 inches, 

 which is practically useless. These 

 ploughs are absolutely faulty in con- 

 struction, and I defy any ploughman to 

 do good work with them, leave alone the 

 ordinary estate cooly. 



In fact the whole question evolves 

 down to this. Do 'we get as much as 

 could be possibly got out of the coconut 

 palm, or would better modes of cultiva- 

 tion greatly increase the yields both in 

 quantity and quality ? 



P. G. SCIIRADER. 



—Ceylon Independent. 



