190 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



advance their prices. This is declared to be due 

 to the larger uses to which the oil is now being- 

 placed. The 



EDIBLE OIL IS BECOMING MOB-E AND MORE 

 A FACTOR 



in the trade. The candy manufacturers 

 are using it to a greater extent than 

 ever before, the biscuit manufacturers are 

 finding more use for it every day, and the oil 

 is now being devoted to a great extent to the 

 making of butter, which shows chemical com- 

 binations very similar to those of the ordinary 

 commercial cow butter. Of course, the chief utie 

 of the oil as yet is in the manufacture of soaps, 

 where the demand is greater than ever. Russia 

 is declared to be a heavier user of the oil for 

 this purpose 'than ever before. With all the 

 increase in the supply of copra, the absorption 

 is said to have more than kept pace. 



California oil is a product which under the 

 present conditions can hardly compete with the 

 regular Ceylon and Cochin oil handled by the 

 importers, except in the territory west of the 

 Missouri River. The great cost of freight keeps 

 the American makers out of the Eastern and 

 Middle West markets, Kansas City being about 

 as far east as the California makers can come. 

 Now and again a carload is sold in Chicago, but 

 this is the exception rather than the rule. 



The recent appearance of a representative of 

 one of the Western coconut oil manufacturers 

 before the Ways and Means Committee of Con- 

 gress, advocating 



THE PLACING OE A DUTY ON THIS OIL 



raises a question as to the advisability of a 

 tariff. The position of the makers of the oil can 

 be well understood. When it is considered that 

 a shipment of oil can be made from Marseilles 

 to Chicago cheaper than it can from San Fran- 

 cisco, it can b6 seen that the chances of the 

 American makers, whose factories are located 

 on the Pacific Coast, to be near the base of 

 supplies competing with the French broker, are 

 very slight. The difference in the freight rate 

 from the Pacific Coast to Chicago, and the rate 

 from New York to Chicago, is about 48c. in 

 favour of New York. It is urged that a tariff of 

 Jc. per pound on the oil woidd place the oil 

 manufacturer in a position where he would have 

 an even chance with the foreigner. It is a well- 

 understood fact that the operations of the bigger 

 mill of the two on the coast have been carried 

 on at a loss, simply because the oil could not be 

 sold in the country of its production outside of 

 a limited area— an area where the demand for 

 the oil is not the heaviest. If the theory of a 

 tariff is to build up infant industries, it is urged 

 that here is an industry in an infantile condition 

 which might be made a big factor in the employ- 

 ment of many men in the future. Without that 

 tariff, there can be little chance for a broaden- 

 ing of the market, the makers urge. 



Chicago price for East India Cochin is 7fc, 

 and for Ceylon Cochin, l\c. spot and Jan-March. 

 California Cochin is quoted at l\o„ and Ceylon 

 at6|c.— New York Oil Reporter, Dec. 21. 



THE U. S. A. SOAP MANUFACTURES 

 IN TARIFF REVISION. 



Opposing the Tax on Coconut Oil Entering 

 the U. S. A. 

 Washington, Dec. 4. — An important confer- 

 ence of leading representatives of the soap 

 industry was held in this city on Monday of 

 this week for the purpose of arriving at a basis 

 for the representations which the soap trade 

 desires to make to the Ways and Means Com- 

 mittee with respect to the revision of the 

 Dingley tariff act. The coconut oil producers, 

 appeared to regard the revision of the Dingley 

 act as affording an excellent opportunity to 

 secure protection not only for factories operat- 

 ing in the United States, but for those recently 

 established in the Philippine Islands. The re- 



Eresentatives of the latter factories were careful, 

 owever, to state that their proposition for a 

 relatively high duty on coconut oil when im- 

 ported into the United States from a foreign 

 country was conditioned upon the establishment 

 of free trade between the United States and the 

 archipelago. It is assumed that in connection 

 with the general revision of the existing tariff 

 law Congress will authorise mutual free trade 

 with the Philippines, except in sugar and to- 

 bacco, upon the importation of which certain 

 restrictions will be imposed, and it is obvious 

 that the duty on foreign coconut oil with free 

 oil from our insular possessions would give a 

 tremendous boom to the Philippine factories 

 established within the past year or two. 



The soap men have viewed these developments 

 with considerable apprehension, and at their 

 conference in this city they did not hesitate to 

 denounce the efforts to impose duties on the 

 raw materials of the soap industry and to insist 

 that the tax thereon be entirely eliminated. — 

 New York Oil Reporter. 



A COCONUT PEST IN COCHIN. 



A Special Report. 

 The Cochin Gazette received today contains a 

 Special Report by an officer of the Madras 

 Department of Agriculture on the Para Lepida 

 found affecting coconut trees in Cochin. The 

 Report after detailing the systematic position, 

 records of occurrence, distribution, life-history, 

 food plants and enemies of the pest, goes on to 

 deal with the nature and extent of its attack 

 on the coconut palms of Cochin. The last 

 section of the Report deals with remedial 

 measures, in which the investigator says : — 



"Considering the height to which the coconut 

 palm grows and the great extent of the foliage 

 to be reached, none but very powerful spraying 

 machines can be of any use. Hence under 

 present conditions, checking the pest with 

 insecticidal sprays is out of the question. The 

 best method, as to checking the increase of the 

 pest, would, on the part of the land owner, be a 

 careful look out for the appearance of the pest 

 and prompt action finding it out. The infested 

 fronds must be cut down and instantly burnt; 

 the cocoon must be carefully looked for on the 

 crown at the base of the leaf stalks and after 



