March, 1909.] 



Oils and Fats. 



The spikes or seed clusters should be 

 gathered as soon as ripe, which is indi- 

 cated by their beginning to dry up, split 

 open, and throw out the seed. 



After picking, the spikes may be 

 spread on a piece of hard, smooth 

 ground and turned occasionally so that 

 they will dry rapidly. Where there is 

 danger of rain while the seeds are dry- 

 ing, it is necessary to have a proper 

 house with shelves made of slats on 

 which the spikes can be placed and 

 stirred occasionally, the openings 

 between the slats allowing the beans to 

 drop through into a trough below where 

 they can be easily collected. 



Profits from the crop are not gener- 

 ally large, as 12 bushels to the acre is 

 considered an average yield in the 

 United States, and they sell there for 

 from §0 75 to $1 per bushel. In Hono- 

 lulu, however, the crop is stated to be 

 from 2,500 to 3,000 pounds per year, 

 while the maximum yield for Madras 

 varieties is given at from 400 to 450 

 pounds per acre. The Honolulu report 

 goes on to state, however, that the 

 gross returns per acre seldom exceed 

 $75 to $80. From this it would seem 

 that as the plants must be grown on 

 good land in order to produce a success- 

 ful crop, it is hardly to be recommended 

 to an already flourishing community ; 

 though a rank, strong-growing plant, it 

 does not necessarily deplete the soil 

 badly, as all the plant food taken up by 

 the leaves and stalks remains in the 

 field, only the spikes and seeds being 

 removed, and these spikes or their ashes 

 may be returned to the field after the 

 beans have been threshed out. 



It has been found that 100 pounds of 

 dry spikes yield about 55 pounds of 

 beans and 45 pounds of pods. As to 

 whether or not it will pay the cultivator 

 to return the pods to the field may be 

 judged from the amount of fertilizer 

 contained in them. Eight hundred 

 pounds of dry pods contain about 13 

 pounds of nitrogen, 46 pounds of potash 

 and \\ pounds of phosphoric acid, thus 

 more than equaling in fertilizer value 

 the same weight of ordinary wood ashes 

 worth $10 per ton. One thousand 

 pounds of beans, on the other hand, 

 remove 35 pounds of nitrogen, 4 pounds 

 of potash, and 14 pounds of phosphoric 

 acid. 



Enemies op the Castor Plant. 

 The circular of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens of Ceylon gives two insects as 

 being injurious to the plants, one a 

 caterpillar, Euproctia guttata, Wlk., 

 which, though omniverous, shows a 

 partiality for the leaves of the castor 

 plant, and the other, the green fly, 



Empoasca .ftavescens, Fabr., which was 

 observed to be much more injurious to 

 some varieties than others.- Philip pine 

 Agricultural Review, Vol. I., No, 9. 



the~copra~1ndustry. 



By T. Wilson Main. 



It has been brought to my notice on one 

 or two occasions recently that the Sin- 

 gapore market price of Copra is nearly 

 always less than that quoted for Ceylon 

 and the Pacific Islands. In order to 

 ascertain the reason for this I recently 

 made careful enquiry into the state of 

 the market and the quality of the Copra 

 offered for sale. What surprised me 

 most was the very poor quality of the 

 Copra imported from the surrounding 

 Islands and the Malay States compared 

 with that from Java and other Dutch 

 Islands. After examining numerous 

 samples taken from consignments from 

 many different parts I am not surprised 

 that Singapore prices do not compare 

 favourably with those of other markets. 



There are several causes which account 

 for the inferior quality and price of 

 local copra, The principal cause ap- 

 pears to me to be the absence of some 

 system of supervision over the native 

 and Chinese growers. I believe that in 

 Java and other Dutch Islands tlie Dutch 

 Government examines all Copra for 

 export and only that which is up to 

 standard quality is allowed to be ship- 

 ped. This in a great measure accounts 

 tor the excellence of Dutch Copra The 

 second cause is that it is common prac- 

 tice to pick tlie coconuts before they 

 are quite ripe, thus accounting for the 

 large quantities of thin, soft and decay- 

 ing Copra on the market. Quantities of 

 good ripe Copra are frequently ruined 

 by ^ lx ^ ng it wit* this half-matured 

 stuff. The third reason is that the 

 Copra is badly dried. That said to be 

 sun-dried is only partially dried, and as 

 soon as put in bulk becomes mouldv 

 and rots. That said to be kiln-dried is 

 practically roasted. A fourth, and by 

 no means least important, reason is the 

 absence of any form of beneficial culti- 

 vation on the estates. In the majority 

 of instances trees are never by any 

 chance manured nor is any form of bene- 

 fice cultivation practised. The result 

 of this neglect is an inferior Copra 

 poor in oil-producing qualities. I am 

 now referring to Malay and Chinese- 

 owned estates which comprise prac- 

 ticaly the whole industry. It is well 

 known that European-owned estates 

 produce Copra of the very highest 

 quality, but unfortunately for their 

 owners, the poor quality determines the 

 market puce, 



