Edible Products. 



166 



ITnlike the tea planter, -the miller can stop everything, while the estate must be 

 cultivated ; so our Demon— over-production— can be grappled with by securing a 

 little combination. 



We did fairly well as far as quantity, but prices were miserable and 

 some seem to be verging on over-production. If all would combine and so reduce 

 shipments for a couple of months, we would soon get decent prices, for Ave have 

 neither China nor India to fear as in the case of tea, and we can reduce ex- 

 penditure to a mere nothing, and simply keep our machinery clean. I do not 

 think there ever was such a year for small nuts ranging to over 20 per cent. 

 The pickings at this season are as usual very poor, and the natives, too, are 

 feeling the pinch very keenly. 



Poonac shipped— 262,229 cwts. — while in excess of the previous year has 

 fallen short of its record year 1903, when we shipped no less than 295,125 cwts. 

 Oil also sho .vs an increase over 1904 of 12,922 cwts ; while that of our Indian 

 neighbour, Cochin, has practically ceased to be quoted in the weekly telegrams. 

 In Coir there is very little change save in yarn and fibre, Avhile rope is very little 

 over 1904.— Qeylon Observer. 



CEYLON COCONUT AND COPRA PROSPECTS DURING 190(5. 



After a season of short rainfall— as 1905 proved generally throughout our 

 principal palm-growing districts — the expectation is usually of a comparatively 

 poor crop of coconuts in the ensuing year. It takes about twelve months to mature 

 the nut of the coco-palm, and consequently the effect of unseasonable drought is 

 very manifest in the case of a crop so dependent on rainfall. We have been "circu- 

 larising" a number of representative planters as to their expectations or opinions 

 during the current year, and on the whole the residt is to point to a smaller outturn 

 than usual both in size and number of nuts. There are exceptions in the case of 

 some estates — notably Mr. Wright's at Mirigama, which are expected to do better; 

 and the effect of additional areas coming into full bearing must be allowed for 

 But, on the whole, Ave fear the exports of coconut produce for 1906 can scarcely be 

 anticipated to equal those of the past year. 'To begin with our returns and infor- 

 mation : from the Northern Province, the belief is expressed that the coconut crop 

 throughout the Peninsula Avill be a short one this year. "The failure of rain to 

 a serious extent during the past three seasons has, at last, begun to tell severely 

 on the trees. In village gardens, in many instances the palms have failed altogether, 

 Avhile from others, the crop is to be very small. Large estates have also suffered. 

 One consequence is that petty traders have been buying up nuts on the estates 

 and retailing them in the villages at 6, 7, 8 and 10 cents each." We are told of 

 tAvo estates from which as many as 100,000 nuts have been thus already purchased 

 for retail purposes, and other plantations along the roadside have been freely drawn 

 on for the same purpose. It is clear, therefore, that with short crops and this 

 special local demand, the available produce for copra will be much smaller than 

 in 1905. One good authority puts the copra outturn at not more than one-half or 

 even one-third that of the past year. Coming to the North- Western Province, 

 the indications are generally of a comparatively short crop : such is the opinion 

 of a resident proprietor in the Chilaw district who reports the current harvesting— 

 or first plucking of the year— as decidedly short. Coming a little further south, 

 our correspondent " B." answering oxir enquiry a feAV weeks back, Avrote :— 



" Except on large estates OAvned by Sinhalese gentry, very little copra, 

 as far as I am aAvare, is made in this district. All the nuts go either to the Lunuville 

 or Horrekelle desiccating mills. I have not been about much, and so cannot speak 

 with any authority on the crops for 1906. As far as I know, there will be no 



