107 



Edible Product*. 



material difference between the crops of 190:5 and 1906. The rainfall has not been 

 evenly distributed for the past two years. We have had too little and then too 

 much rain. As " Miller " wrote in a recent issue of the Ceylon Observer, the outturns 

 in 1905 have been woefully bad both as regards copra and desiccated nuts, but not 

 so bad as in and around Negombo. This is the centre of perhaps the best coconut 

 district in the Island, and that makes a great difference. The coconut plantations 

 south of me are better than those north, yet in recent months the outturn of 

 the nuts was better north than south. This is explicable. North of this, most 

 of the lands are low-lying and the soil sandy. Moisture would have been within 

 reach of the roots always and in spite of want of rain. The formation of the kernels 

 would never have been checked. This exemplifies the importance of water to 

 coconut plantations and a free soil.'' 



Writing about the same, a, very experienced Manager in the Negombo and 

 Kurunegala divisions, tells us : — "I do not now travel much, so caunot speak with 

 any confidence of any localities beyond parts of the Negombo district and Kuru- 

 negala district, and the crops in them will, I think, be pretty much what they were 

 last year ; and from what I can learn of other districts the crop is likely to be an 

 ordinary one. We have had no rain, except a few drizzles, in these parts for quite 

 six weeks, and that does not look promising, for if we do not get heavy rain soon 

 it will mean a very severe drought in the early months, which will cause the 

 dropping of many young nuts and also affect the size of the nuts. Rain, beyond 

 an occasional shower, is not likely now." Another authority reports:— "As a rule 

 up this side our best months for nut crops and copra-making (quantity) are July 

 to November, while our very worst are November to April when an improvement 

 sets in practically as regularly as the tides of the ocean. I cannot express any 

 opinion or attempt to compare the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 1th quarters of current year 

 with those of 1905, but it is a well-known fact that for bad quality, i.e. size of nuts 

 and thickness of kernel, last year was a record, and so say the oldest residents 

 here. London advices point to a probable falling off in the trade requirements of 

 1st quality of copra, crushers having discovered a process by which they are now 

 able to turn out pure white oil from the very worst copra. While, therefore, the 

 demand for copra (quantity) will, I conclude, be the same, the trade will pull down 

 the price and driers will not be able to procure nuts at a figure that will enable 

 them to produce copra and sell it at a low price. To give you an idea of variation 

 in yield of nut trees here during the year, a dealer in nuts brought lately some 

 3,400 nuts in one carl— a good load, 1,500 being about the average for native husked 

 nuts. The man laughed and said he had bought these nuts, being the whole of a 

 certain garden crop, the owner's best crop being no less than 20,000 nuts. This is 

 a typical case, and the worst crops during the year may be put at about l-10th 

 of the best, there being six pickings per annum. The short rainfall during September, 

 October and November 190 $ resulted in a most wretched yield of nuts as regards 

 size and quality during the same months of 1905, the tree taking a year to mature 

 each lot of blossoms. Estate owners drying their nuts into copra will hold their 

 own, for, by drying less, i.e., under-drying, they can get a larger yield which will 

 make up for lower prices in the same way that a big yield of cheap tea pays 

 better than a small yield of high-priced." 



Coming to the Western Province, th^ general opinion is that a better crop 

 cannot be expected than was gathered in 1905. In many parts it must be shorter , 

 the poor heads of nuts on the palms seen along the roads and railway lines in many 

 directions have been the subject of common remark. A Veyangoda planter replies 

 to our enquiry:— "I am afraid the outturn of coconuts (and therefore of copra) 

 this way will be short of last year. Though we had rain above the average, the 

 distribution was bad— October and November having given 47 inches out of 106£ 



