Edible Products. 



[July, 1911. 



cultivation than the last-named. As a 

 rule, the grass is propagated in Java by 

 dividing the old roots, the root-sections 

 being planted so far apart that every 

 new plant has a space ol three square 

 feet. No definite rule can be given for 

 the number of grass crops to be cut in 

 the course of the year, as it varies.accor- 

 ding tc soil and climate. De Jong consid- 

 ers it best to cut the grass when the 

 fifth leaf has developed. The distillation 

 is often carried out in Java by super- 

 heated stem under a pressure of 3 to 4 

 atmospheres ; this mode of working being 

 more rapid and giving a higher yield, 

 usually varying from 0'5 to 0"9 per cent. 



It is said to be of advantage to cut up 

 the raw material as small as possible. 



As in the case of Maha-Pengiri grass, 

 de Jong has now also experimented on 

 the oil-content of the leaves of Lenabatu 

 grass in different stages of growth, and 

 has obtained precisely similar results as 

 with the Maha-Pengiri grass. The oil- 

 yield diminishes as the leaf ages and so 

 does the total-geraniol content of the 

 oil. In the oils examined by de Jong 

 this total-geraniol content reached a 

 percentage (from 86 per cent, for the 

 first to 75 per cent, for the sixth leaf) 

 which had not previously been observed 

 in Lenabatu oil. 



DRUGS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



CEYLON COCA. 



(Prom the Chemist and Druggist, Vol. 

 LXXVIII., No. 1, 635, May 27, 1911.) 

 According to "De Indische Mercuur" 

 of May 9, coca-planting has increased 

 not only in Java, but also in Ceylon 

 during recent years. Our contemporary 

 states that the export of coca-leaves from 

 Ceylon has risen from 419 cwt. in 1907 to 

 1,094 cwt. in 1910. The variety grown is 

 stated to be mainly Erythroxylon Coca 

 var. novo-granatense, and the yield of 

 dry leaf is given as 100 lb. to 230 lb. per 

 acre. The official figures of coca export 

 from Ceylon up to 1909 were quoted re- 

 cently in the Chemist and Druggist 

 (March 4, p. 49), and those for 1909 are 



repeated here with the figures for 1910, as 

 given by " De Indische Mercuur ": — 



1909. 



1910. 



Destination. 



United Kingdom 

 Belgium 

 France 

 Germany 

 Italy 



Switzerland 

 United States 



3 

 & 



Cwt.* 

 269 

 201 



14 



123 



c3 

 > 



Rs. 



12,304 

 6,326 



3,621 

 20 

 6,822 



+3 



s 



& 



Cwt.* 

 270 

 374 

 5 



13 



375 

 53 



> 



Rs. 

 10,290 

 6,931 

 161 

 470 

 16,961 

 3,000 

 18 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



COCONUT CULTIVATION. 

 By Mr. A. W. Bevbn. 



[Read at the Annual General Meeting of 

 the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 

 June 20, 1911.] 



It is not my intention in this paper to 

 write a treatise on coconut planting, 

 giving estimates of the cost of opening 

 an estate, &c, as such information is to 

 be found in Ferguson's "Coconut 

 Planters' Mannal." My object is to write 

 on the cultivation of a coconut estate. 



Cultivation should commence immedi- 

 ately after nlanting. General rules will 

 not apply, for some estates have hard 

 gravelly soils, some heavy clayey 

 alluviums, some loamy clay, some clayey 



loams, and others sandy soils varying in 

 colour from a red sand to the white 

 cinnamon garden sand called by the 

 Sinhalese " maradan-vella," 



Planting, — The usual method of plant- 

 ing is to cut holes of 3 feet cube, or of 

 other dimensions, according to individual 

 idiosyncracies. At the bottom of these 

 holes a little surface soil is thrown in, 

 and on this the plants are placed. There 

 are objections to this general system. In 

 wet weather the holes get filled up with 

 water, and if the wet weather be con- 

 tinuous, the plants get drowned. A 

 second and greater objection is that 

 the soil round the plants cannot be tilled 

 by being loosened with mamoties, so as 

 to give the plants a good start, as the 

 roots are below the reach of cultivation 

 till t runks are formed. 



* Fractions of 1 cwt. omitted. 



