THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE 



Tropical Agriculturist and Magazine of the G. A. 8. 



Compiled and Edited by A. M. & J. FERGUSON. 

 No. 4.] OCTOBER, 1911. [Vol. IX. 



COCONUT PALM CULTIVATION AND 

 PRODUCTION IN THE PHILIPPINE 

 ISLANDS AND IN CEYLON. 



The Philippine islands and islets, 3,141 in 

 number, including the Sulu islands, have a total 

 area of 127,853 square miles, against 25,331 for 

 Ceylon, and a population not less than 8,200,000 

 (the Census of 1903 gave 7,635,426) against 

 4,105,553 found for this island in the Census of 

 last March. Another comparison is between the 

 Capitals; Manila having a population of 219,941 

 (in 1903) and Colombo having 211,284 this year. 

 There are, however, about 25,000 "Americans 

 and Europeans" in the Philippines and only 7.625 

 "Europeans" (foreigners) in Ceylon. Once more, 

 the total Revenue of the Philippines seems to 

 exceed £4,500,000 sterling and that of Ceylon 

 reaching to above 3 millions ; while in Trade 

 (Exports and Imports) the Philippines aggregate 

 a value of about £17 millions sterling and Ceylon 

 approximates to (if it does not exceed) 20 mil- 

 lions sterling per annum. So far, by way of an 

 introduction to our notice of the Coconut Palm 

 industry, and information which came before 

 us the other day from the Far Eastern Archi- 

 pelago. 



If the " Philippine Agricultural Review " for 

 July can be trusted — and no doubt the American 

 authorities have, by this time, taken care to 

 provide official statistics, as approximately cor- 

 rect as is possible, in reference to a leading agri- 

 cultural industry, —we must revise and enlarge 

 our estimate of the cultivation of the Coconut 

 Palm and its products in the Philippine islands. 

 So also must the compilers of the " Statesman's 

 Y ear-Book " take steps to get the chapter on 

 this tropical Dependency of the United States 

 written up to date by a responsible official or 

 resident in Manila, in their edition for this 

 year, the Philippines' exports of Copra for 1910 

 are given at a value of 9,153,951 dollars; but the 

 actual quantities, and destinations, of the exports 



46 



should be got and given ; and if 125,140,822 kilo- 

 grammes of copra are produced and made in one 

 year (1910?) and exported we suppose, that would 

 be over 120,000 tons, worth over £2,000,000 

 sterling (? — or equivalent of the figures in 

 dollars ?). It will be interesting to compare 

 the latest "Philippine" figures with those we 

 compiled a few years ago for the "Coconut 

 Planters' Manual" :— 



In Philippines* In Ceylon f. 



Total No, of 



Palms or trees 32,838,544 (bearing 



trees 22,000,000) 60,000,000 



Acres cultivated (not given) 750,000 acres 



Nuts gathered... 937,927,927 1,200,000,000 

 Consumed for 



food ... 311,609,148 700,000,000 



Export. 



Copra J ... 125,140,822 kilos 



or 2,458,123 cwt. 766,906 cwt.§ 

 Oil t ••• 6.993,513 liters or 



about 1,748,378 

 gallons or about 

 940,000 cwt. 616,377 cwt.lf 



Tuba (?) ... 174,483,484 



Desiccated coco- 

 nut 27,201,074 lb. 



CoconutPoonac — — — 309,589 cwt. 



Nuts (Exported) 16,114 088 num- 



ber |1 



* Taken from " Philippine Agricultural Re- 

 view " for July 1911. 



t An estimate mainly (save in figures of actual 

 exports) — framed some years back. 



% Not clear if all these figures represent ex- 

 ports only? If so the trade has increased 

 enormously: in 1899 the Philippines exported 

 35,000 tons copra (122,906 tons given above), 500 

 tons coconut oil and 8 million nuts. 



§ 772,032 in 1909. 



H 670,121 in 1908. 



|| 21,188,692 in 1908. 



