The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



It is clear from the above, that if the Philip- 

 pines' figures for "copra' and "oil" mean 

 exports, Ceylon is much out-distanced in respect 

 of these two products. But allowance may be 

 made for our exports of "desiccated" and 

 ordinary nuts— although " poonac " being the 

 refuse of the kernel after oil is expressed, does 

 not count— that is, if the Americans do not 

 manufacture the one (" desiccated ") or ship the 

 other (coconuts) from Manila? What" Tuba " 

 can be, we cannot tell — is there any one here able 

 to enlighten us, and if not, perhaps our Manila 

 correspondent (an old Ceylon resident) can help 

 us. It will be remarked that there is, apparently, 

 a greater crop of nuts in proportion to coco- 

 palms (in bearing) in the Philippines than in 

 Ceylon. Far richer (volcanic) soil, we should 

 say, may account tor this, and possibly more 

 regular planting during the first twelve years 

 anci cultivation of the older trees in that period 

 of American occupation of the islands. In 

 Ceylon, the bulk of the Sinhalese who own 

 coconut gardens or topes, pay little attention to 

 their palms save to gather the nuts which, pro- 

 bably, average 15 to 20 a year per palm in place 

 of double or treble that number which might be 

 got if due cultivation and manuring were 

 attended to. From the estimates of the crops 

 given, 311^ million nuts are said to be used for 

 "food" in the Philippines out of 938 millions 

 gathered, leaving 616£ million nuts for export 

 in copra and oil (?); while in Ceylon 700 mil- 

 lions are counted for " food " and 5U0 millions 

 equal the export. The rules laid down (from 

 long experience) in Ceylon, indicate 40 full 

 grown coconuts from an average good palm being 

 required to give one gallon of oil, 12^ of which 

 (or say 500 nuts) equal a cwt. ; while copra re- 

 quires 170 to 200 nuts to a cwt.; and 3 nuts are 

 usually reckoned to every "lb." of "desiccated " 

 product. Apply these rules or requirements to 

 the Ceylon Exports iudifforont products in 1910 

 and we make out that 540 millions of average 

 nuts would be equivalent to the total ; but in the 

 case of the Philippines we find (by our Ceylon 

 rules) that 870 (in place of the 640) millions of 

 nuts, would be required to give the copra and oil 

 figured apart from the "Tuba," One explanation 

 to reconcile the difference might be found if the 

 Ceylon nuts are smaller ; but we cannot think it 

 is the fact, and we would ask our Manila corre- 

 spondent to give us his opinion on this point 

 and to send us any fuller local reports or statis- 

 tics on agricultural production and exports for 

 the Philippine islands. 



Since writing the above we find that Tuba 

 is a beverage and a recent Philippine publica- 

 tion contains the following reference to it : — "The 

 production of tuba, or palm wine, in certain cases, 

 may be more remunerative and probably not more 

 injurious to the trees, than the production of 

 copra. It is possible that the maturing of nuts 

 draws upon the vitality of the young tree more 

 severely than would the loss of the sap (tuba) 

 from the flower buds." The production in the 

 Philippines in 1910 was 174,482,484 litres or 

 nearly 39 million gallons. 



NOTES FROM THE COCONUT DIS- 

 TRICT, N.-W. P., CEYLON. 



Marawila, Sept. 21st. 

 The Surveyor-General's Chart shews 



ABSENCE OF RAIN 



only along a narrow strip of the North- 

 Western littoral. While the whole island has 

 had rain and deluges, we have not had even 

 one slight shower. The croaking of frogs and 

 the activity of white ants betokened rain for 

 a long while, but so far, the signs of rain 

 have not been roalised. The supply of water 

 for domestic purposes has been gradually de- 

 creasing till we are reaching famine level. 

 The decrease in the;number of 



PADDA BOATS 



for the transport of produce is unaccountable, 

 unless the boats have gone on the Kelani and 

 Kalu tJangas. I thought the rise in boat-hire 

 might have been due to the low water in 

 the canal. The water in the canal has risen 

 somewhat and so has boat-hire. Whereas Rs.40 

 to Rs.45 was the standard rate, Rs. 100 is now 

 asked as boat-hire to Colombo. 



I have had the honour and the great pleasure 

 of a visit from 



MR. WALLACE K. WESTLAND, 



Manager of the Papua Rubber Plantation Co., 

 Ltd. Though the Company is a Rubber Com- 

 pany, yet coconuts are planted largely. Their 

 cultivation will be extended, while that of rub- 

 ber will stop. 



The growth of the 



COCONUT PLANT IN NEW GUINEA 



isequaltothe best I have seen in the Island, 

 judging by the photographs I was shown. The 

 soil is chiefly volcanic and sandy and is ex- 

 tremely rich, judging not only by the growth 

 of the coconut plants, but also by the under- 

 growth, which is heavy and very thick. Sisal 

 hemp, too, is grown on (he plantation, which 

 is 5,000 acres in extent. The rainfall varies 

 from 40 to 150 inches on different parts of 

 the plantation. The labour is native and 

 is indentured. It costs £2 to bring a ccoly 

 to the estate. The pampering he receives 

 when there, Mr. Westland detailed recently in 

 your columns. Owing to the want of labour, 

 almost every agricultural operation is me- 

 chanical. The land is not tieavily timbered. 

 The trees are felled and the stumps are grubbed 

 with the " Devil stump puller," with which 

 the biggest stumps are pulled out by two 

 coolies. If the trees be hard wood, they are 

 sawn into the required lengths to be sold or 

 used for piles for buildings on the estates. 

 As in the Straits, all the buildings are on 

 piles. But not for the same reason. The land 

 is not low-lying and drained. The inferior 

 timber trees are sawn into lengths and heaped 

 up by mules with chains and hooks and burnt. 

 All branches are cut into lengths and are 

 taken in the Company's boats to town, when 

 going for stores, and are sold there. The pro- 

 ceeds cover the cost of opening the land. The 



