Edible Products. 



406 



[November, 1911, 



of attack is said to be useful. Probing 

 with a stout, hooked wire may be effect- 

 ive in case of the rhinoceros beetle. 



After all is said and done, clean 

 cultivation is the great remedy for 

 insect pests which are not at all likely 

 to cause serious damage on well-kept 

 plantations. 



On the mainland of the larger Islands 

 monkeys, crows and fruit bats cause a 

 certain amount of damage by destroying 

 young nuts. Judicious use of a shot-gun 

 will reduce to an unimportant minimum 

 the losses from such sources. 



Wild hogs are the coconut planter's 

 most serious enemy. On the islands where 

 they abound nothing will suffice but 

 careful fencing until the trees are at 

 least two years old, after which time 

 they are not liable to injury by bogs. 



Bud-rot, which causes heavy losses in 

 some coconut-growing countries, is al- 

 most unknown in the Philippines. So 

 far as I am aware, it has developed in 

 only one small area in Laguna province. 

 Here ic was vigorously attacked and 

 promptly stamped out. 



Profits. 



With reference to this subject, Supt. 

 C. H. Lamb, of the Iwahig Penal Colony, 

 makes the following statement : — 



The conclusion reached, from the 

 writer's experience, is that coconut 

 planting for a permanent crop and in- 

 vestment, cannot be equalled by any 

 other known permanent crop, not even 

 rubber. It is superior to rubber in the 

 Island of Palawan. The usual argu- 

 ment advanced to the contrary, places 

 great value upon the fact that Palawan 

 does not have typhoons which would 

 damage the rubber crop— the same fact 

 is of almost equal value to the coconut. 

 The thing which caused the writer to 

 begin the coconut industry before he 

 had data available which would show 

 the cost of planting, was the short time 

 in which the trees reach maturity and 

 begin to bear. 



Sr. Vicente Diaz states that 240 nuts, 

 more or less, will make a picul (137£ lbs.) 

 of copra. 



Sr. Palanca of Binuan, Busuanga, gets 

 a picul of copra from 160 to 180 nuts. 



Mr. P. J. Moore state? that in the 

 District of Zamboanga 180 to 220 nuts 

 make a picul of copra. 



The Bureau of Agriculture Bulletin 

 estimates 2,000 nuts per acre. They 

 should produce copra to the value of 

 at least $50-00. 



Mr. J. H. Shipley of the Mindanao 

 Estates Company plantation states that 

 at Davao the average value of the crop 

 of a coconut tree is $1'00 per year. This 

 would give gross returns of $40 per acre. 



One picul of copra from 200 nuts 

 should be a conservative average on a 

 well-kept plantation, and allowing 60 

 nuts to the tree and 40 trees to the acre, 

 this would give 12 piculs per year, which 

 at $5'00 per picul would give gross 

 returns of $60 00 per acre per year, from 

 which must be deducted the annual 

 cost of cultivating between the trees, 

 say $5 00 per acre, and the small cost of 

 harvesting the nuts and making the 

 copra. As coconut trees attain great 

 age and have been known to produce 

 when a hundred or more years old, it is 

 evident that a plantation, once well 

 established, should give steady and 

 large profits for a long period of years. 



Hon. Manuel Quezon, a native of the 

 Province of Tayabas, who is thoroughly 

 familiar with the coconut industry 

 there, states that the maximum annual 

 profit from a bearing coconut tree is 

 $1'50, and the minimum annual profit is 

 $1. This estimate is for fire-dried and 

 smoked copra, which is an inferior 

 article, and based on giving one-half of 

 the copra from each tree to the man in 

 charge. One individual can care for 

 1,000 trees, and in order to get his half 

 of the copra he must do this through- 

 out the year, cleaning the brush from 

 the ground, removing dead leaves, etc., 

 harvesting the nuts every three months, 

 and drying the copra. 



During the past year the best sun- 

 dried copra has brought as high as $6'00, 

 and even $7'00 per picul, and the price 

 of copra has held very steady for years, 

 with a slight tendency upward. 



Estimated Cost op Establishing a 

 2,500 Acre Coconut Plantation on 



Rented Public Land. 

 The following is a statement of the 

 approximate cost of establishing a 2,500- 

 acre coconut plantation and of the 

 revenues which should be derived there- 

 from at practically the exi^tiug market 

 price of copra. It should be remember- 

 ed, however, that properly dried copra 

 will unquestionably bring a price mate- 

 rially in advance of that commanded 

 by the smoked and imperfectly dried 

 article which at present makes up the 

 bulk of the Philippine product. 



This estimate is based on clearing half 

 of the land the first year and half the 

 second year. 20C acres of land are 

 reserved for buildings and other pur- 

 poses. A more liberal allowance is 



