552 



fcjerlio^- end if 75- £1.957 Ss, sterling; rj.d this from 100 acres 

 of sea side sand ! But even this does not exhibit the whole re- 

 turn of this article of culture. Each nut may be calculated to 

 give a quarter of a pound of poonac, or oil-cake, being the refuse 

 after expression, fit for feeding ail kinds of stock, which may be 

 estimated as worth £10 per ton. "We must, therefore, add on 

 this account to our first calculation, the sum of say £325 ; to the 

 second, £390; and to the third, £485. This would give, in round 

 numbers, the entire returns of the 100 acres planted: — At 50 

 nuts per tree, £1,630 ; at 60 ditto, £1,957 ; at 75, ditto, £2,446. 



These are striking results, and may appear exaggerated ; but I 

 will, to show how very moderate has been my calculation, give 

 two returns, with which I have been favored from Ceylon. These, 

 it will be seen, differ materially, but the latter I can rely on as a 

 practical result, from a plantation in Jaffna, the peninsula of 

 the northern portion of the island. After estimating the expense 

 of establishing the plantation, the first writer sets down his 

 return thus : — 



"The produce, calculating 90 trees to an acre, and 75 nuts to a 

 tree, sold at £2 per 1,000, would yield 675,000 nuts, worth 

 £1,350 ; or if converted into oil, calculating 30 to give one gallon, 

 it would produce 22,500 gallons, or about 90 tons from 100 acres." 



Erom Jaffna, the following is an abridged estimate of return of 

 100 acres in full bearing : — " At 27 feet apart, 58 trees per acre, 

 5,800 trees, at 60 nuts per tree, 3,480 nuts per acre, 100 acres, 

 348,000 nuts, at 40 nuts per imperial gallon, 8,700 gallons of 

 oil, at 2s. per gallon, netted £8 14s. per acre. The poonac left 

 will pay the expense of making the oil. If shipped to England, 

 at the present time (close of 1848), the selling price there being 

 55s. per cwt., measuring 12 imperial gallons, say, 4s. 7d. per 

 gallon, and the cost and charges of sending it home and selling it 

 being 23s., it would leave 3s. per gallon, or £13 per acre," This 

 sum is Qiett proceeds. 



It vdll be seen by the above, that I have been extremely 

 moderate in my computation of the return which may be antici- 

 pated, for there is no doubt that planters can, in favorable localities, 

 on the coasts of most of our colonies, cultivate this palm with as 

 much success as attends its culture in Ceylon. By the first of 

 the calculations I have cited from that island, the gross return 



appears thus : — 



22,500 gallons at 4s. 7d .... £5,156 § 



Coir— one-fifth of value 1,031 4 



Cake from 675,000 nuts, say |lb. each, 75 tons at £10 750 0 



Total gross return from 100 acres 6,937 9 



According to the other calciilation, the return will stand thus : — 



8,«00 gallons at 4s. 7d £1,993 15 



Coir 398 15 



Cake from 348,000 nuts, 34 tons 340 0 



Total gross return from 100 acres 2,732 10 



