THE COCO'lirUT PALM. 



559 



into bearing) cost one Spanish dollar at the lowest. The young tree requires 

 manure, such as putrid fish and stimulating compounds, containing a portion of 

 salt. On the Coromandel coast, the natives put a handful of salt below each 

 nut on planting it. 



The cultivators of Kiddah adopt a very slovenly expedient for collecting the 

 fruit. Instead of climbing the tree in the manner practised by the natives on 

 the Coromandel coast, by help of a hoop passing round the tree and the body of 

 the climber — and a ligature so connecting the feet as will enable him to clasp the 

 tree with them — the Malays cut deep notches or steps in the trunk, in a zig-zag 

 manner, sufficient to support the toes or the side of the foot, and thus ascend 

 with the extra aid only of their arms. This mode is also a dangerous one, as a 

 false step, when near the top of a high tree, generally precipitates the climber 

 to the ground. This notching cannot prove otherwise than injurious to the 

 tree. But the besetting sin of the planter of coco-nuts, and other productive 

 trees, is that of crowding. Coco-nut trees, whose roots occupy, when full grown, 

 circles of forty to fifty feet in diameter, may often be found planted within eight 

 or ten feet of each other ; and in the native campongs all sorts of indigenous 

 fruit trees are jumbled together, with so little space to spread in, that they 

 mostly assimie the aspect of forest trees, and yield but sparing crops. 



The common kinds of the coco-nut, under very favorable circumstances, begin 

 to bear at six years of age ; but little produce can be expected until the middle 

 or end of the seventh year. The yearly produce, one tree with another, may 

 be averaged at 80 nuts the tree ; where the plantation is a flourishing one — 

 assuming the number of trees, in one hundred orlcngs, to be 5,000— the annual 

 produce will be 400,000 nuts, the minimum local market value of which will 

 be 4,000 Spanish dollars, and the maximum 8,000 dollars. From either of these 

 sums 6 per cent, must be deducted for the cost of collecting, and cari'iage, &c. 

 The quantity of oil which can be manufactured from the above number of nuts 

 will be, as nearly as possible, 834 piculs of 133i lbs. 



The average price of this quantity, at 7 dollars per picul . 5,838 

 Deduct cost of manufacturing, averaged at one-fourth, and col- 

 lecting, watching, &c 2,059 



Profit, Spanish dollars 3,779 



The Chinese, who are the principal manufacturers of the oil, readily give a 

 picul of it in exchange for 710 ripe nuts, being about 563 piculs of oil out of the 

 total produce of the plantation of 100 orlongs. The price of coco nut oil has 

 been so high in the London market as £35 per tun, or about an average often 

 dollars per picul. It is said that English casks have not been found tight enough 

 for the conveyance of this oil to Europe, but if the article is really in great de- 

 mand, a method will no doubt be discovered to obviate this inconvenience. 



So long, however, as the cultivator can obtain a dollar and a half, or even one 

 dollar for 100 nuts, he will not find it profitable to make oil, unless its price 

 greatly rises. 



Soap is manufactured at Pondicherry from this oil, but it is not seemingly in 

 repute ; the attempt has not been made in Pinang with a view to a market. 



There is scarcely any coir rope manufactured at this island, so that the profit 

 which might (were labor cheaper) arise from this application of the coco-nut 

 fibre, is lost. The shell makes good charcoal ; the leaves are scaicely put to 

 any purpose, the nipah or attap being a superior material for thatching. 



The coco-nut tree is extremely apt to be struck by lightning, and in such 

 cases it is generally destroyed. It is a dangerous tree, therefore, to have close 

 to a house. If the trees are widely planted, coffee may be cultivated under their 

 shade. It is generally believed that the extracting of toddy from this tree 

 hastens its decline. The Nicobar and Lancavi Islands used partly to supply 

 the Pinang market with this indispensable article ; but their depopulation 

 has greatly reduced the quantity. 



On the whole it may be said that there is no cultivation which insures the 

 ret\irn of produce with so much certainty as that of the coco nut tree ; and as 

 Eangoon, the Tenasserim coast, and Singapore will, probably, always remain 

 good markets for the raw nut, there appears to be every chance of the value of 

 the produce affording ample remuneration to the planter. 



