April i, 1895.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
689 
PRICES OF COCONUTS. 
In regard to the continued rise in the price 
of coconuts as an article of commerce, one may 
well feel "Puzzled," if one took account only of 
one or two of the causes which are known to 
influence prices. We suppose it may safely he 
assumed that the price of oil is the principal 
factor which influences the price of nuts ; and 
naturally so, as it absorbs the largest part of the 
local production of nuts. Assuming that 500 
nuts yield a cwt. of oil, our exports last year 
of 497,571 cwt. represent nearly 244 million 
nuts ; and as the exportation of the kernel in 
all shapes combined — whether as nuts, copra, or 
desiccated stuff' — cannot amount to one-fourth of 
that number, the price of nuts must depend 
largely on the price of oil. But, it is asked, 
has there been a rise in the price of oil — taking, 
say, the last 50 years — to account for almost 
the doubling of the price of nuts? We think 
not ; at any rate we have no evidence that the. 
gold price of oil in the London market was 
lower in 1840 — when according to a table pub- 
lished by us in September last, the price of nuts 
was only about R20 per 1,000 — than it has been 
in recent years ; while certainly the silver price 
of oil has often been as high here as it is just 
now, without nuts having risen to the prices 
now quoted. If we are mistaken in this belief, 
perhaps some of our mercantile friends will set 
us right, by furnishing us with a table extending 
over as many years as possihle, showing the 
price of oil, and of nuts or copra for each year. 
But it by no means follows that, relatively to 
oil, nuts sold always at their full value. The 
uses to which nuts were put 50 years ago were 
limited, and purchasers then had it all their 
own way. Wliat was not used locally for food 
and culinary purposes was sold for oil ; and we 
presume the profits of millownors were more 
considerable then than now. Competition at the 
present time is keener, in view of the varied 
uses to winch coconuts are now put, and the 
owner receives for his nuts prices which approxi- 
mate fear more closely to the value of the oil, 
than in olden times. That, we believe, to be 
the main cause of the rise in the price of nuts. 
We bave only to turn to our export tables to 
see that copra had no place in them till 1880, 
nuts till 1886, desiccated preparations till 1891 ; 
and We can at once understand the new com- 
petition which has arisen for nuts, quite apart 
from that had grown between an increasing num- 
ber of oil-mill-owners. To be sure, there must 
have been some export trade in copra and nuts 
anterior to the dales mentioned, hut it was not 
important enough to find a place in the Chamber 
of Commerce tables. Again, the trade in poonac 
was insignificant till 1885 ; and the article was 
procurable at, perhaps, one-fourth or one-fifth 
the present price, when exportation first com- 
menced.' Now, its value for fattening stock is 
recognized in almost every European country, 
and the price it fetches enters into the calcula- 
tion of the millowner when he buys nuts or 
copra. 
It may be asked whether the greater consump- 
tion of oil has not influenced the price of nuts. 
Probably it has ; but it is a mistake to suppose 
that there has been a steady development in the 
exportation of oil. Last year, we shipped 487,571 
ewt. of oil, and that was nearly 100,000 cwt. 
more than in 1893 : but in 1892 the shipments 
were 550,977 cwt. ; and so far back as 1883 we 
shipped 423,830 cwt. — or considerably more than 
in 1893, and not very much short of 1894. After 
J.833 the fluctuations 'ha^ e been considerable ; but 
now America is one of our best customers, and 
if she continues to supply her wants from here; 
we may be pretty sure that the annual exports 
of oil will not fall far short, if at all, of 500,000. 
And given a continuance of the desiccating busi- 
ness here, and the demand for nuts for coconut 
butter, copra for oil mills in Europe, and food 
in India, and poonac for stock, the present prices 
should be maintained. Though the rupee value 
of nuts has undoubtedly risen, its gold value has 
not. The case might have been very different 
had not kerosene displaced coconut oil as an 
illuminant in most countries which had used the 
latter, even here in Ceylon ; but there is com- 
pensation here, as in everything else ; and what 
has been lost to coconut growers here by the 
"striking of ile" elsewhere, has been made good, 
and more, by the new uses discovered for the 
valuable nut.' While, therefore, the fall in ex- 
change and the steady demand for oil, explains 
to some extent the increased price of nuts, the 
chief cause we take to be the competition be- 
gotten of new uses, and just now by short 
crops consequent on prolonged and severe 
droughts. If nuts run down again to R30 per 
1,000, it will be due to the supply outrunning 
the demand ; and of that there is no immediate 
prospect. 
PEACH CULTURE IN BELGIUM. 
The United States Consul at Liege, in his last 
report, says that the kingdom of Belgium, after 
supplying a population of 500 to the square mile, 
exports 105,000,000 lb. of fruit. Last year the 
markets were glutted, and the value of foreign 
shipments rose to about £600,000. A very large 
proportion of the fruit shipped consisted of peaches, 
and of the finest varieties. In fine soil, and in 
situations protected from the north and north-east 
winds, peach trees, grown from the seed, have 
occasionally borne fruit ; but to ascertain the best 
stock upon which to bud, a long series of experi- 
ments Were tried and tried again upon all the 
varieties of prune, apricot, sweet and bitter al- 
monds—every tree, indeed, of a kindred nature 
— till the conclusion was reached that the best 
stem for grafting is the red plum. This hardy 
plant, whose roots spread wide and strike deep, 
imparts much of its own vitality to its foster 
scions. Grafting or budding is done out of doors, 
so as not to soften the young tree by accustoming 
it to unnatural conditions. The next question to 
be considered was that of soil. In sandy and dry 
earth it was found that neither the plant nor the 
peach flourished, the one being spindling and the 
other small ; while in rich and moist alluvial soil 
the tree prospered at the expense of the fruit. A 
calcarious soil, neither wet nor dry, is preferred 
by the peach, the young trees requiring a great 
deal of lime. As it is impossible to tell, without 
chemical analysis, the exact amount of this ele- 
ment contained in any given quantity of earth, its 
application must be more or less experimental. 
The rule in Belgium is to first thoroughly fertilise 
the soil with manure, and then, after planting the 
tree, to add a peck of lime to every cubic yard of 
earth; placing it near the surface. As il is neces- 
sary to loosen the earth for at least six feet square 
and three feet deep, this quantity— a bushel to a 
tree — may seem large, but the authorities are all 
agreed that more rather than le>s would be better. 
The application should be repeated every three 
years. Turning from the standard tree, w hich too 
often failed to Be profitable, Belgian agriculturists 
experimented with espaliers, or wooden railing , 
but these were found to be bo open and exposed, 
