THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [March  i,  1893. 
6e»6 
COCONUT  CULTIVATION  RETURN  AND 
PROSPECTS  IN  CEYLON. 
It  would  really  seem  as  if  a prosperous  cyole 
were  setting  in  for  the  great  Coconut  Planting 
Industry  of  Ceylon.  In  no  other  branoh  of  plant- 
ing, perhaps,  has  so  muoh  British  capital  been 
sunk  unprofitably  in  this  island  in  days  of  old  as 
in  Cooonuts.  At  one  time  a considerable  number 
of  our  merchants  and  a etill  larger  number  of 
European  resident  proprietors  and  managers  were 
interested  in  Coconuts.  There  were  settlements  of 
such  planters  in  the  Batticaloa  and  Kalmunai 
districts  of  the  Eastern  Provinoe,  in  the  Jaffna 
Peninsula,  and  along  our  Western  Coast  at  intervals 
between  Negombo  and  Matara.  How  few  of  the 
once  long  list  remain  ! How  fewer  ever  got  any 
return  for  their  labour,  and  fewer  stiil  recovered 
even  the  oapital  they  had  sunk— not  to  speak  of 
profits.  The  only  prosperous  period  was  during 
the  period  of  the  Crimean  War,  when  the  Baltic 
being  dosed  against  the  Russian  Export  trade  in 
tallow,  cooonut  oil  as  one  of  the  substitutes  in 
candle-making  and  for  other  purposes,  rose  in  value 
to  £50  and  £60  per  ton,  while  of  late  years  it  has 
been  down  to  half  that  rate.  Gradually,  most  of 
the  European  proprietors  of  Ceylon  coconut  plan- 
tations sold  out  at  a great  sacrifice  of  capital,  in  some 
oases  to  their  managers,  in  others  to  natives.  A 
few  ODly  of  the  original  proprietors  have  held  by 
their  plantations  through  good  and  evil  report  to 
the  present  day,  but  only  the  strictest  economy 
has  enabled  them  in  most  cases  to  make  an  income 
worthy  of  the  name.  As  the  late  Dr.  Sortain  wrote 
to  us  when  the  question  of  a land-tax  was  proposed, 
perhaps  twenty-five  years  ago,  a levy  of  even  a 
rupee  an  acre  would  mean,  in  his  opinion,  the 
abandonment  of  many  hundreds  if  not  thousands 
of  aoreB  under  cooonuts.  That  indicated  an  ex- 
ceedingly poor  state  of  things  and  of  course  as 
regards  native  cultivation,  the  wonder  is  that  over 
large  areas  of  “ gardens  ” the  palms  grow  or  yield 
at  all,  so  absurd  is  the  overorowding  and  so  gross  the 
neglect  of  every  rule  of  proper  treatment  of 
the  trees.  Rather  different  is  the  case  of 
the  plantations  owned  by  Ceylonese  gentlemen 
who  may  be  said  to  be  the  suooessors 
of  the  European  pioneers.  To  the  wealth  brought 
to  the  island  by  the  great  cofiee  enterprise  in 
the  “ fifties  ” and  “ sixties  ” and  distributed  through 
native  hands,  is  mainly  due  the  investment  and 
openin0  up  of  the  now  extensive  cooonut  region 
extending  from  Negombo  inland  along  the  valley 
of  the  Mahaoya  towards  Kurunegala  and  Kegalla. 
In  this  region  may  be  found  as  well-cultivated 
plantations  with  native  owners  as  any  to  be  found 
under  European  management.  But  while  the  local 
demand  for  the  ooconut  as  a food  product  has 
always  been  uniform  among  the  people,  the  ex- 
nort  trade  in  the  products  of  the  palm  continued 
for  a long  period  after  1860  or  so,  to  languish 
until  at  last  prices  for  oil,  coir,  &o.  fell  to  a 
rate  that  would  soarcely  pay  the  bare  cost  of 
production  and  manufacture.  The  recent  revival 
in  prioes  owing  to  demands  for  the  oil  and  kernel 
in  new  directions  and  for  novel  purposes,  has 
heen  most  weloome  and  the  gradual  nee  in  the 
nrioe  of  nuts  until  from  less  than  R30  per  1,000, 
we  now  hear  of  sales  at  R50  per  thousand,  has 
no  doubt  had  a good  deal  to  do  with  the  unprece- 
dented  prioes  paid  the  other  day  at  the  sale  of 
Mr  Daniel’s  properties,  We  suppose  that  never 
before  in  the  history  of  Ceylon  has  a ooconut 
plantation  realized  over  R880  per  acre.  At  the 
same  time,  that  the  high  prioes  were  justified  is  made 
evident  by  the  letter  (page  604)  of  our  correspondent 
• ' W B L ”,  probably  the  best  authority  on  the 
Bubjeet  fta  the  one  of  most  experience  in  the  island, 
Nevertheless  “ W.  B.  L.”  confesses  that  his  valu 
ations  of  the  properties  were,  on  the  whole,  27  per 
cent,  below  the  prices  realized,  and  yet  the  native 
purchasers  ought  to  be  shrewd  judges  of  the  returns 
they  can  expect  to  recover  from  cooonuts.  Perhaps 
some  of  them  calculate  on  the  present  high  prices 
for  nuts  and  oil  continuing  for  a long  time  to 
come.  We  hope  eo  for  the  sake  of  the  industry 
and  also  because  in  the  future  reformed  fiscal 
arrangements  of  this  ColoDy,  it  is  quite  evident 
that  coconut  cultivation  either  by  a direot  tax  or 
more  probably  by  an  export  duty  on  surplus  pro- 
duce, must  make  a more  distinct  contribution  to 
the  general  revenue. 
But  out  of  the  present  consideration  of  our 
Ooconut  Planting  Industry,  there  has  arisen  an 
interesting  praelioal  question  as  to  the  maximum 
yield  of  nuts  per  acre  irom  a well-cultivated  oooonut 
plantation.  The  proper  number  of  palms  to  plant 
per  acre  being  70 — certainly  not  more  than  80 — 
our  reoolleotion  was  that  30  to  40  nuts  per  tree  per 
annum  or  a total  of  2,500  to  2,800  per  aore,  might 
be  considered  a good  average  for  well-managed  plan- 
tations with  good  soil  and  in  a favourable  climate. 
When,  therefore,  we  heard  of  80  nuts  per  tree 
berng  gathered  over  the  larger  portion  of  Delgolla 
plantation  in  the  Kurunegala  district,  we  challenged 
the  statement  and  asked  for  information  from 
our  older  ooconut  planters.  “W.  B.  L.”  has  res- 
ponded in  a way  whioh  is  very  muoh  to  the 
point,  and  he  convinces  us  that  the  Boil  being 
favourable,  good  cultivation  might  well  seoure  r 
return  even  so  high  as  80  nuts  per  tree  or  5,600 
per  aore  over  a considerable  area  say  50  to  100 
acres.  At  the  present  maximum  price  of  R50 
per  1,000,  that  would  mean  B250  gross  return  per 
acre— and  would,  we  suppose,  beat  the  more 
prosperous  tea  plantations  considering  the  com- 
paratively smaller  expenditure  required  ? But 
surprise  has  been  expressed  by  our  contem- 
porary of  the  “ Examiner  ” that  we  did 
not  at  onoe  satisfy  our  scruples  about 
a large  yield  by  a reference  to  the  statistics  of 
the  Daniel  estates,  and  our  contemporary  sums 
up  these  in  a convenient  form.  We  extract  as 
follows : — 
Curiously,  our  renior  contemporary,  in  the  same  issue 
in  which  be  publishes  tbe  particulars  of  the  sale,  seems 
astonished,  and  almost  expresses  incredulity,  at  80  nuts 
beiDg  picked  off  trees  on  Delgolla  Estate.  Here  we 
have  71  nuts  off  nearly  60  aores  I Such  high  yields, 
though  they  do  ocour,  are  unfrequsnt ; and  the  Pro- 
prietor who  has  purchased  his  land  at  a moderate  figure 
and  planted  it  up  without  extravagance,  ought  to  be 
content  with  30  to  40  nuts  per  acre,  which  should  repre- 
sent a fair  rate  of  interest  on  his  investment.  The 
average  yield  for  the  whole  Lien  1,  including  Native 
Gardens,  we  are  quite  prepared  to  believe  does  not  ex- 
ceed 20  to  25  nuts  per  tree.  It  is  well  to  beir  in  mind 
that  heavy  crops  generally  mean  Bmall  nuts  ; and  a 
Sinhalese  gentleman  mentioned  to  ns  that,  while  900  of 
hie  Chilaw  nuts  gave  him  a candy  of  Copra,  it  required 
twelve  to  thirtetn  hundred  Kurnnegala  nuts  for  a 
candy. 
The  following  table  we  have  compiled  is  likely  to  be 
of  interest,  and  may  prove  useful  for  reference  here- 
after 
© 
ra 
© 
fci 
O 
& 
s s 
,g  Q 
„ M 
W 08 
2-8 
H 
CJ 
O, 
CE 
"5 
tree, 
rice  Rs. 
ate  per 
acre  Rs. 
© 
© u) 
-Z  H 
a -* 
«T 
6s 
H 
K 
Ph 
Oh 
M 
Yahkedegalla ... 
, 80 
67 
345 
37 
11,750 
147 
2‘20 
Mausa 
...  .. 
. 6 
86 
240 
42 
2,200 
440 
512 
Lower 
Kuda 
Gya 
... 
. 72 
61 
1,384 
63 
31,500 
437 
7‘ 
Upper 
Kuda 
Qia 
M|  ##( 
. 54 
61 
906 
60 
30,000 
655 
9- 
Maha  Oya 
• ‘81 
54 
3,149 
71 
70,250 
867 
W; 
