575 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. 
[i^is. 2, 1903. 
COCONUT EXPORTS CALCULATED 
IN NUTS. 
In oui- article on page 551, we dealt with 
the volume and the destination of the principal 
products of tiie coconut palm sent out of the 
island durinpf last year. It has been usual 
with us to calculate what these exports re- 
present in nuts, in our annual review of the 
Chamber of Commerce Circular ; and the 
calculation has been found useful hoth by 
Ceylonese and by the Europeans who are he- 
comins; interested in growing numbers in the 
coconut industry. The bases of our calcula- 
tions have been challenged ; but absolute 
accuracy cannot be expected in dealing with 
averages. The size and weight of nuts differ 
ao widely in different districts, and even in 
the same district, and also on the same 
estate at different seasons and from different 
fields, that one can only use approximate 
averages. It may be that a closer approxi- 
mation than ours, of 500 coconuts to a cwt 
of oil, 250 nuls to a cwt of copra, and three 
nuts to a lb. of desiccated kernel, may be 
worked out after consultation with the 
Managers of the various oil and desiccating 
mills, and the large owners of chekkus ; but 
as our calculations for several years have 
been based on the above named proportions, 
we adhere to them for purposes of compari- 
son, leaving our readers to vary the com- 
putation according to the data within their 
reach. 
Of oil, which continues to absorb the 
largest number of our coconuts, we sent 
away last year 512,408, or the equivalent of 
238,249.000 nuts, being the largest quantity 
ever sent to the crushing mills if we except 
1892, when the' exportation of .550,977 cwt of 
oil worked out to 275,488,500 nuts. The 374,796 
cwt of copra exported last year — the quan- 
tity w;is exceeded by 65,000 cwt in 1901 and 
by 182,000 cwt in 1898 -represents, at 250 nuts 
to the cwt, 93,699,000 nuts. The record 
quantity of 16,227,565 lb. of desiccated coconut 
stands, at three nuts to the lb., for 48,682,695 
nuts, or more than half the quantity ab 
Borbed for copra ! We were certainly un- 
prepared for the result at which we have 
arrived; audit is proof," both of the excel- 
lence of the stroke that was made, when 
extraction of the moisture of the coconut 
kernel, while retaining its flavour for pur- 
pose of confectionery, was hit upon, and 
also of the enterprise with which the busi- 
ness has been conducted, that an industry 
only a dozen years old should be following 
so close on the heels of copra which was an 
article of export for generations. But the 
manifold uses of copra in Europe are of 
recent discovery, and even as late a?) 1895, 
the quantity exported represented only 
about 26 million nuts, a quantity which 
desiccation may double during the cun-enb 
year ! If we add to the above totals for last 
year the 12,588,212 coconuts in the shell- 
exported, we get a. grand total of 411,218,907 
nuts, or the largest quantity ever sent away. 
Last year the total exceeded 393 millions, 
hut 1898 (the record year for copra) held the 
pre-eminent and the influence of the growth 
9^' the copra trade ancj of desiccatetj kertie 
may be gauged from the fact that in 1892, 
the year when we sent away almost lOO.OlX) 
cwt of oil more than in any succeeding year, 
the exports calculated in nuts barely ex- 
ceeded 330 millions. There is one other re^ 
mark that we have to offer-, suggested by 
the unprecedentedly large quantity of poonac 
that was exported last year, that its exclu- 
sion from our calculations is not quite 
justified. True, it is the refuse of the copra 
after oil has be en extracted from it ; but on 
the computation of 250 nuts to a cwt of 
copra, and 3 cwt of copra to 2 cwt of oil, 
every cwt of poonac should represent the 
r if use of 750 nuts ; but the oil representing 
500 nuts, the balance 250 nuts, must be 
shown in the poonac. In this way, the 
217.697 cwt of poonac exported last year 
must be held to represent 61,924,250 nuts, 
and would help to raise the grand total to 
473,143,157 nuts. 
The export figiu'es for the last five years 
work out as under, and we have added those 
for 1892, the year for the heaviest exportation 
of oil, for purposes of fuller comparison : — 
Coconuts. 
12,.588,212 
14,850,781 
14,995,909 
11,723,392 
12 027,714 
9,717,386 
Grand Total 
iacloding 
nuts valne. 
411,218,967 
393,749,CJ6 
368,406 898 
334,276,.S94 
393,685,066 
330,402,558 
does not 
years. 
Oil 
Copra 
Dessicated 
cwt. 
cwt. 
Ibg. 
1902 
512,498 
374,796 
16,227,565 
1901 
453,531 
439.865 
14,055,493 
1900 
443.959 
362,467 
13,604,913 
1899 
400,979 
325,401 
13,571,084 
im 
4.35,933 
.TO7,277 
13,040.534 
1892 
550,977 
134,590 
3,849,724 
Oil 
Copra 
Desiccated 
Nuts. 
Nuts. 
Nats. 
1902 
1901 
1900 
1899 
1893 
1892 
2,56,249,000 93.699,000 
226,765,500 -109,966,250 
221,979.500 90,616,750 
200,489,500 81,350,250 
217,966,500 126,569,250 
275.488,500 33,647,5U0 
We have excluded the poonac as it 
appear in our tables for the earlier 
48,682,695 
42,166,479 
40,814,713 
40,713,2.52 
39,121,602 
11.549,172 
DrSCOVERY OF AsnKSTOS AND MiCA IN VlR- 
G NIA. — Dispersed over a district of 5,000 acre-s, 
various asbestos fibres of a thickness of IJ ft. 
to 'Sft. were discovered. It furthermore appeared 
that at greater depths (very probably on account 
of the dampness), the quality of the asbestos is 
better, without losing its thickness. For the pur- 
pose of exploiting these asbestos and mica layers, 
under the style of the American Asbestos, Co., a 
company with a capital of l,000,000dol. has been 
started, which has securtd the concession for the 
working of a district 4,000 acres wide, and situ- 
ated about twelve miles south of Bedford. The 
prices of asbestos in the Uniteil States vary between 
lOdoI. and 750dol, per tori, according to the quality 
and length of the fibre. The lesources of the United 
States of America hitherto consisted of only one 
asbestos field, otherwise they had to depend on 
Canada and Europe. The discovery of these new 
asbestos field.s therefore, is of immense import- 
ance, especially as the demand for this material 
is continually growing. As a similar demand for 
mica is also apparent in the United States, the 
new discovery is also very important in that res- 
pect.—" Manufacturer's Kecord " in " (TumuU* 
Z^i\Mig,"-^/7idia-jRubl^er Jourmil, Jan. 5i 
