678 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [April 1, 1899. 
pared out of coconut ehells. The manufacture of 
the nuts ia generally done anly by merchaQts, as 
almost all the ovvaers of the K^-i'dena lease out the 
produce year after year. 
14. Vats, — The nuts locally produced are not much 
used in the district, bat are exported chiefly to 
Hyderabad, where they appear to fetch a very 
high price in the market on account of their greater 
aslringency. The majority of people in the district 
iise lesa aBtringent nuts. The uses of the stem of 
a very old tree are manifold. The sterna are used 
as reapers, cross beams for thatched houses, and 
in many other ways. The bottom partion of an old 
stem is used for making instruments for splitting 
the fibrous covering of coconuts. The expanded 
portion at the base of the petiole ia used for din- 
ing plates, cups, fans and for several other purposes, 
and the leaves are used for brooms. 
15. Diseases- — This palm is subject to, principally, 
the attack of white-ants, which eat away the root, 
and thus cause much damage to the trees. The 
chief cause of this is the location of a plantation 
on a sandy soil or sandy loam which is naturally 
poor. This can be cured by careful watering and 
manuring. 
16. Yield.— VnAei this heading I include the yield 
of all the different plants In the plantation ; as has 
already been stated, all these plantations are mixed 
ones. The average yearly yield of the areca-nut 
alone is about Ks. 2.50 per acre. 
The figures given below refer to my own garden : 
RECEins FOR 1898. E8_ 
Areca-nut . . . . . . . . 275 
Coconuts, 12,fl00, at Ra 25 per 1,000 ., 300 
Mangoes and jack ., .. .. 100 
Plantains .. .. .. .. 40 
Vegetables . . . . . . . . 25 
Limes, oranges, &c. &c. .. 25 
Total Ea. .. 7G5 
Expenditure foe 1898. Es. 
Cost of feeding one pair of bulls .. 120 
Wages for 2 coolies for the whole year at 
Ea. 30 each ... ... ... 60 
Manure ... ... ... ... 50 
Water cess for 3 acres ... ... 30 
Interest on capital of Ks. 600 for start- 1 gg 
ing the plantation, at 10 per cent J 
Sundries ... ... ... ... 25 
Total Rs. ... 345 
Annual net income on three acres, Es. 420 
Es. 
Average gross receipts for the last eight... 
years from three acres ... .. 675 
Average expense for the same .. .. 300 
Average net income for the same ... 375 
Average net income per acre . . . . 125 
No plantation in the district pays more than Es. 
125 per acre yearly consecutively for forty years. 
The Cost oe Plantation. Es. 
150 coconut plants at Rs 80 per 100 . . 120 
600 areca-nut seedlings ready for permanent 
transplanting at Rs. 20 per 100 .. 120 
One pair of cattle .. .. ... 150 
Cost of sinking a well ... ... 150 
Miscellaneous . . . . ... 60 
Total Rs. ... 6C0 
Indian Agriculticrist. 
CoFFKE Prospects.— Messrs. I. A, Rneker & 
Bencraft writing on Thursdayevening', March 16tli, 
say : — As regards values everything looks exces- 
sively cheap, and there can be little doubt that 
as soon as a basis is established we shall have 
a very large business in mild coffees, 
Cacao and Sugar in Trinidad.— Sir Coth- 
bert Quilter and Sir Neville Lubbock, on 27th 
January last, met a lir.st uieetin;? of the local 
Chamber of Commerce and Agricultural Society 
111 the Council Chfimbcr. H.E. the Governor- 
Sir H. E. H. Jeriiingiiam— asl'retiident of the latter 
Society pre.sided and spoke, lu the course of Ilia 
addres.s Sir Neville Lubbock said : — 
He was very hopeful that as regards cocoa the 
prosperity would continue for many years to come. 
He was afraid that the time was bound to come when 
cocoa would have a bad time, but at the luetsent 
moment it looked as if th&t time was somewhat 
remote. 
And again-:— 
They had a magnificent soil and climat©, second 
to none in the world; they had also the advantage 
of beujg very close to that large Continent, and it 
appeared to him tliat all they were lacking was a 
population commensurate with their acreage and their 
great capabilities. When they looked back for b jine- 
thing like a generation they saw that a great advance 
had been made in that direction already, but when 
he considered that their population was still only 
some 280,000 and the country could probably carry 
with ease two millions, it was obvious to him that 
there was very great room for population, and he 
thought an increase of population would be of very 
great advantage to this island. He hoped the eflorti 
made in the past and which had beeu so far success- 
ful would be continued in the future. He was sure 
they ouiht to encourage population to come here in 
every way they could. With regard to cocoa and 
sugar, from what he knew and had heard, it appeared 
that the development of those industries had already 
outrun the available labour supply. 
Mr. Hewatson, President of the Chamber of 
Commerce, said : — 
Everyone must be convinced that centrnl factories 
would be the only salvation for those colonies where 
muscovada sugar was still produced, but while he 
agreed that the abolition of bounties was not likely 
to bring about any material rise in the price of sugar, 
it had always been his opinion that the abolition of 
bounties was necessary to remove the uncertainty of 
the sugar trade and in some measure restore the 
credit of the industry, so that nothing couU be done, 
and until ihe bounties were abolished central fac- 
tories, in any part of the West Indies would never 
restore the sugar industry. (Hear, hear). He hoped 
Sir Thomas Lipton would bealvised that the abo- 
lition of the bounties must be the first thing before 
captial was employed for the purpose. 
In conclusion, the tiovernor said : — 
They must not be carried away by the idea that 
this was an official meeting— Not at all, we knev? 
your good works and we are modest enough to recog- 
nise your own modesty not to speak of that work 
though we might do it; but we have come here 
simply as a body of interested persons in the welfare 
of Trinidad, to welcome two men who have already 
understood the necessity cfhome help— people who 
are living at home, to help us there in the way that 
we are trying to help ourselves here, to give utterance 
to our wishes, in fact, to give life to those inmost 
desires which we cannot give life to and which Parlia- 
ment can give, and if you can induce other members 
of Paihament to come during this season, in yachts 
and in numbers, we shall all be here so as to get 
a majority in favour of the West Indies in what I 
do not hesitate to say is a just and truthful and an 
honest demand.— The Governor concluded by asking 
them to extend their welcome to a very distinguished 
guest he had the honour to have in his house viz 
the Administrator of St. Lucia. Mr. King-Harni had 
not been in good health and understanding that 
Tiinidad was the Eden and the Paradise of the 
West Indies, had come to pay a visit to his old 
Governor, 
