Feb. ], 1902.] 
THE TKOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
538 
Arecanuts, 92,538 cwts. for elevm months of 1901. 
These two important exports are chiefly 
shipped to Southern India, and provide 
tonnage for native craft. • 
Exports by native craft are not included in 
these returns- 
THE COCONUT PALM INDUSTRY 
IN CEYLON : 
DISTEIBUTION OF OUR COCONUT 
PRODUCTS. 
Our annual review of the distribution of 
the various products of the coconut palm, as 
shown in our Export Tables, should be of 
increasing interest, as the Coconut industry 
advances. So far, its progressive develop- 
ment has been nearly continuous, and has 
received no check, such as has been ex- 
perienced in connection with most of our 
exports— such as coffee, tea, cinnamon, 
and even with so useful a mineral as 
plumbago, of which Ceylon holds practi- 
cally the monopoly. Not that Coconut pro- 
prietors have always escaped hard times, or 
that they have been exempt from the inci- 
dents which attach to fluctuations in the 
market for Oil and other manufactures from 
the nut. The history of some, or perhaps 
most, of the plantations in the North and 
East of the Island tells a different tale ; but 
notwithstanding these occasional set-backs, 
the extension of cultivation has steadily ad- 
vanced — has, so far as we can ascertain, 
never been arrested even for a year,— and 
has made notable progress during the Ad- 
ministration of Sir West Ridgeway, especi- 
ally in the new Southern Batticaloa district 
and in Chilaw and Futtalam divisions. 
Apart from European enterprise, (\, great 
reason for steady, continuous progress 
is that the industry is so largely in the 
hands of natives, tha t the palm is both food 
and shelter to them, and that, even if the 
European investor should be dissatisfied with 
the results— and many plantations in the 
Jaffna and eastern districts were planted 
but afterwards sold by Europeans— the native 
is content to go on planting and extending 
heedless of the time he has to wait for re- 
turns (in some district* as much as twenty 
years!), and of the smallness of those re- 
turns as viewed from the European stand- 
point. Time is of no consideration to him ; 
to luxuries he is indifferent ; his wants are 
small ; and the habits of the tree correspond 
with his own characteristics. It needs little 
attention and less cultivation. — though res- 
ponding handsomely to both,— and if he fail 
to pluck the fruits off ic, his children will do 
so, and to them it will be a source of sus- 
tenance, if not of income, for scores of years ; 
and that is all he cares for. It is this 
characteristic of th« coconut industry — that 
it is an investment and not a speculation — 
■which has ensured its steady growth ; and 
though the growth and development of trade 
and commerce has once more brought the 
European capitalist into close relations with 
the industry— apart from the milling section 
of it, in which he has always held theleafl 
p-to tlie native t\je extension o{ Cocpnut 
planting remains what it always was, a safe 
investment of capital yielding perennial, 
even if slow and scanty, returns. During 
last year, however, the returns were far 
from meagre, chiefly owing to the brisk de- 
mand for Copra ; and that is one of the 
reasons why special interest attaches to the 
figures we are now reviewing in pursuance 
of our annual programme. 
The exports of Oil last year were about 
10,000 cwts. in excess of those for 1900 
when we sent away 443,959 cwts. and were 
tihe largest on record, if we except 
1892 when the qiiantity ran up to 550,797 
cwt. We are unable to say off-hand Avhat 
the circumstances were which led to an out 
turn of Oil ten years ago which has seldom 
been since approached within 100,000 cwt. ; 
but it i.s of imporcance to remember that 
the exportation of Copra at that time Avas 
only about one-third of the tigures reached 
during the last four years, and that the trade 
in Desiccated nut was then in its infancy. 
The mother country continues to be our 
largest customer for Oil, having taken 236,514 
cwt. or somewhat more than a half of our 
total exports ; but the proportion shipped 
to the United Kingdom was larger in 1900, 
notwithstanding a smaller local out-turn. It 
is satisfactory to find that the falling off in 
the exports to the mother-country though 
it is neither very heavy nor indicative of 
a shifting of tlie trade into other channels, 
was more than covered by the increase iti 
the quantity of Oil which her great Indian 
Possessions took over no less than 141,139 
cwt.-- quite a record quantity — found its way 
to our big neighbour; and it is undoubtedly 
matter for congratulation that we have a 
customer close at hand to take over one of 
our chief products at the exceptionally high 
prices which ruled last year. Thus, consider- 
ably more than three fourths of our total 
out-turn of Oil was taken by the United 
Kingdom and India ! The former, no doubt, 
took it chiefly for distribution ; but were 
India's requirements only or mainly, for local 
consumption ? Some curiosity on this point 
might well be felt when we see that America 
has had only 27,205 cwt. direct from here, 
while on one occasion at least she had 
nearly four times that quantity I The sus- 
picion that part at least of our shipments 
to India found its way to other countries, 
as Cochin Oil which, somehow, commands 
higher prices than Ceylon Oil, is not un- 
reasonable. Our other big customers for 
10,000 cwt. and upwards, were Germany, 
Italy and Austria. 
As \Vith Oil, so with Copra, the figures for 
1901 were the largest on record, save for one 
year ; and the year of largest exports in 
regard to Copra was 1898, when the pheno- 
minal quantity of 506,277 cwt., or 60,0u0 cwt. 
more than for the previous seven years com- 
bined, was sent away. Germany was our 
largest customer for Copra last year, 
having taken 153,335 cwt. out of 439,865 -or 
considerably more than one-third the total 
exports -and has thus displaced Russia which 
had hitherto held the lead ; but probably the 
Copra finds its way yet to Russia from Ger- 
roaij ports. Both France and Belgium, witj^ 
