MARCff  I,  1897. J THE  TROPICAI. 
AGRICULTURIST 
595 
CEYLON  EXPORTS  OK  COCONUT  PRO- 
DUCTS : 
THK  SPREAD  OF  THE  PALM-GROWING  INDUSTRY. 
Tlie  revised  table  of  exports,  as  amended  by 
tlie  Cbaniber  of  Commerce,  whicli  we  give  as  a 
‘Supple  me  lit  to  tins  issue,  throws  some  light 
on  the  position  and  the  development,  in  some 
directions,  of  the  Coconut  Palm  Industry  within 
the  1 1st  10  years.  It  is  still  a native  industry,  in 
the  sense  that  it  is  chietly  in  the  hands  of  natives, 
just  as  tea  ])lanting  is  chielly  iir  the  hands  of 
Europeans.  The  Trupintl  Agrieulturint  was  among 
the  first  to  counsel  the  encouragement  ol  natives 
to  plant  up  their  little  ex-coll'ee  patches  with  tea, 
and  it  had  to  face  not  a little  ridicule  and  impotent 
snarling  in  tliis  matter,  as  in  its  agitation  for 
Railway  Extension,  before  men  saw  that  there 
was  room  for  both  Euro|)ean  and  native  in  tea 
cultivation  and  manufacture  and  that  there  were 
many  conditions  favourable  to  tlie  growth  of 
the  industry  in  native  haiuls.  At  tlie  present 
day,  it  is  not  in  little  patches  only  that  our 
native  friends  are  interested,  but  in  extensive 
blocks  as  well,  both  on  the  hills  and  in  the  low- 
cjuntry.  What  we  looked  to  specially  was  a 
very  considerable  and  yearly  increasing  local  con- 
sumption of  tea.  In  old  days  we  reckoneil  that 
50,000  ewt.  of  coflee  were  used  by  the  iieojile 
of  Ceylon  and  we  do  not  see  why  we  siiouUl  not 
have  a native  eonsumption  of  tea  C([ual  to 
.several  millions  of  lb.  a ye  ir  before  long. 
If  Ceylonese  of  all  clas-es  are  becoming 
alive  to  the  profits  derivable  from  the  tea 
industry,  not  less  marked  is  the  confidence  which 
European  capitalists  at  home,  and  hard-headed 
colonists  on  tfie  spot,  are  showing  in  the  old 
coconut  industry.  It  would  be  a great  mistake  to 
suppose  that  European  capital  never  found  an 
investment  in  palm  culture  till  of  recent  years. 
When  coflee  'vas  the  rage  in  the  mountain  zone, 
the  jialin  groves  of  the  Northern  and  Eastern 
provinces  attracted  not  a few  Europeans.  Tlieir 
experience,  aggravated  by  difliculties  of  trans- 
port, was  not  very  encouraging ; and  the  mini- 
mum of  profit  with  the  maximum  of  waiting 
did  not  help  the  industry  in  competition  with 
pro<Iucts,from  winch  quick,  and  for  a time  large,  re- 
turns supplied  the  piecise  conditions  which  prove 
attractive  to  strangers  in  a strange  land.  The 
European  looked  askance  at  coconuts,  and  we 
doubt  whether  a single  agency  firm  had  a 
single  coconut  estate  on  its  books  ‘20  to  .30  years 
ago,  or  w.as  jirepared  to  make  or  sanction,  an 
ailvance  on  coconut  p.roperty.  All  that  is 
changed  now  ; and  one  of  our  largest  an<l  most 
uniformly  successful  Tea  Companies  set  a striking 
example  a few  years  ago  by  investing  its  reserve 
fund,  01  a good  part  of  it,  in  coconut  jilantations. 
Since  then  the  confidence  in  coconuts  as  a safe 
investment,  yielding  by  no  means  insignificant 
returns,  has  grown ; and  we  hear  of  extensive 
tracts  being  openetl  up  for  coconuts  by  European 
firms  and  Companies,  while  a larger  number  of 
proprietors  are  combining  tea  and  coconut  cul- 
ture in  the  same  lields,  wdlli,  in  some  cases, 
encouraging  results,  though  in  others  we  have 
heard  fears  expressed  tliat  the  one  product  in- 
terferes with  other.  Indeed,  it  is  evident,  that 
the  shrub,  hardy  though  it  ' is,  will  have 
ultimately  to  yield  to  the  great  umbrageous 
tree  with  its  matted  network  of  roots ; but 
not,  we  trust,  before  the  enterprising  pro- 
prietors are  assured  of  a return  from  coco- 
nuts, hastened  by  the  cultivation  of  the  tea, 
sutticient  to  compensate  for  the  diminution,  or 
the  stoppage,  of  tlie  income  from  tea.  Mean- 
75 
while,  there  is  a brisk  demand  for  good  nuts 
from  selectd  trees  for  nurseries  on  lowcountry 
and  upcountry  estates — up  to  almost  ‘2,0t0  feet 
in  elevation ; and  we  learn  from  a Veyaugoda 
pro|uietor  that  scarcely  a month  jiasses  without 
Ids  having  to  despatch  seed  nuts  from  his  estate 
on  orders  by  cart  or  rail. 
Though  the  cultivation  of  this  most  useful 
palm  is  yet,  and  probably  ahvays  will  be,  chiefly 
in  native  hands,  the  development  of  the  indus- 
try is  principally  due  to  European  enterprise 
and  caiiital.  Coconut  oil  mills  lirst  encouraged  the 
extension  of  plantations,  as  their  voracious  maw 
began  to  demand  far  larger  feei's  of  copra,  than 
the  slow  and  iirimitive  checkoo;  ami  now  the 
desiccating  mills,  also  the  outcome  of  the  in- 
ventive genius  and  restless  enterprise  of  Euro- 
pean capitalists,  are  again  stimubiting  the  de- 
mand for  nuts,  which  bad  slackened  somewhat, 
through  new  illunnnants,  lubricants  and  fatty 
substances  neeessaiy  in  soap-manufacture  com- 
peting with,  or  elbowing  out  the  oil  from  some 
of  its  old  markets.  We  thus  fail  to  note  any  actual 
growth  in  coconut  oil  exports.  Last  year  they 
amounted  only  to3I3,00Ucwt. — positively  the  lowest 
figure  for  the  decade,  if  we  except  1887,  which 
showeil  a fabing-oll' as  compared  with  some  earlier 
years  ; while  m 1892  the  exports  I’an  as  high 
as  550,000  cwt.  The  diirerence  of  217,000  cwt 
— an  a\erage  year’s  exports — represents  at  500 
nuts  to  the  cwt,  about  lOSI  million  nuts  ; and 
our  readers  can  understand  what  a rundown  in 
the  price  of  nuts  this  slackened  demand  for  oil 
would  have  involved,  were  it  not  for  the  Desiccating 
Mills  which  have  continued  to  absorb  a growing 
quantity  of  nuts,  year  afier  jear,  if  we  except 
1894,  when  there  was  a temporary  falling-olf 
caused  it  is  believeil,  by  slackening  uork  in  the 
Mills  to  discourage  conupeiitois.  The  lirst  record 
of  the  desiccating  business  is  to  be  foui  d in  the 
Export  iis'ures  for  1891  when  416,330  lbs.  were 
exported.  The  next  year  there  was  a leap  up 
to  over  3 million  lbs  ; in  1893  over  6 million  ; 
while  in  1896  we  exported  over  10  million  lb. 
of  Desiceated  Cocoinrts,  representing  at  3 nuts  to 
the  lb.,  no  le.ss  than  30  million  nuts  ! We  have 
seen  that  the  difference  in  the  outturn  of  oil 
between  1892  and  1896  represents  a difl'erence  of 
IO82  million  nuts.  Now,  tbe  difference  in  the 
de.siccating  business  of  the  two  years,  accounts 
only  for  7 million  lb.,  or  21  million  nuts;  so 
that  last  year  is  to  the  bad,  as  compared  with 
1892,  to  the  extent  of  S7.1  million  nuts.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  the  piioe  of  nuts  has  receded  this 
year  and  is  lower  than  it  has  been  for  three 
years  baek.  It  will  not,  indeed,  be  safe  to  exjiect 
liigher  j)iices  until  the  demand  for  oil  li.as 
quickened.  The  shipment  of  unmanufactured 
nuts,  last  year,  shows  a considerable  increase  over 
that  of  1895— as  much  as  3 million  nuts  ; but 
a total  of  13  million  nuts  exjiortcd,  though  the 
highest  on  record,  cannot  count  for  much  in 
considering  the  shrinkage  of  oil.  Still  the  de- 
maiul  for  shipment  and  for  desiccating  ]mr|)oses 
helps  to  keep  up  prices  on  the  seaborde  and  in 
the  districts  .surrounding  the  Mills  ; while  another 
element  in  the  calculation  is  the  increased  de- 
mand for  culinary  purposes,  which  grows  with  the 
growth  of  |)opui.'Uion  and  specially  with  the  growth 
of  general  jirosperity.  We  suppose  the  better  part 
of  the  nuts  exporte<l  finds  its  way  into  the 
coconut  butter  business.  Of  Copra,  or  the  dried 
kernel  of  the  nut,  5d,0(!0  cwts.  were  exported. 
Tlie  figures,  though  better  tlian  for  the  three 
years  lueceding  are  not  to  be  compared  with  those 
of  some  years  ago.  Within  the  past  decade  the 
