7 
THE COCONUT INDUSTRIES. 
The annexed tabulated return shows tlie steady increase 
in the coconut crop for the last 4 years. As aut i dpate l in my 
repoit for last year the rise is proceeding by 1 on;) i i id b mu Is. 
The crop for the year under review amounts l -1, O'),000 nuts 
being greater by 5,000,000 nuts than the crop tor cue preceding 
year. This result bears testimony to the greater attention 
which is paid by planters to their coconut lantations. The 
crop will continue to increase for a long time os during the 
last 5 years nearly 100,000 more coconut trees were set out and 
these trees will be bearing in 5 years. The present increase i3 
solely due to the plantatiens having been cleaned regularly and 
freed of the fungus and beetle diseases to some extent. The 
leading planters are also taking the trouble to manure with 
compost, seaweeds, cowdung &c., and the results already 
obtained will gradually induce them to use guar green 
manures and chemical fertilizers. A good deal of subsoiling 
by hand has also been done but unfortunately the use of explo¬ 
sives for the breaking of the hardpan a few inches underground 
has not been attempted owing to the difficulty of getting 
explosives at a cheap price. The practice of digging tren-h.es 
in which all the refuse is thrown in is more and more largely 
adopted on level land. I hope it will gradually extend to hill¬ 
sides pending the use of explosives, otherwise the rocky nature 
of the ground allows a very small depth of soil being utilised 
by the roots of the plant on these slopes. Trenches dug at 
right angles to the slopes and though small but fairly level, 
while preventing erosion, would gradually allow the roots to 
penetrate deejier. The accumulation of plant food in the subsoil 
gradually loosened by trenches would also go far to counteract 
the rapid deterioration of coconut palms iu times of drought. 
The small depth of proper soil obtainable at present forces the 
trees to extend their roots near the surface at considerable 
lengths, sometimes exceeding 50 feet, and a loss of energy is the 
result while the accumulation of proper soil and moisture at the 
foot of the trees would tend to satisfy their requirements more 
easily and benefit their bearing power. 
In 1905 the crop was only 18 million nuts and one can say 
that in 15 years the crop has been doubled. A gain of 5 mil¬ 
lion nuts over last year represents Rs 200,000, and this result, 
as already stated, has been obtained without increasing the 
acreage under cultivation. 
Owing to the war the average prices paid for 1000 coconuts 
in Mahe during 1914 fell from Rs 49 to Rs 41, the minimum 
price reaching Rs 25. A loss of Rs 8 per 1000 nuts on. 
25,707,542 nuts converted into copra >i during the year represents 
a loss of over Rs 200,000 borne by the Colony as far as the coprah 
industry alone is concerned. The prices are fortunately rapidly 
increasing and at the time of writing (February 1915) they have 
already become normal. The market of Marseilles to which, 
nearly all Seychelles firms ship their coprah is not very steady ; 
the fluctuation reaching as much as Rs 120 per ton in ordinary 
times. The effort now being made in England to import coprah. 
in larger quantities will undoubtedly create a wider opening for 
the coprah produced in Seychelles and regularize the market 
prices. On the Continent it appears that there is some fluctua¬ 
tion in the demand for the edible oil obtained from coprah 
and that the arrivals of coprah from the Far East are not regular. 
This double influence prevents tlie Marseilles firms from fixing 
their prices in advance for a long period and the result is that 
there is some risk at present in purchasing coconuts at more 
than Rs 40 a thousand in Seychelles for the manufacture of 
coprah. 
The question of selection of varieties of coconut.s is not lost 
sight of by a few planters. This selection depends however on. 
so many factors that little pi’ogress in the right direction has 
been made. One of these factors unobserved hitherto is the 
number of female flowers produced by the different varieties 
which is very variable. Mr Petch of Ceylon ha3 called in 
December 1913 the att -ntion of planters to this subject. The 
flowerings do not take place regularly in Seychelles and this 
accounts for the irregularity of the crop which generally 
reaches a maximum in July and drops to a n mi mum in 
