7 
The crop under record is the highest ever produced in the 
Colony ; it exceeds that of last year by 1,163,082 nuts and that 
of 1911 by nearly 3 million nuts. The figures for local con¬ 
sumption were still estimated at 4 million nuts but as the 
population is steadily increasing these figures are probably 
much below the mark. Nearly 21 million nuts were converted 
into coprah and exported thus to Marseilles. I cannot refrain 
as last year from mentioning that such a large exportation of 
coprah although considerably benefiting the Colony reacts 
cruelly on the poorer inhabitants who were prior to 1906 get¬ 
ting at next to nothing a by-product in the shape of the resi¬ 
dual cake (poonac) of coconut mills which was used as food for 
cattle, pigs and poultry. The peasantry are now deprived of 
this by-product which is more and more appreciated on the 
European market and has to depend more exclusively on fish 
instead of using pork and chicken as formerly. There is how¬ 
ever no apparent disturbance in the healthy conditions of the 
Colony as a result of the change of diet. The only rational 
way to get out of this difficulty is to raise a crop of oil palm 
nuts in the districts unsuitable for coconut growing. The cul¬ 
ture of this oil plant is not only considered useful as providing 
a residual food for domestic animals but also as supplying an 
excellent oil for the manufacture of soap which as a con¬ 
sequence of the closing down of nearly all coconut oil factories 
is also handicapped by the want of another raw material as 
good or as cheap. 
The high crop for 1913 is considerably less than I expected 
but I am afraid the shortage of rain and the ravages of the 
melitomma beetle went far to counteract the greater amount of 
care and trouble which are bestowed on coconut plantations. 
The crop can be doubled in a few years to come and if the 
question of manuring is taken up on all estates which are more 
or less worn out by ever a century of continuous exhaustion, I 
strongly believe that the crop can be increased fivefold. I know 
a great number of estates where the crop can be increased ten¬ 
fold by manuring and proper methods of cultivation. The 
acreage under coconut cannot be definitely established from 
want of a cadastral survey of the Colony but although it has 
not been increased considerably during the last seven years, 
one can say that the vacancies have been carefully supplied 
nearly everywhere and that the other trees which were formerly 
allowed to grow in most plantations are rigorously cut down to 
the great benefit of the palms. Given favourable weather con¬ 
ditions, one can foresee a material increase of the crop within 
the next five years owing to the greater number of trees grown 
in the existing plantations. There are probably over 12,000 
acres of so called coconut plantations in the Colony and such 
a large acreage under modern methods of cultivation should 
yield 30 to 40 million nuts. 
Owing to the rocky nature of the soil and subsoil some 
difficulty is experienced in rendering the soil friable by the 
ordinary method of ploughing but it is to be hoped that explo¬ 
sives will soon be imported in order to obtain the full effect of 
manuring. Soils apparently devoid of rocks are often unsuit¬ 
able for coconuts owing to the nature of the subsoil which 
bakes into a hard pan a few inches from the surface and which 
the large roots of coconut cannot penetrate. The utility of 
explosives in such hard soils needs no demonstration. In coral 
islands the hard pan is also formed by the well known conglo¬ 
merates of sandstones which render unsuitable for coconut 
cultivation a large percentage of the sandy plateaux of the 
Colony. 
The time is ripe for adopting those improved agricultural 
methods, the high price realized by the crops sold locally at the 
rate of Rs 50 and even Rs 60 per thousand nuts, permitting a 
saving which may not remain so high for very long. 
The planters should devote all their energies to manuring, 
ploughing or using explosives, and selecting seed nuts for 
planting and lose no time in keeping abreast of the times. The 
future of this Colony depends on those progressive methods 
being adopted. 
