1 Ocr., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 417 
I think, judging from the above results, we could fairly expect that with 
proper attention a healthy full-grown cocoanut tree will produce 100 nuts a 
year. 
: Cocoanuts in Zanzibar.—The average yield of nuts in Zanzibar Island is 
from 25 to 30 per tree. Calculating the price at Rs. 20 per 1,000 and the yield 
at 30, there will be a gross return of 9% annas per tree. Gathering may be set 
down at Rx. 4 per 1,00, which leaves a net return of about 74 annas or half a 
rupee per tree. 
Pemba trees yield less, the average being probably less than 15 nuts per 
tree perannum. But labour is cheaper and cost of gathering less—about Rs. 3 
per 1,000 ; so that the net return works out about 44 annas per tree. 
Planting Nuts —Dry. Krapf, in his Swahili dictionary, has the following 
note :—The natives plant the cocoanut on the 14th day of the moon, because 
the moon is then at her full power. This takes place before the rain. They 
take care that the bud is placed downwards in the pit, which is dug to the 
depth of a cubit. The tree (like the mango) requires five years’ growth 
before it bears fruit. 
The generally accepted way of planting a nut is to lay it on its side in a 
trench about 7 or 8 inches deep (its own depth). It has been rightly pointed 
out that if a nut be planted eyes downwards the young shoot may rot before it 
reaches the surface ; on the other hand, if planted eyes upwards the milk inside, 
which is especially provided for the first nourishment of the germ, will settle at 
the bottom of the nut, and the young shoot will then run a risk of being dried 
up. Nature seems to have especially pointed both ends of the nut, so that 
having fallen from the tree it shall remain upon its side to germinate. In the 
case of the mangrove the young seedling drops from the parent tree upon its 
pointed end, and sticks in the mud and grows forthwith. But the bottom of 
the cocoanut could not have been pointed to enable it likewise to stick in the 
sand and germinate, because a nut always falls upon its side. This is well 
shown by dropping a few nuts from the roof of a high house. If the nut is 
suspended by the stalk, in the way it hangs upon a tree, and dropped, it will 
turn half over and fall sideways. The same thing happens if the nut be held 
upside down. If it be held horizontally it will maintain this position till it 
reaches the ground. Nature is always a safe guide. Allow a space of 9 inches 
or 1 foot between the nuts in the trench, and 18 inches between the trenches. 
This gives plenty of room to lift the nuts when the time comes for them to be 
~ planted out, without doing much damage to the roots. April is the best time 
to plant out the seedlings, when they should be five or six months old. Hence 
the nuts should be planted in the nursery in November. But no hard-and-fast 
rule need be laid down, especially as our seasons are uncertain. Thirty-five 
feet by 35 feet is a good distance for them to be placed in the plantation. This 
gives thirty-five trees to the acre. 
COST OF PRODUCTION OF COFFEE. 
The Lropical Agriculturist, Ceylon, prints a long article from the Brazilian 
Review on the above subject. From it we extract the following :— 
According to the owners’ statements the cost of producing Santos coffee 
on the Fazendas Schmidt and Dumont, which probably have more coffee-trees 
than any other plantations in the world, is 4 cents per lb. bagged, ready for 
shipment on the plantation ; 5 cents per lb. in Santos; 6 cents per Ib. in ware- 
house in New York. At this price nobody makes any money except the 
brokers, railway companies, and steamship lines. These figures are based on 
the average product of the plantation, which would probably be somewhere 
between numbers five and six, New York exchange standards. 
Of course, the smaller plantations cannot produce at the same price as 
the larger ones, and the question of the survival of the coffee planter is getting 
to be largely a matter of transportation. Undoubtedly many coffee planters 
will be forced out of business from mere inability to pay their labourers for the 
Wilh. Wl aR 
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