The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

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It will be seen by the above, that I have been extremely moderate in
my computation of the return which may be anticipated, for there is no
doubt that planters can, in favorable localities, on the coasts of
most of our colonies, cultivate this palm with as much success as
attends its culture in Ceylon. By the first of the calculations I have
cited from, that island, the gross return appears thus:--

22,500 gallons at 4s. 7d L5,156 5
Coir--one-fifth of value 1,031 4
Cake from 675,000 nuts, say 1/4 lb. each, 75 tons at L10 750 0
-----------
Total gross return from 100 acres 6,937 9

According to the other calculation, the return will stand thus:--

8,700 gallons at 4s. 7d L1,993 15
Coir 398 15
Cake from 348,000 nuts, 34 tons 340 0
----------
Total gross return from 100 acres 2,732 10

It will be seen that in my calculation I have set down the return
lower than it is rendered in the less favorable statement from Ceylon
by a sum of upwards of L1,000 sterling. But even supposing _one-half_
of the amount of the lower Ceylon estimate could be realised, we
should have a return of L1,366 5s. sterling from 100 acres of sea side
sand.

I now proceed to point out the very small outlay required to obtain
these results. In places where the coco-nut would be grown, there is
generally no heavy woodland requiring great labor with axe and fire,
and consequently one able-bodied man should get through the felling
and clearing away bush, on an acre of the land to be prepared for the
plant, in a short period,--say, on an average, four days. I will
calculate, that for wages and rations, each hand employed will cost
sixteen dollars per month, an outside price. Let us then say that ten
laborers shall be at work. They fell two acres and a half per diem. In
one month there should be nearly 70 acres felled; but I will say that
the 100 acres will occupy them two months in felling and stacking the
wood. During this period our planter may be considered to have had the
aid of two more hands, engaged in the preparation, planting out, and
care of the nursery of young plants. Two more hands must also be
occupied in the construction of tanks and sheds, except where there is
a stream of fresh water. For grubbing up the roots, if not very large
size, the assistance of about a dozen cattle would be required, a
labor which would be performed by means of the common grubbing
machine, an implement in the form of a claw. We will consider that all
hands are occupied another month in this manner, and in removing and
re-stacking the wood, and turning up the land. The planting out would
require but little time and labor. At the end of three months then,
one-half of the hands, besides those engaged in the nursery and tanks,
might be discharged. We must make an allowance for provision for the
fodder of the cattle. Six thousand nuts would be required.

Let us now see what are the planter's expenses; making ample allowance
on account of each item:--

dollars.
6,000 picked nuts at 10 dollars per 1,000 60
Hire and rations of 12 hands, at 16 dollars for 3 months 676
Two hands at nursery, for same period 96
Purchase of 12 cattle at 20 dollars 240
Foddering cattle one month 32
Hire of two extra hands, making tanks and sheds 3 months 96
Hire of 6 hands for 9 months 864
Tools (including plough) 100
-----
Total 2,064

About L415 sterling for expenses for the first year.

Where fencing is required, we must add for making about three miles of
fence, say L30 sterling. Two carts would also have to be provided,
which will cost, say L20 more. In all we may compute the first year's
expenditure at L460 sterling.

Second year's expenditure: ploughing land, or hoeing it twice,
watering plants, manuring, repairing fences, and supplying plants,
say hire of eight men for six months, about L150 sterling. The same
for the third.

Fourth year's expenditure: hire of six hands for three months,
cleaning land, and manuring plants, about L60 sterling, and the like,
at the cultivator's option, for the fifth year.

SUMMARY OF EXPENSES.
L
First year 460
Second year 150
Third year 150
Fourth year 60
Fifth year 60
---
Total expenditure 880
Add for buildings 80

And we have a grand total of L960 sterling expended; for what purpose?
To secure a net income of _at least_ L1,200 sterling per annum for at
least 50 years!

In the first year's expenses many items might be cut down, but I leave
the calculation as one to be considered by a party with small capital,
intending to establish a coco-nut plantation. I have allowed nothing
for the cost of land, as it is impossible to compute that. In general
it would cost next to the nothing mentioned. I have, by careful
calculation, arrived at the conclusion that by combining the
cultivation of provisions with the gradual but steadily progressive
establishment of a coco-nut plantation, any man of energy and
perseverance may, with the aid of but four hands, clear, fence, and
plant, in a favorable locality, 50 acres of coco-nuts within the year,
yet have a balance in his pocket at its close. Such a person would,
ere doing anything beyond putting in his nursery plants, establish a
provision ground, of considerable extent, for the purpose of supplying
himself and his laborers with bread kind, and vegetables, and of
enabling him, by the disposal of the surplus produce in the market, to
raise a sufficient sum of money to furnish the wages and rations of
the men. I need not enter into a calculation to show how this could be
done, as every one must be aware of an easy method of following out so
simple a suggestion. Of course he would have to bear in mind that the
provision ground is of secondary importance, and limit his exertions
in that line accordingly; devoting to the coco-nut plantation the
strictest daily attention.

The cultivation of this tree deserves much more attention than has
hitherto been paid to it, particularly in the East, where it not only
forms part of the daily food of all classes of the community, but is
an exportable article to neighbouring regions, the oil which it yields
having of late years become in great demand in England, for the
manufacture of composite candles and soap, and there is no doubt of
its continually extended application to such purposes. Supposing,
nevertheless, the result of an increased cultivation of the coco-nut
should be such as to cause a fall in price, and sink the nett return
in England to 2s. per gallon; this being clear profit, would make this
kind of plantation a safe and sure investment for both capital and
labor in the Colonies.

A kind of sugar made from the sap is called "jaggery," and the sap
when fermented forms an intoxicating beverage known as toddy. The
fibrous outer covering, or husk of the nut, when macerated and
prepared, is termed "coir," and is spun into yarn and rope. It is
extensively shipped from Ceylon, in coils of rope, bundles of yarn,
and pieces of junk.

The coco-nut is usually planted as follows:--Selecting a suitable
place, you drop into the ground a fully ripe nut, and leave it. In a
few days a thin lance-like shoot forces itself through a minute hole
in the shell, pierces the husk, and soon unfolds three pale green
leaves in the air; while, originating in the same soft white sponge
which now completely fills the nut, a pair of fibrous roots pushing
away the stoppers which close two holes in an opposite direction,
penetrate the shell, and strike vertically into the ground. A day or
two more, and the shell and husk, which in the last and germinating
stage of the nut are so hard that a knife will scarcely make any
impression, spontaneously burst by some force within; and, henceforth,
the hardy young plant thrives apace, and needing no culture, pruning,
or attention of any sort, rapidly arrives at maturity. In four or five
years it bears; in twice as many more it begins to lift its head among
the groves, where, waxing strong, it flourishes for near a century.
Thus, as some voyager has said, the man who but drops one of these
nuts into the ground, may be said to confer a greater and more certain
benefit upon himself and posterity, than many a life's toil in less
genial climes. The fruitfulness of the tree is remarkable. As long as
it lives it bears, and without intermission. Two hundred nuts, besides
innumerable white blossoms of others, may be seen upon it at one time;
and though a whole year is required to bring any one of them to the
germinating point, no two, perhaps, are at one time in precisely the
same stage of growth.

Coco-nuts form a considerable article of export from many of the
British colonies: 375,770 were exported from Honduras in 1844, and
254,000 in 1845; 105,107 were shipped from Demerara, in 1845;
3,500,000 from Ceylon in 1847.

They are very abundant on the Maldive Islands, Siam, and on several
parts of the coast of Brazil. Humboldt states, that on the south
shores of the Gulf of Cariaco, nothing is to be seen but plantations
of coco-nut trees, some of them containing nine or ten thousand trees.

Ceylon is one of the localities where the greatest progress has been
made in this species of culture.

In 1832 several Europeans settled at Batticaloa, expressly for the
purpose of cultivating this palm to a large extent. They planted
cotton bushes between the young trees, which were found to ripen well,
and nurse and shade them.

There are now an immense number of coco-nut topes, or walks, on the
coasts of the island, and about 20,000 acres of land are under
cultivation with this tree.

The value of this product to Ceylon, may be estimated by the following
return of its exports in 1847, besides the local consumption:--

L
Declared value of nuts 5,485
Ditto of Coir 10,318
Kernels, or Copperah 6,503
Shells 210
Oil 19,142
Arrack 11,657
-------
Total L53,315

The annually increasing consumption of the nuts holds out a great
inducement to the native proprietors to reclaim all their hitherto
unproductive land. The fruit commands a high price in the island,
(ranging from 3/4d. to 3d. per nut), owing to the constant demand for it
as an article of food, by both Singhalese and Malabars; there is not
so much, therefore, now converted into copperah for oil making. In the
maritime provinces of the island, it has been estimated that the
quantity of nuts used in each family, say of five persons, amounts to
100 nuts per month, or 1,000 per annum. It needs only a reduction in
the cost of transit, to extend the consumption in the interior of the
island to an almost unlimited extent.

In 1842, Ceylon exported but 550 nuts, while in 1847 she shipped off
to other quarters three millions and a half of nuts, valued at L5,500.
The average value of the nuts exported may be set down at L7,000.

In Cochin China the cultivation of the coco-nut tree is much attended
to, and they export a large quantity of oil. At Malacca and Pinang it
shares attention with the more profitable spices. Since the palm has
been acclimatised in Bourbon, about 20,000 kilogrammes of oil have
been produced annually. About 8,000 piculs of oil are exported
annually from Java.

A correspondent, under date December, 1849, has furnished me with the
following particulars of coco-nut planting in Jaffna, the northern
district of Ceylon, in which the culture has only recently been
carried on; the facts and figures are interesting:--

The Karandhai estate, the property of the late Mr. J. Byles, was
sold last month for L2,400, part of it bearing. It consisted of 303
acres, of which 228 are planted with coco nuts--about half the trees
six years old.

The Victoria estate, in extent 170 acres, planted and part in
bearing, and about seventy acres of jungle, was also sold for
L1,500. Mr. G. Dalrymple was the purchaser of the latter, and Mr.
Davidson of the former. Both lots were cheap. The properties are
among the best in the district, the latter, especially, is a
beautiful estate.

About two-thirds of the estates planted are looking well, and the
remainder but indifferently, in fact, ought never to have been
planted, and I believe will never give any return. About 7,000 acres
are now under cultivation here, and clearing is still going on.
Estates can now be put in for about one half what they cost
formerly, viz., about L4 or L5 per acre, and can be kept in order,
inclusive of all charges, for about 15s. to 20s. per acre for the
first two years, and about half that afterwards. Estates, in some
instances, have been put in for about L3 per acre.

Elephants have almost disappeared; now and then a stray one comes.
Figs are still a great nuisance, but the greatest anxiety among
planters is regarding beetles. You will be sorry to hear that the
first year the trees showed fruit or flower, one-tenth of them were
destroyed by the beetle; the insects still go on destroying, and
hardly a tree attacked ever recovers.

This is a very serious evil, and upon which the fortunes of all
those involved in coco-nut planting depend. The trees come into
bearing but very slowly, and I consider no estate will give any
return over its current expenses under twelve years. It takes twelve
months from the formation of the flower, till the fruit ripens. On
an estate, perhaps one of the oldest and best in this district, out
of 120 acres, part seven and eight years old, about 12 per cent, are
in flower or in bearing, and give a return of about twenty-four nuts
per tree, on an average, yearly. On the next oldest, the return is
not near so great. But few of the estates here will, I think, pay
interest on the money laid out, and many will never pay anything
over the expense of keeping them up, even after coming into bearing.
I doubt if any estate in this district, however economically
managed, will ever give a net return of more than L2, or perhaps of
L2 10s. per acre, at least without there is a great increase in the
consumption of oil in Europe. The consumption of this oil, in
Europe, is under 5,000 tons. If the beetles do not destroy half the
trees, the estates here when in bearing, if they yield anything,
will give half that quantity; and it must be borne in mind that
coco-nut oil is not a strong oil, like palm oil, and that soap
boilers will never use it to any extent, for it will allow but
little admixture of rosin, &c.; its use in Europe will be
principally for candles and fancy soaps; but as by refining and
compression they can now purify tallow, and make of it candles fully
equal to those made from coco-nut oil, the consumption of the latter
is not likely to increase. The consumption of candles is always
limited on the continent of Europe, liquid oil being preferred, and
in many instances gas is now being used where candles formerly were.

The return of land planted with coco-nut trees in Ceylon, in 1851, was
22,500 acres; but this refers only to regular estates recently opened
and cultivated chiefly by Europeans. Let us suppose that the natives
possess besides, twenty millions of trees; Butollac in his time
estimated the number at thirteen millions. At 100 trees to the acre,
twenty millions of trees give 100,000 acres, so that the total amount
of land planted with coco-nut trees would be 122,500 acres.

An hydraulic press, for the manufacture of coco-nut oil, 1,200 horse
power and weighing twenty-three tons, was cast at the Ceylon Iron
Works, in 1850, by Messrs. Nelson and Son.

In the island of Singapore there are now many extensive plantations in
a very flourishing condition, holding out favorable prospects to the
proprietors. Hitherto the island has been supplied almost wholly from
abroad with nuts and oil for its consumption, which will, before long,
be obtained exclusively from its own soil. In 1846 there were 10,000
coco-nut trees in bearing in Singapore.

I have omitted to notice, in the foregoing observations, a very
mistaken notion which prevails in many quarters, that it is best to
let the trees drop their fruit, and not to pick the nuts when ripe.
Nature directs differently. As soon as the husk of the nut is more
brown than green it should be picked. It then makes better oil and
better coir, than when left to shrivel up and fall from the tree.

Colonel Low, in his "Dissertation on Pinang," gives some interesting
details and statistics on coco-nut planting:--

On a rough estimate--for an actual enumeration has not been lately
taken--the total number of _bearing trees_ in Pinang may be stated
at 50,000, and those in Province Wellesley at 20,000; but very large
accessions to these numbers have of late years been made. The tree
is partial to a sandy soil in the vicinity of the sea, and Province
Wellesley offers, therefore, greater facilities, perhaps, for its
cultivation than Pinang does, as its line of clear beach is longer,
and has many narrow slips of light or sandy land lying betwixt the
alluvial flats inland. There are several kinds of this tree known
here; one has a yellowish color, observable both on the branches and
unripe fruit; its branches do not droop much. A second has green
spreading branches, more drooping than the former, the fruit being
green colored until ripe; this is, perhaps, the most prolific; it
also bears the soonest, if we except the dwarf coco-nut, which
fruits at the second or third year, before the stem has got above
one foot high. This last kind was brought from Malacca; it attains
in time to the height of the common sort. Its fruit is small and
round, and of course less valuable than the other sorts. There is
also a coco-nut so saturated with green, that the oil expressed from
its kernel partakes of that color.

It is a mistaken supposition that the coco-nut tree will flourish
without care being taken of it. The idea has been induced by the
luxuriant state of trees in close proximity to houses and villages,
and in small cove's where its roots are washed by the sea. In such
circumstances, a tree, from being kept clear about the roots, from
being shaded, and from occasional stimuli, advances rapidly to
perfection; but in an extended plantation, a regular and not
inexpensive system of culture must be followed to ensure success.

The nuts being selected, when perfectly ripe, from middle-aged trees
of the best sorts, are to be laid on the ground under shades, and
after the roots and middle shoots, with two branches, have appeared,
the sooner they are planted the better. Out of 100 nuts, only
two-thirds, on an average, will be found to vegetate. The plants are
then to be set out at intervals of thirty or forty feet--the latter
if ground can be spared--and the depth will be regulated by the
nature of the soil, and the nut must not be covered with earth. The
plants require, in exposed situations, to be shaded for one and even
two years, and no lalang grass must be permitted to encroach on
their roots. A nursery must be always held in readiness to supply
the numerous vacancies which will occur from deaths and accidents.
The following may be considered the average cost of a plantation,
until it comes into bearing:--

FIRST COST--100 ORLONGS OF LAND.
Spanish dollars.
Purchase money of land, ready for planting 1,000
7,000 nuts at 11/2 dollars, per 100 105
Houses of coolies, carts, buffaloes, &c., &c. 100
-----
Spanish dollars 1,205

YEARLY COST OF SEVEN YEARS.

First year, 10 laborers at 3 dollars per month, including
carts, &c. 360
Wear and tear of buildings, carts, and implements 50
Overseer, at 7 dollars per month 84
Quit rent, average 50
Nursery and contingencies 50
-----
Total per annum 594
Seven years at the rate will be 4,158
-----
Total, Spanish dollars 4,752

To this sum interest will have to be added, making, perhaps, a sum
total of 6,000 Spanish dollars, and this estimate will make each
tree, up to its coming into bearing, cost one Spanish dollar at the
lowest. The young tree requires manure, such as putrid fish and
stimulating compounds, containing a portion of salt. On the
Coromandel coast, the natives put a handful of salt below each nut
on planting it.

The cultivators of Kiddah adopt a very slovenly expedient for
collecting the fruit. Instead of climbing the tree in the manner
practised by the natives on the Coromandel coast, by help of a hoop
passing round the tree and the body of the climber--and a ligature
so connecting the feet as will enable him to clasp the tree with
them--the Malays cut deep notches or steps in the trunk, in a
zig-zag manner, sufficient to support the toes or the side of the
foot, and thus ascend with the extra, aid only of their arms. This
mode is also a dangerous one, as a false step, when near the top of
a high tree, generally precipitates the climber to the ground. This
notching cannot prove otherwise than injurious to the tree. But the
besetting sin of the planter of coco-nuts, and other productive
trees, is that of crowding. Coco-nut trees, whose roots occupy, when
full grown, circles of forty to fifty feet in diameter, may often be
found planted within eight or ten feet of each other; and in the
native campongs all sorts of indigenous fruit trees are jumbled
together, with so little space to spread in, that they mostly assume
the aspect of forest trees, and yield but sparing crops.

The common kinds of the coco-nut, under very favorable
circumstances, begin to bear at six years of age; but little produce
can be expected until the middle or end of the seventh year. The
yearly produce, one tree with another, may be averaged at 80 nuts
the tree; where the plantation is a flourishing one--assuming the
number of trees, in one hundred orlongs, to be 5,000--the annual
produce will be 400,000 nuts, the minimum local market value of
which will be 4,000 Spanish dollars, and the maximum 8,000 dollars.
From either of these sums 6 per cent. must be deducted for the cost
of collecting, and carriage, &c. The quantity of oil which can be
manufactured from the above number of nuts will be, as nearly as
possible, 834 piculs of 133-1/3 lbs.

The average price of this quantity, at 7 dollars per picul 5,838
Deduct cost of manufacturing, averaged at one-fourth, and
collecting, watching, &c 2,059
-----
Profit, Spanish dollars 3,779

The Chinese, who are the principal manufacturers of the oil, readily
give a picul of it in exchange for 710 ripe nuts, being about 563
piculs of oil out of the total produce of the plantation of 100
orlongs. The price of coco-nut oil has been so high in the London
market as L35 per tun, or about an average of ten dollars per picul.
It is said that English casks have not been found tight enough for
the conveyance of this oil to Europe, but if the article is really
in great demand, a method will no doubt be discovered to obviate
this inconvenience.