Tropical agriculture. A treatise on the culture, preparation, commerce, and consumption of the principal products of the vegetable kingdom
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Rute following machines and apparatus are necessary for producing the oil: Improved circular cutting machines, for reducing the kernel to small thin slices or shavings. Edge stone runners for grinding down the kernel to pulp. THE OOCOANUT PALM. Toa Improved steam pans, fitted with agitators, so arranged that every part of the pulp or copra is thoroughly separated, and exposed to a temperature varying (according to operator’s desire) from 120° to 180° Fahr., or higher if required. Valves, cocks, and all other suitable fittings for the discharge of pulp or copra. Steam heater for receiving pulp from steam agitator. Hydraulie presses for expressing the oil, specially designed for the purpose and of unusual strength, including plates and woollen bags and fibre mats, as may be required. Pumps for presses, made in the most improved and superior manner, with all necessary safety and self-acting relief valves, cocks, and mountings, pressure gauge, &c. If required, one set of pumps and gearing may be arranged to work two or more presses. Tron tanks for receiving the oil from the presses, of capacity to contain one day’s make of oil. A gun-metal pump is employed for raising the contents to large settling tanks. ‘These are generally made of cast iron, in plates of a convenient size, and properly pre- pared for re-erection, with bolts, nuts, washers, &c. The settling tanks should be of sufficient capacity to contain four days’ produce of oil from the presses, and fitted with the necessary gun-metal test cocks and glass gauges, draw-off cocks, and valves. The following estimate of machinery, capable of producing about 250 gallons per day, is furnished by Messrs. Priestman Bros., of Hull. In calculating production, 1000 nuts will average 32 gallons of oil: Two improved dise cutting machines a OS, Granite edge stone runners, with entablature, self-con- tained and complete .. . 168 One improved steam pan, with stirrers and driving gear... 50 Steam receiving pan nee eg) Two hydraulic po “with double pumps stop valves, and connections . 380 Connecting pipes, or oil conductors from presses ‘to oil receiving or spell tanks .. 15 Oil receiving or spell tanks, to ‘contain say 400 gallons each, with fittings .. 36 Gun-metal lift and force pump, for raising ‘oil to settling or storing tank .. . 20 Large cast-iron storing tank, ‘to contain 1000 gallons, with gun-metal cocks complete br 86 Ten horse-power horizontal steam engine, of first-class make and finish, steam boiler, fitted with all mountings and furnace fittines complete, ‘also steam and feed-water pipes and feed-water heater .. 330 Complete set of best shafting, with ‘pulleys, plummer : blocks, couplings and leather belting for the machines 80 Set of plates, mats, and bags for the oe Rui —o tal Packing and delivery in London ; tt OO If it is desired to erect a factory to manufacture both coir fibre and cocoanut oil, one engine can readily be adapted to work the whole of the machines. To drive the machines specified in the fore- going estimate, and also the coir-fibre machines, a 14 horse-power engine would be required for the combined arrangement, The engine, complete with Cornish boiler and all necessary mountings, fittings, 234 THE COCOANUT PALM. and connections, all of best materials and workmanship, would cost 4501. Packing and delivery in London, 101. The cocoanut shell furnishes cups, which, carved on and set in silver, are a great ornament. It also makes small baskets, cups, ladles, spoons, and other such domestic articles, and fanciful orna- ments. By being burnt and pulverized, and prepared with other ingredients, it produces blacking not inferior to Day and Martin’s, lampblack, black paint, &c. Cocoanut Fibre or Coir.—The fibrous husk of the cocoanut is not its least valuable product, and gives rise to a very large trade, both in the East and to Europe. At first it was only used in this country for stuffing mattresses and cushions, but its applications have been enlarged and its value greatly increased by mechanical processes ; and in a small pamphlet, issued by Mr. Tréloar more than twenty years ago, he stated that its natural capabilities having been brought out, coir has been found suited for the production of a variety of articles of great utility and elegance of workmanship, table mats, fancy baskets, and bonnets. Instead of being formed into rough cordage only, and mats made by hand, by means of ingeniously constructed machinery, the fibre is rendered sufficiently fine for the loom, and matting of different textures and coloured figures is produced, while a combination of wool in pleasing designs gives the richness and effect of hearthrugs and carpeting. Brushes and brooms for house-_ hold and stable purposes, matting for sheepfolds, pheasantries, and poultry yards, church cushions and hassocks, hammocks, clothes lines, cordage of all sizes, and string for nurserymen and others; for tying up trees and other garden purposes; nose bags for horses, mats and bags for seed crushers, oil pressers and candle manufac- turers, are only a few of the varied purposes to which the fibrous coating of the cocoanut is now applied. When the landholder gets his nuts down from the tree, they are given over to be peeled. The peeling process is done in a very quick and dexterous manner by thenatives. A crowbar, or a sharp-pointed piece of wood, is fixed erect on the ground, and the upright end serves to remove the husks; the charge for peeling off the husks is trifling. For breaking the nuts and drying the kernels, nothing is charged ; but, according to the usage of the country, the breaker and preparer get the shells of the nuts. The husks, however, remain the property of the owner, and formerly used to be sold off for local consumption. But since coir yarn began to be so largely exported to England, it is seldom that the owners sell off husks as fuel, as they find that by burying them and then offering them for sale, they realise double the amount that they would when fresh. The best place for burying the husks is the river bank where there are strong currents. At ebb-tide large pits are dug, and the husks counted and thrown in; and before the flood commences, they are covered up with mud, leaves, &c., and made quite secure. When the monsoon sets in, and the freshes come down, the pits are under fresh water, and from husks so rotted, the best coloured fibre is made. The reddish stuff known in the market as Codangaloor fibre, is generally prepared from husks buried in places where the water is throughout the year saltish. The older the THE COCOANUT PALM. 935 pits the better the quality of the fibre, and shrewd purchasers always bear this fact in mind when speculating in the article. Some years back, the husks used to be kept in the pits for more than a year, but now they are not kept above six to eight months, for as soon as it is believed that they are rotten enough to throw out the fibre when beaten, they are removed. If kept above fifteen months, however, they spoil, and the fibre obtained is generally of a bluish colour, and of thin, poor staple, which is unsaleable in England. The price of rotten husks during the last few years has greatly advanced, and has fluctu- ated between 7 to 10 Rs. per 1000. When a purchaser comes forward, the husks are either counted and delivered over, or, as is more usually done, the cadjan specifying the number buried in each pit is handed over and the bargain is supposed to be concluded. The stench emanating from the pits is often intolerable, and during the fibre season, travelling along the banks of the backwater is not a very pleasant thing. The purchaser hands over the husks to women, who beat out all the fibre with short heavy clubs; and as labour is very cheap in the interior, this process is not a very expensive one. The constantly increasing demand for the prepared fibre is suffi- cient to induce many planters to cultivate largely the growth of the cocoanut. The short, woody, and apparently intractable fibres lining the inside of the husk of the cocoanut constitute the material which Hindoo ingenuity had long since converted into excellent cordage. A quarter of a century ago this was its only use; now a large industry has been created in it for matmaking and brushmaking, and we now import into the United Kingdom coir fibre, yarn, and cordage to the collective value of about 170,0001. In 1845 under 10,000 ewts. of coir rope and fibre of all kinds were shipped from Ceylon; in 1870 it had increased to 58,000 cwts. ; The following figures give the shipments for a few years: Coir Yarn. Coir Rope. Year. Cwts. £ Cwts. £ —_—__ — oe 1866 46,869 28, 122 8,097 10,121 1867 42,949 | 26,039 6, 242 7,803 1868 57,961 | 34,776 6,692 8,370 1869 59,489 | 35,687 6,183 7,730 1870 46,764 | 28,616 9,635 12,072 The pericarp of forty nuts furnishes about 6 Ibs. of coir. There are several ways of stripping the fibre from the husk. One is by placing 236 THE COCOANUT PALM. a stake or iron spike in the ground, and by striking the nut on the point the fibre is easily stripped. The tannin which this substance contains prevents the fibre from rotting. The fibre is rather difficult to twist, but coir yarn is made into ropes. and forms the strongest, lightest, and most elastic cables for ships. Before the husk is put into water to steep it should be well beaten, for the purpose of loosening its texture, principally that of the outer surface, which is hard and compact, so that the water may penetrate it with more ease. It is then left to steep for two or three days, and again beaten, until the separation is accomplished. Care should be taken that the husk is kept moist, because if allowed to become dry, the ligneous fecula or spongy pulp, which is found intermixed with the fibre, adheres still more strongly to it. In some islands and parts of the coast where there are no running streams, holes are dug in the sand below high-water mark, and the husk buried several days previous to being beat. The separation of the husk is commonly done by tearing it off with the hands, aided by an axe. A simple application of the foot- power, used in the common turning-lathe or knife-grinding wheel, would enable one man to do the work at present the task of several. A double knife acting crosswise could be made to cut the nut and husk in two, and so prepare it for the extraction of the substance. Small, flat, pliant instruments would then easily extract the pulp from the shell of the nut, and leave it fit for the oil press. About four days’ maceration in fresh water is requisite. After this the husk must be beaten till the fibres separate, when it should be well washed, dried, and packed in pressed bales. For the purpose of beating it out, an instrument in the form of bars, somewhat in the form of a gridiron, should be used. It is obvious that this process might also be advantageously performed by-machinery. One person can beat out with the hand, according to the age of the nut furnishing the husk, from 7 Ibs. to 14 Ibs. per day,—say on an average 10 lbs., but by the use of proper instruments his work might be increased fourfold. Value of the imports of cordage and twine into the United Kingdom from Madras and Ceylon, chiefly coir: Year. Madras. Ceylon. Year. Madras. | Ceylon. £ £ £ £ 1866 81,397 67,418 1871 96,735 48,419 1867 73,005 60,100 1872 156,079 76,542 1868 76,187 67,929 1873 126,037 70,288 1869 113,462 64,126 1874 178,196 63,560 1870 106,338 | 92,263 1875 107,698 | 09 , 094 Machines.—The requisite machinery is simple in construction, and is easily worked by ordinary labourers. The following are required for the cleaning and preparation of the fibre, viz. : Tanks for soaking the shells or husks, for “roller mill.” Roller mill for straightening the husks and preparing the fibre for the “ breaking-down” machine. This is made on the most approved design, with fluted rollers, self-acting adjusting blocks, and screws, THE COCOANUT PALM. 237 wheel gearing, driving pulleys, &., the whole complete and supported in a massive cast-iron frame. Breaking-down mill, of improved construction, the revolving drum accurately centred on shaft, and fitted with best selected steel “ spikes” (so arranged that, if required, any number of these “spikes” may be easily removed, repaired, and replaced), “feed” and “ fence” motion, with wheels and hopper gearings, brush fence, and driving pulleys complete, all mounted on substantial cast-iron frame. “ Willy ” machine, designed and constructed for receiving the fibre from the “breaking-down mill.’ This machine separates the _ different qualities of the fibre, and removes all dust, shorts, and refuse, leaving clean fibre. The machine is made in a very substan- tial manner, is self-contained, fitted with all gearing complete, and mounted on strong cast-iron frame. Hydraulic press, for baling coir fibre for shipment, of the most improved design, and fitted with pumps and gearing complete. Shaftings, pulleys, plummer blocks, bolts, leather belting, &c. The following will be the approximate cost delivered in London of the plant, to clean say 7000 to 8000 husks per day: Sys BIELCFUSHEE TAM || ste ide! cies oe ei- vant pee Dee O Six breaking-down agi ay ee der 0 One Willy machine a og 0 Superior hydraulic press, ‘with double pumps and fittings .. . 230 0 Shafting, belting, pulleys, BCs parti ean nines O Twelve combs, assorted .. > 0 Hight horse-power high-pressure engine, with large boiler tebe el eset * 270 0 Packing for shipment Bee nihioe Unngieeaeat atu aike aU) The foregoing machines, when all working properly, and with nuts of good quality, should produce from 32 to 35 ewts. of fibre, and 7 to 8 ewts. of brush fibre per day of ten hours. One thousand husks of average size and good quality prepared by this machinery should produce 43 to 53 cwts. of fibre, and about 1 ewt. of brush fibre. It is assumed that “soaking tanks” of wood or brickwork in cement can be made on the spot, and used in place of iron tanks, and therefore these are omitted in this estimate. The cost of a single “ breaking-down mill” will be found from the _ price given in above estimate for six machines. Considering the wide-spread range of this palm, it is strange that the import of cocoanut oil has made such little progress compared with its great rival, the African oil palm. One reason may possibly be that the fruit is more generally used for food, and for the refresh- ing drink in the nuts when young. The cocoanut palm is cultivated in great abundance on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, Ceylon, the Laccadives, and everywhere in the Straits Settlements, and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. In the Madras ‘Presidency there are no less than 218,000 acres under cocoanuts. In the West Indies, Central America, and Brazil, the cocoanut is extensively grown; there are groves of it for about 280 miles along 238 THE COCOANUT PALM. the coast of Brazil. From Para alone 73 million cocoanuts, worth 130,000/., are annually shipped to the United States and elsewhere. The annual produce of the plantations on the island of Itamarca, on that coast, is about 400,000 nuts, which would yield more than 2100 ewts. of coir. This island is but three leagues in length, and as the coast alone is planted with these palms, and they are thus pro- ductive, what might not all the cocoanut groves yield, which extend along the coast from the river San Francisco to the bar of Maranguape, a distance of 94 leagues, all cultivated with cocoanut trees ? Many years ago Dr. Royle estimated the average produce of cocoa- nuts from the whole of Malabar at from 300;000,000 to 400,000,000 annually, valued at 50,000/., and copperah, or the dried kernels, was exported for as much more. Thirty years ago there were in Travan- core more than 54 million cocoanut trees, and since that period the cultivation has largely increased, as the demand for the oil and the coir has advanced. From Cochin more than 3000 tons of oil are exported. During the last fifteen years the natives of Cochin have been bestowing a vast amount of attention on cocoanut culti- vation, and some idea of the rate at which this is carried on may be realised from the fact that paddy (rice) land is converted into cocoa- nut plantations, and large portions of the backwater are reclaimed, and at once planted with cocoanut trees. Besides those grown, there is a large annual import of cocoanuts into Bengal, as the following return shows: Year. Number. Cwts. 1871 16,999, 964 24,291 1872 22,271,904 49,509 1873 16,812,444 20 , 274. 1874 13,190,494 60,462 1875 11,688, 854 25,108 The most valuable product of commerce in Malabar is that from the cocoanut tree. In 1873 the value of the oil exported was 356,1871., | and of the coir, yarn, and rope, 176,482/., making a total of 552,6691. Exports of coir, yarn, and rope from British India: Year. Quantity. Value. cewts. £ 1871 103, 264 92,751 1872 128,954 119,601 1873 181,456 167,613 1874 162,576 153,371 1875 152,749 137,280 Ceylon.—The great importance of the cocoanut in this island may be estimated from the fact that the value of the cocoanut plantations in the island are estimated at 15,000,000/. In 1865 there were 332,890 acres under cocoanuts, chiefly situated in the north-western, northern, and southern provinces; but this acreage has been reduced by one-half of late years. THE COCOANUT PALM. 239 Sir Charles Dilke states that 200,000 acres of Ceylon land are shaded by cocoa palms, yielding from 700,000,000 to 800,000,000 nuts a year, worth 2,000,000/. sterling. This value is equal to 2]. 10s. a thousand, which is higher than one expects to find the nut is worth in the Hast. At 21 feet distance apart, an acre holds 98% trees, and at an annual yield of forty nuts per tree (all ages), 200,000 acres would yield 788,000,000 nuts—being about the crop-quantity cited. The numbers hold together, but the dis- tance apart is too near. Healthy trees are, in the West Indies, held to average 100 nuts annually, and extraordinary ones more than double that number. If one island can yield so great a quantity, what possibilities are in store for such a widely-spread tree, nowhere else yet grown in any such extraordinary amount, but for which immense areas peculiarly suited to it, await its enriching groves. Trinidad has as yet only about 3000 acres in cocoanuts, if as much. Cocoanuts exported from Ceylon : Year. | Number. Value. mar Lies & 1866 2,055,453 6,468 1867 4,568,871 13,646 1868 1,738,199 5,256 1869 1,584,011 9,063 5,478,677 1870 eee |) Wiles The production of nuts in the island seems to vary greatly. In 1866, 128,660,280 nuts were collected, besides others not enumerated, but valued at nearly 25,000/. In 1866, 115,435,370 was the number reported, and others to the value of 26,000/. In 1868, only 30,672,624 and 28,000/. worth were returned. Copperah or cocoanut kernels exported from Ceylon: Year. Quantity. Value. _cwts. £ 1866 59, 069 33,032 1867 23,302 13,981 1868 9,338 3,203 1869 17,649 10,589 1870 40,638 31,678 So far back as 1857, the value of the products of the cocoanut shipped from Ceylon, exclusive of those used in the island, was 274,462, thus made up: Quantity. Value. £ @OcoamUtsy 2 ice ee) ps 420,857 No. Onna OGIO cd eel sie 18,881 cwts. 13,984 COUN yarn ee Ce ee ies 31,652 ,, 21,364 Copperah or dried pulp .. 20,381 ,, 12,143 We ere ee Oo Ol aol eallanh 2230054 i teeeeeenenetieieneeneneinantiainenaimneineniememnniinmntmmenneemeninteeemmnaniiaetaeeamnneeneenEEEEmnememeEEEEEE En aemieene meee 240 THE COCOANUT PALM. In 1866 the collective products exported were to the value of 294,718/., and in 1870 they consisted of the following: Quantity. Value. £ INES ou. > ewcraiusee bes 478,677 No. 17,185 HOO vee Vacs tek Steen ee 9,635 ewts. 12,072 Varh 2.5 40 hae es 46,764 ,, 28,616 Copperah am. sei c Ae 40,638 ,, 31,678 Oil a deine a mnigmaertel ano eae 135, 058.2055 170,217 Arrack oe de Wists Vous alee 237,009 galls. 20,326 Pores 2h wale res er 280 , 094 Not only does Ceylon use up the poonac or oil cake left from the local oil-presses for manure and feeding poultry, but it also im- ported 186,207 cwts., valued at 69,829/., in 1874. The following table gives the export and value of the chief pro- ducts of the cocoanut from Ceylon: OIL. Corr. Year. Galls. Value. Cwts. Value. £ £ 1859 1,118,638 | 111,864 | 38,086 | 25,945 1860 1,549,089 | 154,909 | 36,616 | 24,864 1861 1,040,428 | 104,043 | 43,168 | 31,883 1862 1,429,581 | 142,953 | 46,595 | 37,648 1863 1,878,585 | 187,858 | 51,785 | 39,103 1864 2,249,402 | 224,948 | 36,313 | 27,386 1865 1,176,784 | 120,678 | 41,378 | 31,637 1866 1,042,853 | 104,400 | 46,687 | 33,035 1867 1,345,485 | 134,548 | 49,675 | 34,446 1868 1,423,853 | 142,385 | 68,804 | 46,607 1869 1,292,065 | 129,206 | 64,998 | 43,013 1870 1,688,199 | 168,819 | 61,666 | 43,430 1871 2,577,700 | 257,770 | 65,424 | 45,448 ‘In the ten years ending 1871 the total quantity of oil exported was over 16,000,000 gallons, and of coir 533,325 ewts., the aggregate value of the two being 1,995,318/. The oil shipped in the three years following was as follows: Year. Quantity. Value.. aa £ 1872 278,216 330,689 1873 113,872 141,818 1874 145,078 169,373 In French Cochin China there are more than 33,000 hectares of land under culture with cocoanut and areca palms. ‘The cocoanut is extensively grown over all parts of the Hastern THE COCOANUT PALM. 241. Archipelago. The natives have it generally about their dwellings. The annual value of the produce from the trees in the Archipelago is estimated at 2,500,000/., and by greater care and attention it might be double. There were in 1874 in Amboyna 507,349 trees; in Banca, 122,898 ; in Minahassa, 605,300; in Gorontalo, 261,950, and 405 piculs of oil were there made. In Java and Madura there are more than 20,000,000 trees. There are large plantations of cocoanuts in the Seychelles, and a good many in the Mauritius ; 40,000 or 50,000 nuts are shipped yearly from that island, and 100 to 400 cwts. of coir cordage. 125,532 gallons of cocoa- nut oil, valued at 17,187/., were shipped in 1874. Cocoanuts are grown in small quantities throughout the Straits Settlements, but it is only here and there that plantations of any magnitude are met with. There is, perhaps, no tropical colony that has so many advantages for coir making as the island of Penang. At present all the use the palm is put to, with the exception of making a rope for a well bucket, or for some other trifling domestic purpose, is for fuel. In the oil factories the husk is used as firing in boiling the kernel into oil, as well as in boiling rice and curry in the kitchens. About a couple of million nuts are also shipped from the Straits Settlements with the husk on. The ‘ Penang Gazette’ observes: Cocoanuts growing in mangrove soil on the side of creeks, and more or less saturated with salt, have their milk brackish, and the sap from which it is secreted must be saline also. These trees do not suffer from the attacks of the rhino- ceros beetle. Trees planted in such a situation are found to bear much sooner than those planted on a sandy soil. As an illustration of this, the ‘ Penang Gazette’ states that, while trees planted as far back as thirty years ago, on sandy soil, have not yet borne fruit— although they are fine-looking trees—other trees in the same planta- tion, only ten years old, but planted on low ground, where the sea tide comes up daily, washes the roots and runs off again, are in full bearing, giving from 50 to 100 nuts annually. It is true that the milk of the nuts produced by such trees is slightly brackish, but the kernel is as thick as that of cocoanuts grown on sandy soil, and produces as much oil, The chief requisite with regard to a planta- tion in such a situation, is attention to the drainage. Drains should be cut longitudinally between each row of trees and cross ones at greater intervals. These drains must be kept clear, so as to allow the salt water to flow in and out freely. The tide is found to deposit amongst the trees a very fertilizing matter. If the drains are not attended to and the water stagnates, the trees get dwarfed and become thin towards the top, thereby preventing them from having a largecrown. In New Caledonia this palm is abundant on the north-east coast of the island, but is rare on the opposite coast, and while it flourishes on the northern aspect, it declines towards the south. It may be added, however, that nowhere does it vegetate so well as on the islands approaching the Line. It bears from 60 to 80 fruit. This palm is widely spread over the Pacific Islands, and a considerable trade is carried on in cocoanut oil. ; B 942, THE COCOANUT PALM. At Tahiti there are about 200,000 cocoanut palms, which produced in 1874 more than 12,500,000 nuts. About 600,000 only were ex- ported, and nearly 2,000,000 kilos. of copperah, or dried cocoanut pulp. In 1868, 690 tons of cocoanut oil were shipped from Tahiti ; in 1878, 420 tons of oil and 1368 tons of copperah. 19,000 kilos. of copperah were shipped in the same year from the Marquesas. In 1864, 900 tons of cocoanut oil and 10 tons of coir were shipped from the Navigators’ Islands, and within the last year or two a cocoanut-fibre machine has been set in full working order at Apia, Samoa Islands. The Friendly Islands exported in 1866, 704 tons of cocoanut oil, worth 211. per ton. The manufacture is carried on there in the rudest manner. The nut is scraped and placed, mixed with a little sea water, in hollow logs to putrefy. The oil disengages itself, and -is collected at the bottom of the trough. , The following has been the shipments of oil from the Feejee Islands : Year. | Quantity. | Value. | tons. £ pee ee 600 | “43,3007 8 ages. te S00! 8 a oo ae | ages | 459 5 tee | > 1867 4) 150, so) See |, 1868". 5250... |. 5 ie F869 ep S500 ae | 1870 | 200... | 4.95008 | From the Tuamotus Archipelago 3000 tons of copperah were shipped in 1873, but this is nothing to what may be expected. The single island of Anaa, it is stated, has more than 7,000,000 cocoa palms.* Assuming half of these are too old or too young to fruit, there remain 3,500,000, and supposing 1,500,000 of these required to nourish the 1500 inhabitants and their live stock, there would remain 2,000,000 to furnish the raw materials of commerce. As a very ordinary tree would furnish 25 nuts yearly, this would give 50,000,000, and as 100 nuts yield 50 Ibs. of copperah, we have a total of 25,000,000 Ibs. available for export. It might yield 12,000 tons with proper manage- ment. The number of trees in the Tuamotus will have more than trebled by 1879, for large plantations were made in 1866, and it takes ten years to bring the tree into full fruiting. For preparing copperah it is we to collect only ripe nuts, and not to break the nut until a month or six weeks after it has been ‘gathered, the copperah then dries more quickly, is richer in oil, and does not turn mouldy. Jamaica.—In arecent report by Mr. R. Thomson, the colonial botanist, he states, that within the last few years no less than 18,500 cocoanut palms have been planted on the long sandy spit known as — the Palisadoes, running from Kingston to Port Royal, and about — 4000 more were to be planted. He adds: “TI have already estimated * Revue Maritime et Coloniale, April 1875, p. 81. Paris. THE COCOANUT PALM. 243 the value, after seven or cight years’ growth, of the total number of cocoanuts which the Palisadoes is capable of containing, at 20001. ; and this estimate I think moderate, as it gives the value of each tree at a little under 2s. It is a generally accepted opinion that this tree flourishes luxuriantly in all maritime tropical regions, on the arid sandy sea-shore as well as in the richest valleys. There can, however, be no doubt that the tree grows with far greater luxuriance under favourable conditions of abundant moisture and rich soil, and it is in consideration of this that I estimate the annual yield of each tree at the low rate of 2s. The land on the Palisadoes is composed chiefly of sand, with an admixture throughout its greater extent of a rich vege- table mould. Severe droughts of from six to nine months’ duration are frequently experienced, and although the tree may flourish in proximity to the sea, I consider that a greater rainfall on this sandy soil would double the return mentioned. The extremely arid condition of the Palisadoes and the neighbourhood of Kingston, probably the driest spot in the West Indies, has been brought about by the whole- sale destruction of the primeval forest over hills and plains to the extent, including the continuation of the plain to the west, of from four to five hundred square miles. Along the line of the shore the palm luxuriates throughout this district, but on receding to the distance of half a mile it ceases to present a flourishing aspect, until we reach the hills or the plain beyond the arid region where it again acquires the necessary condition—moisture. It would be a matter of some importanee for statistical as well as utilitarian purposes, to ascertain what number of cocoanut trees there are in the island. I am not aware that any steps have ever been taken to determine this ; and if this be so, it seems all the more remarkable, when it is remembered that the nut is one of our most important products, and that the average of many of far less importance has been carefully ascertained. In the East Indies these trees are carefully enumerated, and in some parts a yearly tax is levied on each tree, and even mortgages. are commonly secured to the extent of 2s.a tree. The 2,000,000 nuts, worth about 50001., exported annually from Jamaica, give a very im- perfect idea of the value of the tree to the colony. In each of several parishes, for instance, St. Thomas, Portland, and St. Mary, there must be over 100,000 fruiting trees, and the number is being constantly increased. Wherever the tree abounds, the nuts form an important article of food among the peasantry, either in their natural state or manufactured into oil. By the peasantry, however, the husk is not turned to any account, and is only manufactured to a very trifling extent in prisons, whilst if, at a°moderate computation, we estimate the number of bearing trees at 1,000,000, each yielding, on an average, sixty nuts, the husks, if utilized, would give at least 50,000/. Cocoanuts abound around nearly the whole seaboard of the island; and within ‘thirty miles of Kingston they are obtainable in large quantities, at 100 per cent. less than they are bought for in town. It is a pity that the highly valuable products of this palm are not turned to better account, and it would be a great boon to the colony if private enter- prise would, initiate a system of manufacturing oil for island con- sumption and coir for exportation, as the nuts could be obtained in R 2 244 THE COCOANUT PALM. quantities to meet any demand, and brought to town in the coasting droghers. How many hundreds of acres are now covered with this stately palm, and how many thousands of the nuts annually fall to the ground, almost useless to the proprietor !” ; It is a low and safe estimate to take the value of the produce of an acre of cocoanuts in bearing at from 8/. to 10. On the sea-shore these trees begin to bear in six or seven years. A great part of the waste shores of this island is very suitable for the growth of the cocoa- nut; and the demand for this most useful of all fruits, even where no machinery has been erected for the preparation of its products, is unlimited. The disease which destroyed the cocoanut tree in some West Indian islands, is unknown here. Within the last three or four years cocoanut trees have been planted, especially on the north side of the island, more extensively than ever before. In Trinidad great attention has of late years been given to cocoa- nut production. In 1863 and 1864 only 250,000 were shipped annually, but in 1876 the number had risen to over 4,500,000. The value of the export is now over 18,0007. The civilized world of the temperate zone can absorb all the oil and fibre the tropics are likely to send for generations to come, however great the supply. The trees are always in bearing, but we learn that in some quarters at least, the Trinidad planters confine themselves to three great re- gular pluckings, at four months apart—namely, in April, August, and December. The cultivation is extending on the shores of the colony. The value of the cocoanuts and cocoanut fibre exported from Trinidad in 1871 was estimated at 87321. against 2863/. in 1870. The cocoanut can be grown in unlimited quantities on the eastern coast of the island, where two factories have been established for some time for the preparation of oil and fibre. The difficulties of pro- curing labour in that remote part of the island, and of shipping the produce on an exposed coast, have hitherto retarded the commercial suc- cess of these establishments; but if these difficulties can be overcome, a large extension may be given to this branch of colonial industry. There is a considerable demand for cocoanuts in the United States, but then the American captains require them to be delivered husked, and that they be large and spherical. Cocoanuts can be had in Tri- nidad at 10 to 18 dollars a thousand; in Jamaica they sell at 18 dollars, and in Central America at 25 dollars. A Trinidad paper well remarks that “as the fibre could be so readily utilized in the States, it is rather singular the traders do not offer to buy the nuts, as picked, at the low rates current in these islands, and husk and sort them after arrival in America, selling the large handsome nuts to the first- class fruiterers, confectioners, and grocers; the smaller nuts to the street seller, and the husk to the mat, mattress, and brushmaker, the rancid nuts, if any, going to the soap-boiler. There is good reason to believe we grow a goodly proportion of lusty, handsome nuts, having first-class soils for the tree, an equatorial climate and prolific bearers. Planting is always extending, at Mayaro, Icacos, Irois, Carenage, and other places, leaving many virgin beaches, along which, sooner — or later, they will be dotted. We have at least as good conditions for producing prime nuts as any colony in these seas.” THE AFRICAN OIL PALM. QA5 Tre Arrican Om Paum (Hlais guineensis, Lin.) is, after the cocoa- nut palm, one of the most important in a commercial point of view, since it furnishes to British commerce about 50,000 tons of oil annually, of the value of one and a half to one and three-quarters of a million sterling, besides the quantity locally consumed as food in Africa, and sent to other countries. It is distinguished by its decumbent trunk, and bears clusters of one-seeded fruits (drupes), with oily husks of a bright vermilion or a more or less yellow colour. The range of this palm is not as yet well defined, but appears to extend from the coast of Guinea to the south of Fernando Po, and grows as far up in the interior as Zheru, a distance of 400 miles from the sea, or the mouth of the Min, one of the embouchures of the Niger. Captain Burton, in his ‘ Lake Regions of Central Africa,’ states that this palm is known by the Arabs to grow in the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and more rarely in the mountains of Usagona. It springs up apparently uncultivated in large dark groves on the shores of the Tanganyika, where it hugs the margin, rarely growing at any distance inland. This fine palm, he adds, is also tapped, as the date palm is in Western India, for toddy, and the cheapness of this timbo—the sura of Western Africa—accounts for the prevalence of intoxication, and the consequent demoralization of the Lake tribes. The principal ports in the Bight of Benin from which palm oil is exported are, Badagry, Porto Novo, Whydah, Aliquah, Lagos, and Palmas. : Palm oil is exported from the following rivers: Brass, New Cala- bar, Bonny, Old Calabar, Bemba, Cameroons, and also from Fernando Po. Independent of these, in the rivers Malunba, Boreah, and Kampo palm oil is brought by coasting vessels. Bonny supplies the largest amount of palm oil that is brought from any river in West Africa. The process of extracting the oil is simple. The clusters or branches of fruit, which contain perhaps as many as 4000, are gathered by the men, and thrown indiscriminately into a trench or pit, and so left until they become somewhat decayed. The fruit is afterwards pounded in a mortar to loosen the husky fibre covering the nut. This done, they are placed in large clay vats filled with water, and two or three women tread out the semi-liquid oil, which comes to the surface as disengaged from the fibre, when it is collected and boiled to get rid of the water. The inner surface of these clay vats having at first absorbed a small quantity of oil, is not afterwards affected either by the water or oil. The oil is collected in pots, containing from three to twenty gallons. M. Boussingalt has shown, from information collected,* that the average production of oil from palms is at the rate of 900 kilos. per hectare, that is to say, superior by a third to the production of oil from the olive in the south of Europe. This vegetable fat is stated by A. C. Oudemans, jun., to have the following remarkable composition: stearin, palmitin, myristin, laurein, elain, caprin, caproin, and caprylin. It is used with the other solid fats for making soap and candles, and for railway grease. The price of the oil at the close of 1876 was 411. per ton. The enormous * “Keonomie Rurale,’ t. i. p. 350. 246 THE AFRICAN OIL PALM. progress that has been made in the commerce in this article is shown by comparing the imports of 1840 with those of the last six years, which have averaged one million hundredweights, and this is only the British imports. Cwts. | Cwts. 1340 ns ns Oe: 1870 wa 4s Ss.0 eee . AS ED so: niin yew tes OT 1875 20. se ae een 1860 .; *...< ce. -B0e a6 Marseilles also receives about 1000 tons, and the United States some quantity. The oil rivers of Biafra and Benin extend over 800 miles of coast, and include the island of Fernando Po. ‘he chief exports consist of palm oil and palm kernels. In 1872 the number of British traders was twenty-four, and there were two foreign. These twenty-six palm-oil traders have fifty- five trading establishments in seven rivers, and employ 207 white agents, clerks, &c., 419 blacks, and 2000 kroomen. The Fernando Po. oil crop never exceeds 400 tons a year, and yet from the number of oil palms there at least 4000 tons might be obtained, but the 25,000 aborigines do not care to produce more. More oil palms might be grown, for there is abundance of room for them in the oil district, though it is but a mere fringe of the African continent. But the natives never think of planting oil palms. The river chiefs, now oil brokers, were slave brokers formerly. The following table gives the quantity of palm oil imported into the United Kingdom for a series of years: Cwts. : Cwts. $SI0 ee ga wt POLO OOF 1359 "eee 685 , 794 Ott we ee O02 ISG £860" 2.: "eae 804,326 LOAD EE es, A OAD 1861...) ne ee 1843 20 Wie <. 41S 499 1862 .. - => .. —S6,6e 1844 .. .. .. 414,648 LS6a) <.* ee 790 , 224 1895> 2.) eS 1505. 704 1864... .. 1. MiGeeeee PStGi..) ek 1 ooOseoe 18630: VF 798 , 724 ASAT EP, Ss oak ANG B0L 1866... .. 4 eSore dS4 8 es) ieee a. POLO RZIS ESOT 3s ty hoes 812,080 POLO eed at GS et 1868 .. 2. a. 0 eee SHO ec ac ee eee od L869: 3% cae eee 814,520 So eee! yet. SOUS 000 18707. SS ee 868 , 270 TSoZ Ae 6: 6 ee) 2025,818 187i... .. 20 TSOSee. & hee” 0 -GeOsGRs 1872 ...-3. ~< 150GheEae Oe oe em nea aoe sais 1873... .. . aga feonset BIN. S04 1874... 2. «. Seven [S56 2. os. oh Tee al 1875 .. ..° + See 1 SOW oa 0 Sa? a LISOL VO IS7G -2) Sees 864,472 ISDS 5s § ies oe SULTS a0 Palm-kernel Oil—The kernels, with the exception of an insig- nificant quantity used for the manufacture of oil for domestic purposes in Africa, were formerly thrown away. Attention was first drawn to their utilization in Liberia. Within the last fifteen years they have been more generally collected and employed. The shell being broken, the kernels are shipped to be pressed for oil, &c. Vast extension of — the African trade has arisen out of this new article of export.. THE AFRICAN OIL PALM. QAT It has been estimated by competent authorities that from the 50,000 tons of palm oil shipped there must be 10,000,000 bushels of kernels, equal to 223,000 tons in weight. The average yield from these kernels being about 30 per cent., if all were utilized this would furnish 76,000 tons more of oil, worth at the price of cocoanut oil (which it closely resembles) about 2,700,0007. If we add to this the value of the oilcake, 112,000 tons at 6/7. per ton, we should have a very large increase to the value of the oil-palm trade with Western ica. Palm-nut oil is obtained on the coast from the seed or kernel, by roasting, beating, and boiling. In Liberia, on a small scale, a bushel of kernels was found to yield two gallons of oil, but with good presses a very much larger yield than this is obtained. The palm kernels are quoted in London, January, 1877, at 121. 10s. 