1. There are large areas throughout the littoral valleys of the
Archipelago, as yet unexploited, which, in the essentials of soil,
climate, irrigation facilities, and general environment are suitable
for cocoanut growing.
2. The present conditions present especially flattering attractions
to cocoanut growers capable of undertaking the cultivation upon a
scale of some magnitude. By coöperation, small estates could combine
in the common ownership of machinery, whereby the products of the
grove could be converted into more profitable substances than copra.
3. The present production of copra (estimated at 278,000 piculs in
1902) is an assurance of a sufficient supply to warrant the erection
of a high-class modern plant for the manufacture of the ultimate (the
"butter") products of the nut. The products of such an enterprise would
be increased by the certainty of a local market in the Philippines for
some part of the output. The average market value of the best grades of
copra in the Marseilles market is $54.40, gold, per English ton. The
jobbing value on January 1 of this year, of the refined products,
were, for each ton of copra:
Butter fats $90.00
Residual soap oils 21.00
Press cake 5.20
------
Total 116.20
the difference representing the profit per ton, less the cost of
manufacture.
4. The minimum size of a plantation, on which economical application
of oil and fiber preparing machinery could be made, is 60 hectares.
5. There is no other horticultural tropical product which may be grown
in these Islands where crop assurance may be so nearly guaranteed,
or natural conditions so nearly controlled by the planter who,
knowing correct principles, has the facilities for applying them.
6. The natural enemies and diseases of the plant are relatively few,
easily held in check by vigilance and the exercise of competent
business management.
7. The labor situation is bound more seriously to affect the small
planter, wholly dependent upon hand labor, than the estate conducted
on a large enough scale to justify the employment of modern machinery.
8. In view of an ever-expanding demand for cocoanut products, and in
the light of the foregoing conclusions, the industry, when prosecuted
upon a considerable scale and subject to the requirements previously
set forth, promises for many years to be one of the most profitable
and desirable enterprises which command the attention of the Filipino
planter.
The greatest mine of horticultural wealth which is open to the shrewd
planter lies in the heaps of waste and neglected husks that he can
now procure from adjoining estates for the asking and cartage.
With labor at 1 peso per diem and at the present price of potash and
phosphoric acid, all the husks in excess of 300 per diem which could
be hauled would be clear profit. The ashes of these, when burned and
applied to the old grove, would have an immediate and revivifying
influence.
Many trees in an old plantation have ceased to bear. Whether this is
due to exhaustion from old age or from soil exhaustion is immaterial;
each should be eradicated and the time-honored custom of replanting
a fresh tree in its place abandoned. These renewals are difficult
enough in any fruit or nut orchard where the scientific cultural
conditions have been of the best. Renewals in a cocoanut grove,
unless the vacant space is abnormally large and can be subjected to
some years of soil improvement, are unprofitable.
There is a wide range of opinion as to the bearing life of a cocoanut
tree. It is said to vary from thirty to one hundred and thirty
years. Grown more than forty, or possibly fifty years old, the writer
would hesitate to undertake the improvement or renewal of the grove.
Palms, unlike exogenous trees, afford no evidence by which their
age may be determined. In general, with advanced years, come great
height and great attenuation. In the open, and where fully exposed
to atmospheric influences, these form an approximate criterion of
age. The so-called annular scars, marking the earlier attachments of
leaves, furnish no clue to age.