All about Coconuts

From the Foreword. IN these days of advancement one development follows so fast upon the heels of another that the marvel of to-day becomes the commonplace of to-morrow, and one has perforce to accept change and even revolution as normal phases of existence. Nothing illustrates this progress more clearly than the manner in which scientists and experts in every department are developing the world's latent wealth, particularly in the field of tropical agriculture. In a comparatively short space of time we have witnessed an expansion in the cocoa, rubber, and banana industries that has brought these commodities into the forefront of the commercial world, and, incidentally, proved highly profitable to those whose foresight enabled them to secure financial interest in the movement at its inception. Quietly but rapidly a revolution is being wrought in another product which forms the basis of several of our commonest household necessities-butter, soap, candles, and mats-and in which the scope for profitable enterprise is so great as to make it difficult to present adequately and fairly the outlook without appearing to be unduly optimistic. The lay reader will be able to form some idea of the gigantic strides made in the development of the coconut industry when it is mentioned that the value of the world's output for the year 1913 is estimated to exceed 70,000,000, or nearly double the world's output of rubber. Moreover, the market price of the principal product of the coconut (copra-the dried kernel) has nearly trebled in price in the last few years, whilst at the same time the cost of production-owing to the introduction of improved methods of cultivation and machinery-has been reduced. The latter point is indisputable evidence of the profitable nature of the industry. If coconut cultivation was profitable when the product was sold at 10 to 12 per ton, what must be the profit of the industry with the market price at over 30 per ton? And it may be here remarked that many years ago, when copra was between 10 and 15 per ton, coconuts were christened "The Consols of the East," owing to the safe and profitable nature of the industry of coconut cultivation. That we are only on the fringe of gigantic developments in the industry is shown by the fact that the existence of the food article which has been mainly responsible for the expansion in the demand for coconuts-viz., nut-butter-is known only to a comparative few. Perhaps one in fifty has heard of it, and only one in a hundred has tried it. Yet, although it may appear to be looking very far ahead, nevertheless, many shrewd, disinterested persons have expressed the opinion, for which there is good foundation on medical, sanitary, and economic grounds, that it is only a question of time before butter made from vegetable fat will entirely supersede the butter made from animal fat....