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.

    So long, however, as the cultivator can obtain a dollar and a half,
    or even one dollar for 100 nuts, he will not find it profitable to
    make oil, unless its price greatly rises.

    Soap is manufactured at Pondicherry from this oil, but it is not
    seemingly in repute; the attempt has not been made in Pinang with a
    view to a market.

There is scarcely any coir rope manufactured at this island, so that the profit which might (were labor cheaper) arise from this application of the coco-nut fibre, is lost.  The shell makes good charcoal; the leaves are scarcely put to any purpose, the nipah or attap being a superior material for thatching.

The coco-nut tree is extremely apt to be struck by lightning, and in such cases it is generally destroyed.  It is a dangerous tree, therefore, to have close to a house.  If the trees are widely planted, coffee may be cultivated under their shade.  It is generally believed that the extracting of toddy from this tree hastens its decline.  The Nicobar and Lancavi Islands used partly to supply the Pinang market with this indispensable article; but their depopulation has greatly reduced the quantity.

On the whole it may be said that there is no cultivation which insures the return of produce with so much certainty as that of the coco-nut tree; and as Rangoon, the Tenasserim coast, and Singapore