As the cost of manufacture is generally rated at one-half the selling price, and as we must add a further charge of 20 per cent to cover freight and commission, we have resulting from the sale of the 23 quintals, or 2,300 kilos, at £16 per English ton, a balance of £11 11s. per hectare.
But there are other considerations which should not be overlooked. The husks of 10,000 cocoanuts will withdraw from the land 61.5 kilos of potash and 3 kilos of phosphoric acid, and the restoration of the full amount is called for to compensate for the growing wants of the tree, in addition to that withdrawn by the crop. The necessary fertilizers are worth, approximately, 5½d. per kilo, making a further reduction of £1 8s. and leaving as a net profit £10 3s., or, reduced to American money, nearly $50, gold, per hectare.
The machines above referred to will cost $800, gold, and $1,200 additional will purchase and house the power necessary to operate them. Such a plant will work up 1,000 nuts a day, and handle in a year the output of a grove of 30 hectares. With the addition of two or more fiber extractors the capacity of the plant may be doubled without material expense, and it should rather more than pay its entire cost in one year.
Tuba.
Tuba is the fresh or mildly fermented sap drawn from the inflorescence of the cocoanut.
There are no figures or data of any kind available as a basis for an estimate as to the importance of this product, but its extent may be inferred from the fact that the outlying groves about Cebu, Iloilo, and the larger Visayan towns are practically devoted to the production of tuba, and not to the manufacture of copra.
Tuba is collected from the unexpanded blossoms as soon as they have fairly pushed through the subtending bracts. To prevent any lateral expansion, the flowers are tied with strips of the green leaf blade and then, with a sharp knife, an inch or two of the extreme tip is removed. The whole flower cluster is now gently pulled forward until it arches downward. In a day or two the sap begins to drip and is then caught in a short joint of bamboo, properly secured for the purpose.
As a healthy tree develops at least one or more flowering racemes every month, and the flow of sap extends frequently over a period of two or more months, it is not uncommon to see a number of tubes in use upon one tree.
The workmen usually visits the tree twice daily to collect the liquor drawn during the preceding twelve hours in the larger tube, which he carries upon his back. He slices daily a thin shaving from the tip of the flower, in order that the wound may be kept open and bleeding. This process is kept up until nearly all of the flower cluster has been cut away, or until the sap ceases to flow.