Page:The coco palm by Dahlgren, B. E. (Bror Eric).djvu/17

Rh and West Indies are the chief producing and exporting countries in order of their importance. The Philippines, for instance, produce annually about a billion nuts, 150 millions of which are consumed locally, and the remainder exported. The value of the exports in 1913 was fifteen to twenty million dollars. A ton of copra, the product of about 5,000 nuts, brought them about $100. Large coco palm plantations often twenty to 100,000 acres in extent, are being established in various parts of the world to keep pace with the demand which is increasing with the decline in the supply of animal fats. The coconut supply to the United States has hitherto come chiefly from the American tropics, Central America, Colombia, Brazil, and the West Indies. The trees in this region are lately threatened by a fungus disease, the so-called "bud-rot," which has gained a foot-hold. A few coco palms are grown in the United States, mostly for ornamental purposes, on the east coast of Florida and along the Gulf. The Museum specimen is a reconstruction within the limitations of an exhibition case, of the bearing portion of a South Florida palm in a well developed stage.

The exhibits in the Field Museum pertaining to the Coconut palm and its economic products are to be found in the Department of Botany, Halls 25 and 28 on the second floor.