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ON THE WATER RELATIONS OF THE COCONUT PALM 
(COCOS NUCIFERA )—ON THE OIL PRODUCED FROM 
THE NUTS—THE FACTORS ENTERING INTO 
THE RANCIDITY OF THE OIL, AND THE 
INSECTS ATTACKING THE TREES. 
Introduction by Paun C. FREER. 
Investigations on the subject of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) 
have been carried on in the Bureau of Government Laboratories for the 
past eighteen months. The work has been divided into three parts and 
brought to its present state by codperation between several divisions of 
the institution. It will be published in serial form in the JournaL. The 
first portion covers the water relations of the tree from the standpoint of 
its physiology, by Dr. Edwin Bingham Copeland, who spent. several 
months on a plantation studying this question from an experimental 
standpoint. The second paper covers the coconut in its relation to the 
cultivation of the tree and the production of coconut oil, and includes a 
study of the deterioration both of the copra and the oil by reason of 
rancidity caused by molds and bacterial growth, by Herbert 8. Walker; 
and in conclusion there is added a study of the insects which attack the 
plant, together with suggestions as to the best means of combating their 
depredations, by Charles 8. Banks and William Schultze. 
By this union of the laboratory work, the study of this most important 
tropical tree has been carried to an extent which not only will enable the 
conclusions to be of great value to planters but which will also have a 
scientific interest for those who are not immediately interested in coconut 
production. One topic which is of especial importance is still under 
investigation and not ready for publication. This is the study of the 
germinating nut together with the transformation which the oil undergoes 
during the growth of the embryo. This topic offers an opportunity for 
the study of the enzymes in a germinating plant which is unsurpassed, 
as the size of the seed of the coconut and the ease with which it is sepa- 
rated into its various constituent parts brings a certainty of results not 
to be encountered in other instances. This portion of the investigation 
is now being followed in the chemical laboratory. When the serial on 
the subjects mentioned above has been completed it will be published as 
a separate reprint. 
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