73 
it becomes rather sweet, and a slimy, gelatinous mass, having a sweetish 
taste and containing comparatively little oil begins to deposit on the 
inside of the former. At first this forms chiefly on the lower half of the 
nut, but finally it covers the whole inner surface. This pulpy mass soon 
grows thicker and denser, it increases in oil content at the expense of 
sugar in the milk, until it assumes the well-known characteristics of 
ordinary coconut meat. During this last stage the evolution of carbon 
dioxide which previously was mentioned occurs. Even in ripe nuts, after 
they have been picked from the tree, there seems to be a slight continua- 
tion of the hardening process in the meat, covering a period of from two 
to three months, or until the sprout makes its appearance. Then other 
changes occur, the reverse of those which had taken place previously; the 
nourishment concentrated and stored up as fat is now transformed into 
sugars and other bodies capable of being directly assimilated by the young 
plant. As this process goes on the embryo or “foot” gradually increases 
in size until it occupies the whole space inside the nut and makes use of 
all the nourishment contained therein for the growth of the young tree. 
Therefore, for the largest yield of copra and oil, only thoroughly ripe 
nuts (the husks of which have begun to turn brown) should be used, and 
it is often advisable to allow the latter to stand in a dry place for a few 
weeks before they are opened. The greatest care should be taken to avoid 
using green nuts, as it is shown by the tables given above that a loss of 
almost 50 per cent may thus result. 
On the other hand, coconuts should not be stored tao long, for in about 
three months the embryo begins to grow, and, even before that time, those 
nuts which may have been cracked or bruised in gathering, have a 
tendency to become rancid. 
Analysis of nuts of different color—lIn a certain portion of San 
Ramon farm there exist, growing side by side in the same kind of soil, 
two apparently different varieties of coconut trees, one of which uni- 
formly produces nuts of a golden-yellow color, while the other bears a 
light-green fruit. Both varieties eventually turn brown at maturity. 
Analyses of these nuts are given in the accompanying tables, Series VIII 
being ten ripe nuts from a tree which bears a green fruit, while Series IX 
is made up of nuts from a tree about 50 feet away whose product is 
yellow until it becomes “dead ripe.” 
