254 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 3, 1912. 



ARTIFICIAL COPRA-DRYING. 



With a loss of several million pesos annually, by reason 

 of the crude and unsatisfactory methods used for drying 

 copra in the Philippine islands, the introduction and use of 

 an improved copra drier be:omes a question of great 

 economic importance. The original plans for an apparatus 

 to use steam heat were furnished about one year ago by 

 Mr. O. W. Barrett, Chief of the Division of Experiment 

 Stations, but the details of construction have been worked 

 out by Mr. Z. K. Miller, Machinery Expert of the Bureau of 

 Agriculture. Unfortunately, Mr. Miller did not have time to 

 make any preliminary tests of the drier at the Pandacan 

 repair shops of the Bureau, but it was decided to exhibit the 

 original apparatus at the exposition held recently, and to 

 try it there on the grounds, instead of delaying its introduc- 

 tion to the i,ublic any longer. It is believed to be the first 

 machine of this type. When perfected, it may meet the 

 requirements of the Philippine copra industry and thus help 

 to raise the standard of that product in the Orient. 



This drier is •564 metres long by 91 cm. wide, 3 metres 

 high at the front and 244 metres high at the rear end. Its 

 sides are constructed of angle iron frames for the sections 

 into which are riveted two sheets of plain galvanized iron 

 with 3mm. asbestos millboard between. The tracks for the 

 trays are set on an incline of 61 cm. to 46 cm. There are 

 three rows of these trays with a .51cm. space between the 

 rows. Each row holds four trays, or a total of twelve trays 

 for the drier. The trays, which are 91 cm. by 137 metres, 

 and 1 dm. deep, are constructed of wire and angle iron with 

 the bottoms made of bamboo slats set 6 mm. apart. Each 

 tray has a capacity of about 160 nuts. The trays are fitted 

 with trunk rollers and can be easily handled by two labourers. 

 The incline is such that very little eflfort is required to push 

 the trays when they are loaded. Each track has an entrance 

 door and a discharge door 91 by 28 cm. in size. There are 

 also three doors of the same dimensions on the top of the 

 drier, to carry off the moisture, while fresh air is admitted at 

 the bottom below the coils. The coils located at the bottom 

 of the drier, contain 1, 219*20 square metresof heating surface, 

 which will maintain an even temperature between 150° and 

 180°and will dry the copra in fifteen hours. 



There are three methods of handling the raw material 

 in connexion with this type of drying apparatus: — 



( 1 ) The Birchfield method which obviates the necessity 

 of hui^king the nuts— that is, the entire nut is chopped in 

 halves by means of a heavy broad axe, the halves being 

 immediately placed either in the sun on a concrete or haid 

 earth patio, or placed directly in the trays of the drier 

 where after two or three hours the meat may be readily 

 removed and then replaced to complete the drying process, 

 the refuse husk and shell being thrown aside for fuel. 



(2) The husked nuts are broken in halves, and the 

 shells are either set out to dry in the sun so that the meat 

 can be removed after about one day of good weather, or else 

 put directly into the trays of the drier and treated as by the 

 first method. 



(3) The meat from whatever process, at any stage of 

 dryness, is put into the trays without considering the 

 previous operations and kept there until the attendant in 

 charge pronounces the drying complete. With the latter 

 method of procedure the capacity of a drier of this size is 

 estimated to be about 3,000 nuts in twenty-four hours. 



The principal advantage in the use of the steam drier is 

 that it is practically impossible to burn the material during 

 the drying, though of course, the time required for turning out 

 a copra which will endure storage in the bodega for several 

 miinths is considerably longer in the case of an apparatus 



like this than with a hot-air, or rotary oven, type — makers of 

 some machines of the latter type claiming to be able to turn 

 out thoroughly dried copra in 'two to three hours'. 



This drier will be taken to the Pandacan repair shops of 

 the Bureau of Agriculture where exhaustive tests and experi- 

 ments with it will be carried on for several months, until 

 accurate information has been obtained as to the most 

 economical method of drying copra The information thus 

 obtained will then be published. (From the Fhilijypine Agri- 

 cultural Bevien; Vol. V, p. 204). 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholrne and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date July 15, with reference 

 30 the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



Since our last report, about 250 bags of West Indian 

 Sea Island cotton have been sold, which include about 200 

 St. Vincent at 19c^. to 2 Id. and 50 Stains at 8k/. to lOd. 



Spinners still hold supplies for their requireiuents for 

 some months to come, and require concessions of several pence 

 per pound if they put the cotton into stock. 



We understand that the Carolina Sea Lsland crop is likely 

 to be a full one, and no doubt will be better in quality than in 

 last season. Sakellarides Egyptian has been planted 50 

 per cent in excess of last year. 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending June 29, is as follows: — 



During the past fortnight there has been a very limited 

 demand, resulting in sales of only 21 bales Fully Fine to 

 Extra Fine for export on private terms. The Factors are 

 anxious to dispose of some of the Crop Lots, of which the 

 unsold stock largely consists, and are willing to make some 

 concessions in price, but the spinners do not seem interested 

 even at the decline quoted. We renew our quotations, which 

 in the absence of demand are only nominal: — 



We quote, viz: — 

 Extra Fine 30c. to 32c. = l&^d. to 17fd c.i.f., k 5 per cent. 



Fully Fine 28c. =\5id. „ 



Fine 26c. 



Fully Fine to Extra Fine,) 

 off in preparation / 



= 142rf. 



2.5c. = 14J'i. 



Clavija Ornata.— Seeds of thi^; interesting orna- 

 mental plant have been received by the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, through the courtesy of Mr. W. G. Freeman, 

 B.Sc , Assistant Director of Agrieultore and Government 

 Botanist. Trinidad, and are being distributed to several of 

 the Botanic Stations in the Lesser Antilles. The plant 

 itself belongs to a family (Myrsinaceae) that is .somewhat 

 nearly related to that containing the primror. on the one 

 hand, and to that containing the sapodilla, o;i lae other; the 

 members of the family are nearly all tropical or sub-tropical 

 plants. A characteristic of the genus Clavija is that the 

 plants forming its species are palm -like in habit; as in the 

 case of those of cacao and the carambola (.1 verrhoa 

 Caramhola), flowers are borne oa the old wood 



The native home of C. ormita is the Guianas and 

 Brazil. Its palm like appearance arises from the fact that 

 the leaves, which often exceed a foot in length, are borne 

 at the top of the straight, unbranched stem. The staminate 

 and pistillate flowers are bright orange-red in colour, and 

 are found on separate plants; the former are specially noted' 

 for the strong scen^ of raspberries that they exhale. 



