[8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May 2, 1887, 



COCONUT FIBEE. 



It was Linnaeas who first called the Palms the 

 " princes of the vegetable kingdom," but it has been 

 reserved to writers of the present day to designate 

 the Coconut and the Palmyra respectively the " prince 

 of Palms ;'' which of these two plants, however, is 

 most entitled to the term it is difficult to say for we 

 read that the Palmyra (Borassas flabelliformis) has 

 been immortalised in a poem iu the Tamil language, 

 and though 801 uses of the Palm have been thus re- 

 corded the list is by no means exhausted. Whether 

 it be possible to enumerate so many uses for the 

 Coconut Palm (Oocos nucifera), I have not been at 

 the trouble to inquire, but I venture to believe that 

 for sterling value as a commercial plant the Coco- 

 nut can compete any day with the Palmyra, or any 

 of its allies. 



It would seem that with a plant so well-known 

 as this, and about which so much has been written, 

 nothing now remains to be said. It is an old story 

 to be told that the outer husk yields coir ; that the 

 inner hard shell can be, and is generally carved into 

 ornament-il cups ; that the kernel of the nut itself 

 is edible when fresh, and that it yields large quanti- 

 ties of oil when dried. These are facts known to 

 all who know a Coconut when they see it, and what 

 schoolboy is there who is not acquainted in some 

 way with this familiar nut ? But each one of its 

 uses might be dilated upon, and to use an oft-re- 

 peated term, " volumes might be written" upon each; 

 but our business at present is only with the husk, 

 apparently a miaor portion of the Coconut, com- 

 mercially considered A glance at the engraving, how- 

 ever, will show that a large trade must be centred 

 about these "unconsidered trifles," and that such 

 is the case, I shall endeavour to show by briefly 

 recording what I saw on a visit to the Coconut 

 fibre works of Messrs. Chubb, Round & Co., situated 

 in the West Ferry Road, Millwall. This firm is one 

 of, if not the largest importers and manufacturers 

 of Coconut fibre, and their stock of material, which 

 is well shown in the engraving, is a very striking 

 sight. The enormous heap of husk — which, indeed, 

 is known in the locality as the " mountain " — comes 

 upon view immediately upon entering the premises, 

 and one can scarcely, at first sight, realise the fact 

 that the enormous pile is composed entirely of these 

 apparently useless portions of the fruit. At the time 

 of my visit this reserve stock of husks was estimated 

 at considerably over a million and-a-half, and presented 

 an appearance as shown in the engraving (fig. 186). 

 which is from a photograph taken by Mr. .John G. 

 Hor.sey, only a week or so previously. Before pro- 

 ceeding to describe the various processes through 

 which the husks pass t^ convert them into market- 

 able materi:il, it will be well to say something about 

 the nuts themselves. 



Coconuts, or as they are generally termed in the 

 trade Coker-nuts, to distinguish them from the 

 Th'obroma Cacao, which furni.shes cocoa and choco- 

 late, are shipped principally from Trinidad, Jamaica, 

 Dera'-rara, Tobago, several of the other Leeward 

 I<4lHnds in the British West Indies, Ceylon, Belize 

 (British Honduras), all round the coast of America, 

 and the Fiji Islands ; the quantity landed in the 

 United Kingdom being about 12,000,000 yearly. Nearly 

 all the nuts are imported in the husks or outer cover- 

 ing from which, on arrival, th^y are stripped by men 

 using two fine-pointed steel chisels, and who, by constant 

 practice, become so skilful in the art that many are 

 able to open 1,0^.0 to 1,200 nuts per day. The nuts 

 themselves after being removed from the husks are 

 generally sol 1 to wholesale fruit dealers, who, in 

 turn, supply th > retailors, costermongers, and others, 

 but they are likewise often sold uader the hammer 

 at public auction. 



After removal from the hu'ik they are sorted into seven 

 sorts or varietips, known respectively as large milky 

 midilli' size, -mall, starters, milky crowers, green, an i drv. 

 Those from Trinidad are the sweetest in iJavour, and are 

 mostly preferred by the manufacturing confectioi ers, 

 biscuit-makers and others, though the Ceylon nuts run 

 them very close in quality. Coconuts are largely used 



in the North and West of Eugland, and they are 

 also in great demand at holiday times, at fairs, on 

 race-coiorses, and such-like gatherings in all parts of 

 the kingdom. The husks, after the nuts have been 

 cracked, are stacked in the yard in the open air, as 

 shown in the engraving, until they are required for 

 conversion into fibre ; for this purpose they ai-e first 

 passed singly through a powerful " crusher," or "back 

 breaker," driven by steam power, with large revolving 

 corrugated wheels which flatten the husks, and to a 

 certain extent make them more pliable ; but after 

 this severe pressure, so springy is the nature of the 

 husk that, somewhat like a sponge, they immediately 

 assume their original shape on emerging from the 

 crusher. They are then thrown into huge stone tanks, 

 each holding many thousands, where they undergo 

 several hours' steaming and soaking. Great care and 

 skill are required to know how long to keep them 

 in the tanks, husks from different countries requiring 

 more or less time according to circumstances, such 

 as age, thickness of outer cuticle, substance of fibre, 

 and other peculiarities known to the manufacturer. 

 In the tanks the husks swell considerably, and have 

 to be kept down by heavy pressure. One of the 

 tanks filled with husks is shown in the centre of 

 the engraving. 



After the husks are sufficiently soaked they are 

 ready for the mills, which are technically known as 

 " Teasers " or " Devils," and con.sist of cylinders or 

 drums, each being studded on the outer circumference 

 with about 3,000 fine or thick 3 -inch steel teeth, 

 specially tempered. The mills vary slightly according 

 to certain requirements. They are driven by steam, 

 and revolve with great rapidity, requiring the ut- 

 most care and constant attention of the workmen. 

 Each hu.sk is divided longitudinally into thin pieces, 

 and each piece is passed into the mill separately by 

 the workman between two steel rollers, the work- 

 man retaining a firm grip of it so as not to allow 

 it to pass out of his hands, but the few moments 

 he holds it there, the drum with its numerous steel 

 tpeth is revolving and combing out the irregular 

 fibre and refuse. After one half of the slice of husk 

 is thus cleaned the workman reverses it passing in 

 the other half. The continual feeding of these mills 

 gives such strength of wrist and dexterity to the 

 workmen that what appears a very dangerous operation 

 is gone through with wonderful rapidity, and each 

 slice of husk is passed through three of these mills 

 in succession, occupying but a few seconds from the 

 time that the crude husk is passed into the mill 

 until it comes out a perfectly cleared bundle of 

 light brown separated fibres; these bundles are next 

 laid out in drying rooms on heated iron tables to 

 perfectly dry them, when they are ready for making 

 brushes and brooms of various kinds. 



But to return to the mills. It will be seen that 

 the principal atten*:ion has been given to the long 

 clean fibres used for brush-making, but there are 

 other products to which I have not yet alluded. If 

 a coconut husk is cut through transversely, it will be 

 found that immediately un^ier the outer woody coat- 

 ing the long brush fibres, if we may so call them, 

 are deposited to the thickness of about half-an-inch ; 

 nearer the centre, and immediately surrounding the 

 nut, the fibres are more irregular, somewhat matted, 

 and mixed with soft brown refuse. In the process 

 of passing through the mill and separating the brush 

 fibre, this finer fibre and refuse is thrown out at the 

 back, from whence it is collected and placed on 

 elevators, and carried automatically into the mouths 

 of double rotary screens, or " willow.s," peculiarly 

 made for the purpose, a spindle fitted with arms or 

 roads running the entire length, and after many 

 revolutions and much tossing about, the fibre is separated 

 and falls out at the lower ends clean and ready 

 to be dried. This fibre is used for matting, and is 

 not only supplied by the firm in large quantities for 

 mat-makers, but also to the Government for mat-making 

 in prisons ; it is further largely used for stuffing mat- 

 tresses, saddles, &c. The refuse, by a special process 

 of the present proprietor, is separated into two different 

 qualities, the ordinary coarse kind being used for 



