The Coco Palm 5 



palm in another manner. The stem and branches of 

 the flower spike are tied into a bundle and cut, and 

 over the cut end is fixed a vessel consisting of a length 

 of bamboo. The sap which would ordinarily go to 

 the formation of the cluster of fruit is obtained in this 

 way. The bamboo is emptied each day, the collector 

 sometimes passing by aerial bridges from tree to tree. 

 The fermented juice is variously known as "tuba" or 

 "toddy." Eleven million gallons of it were produced 

 in the Philippines in 1913. 



The main product of the tree is, however, the white 

 meat of the coconut. The mature nuts are allowed to 

 fall naturally or are gathered four or five times a year 

 by pulling them down with hooks or by climbing the 

 trees when situated too high to be reached from the 

 ground. They are collected into piles and husked by 

 beating against the sharpened end of a stake or iron 

 point fixed upright in the ground. They are then 

 split with a bush knife or cleaver and are left in the 

 sun to dry somewhat, which loosens the white coconut 

 meat from the shell. The dried meat is known as 

 "copra." It constitutes an important article of com- 

 merce. Dessicated and grated it forms the shredded 

 coconut of the confectioners, but its principal value 

 depends on its oil content, fifty per cent or more by 

 weight. The oil is obtained from the copra by pres- 

 sure. The remaining "cake" is a valuable fodder. The 

 coconut oil is at ordinary temperature, a soft, white 

 fat of somewhat objectionable taste and odor. It has 

 always been highly esteemed as a fat for soap making, 

 but its present-day, more important use dates from the 

 discovery that the addition of an atom of hydrogen to 

 the molecule of fat renders it perfectly bland and com- 

 estible. (See Slosson, "Creative Chemistry" for an 

 account of vegetable fats.) It is now widely used in 

 the preparation of butter substitutes and is consumed 



[13] 



