SEED OILS 9] 
has the property of absorbing oxygen from the air and forming 
a dry, hard coating, is the most important of the drying oils 
and is employed extensively in making paints and varnishes. 
Philippine lumbang oil is also an excellent drying oil. 
Andés * gives the composition of numerous oil cakes and 
discusses the practical application of these materials as cattle 
foods or fertilizers. 
FAMILY PALMAE 
Genus COCOS 
COCOS NUCIFERA L. (Figs. 34-37). COCONUT PALM. 
COCONUT OIL 
Coconut oil, which is derived from the fleshy kernels of Cocos 
nucifera, is far more important in the commerce of the Philip- 
pines than all other oils combined. An adequate discussion of 
an agricultural subject such as this would require so much space 
as to be out of place in a publication dealing primarily with forest 
products. As explained in the preface, there are very few im- 
portant oils derived from cultivated plants in the Philippines, 
and so it has seemed advisable to include a short account of 
these in the present bulletin. 
High-grade coconut oil is edible and is employed largely in 
making edible fats and artificial butter (margarine or oleomar- 
garine). The lower and cheaper grades, which usually contain 
a considerable proportion of free fatty acids, are not suitable 
for food and are used principally for making soaps and candles. 
Coconut oil is also used in cooking, as an illuminant, and for 
various other purposes, such as the preparation of lotions, salves, 
and hair cosmetics. The uses of the different products of the 
coconut palm have been discussed by Miller + and by Brown and 
Merrill. 
The usual method of obtaining coconut oil is essentially as 
follows: The husks are first removed from the nuts, after which 
they are split by a large knife and the milk poured off. The 
split nuts are next dried in the sun, or by artificial heat, after 
which the dried meat or copra is easily removed from the shells. 
The copra is then ground in a mill, heated, and subjected to 
pressure. The oil cake which remains after the first expression 

* Andés, L. E., and Stocks, H. B., Vegetable fats and oils, (1917), 
page 323. 
+ Miller, H. H., Commercial geography, the materials of commerce for 
the Philippines, (1911). 
+ Brown, Wm. H., and Merrill, E. D., Philippine palms and palm prod- 
ucts. Bureau of Forestry Bulletin No. 18 (1919). 
