226 PHILIPPINE PALMS 
annually, and considerably over eighty-five per cent of this prob- 
ably is the product of the nipa palm. The alcohol is obtained 
by distilling the fermented juice which flows from a cut inflores- 
cence stalk after the fruiting head has been removed. As the in- 
florescence of the nipa is near the ground, the flower stalk is 
conveniently situated for the gathering of the sap, called tuba. 
Some time after the fruit is formed, the stalk is cut across its 
top, usually just below the fruit, and each day a thin slice is 
removed to keep the wound fresh and to facilitate exudation. 
If the plant bears two flower stalks, the usual practice is to 
take sap from only one, the other being removed. 
Sap is collected in bamboo joints which are hung on the 
stem. These containers are about 45 centimeters high and 8 
centimeters in diameter, and have a capacity of about 2 liters. 
The stalk usually gives a flow for about three months, but it 
is not uncommon for it to be cut away, or at least cut so close 
to the ground that the daily paring is impracticable, long before 
the flow has ceased. In some districts the stem is cut before 
the fruit is formed; and under such conditions the daily yield 
of sap is said to be increased, but the period of flow reduced 
from three to one and one-half months, the total yield being 
practically the same in both cases. The juice-gathering season 
usually lasts about six months. 
Gibbs * came to the conclusion that, with the present method 
of caring for a nipa area, an average plant would produce 43 
liters of sap during the season, while a conservative estimate + 
places the number of palms in a cultivated swamp at between 
2,000 and 2,500 per hectare, of which 750 may be depended upon 
to produce fruiting stalks and consequently be available for 
sap collection. 
Gibbs gave the following composition for sap of the best 
quality : 
: 15° bs 
Density 15 1.0720 
Total solids 18.00 
Ash 0.48 
Acidity Trace. 
Sucrose 17.00 
Reducing sugars Trace. 

* Gibbs, H. D., The alcohol industry of the Philippine Islands. Part I. 
Philippine Journal of Science, Section A, Volume 6 (1911), pages 99 to 206. 
+ Pratt, D. S., Thurlow, L. W., Williams, R. R., and Gibbs, H. D., The 
nipa palm as a commercial source of sugar. Philippine Journal of Science, 
Section A, Volume 8 (1913), pages 377 to 398. 
