12 



Such a plant will work up 1,000 nuts a day, and handle in a year the out- 

 put of a grove of 30 hectares. With the addition of two or more fiber 

 extractors the capacity of the plant may be doubled without material 

 expense, and it should rather more than pay its entire cost in one year. 



TUBA. 



Tuba is the fresh or mildly fermented sap drawn from the inflorescence 

 of the cocoanut. 



There are no figures or data of any kind available as a basis for an esti- 

 mate as to the importance of this product, but its extent may be inferred 

 from the fact that the outlying groves about Cebu, Iloilo, and the larger 

 Visayan towns are practically devoted to the production of tuba, and not 

 to the manufacture of copra. 



Tuba is collected from the unexpanded blossoms as soon as they have 

 fairly pushed through the subtending bracts. To prevent any lateral 

 expansion, the flowers are tied with strips of the green leaf blade and 

 then, with a sharp knife, an inch or two of the extreme tip is removed. 

 The whole flower cluster is now gently pulled forward until it arches 

 downward. In a day or two the sap begins to drip and is then caught 

 in a short joint of bamboo, properly secured for the purpose. 



As a healthy tree developes at least one or more flowering racemes every 

 month, and the flow of sap ex.,. .ids frequently over a period of two or 

 more months, it is not uncommon see a number of tubes in use upon one 

 tree. 



The workmen usually visits the tree twice daily to collect the the liquor 

 drawn during the preceding twelve hours in the larger tube, which he 

 carries upon his back. He slices daily a thin shaving from the tip of the 

 flower, in order that the wound may be kept open and bleeding. This 

 process is kept up until nearly all of the flower cluster has been cut away, 

 or until the sap ceases to flow. 



More than a liter a day is sometimes drawn from one tree, and 5 hecto- 

 liters is considered a fair annual average from a good bearing tree. 



In its fresh state tuba has a sweetish, slightly astringent taste ; but, as 

 the vessels in which it is collected are rarely cleansed, they become traps 

 for many varieties of insects, etc., and it is, therefore, not a very accept- 

 able beverage to a delicate stomach. When purified by a mild fermenta- 

 tion it is far more palatable. 



A secondary fermentation of tuba results in vinegar, and on this ac- 

 count, chiefly, so much space has been devoted to this feature of the 

 industry. The vinegar so produced is of good strength and color, of the 

 highest keeping qualities, and of unrivaled flavor. Its excellence is so 

 pronounced that upon its inherent merits it would readily find sale in the 

 world's markets; and, although the local demand for the tuba now ex- 

 ceeds the production, its conversion into vinegar will probably prove the 

 more profitable industry in the future. 



