9 



that the spear point projects above the ground rather less than waist 

 high. The operator then holds the nut in his hands and strikes it upon 

 the spear point, gives it a downward, rotary twist, and thus, with 

 apparent ease, quickly removes the husk. An average operator will husk 

 1,000 nuts per day, and records have been made of a clean up of as 

 many as 3,000 per day. The work, however, is exceedingly hard, and 

 involves great dexterity and wrist strength. 



Another man now takes up the nut and with a bolo strikes it a smart 

 blow in the middle, dividing it into two almost equal parts. These parts 

 are spread out and exposed to the sun for a few hours, or such time as 

 may be necessary to cause the fleshy albumen to contract and shrink away 

 from the hard outer shell, so that the meat may be easily detached with 

 the fingers. 



Weather permitting, the meat thus secured is sun dried for a day and 

 then subjected to the heat of a slow fire for several hours. In some 

 countries this drying is now effected by hot-air driers, and a very white 

 and valuable product secured ; but in the Philippines the universal prac- 

 tice is to spread out the copra upon what may be called a bamboo grill, 

 over a smoky fire made of the shells and husks, just sufficient heat being 

 maintained not to set fire to the bamboo. The halves, when dried, are 

 broken by hand into still smaller irregular fragments, and subjected to 

 one or two days of sun bath. By this time the moisture has been so 

 thoroughly expelled that the copra is now ready to be sacked or baled and 

 stored away for shipment or use. 



All modern cocoanut-oil mills are supplied with a decorticator armed 

 with revolving discs that tear or cut through the husk longitudinally, 

 freeing the nut from its outer covering and leaving the latter in the best 

 possible condition for the subsequent extraction of its fiber. This decor- 

 ticator is fed from a hopper and is made of a size and capacity to husk 

 from 500 to 1,000 nuts per hour. 



Easping and grinding machinery of many patterns and makes, for 

 reducing the meat to a pulp, is used in India, Ceylon, and China; and, 

 although far more expeditious, offers no improvements, so far as concerns 

 the condition to which the meats are reduced, over the methods followed 

 in the Philippines. Here the fleshy halves of the meat are held by hand 

 against a rapidly revolving, half -spherical knife" blade which scrapes and 

 shaves the flesh down to a fine degree of comminution. The resulting 

 mass is then macerated in a little water and placed in bags and subjected 

 to pressure, and the milky juice which flows therefrom is collected in 

 receivers placed below. This is now drawn off into boilers and cooked 

 until the clear oil is concentrated upon the surface. The oil is then 

 skimmed off and is ready for market. 



, The process outlined above is very wasteful The processes I have seen 

 in operation are very inadequate, and I estimate that not less than 10 per 



