THE COCONUT AND ITS USES. 17 



oil " and much of the " copra " market is because, 

 while only a few big firms provide themselves with the 

 machinery necessary for the manufacture of oil, the 

 majority ship their produce in the form of copra the 

 raw material and, therefore, while copra interests and 

 is handled by thousands upon thousands of planters 

 and dealers at home and in almost every tropical region 

 known, the oil may be said to concern, comparatively, 

 a very limited number of refiners and manufacturers. 



One coconut of average size yields nearly 5| ozs. of 

 oil, besides 3 ozs. of dried oil meal. 



And now, a few words about the planting of coconut 

 estates, and the yield and profits accruing therefrom. 



In planting out an estate, seed should be taken from 

 well-matured trees of from 25 to 30 years of age, showing 

 a good yield ; and large-sized roundish nuts, either red, 

 brown, or green, but not oblong nuts, should be selected. 

 The seed nut must either be picked from the tree in 

 completely dry condition, or, better still, gathered up 

 when fallen. 



Gathering the nuts green, and then drying them in a 

 room, is to be avoided, as trees grown from such nuts 

 do not mature well, and generally decay, whereas nuts 

 having become completely dry when on the tree can be 

 planted any time from one to twelve months after 

 collection. 



The seed nut must not have too much or too little 

 milk. It should be half-full. After shaking several 

 nuts, it is easy to estimate the amount contained in 

 them. Nuts containing too much milk will easily rot ; 

 those with none will soon perish. The nuts are planted 

 in a nursery in trenches, and are transplanted to required 



