COPRA AND COIR 49 



Mr. L, C. Brown, Government Inspector of 

 Coconut Plantations in the F.M. States, suggests 

 a cheap drying kiln for copra, as follows : 



" For the manufacture of copra unripe nuts are 

 useless, and great care should be taken to pick 

 only fully ripe ones. One coolie ought to husk 

 five hundred nuts a day. A better return is 

 obtained if the nuts are stored for a month or 

 so before being opened, and it lessens the cost 

 of manufacture as the kernel is more easily 

 extracted from the shell. 



" The nuts, after being split open, should not 

 be laid on ground which is moist and muddy, as 

 in this way grit and dirt get into,, the kernel, 

 and this tends to lower the quality of the copra. 



" While the collections are comparatively small, 

 a very cheap drying kiln for the treatment of 

 copra may be constructed in the following 

 manner 



" A table, 12 feet square and 4 feet in height, 

 with a platform made of nebongs, must first be 

 erected. 



" This table is then covered round with a mud 

 wall, 1^ feet in width and 6 feet high, leaving 

 a small open space in this shape Q on one side 

 to allow of the fuel, which is generally the coco- 

 nut shell, being placed beneath the platform. 

 For sun-drying purposes, in connection with the 

 kiln, a drying table is required, say, 50 feet long 

 by 6 feet from the ground. 



" The woodwork for the above structures may 

 be entirely made from the nebong palm, which 







