74 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



coco-nuts, but in St. Jean de Nove or Farquhar 

 Island, and in some of the other islets off her 

 coasts, the coco-nut is almost the only industry, 

 and based on the samples of nuts, and speci- 

 mens of soil received, M. Boname has 

 drawn up the report referred to, running into 

 some thirty-five pages, a large proportion of 

 which is made up of analytical tables. These 

 will be found very useful, but, unfortunately, 

 we cannot include them here. Possibly, how- 

 ever, anyone interested in Mauritius would 

 find excellent opportunities for establishing 

 coco-nut cultivations at many centres. Before 

 anything is done, it would be as well to com- 

 municate with the amiable Director of the 

 Station Agronomique at Reduit, Mauritius. 

 According to M. Boname's figures (p. 15) 

 the kernel of the nut when fit for copra 

 making, weighs, say, 251 grm. (roughly \ Ib.) 

 and should then give 171 grm. of sun-dried 

 copra, or 68 per cent. This means the loss of 

 only 32 per cent, of water or one third of its 

 weight. With an average weight of 171 grm. 

 of copra per nut, an extraction of 52 per cent, 

 of oil would yield 92 grm. of that article, 

 therefore it is estimated that it would roughly 

 take ten nuts to make a litre of oil (= if 

 pints or '2 20 gall. 1 ) Since on page 8 we are told 

 the average yield of eighteen samples of copra 

 worked out at 64/87 per cent, oil, 52 per cent, 

 as mentioned above is a low estimate. 



1 A litre of distilled water = i kilo. 



