396 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



wire cloth, stretched tightly across, and 

 securely fastened on all sides to the joists 

 placed 2 or 3 ft. apart underneath. Over the 

 wirework, which must be of small mesh, both 

 for strength and to keep, as much as possible, 

 small pieces of copra from falling through, 

 it would probably be found best to lay loosely 

 woven sacking, or native-made matting, to 

 prevent rust from affecting the copra. 

 Recent improvements in the alloys of metals 

 used nowadays for making wire, render them, 

 we are told, rust proof even in the Tropics ; 

 those, therefore, laying down wire flooring as 

 described above might inquire from the 

 makers as to which wire they should use. 

 The matting, even with rust-proof flooring, 

 might still be found useful to carry the 

 copra, when dried, to the shoots (shown in 

 the plan) by means of which it can be 

 lowered to the ground floor, whilst fresh 

 supplies are sent up by the lifts or hoisting 

 apparatus on the other side of the building. 



Having described the building we will 

 explain how it can be used for drying copra 

 on a large scale. The heaters shown, which 

 can be specially constructed to burn coco-nut 

 husks and shells, or other refuse, as fuel, are 

 able to heat part of or all the air blown through 

 the air-ways by the four propeller fans, two to 

 each heater. A by-pass duct and a swing 

 valve enable any desired proportion of normal 

 air to be forced direct into the building with- 



