m 



Alcohol from Coco-nut Palms 549 



these details, as it may still pay some estates to 

 make alcohol or sugar instead of copra. 



Vinegar, of course, is but one step further. 

 When well made it is reported to be of good 

 strength and colour, of the highest keeping 

 qualities, and of unrivalled flavour. Accord- 

 ing to Gibbs, quoting Lyon, " its excellence is 

 so pronounced that, upon its merits, it would 

 readily find sale in the world's market ; so that 

 the production of vinegar will probably prove 

 a more profitable industry than even toddy- 

 making in the future." 1 Analyses of the 

 crudely made article show potential possibili- 

 ties, adds Gibbs, of producing good vinegar 

 from the sap of the coco-nut palm. We believe 

 excellent vinegar could also be made from 

 the milk of the coco-nuts as well. As is shown 

 by the analyses on p. 526, the milk almost rivals 

 the meat itself in weight. 



Mr. O. W. Barrett writes us as follows on the 

 question of the Philippine coco-nut industry, 

 and his report can as well be introduced here 

 as elsewhere : 



"With 33,000,000 trees 2 reported to exist 

 to-day in the Philippines, with a harvest of 

 about one billion nuts (which is about one-half. 



' ] We would like to state that we found this remark 

 of Lyon's at the very last moment, and quoted it to 

 confirm our own ideas on the subject. See also p. 216 

 and elsewhere in " The Fermentation of Cacao," price 

 los. net, Tropical Life Publishing Dept. 



2 More recent statistics speak of 50,000,000 trees in 

 the Philippines against 60,000,000 in Ceylon. 



