Paper-making from Husks 559 



of this we wrote to a leading firm of engineers 

 interested in the matter, and received the 

 following reply : 



" In the dry state in which the husks come to 

 the consumer they are easily rough-cleaned to 

 form a tow-like mass of fibres, greatly resem- 

 bling oakum. This represents from 40 to 60 

 per cent, of the gross weight of the husk, 

 according to the quantity of corky matter still 

 adhering to it. 



14 In those countries where coir fibre is an 

 article of commerce, the husks are first crushed 

 between heavy, fluted rollers, then passed 

 through the extractor, which consists essentially 

 of a cylinder covered with steel teeth that tear 

 the fibre from the husk, and then a subsequent 

 winnowing, which removes the short fibre and 

 dirt." (See Section on Fibre Extraction.) 



The West Indian Bulletin, No. 70, tells us 

 that the amount of cleaned fibre from the nuts 

 is approximately one-third the total weight of 

 the whole nut. 1 Rope made from coir fibre is 

 resistant to the action of salt water. Lengthy 

 experiments with coco-nut husks, Mr. Richmond 

 tells us, have shown that fibres cannot economi- 

 cally be separated from the cellular matter in 

 which they are embedded, at least not by caustic 

 alkalis. A treatment sufficiently drastic to 

 remove the non-fibrous matter not only causes 

 too great an expense in the chemicals involved 

 but seriously attacks the fibres themselves ; 



1 See also figures quoted on pp. 71 and 526. 



