THE MECHANICAL EXTRACTION 

 OF COCO-NUT FIBRE. 



THE Indian Trade Review calls the atten- 

 tion of its readers to a recent number of the 

 Philippine Agricultural Review, in which the 

 Fibre Expert to the Philippine Government 

 gives an account of coir and its preparation, at 

 the same time discussing the prospects of a 

 coir industry in the Philippine Islands. The 

 conclusion is reached that to establish such an 

 industry on a remunerative basis would involve 

 not merely the preparation of the fibre, but 

 would also necessitate that the various articles 

 for which it is used should be manufactured 

 locally. A large outlay of capital would be 

 required for machinery, and this could only be 

 operated profitably on large estates or in locali- 

 ties in which the trees are so numerous as to 

 render the expense of transporting the husks 

 low. Moreover, there is a danger that a coir 

 industry would react unfavourably on the copra 

 industry, because in many places the husks are 

 needed as fuel for drying the copra, and also 

 because the production of good grades of fibre 

 affects the yield and quality of the copra, as 

 the stage of maturity of the nuts for the pro- 

 duction of the best coir does not correspond 

 with that at which the best copra is obtained. 



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