564 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



Meanwhile, we can truly state that during 

 the last few years at least one firm of engineers, 

 with whom we have been working, have devoted 

 untiring attention in adapting their machines 

 to suit modern requirements, and especially for 

 the treatment of fibre from estates containing 

 1,000,000 trees or more, that is, estates having 

 the fibre from thirty to forty million nuts to be 

 treated every year. Those desiring informa- 

 tion on the subject of the best machine to use 

 must give the fullest information concerning 

 their requirements, as regards the fibre to 

 be treated, its output, the class of finished 

 article required, and so on. Once these come 

 to hand the makers of the various machines 

 can give reliable advice on the subject. 



We will now give a short description of 

 the different machines employed when treat- 

 ing coco-nut husks, and during the process 

 of the extraction and preparation of the fibre 

 from them by machinery, as such particulars 

 will be useful to planters and other intending 

 purchasers and to those interested in the coir 

 fibre and coir yarn industries generally. 



The first process after the nuts have been 

 harvested is to separate the husks from the 

 nuts. Several machines have been invented 

 to do this, but in practice they have proved 

 ineffective. The most expeditious way, and 

 the method generally adopted by the natives, 

 is to have an iron spike or wood stake planted 

 in the ground with a sharp point,/as shown in 



