in. a. 2 Brill, Parker, and Yates: Copra and Coconut Oil 



81 



allowing the meat to dry without the addition of artificial heat. 

 The apparatus used is a wooden box, provided with trays with 

 split bamboo bottoms, and a 4-wheel car consisting of framework 

 and two pairs of small iron wheels mounted on a wooden track. 

 The box is 1.05 by 2.10 by 2.70 meters and is provided with a 

 door in one end, being of sufficient size to accommodate twelve 

 trays separated sufficiently for free circulation of the gas and 

 with a capacity for holding about 1,200 nuts. The track is twice 

 the length of the box to facilitate loading and unloading of the 

 car outside of the box. The operation is carried out in the 

 following manner : The husked nuts are halved and spread on 

 the trays with the concave side down, and the trays are loaded 

 on the car and pushed into the box. Eight kilograms of sulphur 

 are next placed in a shallow pit under the car and ignited. If 

 the box is made comparatively tight, this amount of sulphur will 

 burn for from ten to twelve hours, liberating sufficient sulphur 

 dioxide gas for the treatment. At the end of the sulphuring 

 period the car is rolled into the open and the meat is removed 

 immediately from the shells with an ordinary copra knife, or is 

 allowed to remain in the shells for from four to five days, at 

 the end of which time the meat has become sufficiently dry to 

 allow of its ready removal. In either case the sulphured ma- 

 terial is spread out under cover with free access of air for a 

 period of two weeks, after which it is cut up and sacked for the 

 market. Obviously on sunny days spreading the meat in the open 

 greatly hastens the drying and should be taken advantage of. 



Table XX. — Sulphur dioxide and water content of copra at various periods 

 during the sulphur treatment.'' 



Sulphur dioxide. 



Hours Content Loss in 



*'-*" dXlvi Content total 

 lft!l after 10: content 



treat days ' ' dur ' ne 



rnlnt. 10 da ^" 



cd. 



^Percent. Percent. Percent. 



6 0. 1218 



9 0. 1456 



13 i 0.1869 



18 , 0.2114 



0. 0412 



24 



.3144 



0. 0425 I 

 0.0672 

 0.0722 I 

 0.0715 I 



66. 2 

 70.8 

 64.1 

 65.9 



Loss 



Imme- 

 diately 

 after 

 treat- 

 ment. ! ment. 



! !' 



Loss in ; 

 i„w!!l Ten days total. 10 

 '?*£*'■ after days 

 treat ' treat " ' after 



ment. 



Percent. Percent. Percent. Percent. Percent. 



47.7 

 46.1 

 49.2 



37.2 

 39.0 

 45.5 



14.2 

 15.5 

 27.0 

 23. 

 15.9 I 



13.1 

 12.6 

 13.7 

 11.1 



73.1 



72.9- 

 73.0 



11 The maximum amount of sulphur dioxide that coconut meat will absorb was not determined. 

 However, a twelve-hour continuous treatment with the gas was found to be- sufficient in 

 all cases. 



