84 The Philippine Journal of Science 1917 



Philippines in order to take advantage of market fluctuations is 

 well known, and sorting out the "mulos" — rubbery pieces of un- 

 ripe meat, which will not become dry — is a recognized part of the 

 copra industry. Aside from its low oil content, green copra 

 must be worked separately; consequently the presence of 

 green copra interferes with the routine of the mill and increases 

 the cost of handling. In some' coconut-producing countries laws 

 are or have been in effect prohibiting the picking of coconuts. 22 

 Such a law is impracticable in the Philippine Islands, since cer- 

 tain kinds of coconuts here do not drop their fruit until they 

 have become much overripe. In order to make it practicable 

 to find and collect nuts which have fallen from the tree, clean 

 cultural methods should be practiced on the plantation by burning 

 the taller weeds and dead wood. By such methods of culture not 

 only is the soil fertilized to a certain extent by the ash and 

 decaying vegetation, but also the breeding places of many of 

 the insects and fungi which prey upon the coconut are destroyed, 

 so that the health of the trees is improved and ultimately the 

 production of nuts increased. 



The nuts when opened should be kept free from dirt and dried 

 immediately and without smoking to a water content of 5 per 

 cent. 



The establishment of copra standards and organization of 

 copra centrals by the Government has been proposed. The 

 Bureau of Science has for some time had the problem of classifi- 

 cation of copra under consideration. In view of the large num- 

 ber of classes necessary to meet the requirements due to the 

 several factors — oil content, moisture, acidity, and appearance 

 of the copra — complete standardization would be difficult to 

 establish. 



Under the present conditions a consignment of copra received 

 from the provinces at the Manila bodegas may represent the 

 product of 100 or more different producers, which means that 

 practically no two sacks have been dried to the same moisture 

 content. And aside from the necessity of analyzing a sample 

 from each sack, the fact that. uneven drying has been practiced 

 and that the variation of the several factors in each nut is con- 

 siderable, the analysis would be at best a rough approximation. 

 The classification of copra under chemical control would be pos- 

 sible in conjunction with a system of inspection, as is practiced in 

 hemp grading. It requires experience in order only to tell if a 

 piece of copra is dry. In the hands of honest and competent 



" Pratt, D. S., op. cit., 179. 



