186 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



the nut should be harvested to get the greatest and 

 best yield of copra. As the ripening of the nut goes 

 on, the coir becomes exceedingly lignified, and so dark, 

 harsh, and brittle that its value decreases very 

 materially. 



With regard to the variety of nuts, some of those 

 found in the Laccadive and Maldive islands have the 

 best reputation in this respect. There are also some 

 ill-defined varieties in Ceylon and southern India which 

 are preferred for this use. These districts furnish 

 almost all of the coir which is an article of European 

 commerce. Ceylon has first place in this respect, but 

 the product of Cochin has been regarded as the best in 

 quality, with the result that the term " Cochin coir " 

 has come to mean not merely that which originates in 

 Cochin but the finest quality whatever its source. The 

 condition here is exactly the same which obtains with 

 the oil of the coco-nut. 



From what has been said with regard to the variety 

 and the nuts, it is evident that the same trees cannot 

 be made to produce coir to the best purpose, and oil to 

 the best purpose, but that one or the other product 

 must be in a measure sacrificed. The planter must 

 decide according to market and local conditions which 

 he best can treat as a by-product. As a general con- 

 dition, the copra or oil is certainly the more valuable, 

 and any planter who selected varieties primarily for 

 their yield of fibre, or who harvested his nuts before 

 full maturity for the sake of the coir, would fail under 

 present general conditions — and these conditions are 

 likely to be quite permanent — to get the greatest 

 possible returns. 



It is not many years in an industrial sense since the 

 extraction of the coco-nut fibre was carried on altogether 

 by hand. The first step is obviously the removal of 

 the husk from the nuts and is therefore the same as the 

 first step in copra manufacture, except where, as in 

 Samoa, it is customary to split the entire nut, husk and 

 all. The husks are then macerated by soaking in water, 



