COCO-NUT PRODUCTS 191 



from these nuts, but because poor copra mixed with good 

 copra lowers the market value of the latter, and so 

 keeps the planter from getting its real value even for 

 the good copra which he may produce. Another of 

 Walker's tables shows that nuts cut from the trees 

 increase in yield of copra and oil if allowed to stand 

 in piles for some weeks before they are opened. This 

 is naturally not to be expected if the nuts are allowed 

 to fall from the trees when ripe, and are then collected 

 from the ground. In this case they should be used 

 without delay. The practice of letting the nuts lie in 

 stacks after they are fully ripe is one of the reasons 

 given for the lower quality of much Ceylon oil, as 

 compared with that from Cochin. At San Eamon, 

 where Walker's study was made, the nuts are collected 

 regularly once in three months. The nut -gatherers 

 have no other profession and are regularly employed 

 on this plantation. They must be regarded as expert 

 in this business, and they have no inducement to cut 

 young nuts. It should therefore be safe to conclude 

 that wherever nuts are cut regularly, once in three 

 months, the copra will be improved in quantity and 

 quality if the nuts are left to ripen or seasoned for a 

 time before they are opened. There must be a time 

 when each nut is at its best for copra manufacture. 

 This time is not sharply marked. At least in dry 

 weather, the improvement up to this time is more rapid 

 than the deterioration immediately after it, because the 

 first changes which take place in germination go on 

 very slowly. The best yield from a large pile of nuts 

 will therefore be obtained when the majority of the nuts 

 are slightly beyond their prime. 



In most countries the first step in copra manufacture 

 is the removal of the husks, whether the husk itself has 

 any use or not. The only general exception to this 

 rule is in the islands of the Pacific, where the commoner 

 practice is to split the entire nut, husk and all, with a 

 heavy axe. Andes (Kokosbutier, p. 38) describes and 

 figures a machine which splits the entire nut into three 



