March, 1910.] 



219 



Edible Products. 



regarding yield, it is superior to even 

 the great Caryota ; for the average 

 capacity of the pots that are used for 

 drawing the toddy from the Talipat 

 palm is usually about 20 quarts : and, 

 when it is remembered that the flow of 

 the sap is so rapid and copious as to 

 necessiate the renewal (changing) of the 

 pots at least six times in the 24 hours, 

 i.e., thrice in the day and three times at 

 night, it will be conceded that the palm 

 compensates the incessant labour called 

 forth in its tapping. To this must be 

 added the remarkable fact that after 

 the whole of the spadix has been sliced 

 away in the incessant tapping during 

 a period of four months (November 

 to February), the operation is in 

 most cases continued into the tap- 

 ping of the delicate ' ' cabbage " and is fre- 

 quently cut through in three months ; 

 so that a total period of seven months 

 elapses before the tapping gives over 

 completely. The yield, however, is not 

 constant throughout even the first 

 period of the greatest flow. The tapping 

 of most of the palms begins early in 

 November, and the highest yield is at- 

 tended in January; thereafter, it slowly 



but steadily declines until the middle of 

 the " cabbage " is reached, when it gives 

 clear symptoms of distinct diminution. 

 Calculating the yield at the average 

 rate of 20 gallons per day f24hours) for 

 a period of five months, the enormous 

 figure of 20 by 5 by 30 or 3,000 gallons 

 is indicated. The major portion of the 

 toddy of the Talipat is used in the manu- 

 facture of jaggery or gur. For this 

 purpose three pots, each of them nearly 

 full of the toddy, are placed on long 

 ovens near the foot of the tree. The fires 

 are then lighted and the toddy is boiled 

 until it turns syrupy and thick. The 

 contents of two of the pots are now 

 poured into the other, and in it they are 

 boiled for a few minutes longer. The 

 pot is then removed from the fire and, on 

 cooling, the jaggery is rolled by hand 

 and made into balls. It takes an hour 

 to boil the sap. The yield of jaggery 

 varies much ; but, on an average, one 

 pot (20 quarts) of toddy boils into one 

 viss m lbs-) of jaggery. The jaggery is 

 sweet and resembles that of the Pal- 

 myrah, but it is frequently somewhat 

 darker in colour. It sells locally at 

 from 3 to 4 annas per viss. 



TIMBERS. 



WOOD FINISHING. 



By Willis T. Pope. 



(From the Hawaiian Forester and Agri- 

 culturist, Vol. VI., No. 11, November, 

 1909.) 



For some years I have been consider- 

 ably interested in wood finishing, parti- 

 cularly that part which involves stain- 

 ing, filing and polishing. It is a great 

 field of work, ever attractive and pleas- 

 ing to investigate. New matter and 

 different results are constantly present- 

 ing themselves. Though wood finishing 

 is one of the very oldest arts, and one 

 that requires much knowledge of 

 materials, as a craft we find little 

 literature regarding it. 



Good instruction in iron work and 

 wood work can be procured easily in 

 almost any of our industrial and manual 

 training schools, but, as a rule, very few 

 lessons are given in the finishing pro- 

 cesses that go to make an attractive 

 piece of wood work, whether it be a 

 piece of furniture or the interior of a 

 dwelling. As a people, we depend al- 

 most entirely upon untrained workmen 

 for our information. Good polishers 

 very seldom know much about materials 

 28 



and their sources. They have little in- 

 formation to give away, and the secret of 

 their success, when found out, is about 

 the same old receipt made good by hard 

 rubbing. 



In discussing briefly the subject of 

 wood finishing, I will no doubt dwell 

 upon particulars'of which you are more 

 or less familiar, but I trust the interest 

 will be worth the short while taken. 



No two species of trees produce wood 

 of exactly the same structure. There 

 is a great variation in woods of the 

 same species, in fact a distinct study in 

 each separate piece. 



Examine almost any piece of wood, 

 and in a general way we find it composed 

 of small cells of various kinds, usually 

 long and tubular, running lengthwise, 

 and adhering to each other more or 

 less strongly. These cells have had 

 special uses in the life of the tree, some 

 were for conducting crude sap from the 

 roots to the crown, others acting as 

 storehouses for digested plant food, and 

 still others have long acted merely for 

 strengthening the tree and holding it 

 together. Investigation shows that 

 some of the cells have thick walls and 

 small openings, others, thin walls and 

 large openings. Most specimens of 



