Edible Products. 



378 



As the results obtained in the examination of the present sample of 



Ceylon coconut "water" were not in harmony with those of Van Slyke. it was 



thought advisable to examine a sample of "water" from ripe coconuts as 

 imported into the United Kingdom. 



This gave the following results : 

 Saccharine constituents : 



Caue Sugar ... ... ... 2-6 per cent. 



Glucose ... ... ••• 0*5 „ „ 



Mannitol ... ... • •• ml 



Other organic matter ... ••• 1"1 » >> 

 Mineral constituents : 



(Ash) - - 0-5 „ „ 



Water ... — •■• 95 3 „ 



These results agree fairly well with those recorded by Van Slyke for the 

 "water" of ripe coconuts. The present sample of water from Ceylon coconuts 

 appears therefore to be abnormal in containing mannitol in place of almost 

 the whole oi the glucose and cane sugar usually present. It would be interesting 

 to know whether this replacement of glucose and cane sugar by mannitol 

 constantly occurs in nuts grown in Ceylon, or whether it is characteristic of a 

 particular variety of nut- 

 It is worth notice that mannitol is very closely related to glucose, and 

 that it is possible that the presence of mannitol in this sample of "water" may 

 be due to a change similar in character to the " mannitol fermentation," which 

 occasionally takes place in wine, whereby the sugars normally present in the 

 wine are partially converted into mannitol. 



GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 



It is clear from the foregoing results that it would be impossible to manu- 

 facture sugar from coconut "water" as represented by this sample, since it 

 contains only 0*1 per cent of cane sugar. Further, it is highly improbable that 

 sugar could be manufactured at a profit from coconut ''water" even when 

 this contains the whole of its saccharine contents in the form of cane sugar. 

 Van Slyke found in the richest sample of coconut " water " he examined 4'43 per 

 cent of cane sugar which was associated with 3*15 per cent of non-saccharine 

 organic matter and T06 per cent of ash. The crude juice expressed from the 

 sugar cane contains as a rule nearly 20 per cent of cane sugar, and not more 

 than 0*5 per cent of non-saccharine organic matter and about 0'25 per cent of ash. 



Coconut " water " therefore contains at the most only about one-fifth the 

 amount of sugar present in the juice of the sugar cane, and as the cost of extraction 

 would be much greater in the former case, there seems little likelihood that the 

 "water" could be successfully utilised as a raw material for sugar manufacture, 

 even though it is at present a waste product in Ceylon. 



REPORT BY THE CURATOR OF BOTANIC STATION, SEYCHELLES, 



FOR THE YEAR 1904. 

 General Remarks.— 1. From an agricultural standpoint the year under 

 review has been affected by a prolonged drought and a corresponding shortage of 

 crops which will extend over the next year at least. The total rainfall amounted to 

 106 inches, or six inches above the average, but the number of the days on which 

 rain fell was only 113 as compared with 171 for 1903. The drought commenced in the 

 middle of February and ended in the beginning of November. In September a few 

 showers increased the rainfall for that month to 7'13 inches, but only 2'82 inches of 

 rain fell in October, and little or no benefit was derived from the showers of 

 September. 



