COLOMBO. 
as a Supplement Monthly to the " TBOPICAL AQBICULTUBIST:' 
May :- 
The following pages include the Conlents of the Agricullural Magazine for 
Vol. XJ 
MAY, 1899. 
[No. 11. 
NEW DEVELOPMENTS I^' THE 
COCOM'T INDUSTRY. 
E have had the privelege of being 
consulted by a party who has been 
going very fully and energetically 
into the methods of extracting 
oil from the coconut, and has 
brought to bear much practical 
experience of a technical nature on the ques- 
tion, with a yxtiw to discovering a means of 
producing a iiner article ou a commrcial 
scale. It is well known that special methcds cau 
be, and are, used for preparing special samp.es of 
fine oil for exhibition purposes, but sucii methods, 
or rather devices, are quite outside commercial 
possibilities. 
Not very long ago the Ccijhn Obsercer opened 
its columns to the discussion of the question of the 
superiority of Cochin over Ceylon coconut oil, and 
the reasons for this fact. As a result a good deal 
of interesting correspondence was forthcoming, 
iu the course of which much useful inforaiation 
regarding the preparation of coconut oil was 
brought to light. The conclusion of the whole 
matter, however, pointed to the fact that there 
•was no secret in the picparatiou of the best oil in 
the market, and that the sun-drying of the copra, 
coupled with careful manipulation in the orthodox 
fashion, accounted for the difference m the quality 
of the rival oils. 
Now, a dry heat and a moagro rainfall are not 
Vitliiu the commuud of tl»e cocouut pluutev who 
would turn his nuts into copra, while, some how, 
(we will uotstay to enquire why) dryingthe kernels 
by means of dessicators has not come to be fanciep . 
iu copra making as in the manufacture of 
" dessicated coconut.'' 
It has remained, however, for the party above 
referred to, after an expenditure of much time — 
not to say capital — to solve the problem of 
producing, ou a commercial scale, the iinest possible 
quality of oil by an altogether new process- 
Naturally, a prolonged and careful study of this 
question has brought other new facts to light as side 
issues, for instance the purification of oils generallj', 
and the preparation of what for the present are 
called '"Extracts" from oil seeds, aud particularly 
the coconut. Again, we would state that the 
tedious device of straining and filtering adopted 
in the claritication of exhibition oils, forms no 
part of the purification method referred to, while 
the new " Extracts " are as promising as they are 
startling in their novelty. And the great point about 
all these processes is that they cau be carried ou 
rapidly and on the widest commercial bases, with 
the production of the purest articles — perfectly 
free, be it said, from chemical taint. 
These statements as to the'quality of the products 
are not merely foinided on the tjise dut't of the 
inventor, nor are they the views of an interested or 
favourably prejudiced critic, but are based ou 
reports of chemical experts and dealers iu London. 
The keenest interest has been evinced in this new 
dcvclopement ot the coconut industry, and busi- 
uees uegociatious are just now iu active progress. 
■ We have beeu permitted to eay tiii? much auJ uo 
