282 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTtTRIST. [Oct. 1, 190§. 
the annual value of £2,500, The growth of this 
industry has been slow, as by the ordinary local 
method of extractine; oil from the nut, there was 
not a very high margin between the relative values 
of nuts and oil, and it must always take time 
before a purely agricultural industry will adopt 
machinery. By the most 
PBIMITIVE METHOD OF EXTRACTING THE OIL, 
the kernel of the nut was grated on a cassava 
grater and boiled with wacer. The oil, which on 
boiling became separated and floated on the 
surface, was skimmed off. As the industry 
advanced and a larger output) was necessitated, 
rotary graters took the place of the cassava grater, 
and ' teachers ' or 'steam pans' were used for 
boiling, and in some cases old scum presses from 
the sugar estates were used to press the water 
from the resulting meal and render it available 
as a stock feed. The objections to this method 
were high cost in labour charges, inferior extrac- 
tion and low value of the by- product, oil meal. 
Some enterprising capitalist some years ago erect- 
ed modern oil-extracting machinery in Porb-of- 
Spain. They evidently overlooked the very 
serious disadvantages of high cost of transporting 
the nuts from wheie they grow, or, if transported 
in shell to reduce this cost, the loss of the husk 
as fuel which necessitates the use of expensive 
coal. It is only since modern machinery has been 
erected at Mayaro and Cedros that the advantages 
of this industry have become apparent. The 
average price realised for nuts during the past 
two years has been from $7 to $8 per 1,000 ; if 
made into oil by the most modern machinery, 
after deducting the cost and value of residual 
cake, the oil would cost 40 cents per gallon. The 
difference between that price and 50 cents, the 
average price oil has been sold at during the past 
two years, would be the profit to the manufacturer, 
or, if manufactured by the owner of the nuls, it 
would increase the proceeds of his nuts by $2*45 
per 1,000. There is therefore a loss to the colony 
of almost $2*50 per 1,000 on the 12^ million nuts 
we now annually export, or over $40,000. 
THE MODERN PROCESS, 
The most modern process of extracting oil from 
the coco nut is by hydraulic presses. Before 
pressing, tlie kernel of the nut must be broken 
up into as fine a meal as possible, and as this 
can only be done with the dry kernel, it is there- 
tore necessary to make copra first. The copra 
is ground into as fine a meal as possible in a dis- 
integrator, after which it is warmed and packed 
in small bags and !■< then subjected to a pressure 
of 2 Ions to the tquare inch in the hydraulic press. 
An extraction ot 48 per cent from the copra is 
obtained by this first pressing, The cake from 
the first pressing, being comparatively dry, can 
now be ground a second time in the disintegrator 
into a very fine meal, after which it is again 
warmed and |)re=sr;d, ,vhen a further extraction of 
10 per cent fronj the copra is obtained, making 58 
per cent in all. The residual meal amounting to 
38 per cent of the weight of copra is a first-class 
stock feed containing I1'50 per cent faf ty matter, 
and 10-50 per cent moisture, for which there is 
an ample demand in the local market at IJ 
■cents per lb. By this process a relatively high 
extraction of oil is obtained at a low cost, and 
the residual meal is of high commercial vitlue. 
The cost \>"t gallon of oil extracted does not 
exceed 10 cen ts, in a small plant capable of an 
output of 100 gallons per day, including capita] 
and depreciation charges as well as labour and 
supplies. The oil should be extracted as near 
where the nuts grow as possible : — 
(]) To avoid heavy freight or transport charges 
—I puncheon of oil being equal to 400 nuts. 
(2) Where husks and branches can be obtained 
no other fuel is necessary to work the factory. 
(3) Copra can only be made without the aid of 
artificial heat on the east and south coasts, 
where most of our nuts grow. The cost of putting 
down a modern oil extracting plant capable of 
an output of 100 gallons per day, or of working 
up a crop of 1,250,000 nuts would be about 
£1,000 or £1,200, and the following relative value 
of nuts, copra and oil, worked out. from the 
results of such a plant, may be useful to any who 
propose going into this industry ;— 
Nuts 
Copra 
Oil 
per 1,000. 
per ton. 
per gallon 
110 
$67-86 
50 cents. 
9 
61-73 
46 „ 
After allow- 
8 
55-61 
42- „ 
ing for value 
7 
49-48 
38 „ 
of 5-6 lb. 
6 
43-36 
34 „ 
meal per gal- 
5 
37-23 
30 „ 
lon oil 
N.B, — Cents here given are not Ceylon cents, 
ut American, JOO to the dollar. 
MADRAS COOLIES IN FIJI. 
The ship "Elbe," which sailed from Madras 
about the end of May last, with some 600 emigrant 
coolies for Fiji, reached its destination last month, 
and landed the emigrants in excellent condition. 
This is the first batch of Madras emigrants des- 
patched to Fiji, and we hear that these pioneers 
have very favourably impressed the Colonists, who 
consider the Madras coolies quite as good as, if not 
even better than, the coolies they have hitherto 
been importing from Calcutta. — M. Mail, Sept, 16. 
EECONSTEUCTBD TEA COMPANY, 
NEW TEA CORPORATION, LIMITED (78,349.) 
Registered August 18. Capital, £70,000 in £1 shares. 
Object, to take over the bueinesa of the Tea Corpora- 
tion, Limited (incorporated in 1897); to adopt an 
agreement with the said old company and W Pender 
the (liquidator thereof) ; to cultivate tea, coffee, cocoa, 
and other produce ; to breed and deal in live stock 
and to carry on the general business of planters, 
agriculturists, growers, ourers, packers, and shippers 
of fruit and vegetable or other produce, oommission 
and general agents, graziers, contractors, &o. The 
sigoatories are : — 
Shares. 
W Pender, 4, Lothbury, BO ... . . 1 
E T Bartlett, 57, Fellows-road, South Hamp- 
stead, N W ... ... ' .. 1 
R Franck, 21, Rosemont-road, Acton ... 1 
W V Goalstone, 34, Egerton-road, Greenwich 1 
R Wilder, Glon Isla, Langton, near Tanbridge 
Wells ,. .,. .. ... 1 
B J Mauran, 8, at. Saviour's-road, Brixton- 
hill, S W ... .. ... ... 1 
F S Lowe, 7, BessboroQgh-street, London . . 1 
No initial public issue. The number of directors 
is to be not less than two nor more than five. Ihe 
first are A, Bull, Finsbury House, E 0, I J Lawrance, 
165, Fenchurch-street, B C, and V H Smith, Hay's 
Wharf, S E Qaahfication, f 500. Remuneration, £300 
per annum, divisible. Registered office : 15, Bishops- 
gate-street Within, B C —H. and 0. Mail. 
