February 2, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
571 
afford information as to tbe manner in wbicb coconut 
butter is deodorised in Germany, but they bad stated 
that the subject had not come before them, and sug- 
gested that the information might be obtained through 
the Government of India: the subject being of con- 
siderable interest to India, 
Mr. B. 0. Basu of the Agricultural Department of 
Bengal, very kindly communicated tbe remits of his 
experiments in the following letter : — 
“I took four nuts of average size, neither very 
big nor very small, and had the kernel reduced to a 
coarse pulp with a native instrument called Kami. 
The nuts were not fully ripe ; the kernel was fully 
formed, but was yet a little soft. After the kernel 
had been made into pulp, the latter was squeezed in 
a thick piece of cloth to express the ‘ mi k.’ A little 
water had to be added to the pulp to make the milk 
run out treely. The whole of the milk could not, 
however, be expressel, as I had no proper appliances 
to do the work. The ‘milk’ was measured and foucd 
to be S paos or roughly 24 oz , of which quantity 1 pao 
may be taken as water added to the pulp in the act 
of expressing the milk. 
“ Immediately after the milk had been expressed, it 
was churned in a soda-w.ater bottle. 1 intended to use 
the English churn which I have recently procured from 
England, but the quantity of milk was too small to 
be pub into a churn. I should mention here, that in 
the experiment with coconut milk which I made in 
the last cold weather, I had no need to add any ice 
or cold water, but in the p'oseut e.xperiment which 
was made somelirna about the end of last April, the 
weather was hot, the consequence being that the butter 
refused to ‘-come.’ I then added alitileiced water to 
tbe ‘milk’ in the soda-water bottle, and the butter 
grains immediately appeared. The whole operation 
did not take more than 15 minutes, and could be 
finished in half the timo if cold water was added in 
the beginning. All that I had now to do was to wash 
the butter in cold water, and gather it into a lump. 
The butter weighed just a little over 14 chittaks or 3 
oz., that is 12i per cent, on the milk. This I con- 
sidered encouraging; but my surprise and disappomt- 
ment were great when on opening tho ve.ssel in which 
I had put m the butter, I foun 1 that it had all 
melted and was floating on the top of the water. In 
the cold weather tbe butter kept pretty Arm day and 
night; but in ffie hot weather it would be impossible 
to keep it solid, unless it was put iu iced water. 
Under the circumstances, I believe it is useless trying 
to m.ake coconut butter in a hot climate like ours.” 
In a subsequent letter Mr. Basu conjectured that 
the butter fats of the coconut might be of two or 
more kinds, with different melting points, and in that 
case those that melt at a low temperatu'e might be 
removed and the ba'anca would remain solid. 
In connexion with the subject the following from 
the Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry is 
of interest; — 
The following is an extract from the last report of 
the United States Consul at Mannheim on the subject 
of the manufacture of Coconut Butter in Germany ; — 
“German Chemists discovered in the coconut a 
fatty substitute for butter. This discovery was made 
by a Dr. Schluok, practical Clmmist, a^ Ludwigshafen- 
on-the-Khiue. Shorrly after the discovery was made 
a firm was established in this City under the name 
‘P. Muller and Sohne,’ which sunk a large amount 
ot cajiltal in an enterprise, having for its object the 
production of the new arMcle, to which they gave the 
name of ‘ Coconut butter.’ Tbe results achieve 1 have 
more than justified their expectations. The firm is 
not ablo to meet tbe constant demands made upon 
it. Althongh in exi-tencs only one year, it em|)loys 
2.5 workmen, who got trom 25 to 7,5 cents, a clay, has 
a 10 horse. power engine, md pro luces daily .3,000 
kilos of butter, which retails at from 55 to 65 pfenn- 
ings, or from 13 to 15.1 oonts. per pound, or 2.3 to 30 
cents, per killogramine. 
“The nuts are obtained from almost all lands lying 
in the tropics, especially from the South Sea an I Coral 
Islands, Arabia, tho Coast Coun ries of Africa, and 
South America. Natives in countries where the nuts 
grow have for a long time used the milk of these 
nuts instead of food oils. It contains 60 to 70 per 
cent, of fat, and 23 to 25 per cent, ot organic sub- 
stances, of which 9 to 10 per cent, is of albumen. 
Liobig and Fresnius had alre idy discovered the value 
of tho Coconut oil, or fat, but did not succeed in its 
production as a substitute for butter. The new butter 
is of a clear, whitish colour, melts at from 26° to 
28° C., and contains 0 0008 per cent, water, 0 066 per 
cent, mineral stuffs, and 99'9932 per cent. fat. 
“ It hardens at 19° C. It is better adapted, however, 
for the kitoheu than for tho dining-room, that is, for 
cooking purposes, than for the u.ses to which butter 
is put on our tables. It is neither disagreeable to 
tbe taste nor smell. In a country where real butter 
runs all tbe way from 25 to 35 cents., per pound, and 
Coconut butter costs but 15 cents., a great future 
musk open up before the latter. At present it is 
chiefly used iu hospitals and other state institutions, 
but ia also rapidly finding its way into houses or 
homes where people are too poor to buy butter. The 
working classes are rapidly t.iking to it instead of the 
olemarga: ines, against which so much had been said 
in the papers during the last two or three years. 
“ The new butter is said to be singularly free from 
acids aud other disturbing elements so often found in 
butter, especially that made from milk taken from 
cows diseased with tuberculosis. Here it is e.stimated 
that fully 10 per cent, of the milk-giving cows are so 
tr ubled. This absence of acids and other matter 
reii iers its digestion much easier, hence the pre- 
ference alrealy shown for the new article by hospitals 
and such institutions. There are those who do not 
hedtate to declare this new substitute as healthier, 
and infinitely preferable to the too often bad butter 
brought on the markets, and not to be named in the 
same breath with oleomargarines made too often from 
the diseased fat of horse and she»p flesh. 
‘‘When it is remembered that Germany has already 
some 50 factories making oleomargarines and other 
artificial butters, and that some 180,000 centners are 
produced annually, it will be readily seen that regular 
butter will have hard work to hold its own in a 
hundred uses against its new rivals, and especially so 
since the olemargarines aud artificial butters of all 
kinds are placed under severe, careful, and watchful 
State Inspectors. It is hoped, however, that no losses, 
but gains rather, will arise; for besides the profits 
ro lilting from the new substitutes more meat and 
milk, as such, will como on the markets, and conse- 
quently into use. 
“If, with Kdning, we assume that the principal 
nutriments albumen, fats, and carbon hydrates are 
paid tor iu the ratio of 5 : 3 : 1., i.e., a kilog. of albu- 
men costs five times, and a kilog, of fat three times( 
as much as a kilog of carbon hydrate, we arrive by com- 
parison of the nutritiousuess of milk with other arti- 
cles ot diet, at th I following results : — If we pay for 
1 kilog. of milk, 15 pfennigs; for a mark we got 21'33 
per cent, of nutriment; for 1 kilog. lard (bacon), 172 
pfeiiuig.s, 1608 per cent.; for 1 kilog. fatty cheese, 162 
pfennigs, 14 32 per cent. ; for 1 kilog. pork, 131 
pfennigs, 1401 per cent.; for 1 kilog. veal, 112 
pfennigs, 1033 per cent.; for 1 kilog. beef, 128 
pfennigs, 9T1 per cent. ; for 1 kilog. eggs, 200 
pfennigs, 4 97 per cent. 
Now, if these facts are once known, milk as an 
article of diet will be more in demand, and the quan- 
tities no longer needed to make butter will find their 
way into the families w'nere formerly pure butter 
was unknown, but where its substi'ute, coconut 
butter, has taken fast hold .’’ — Board of Trade Journal. 
♦ 
ECHOES OF SCIENCE. 
Grol ■'gists have proved that the diamond mines 
of South Afr ca are si*uatrd in vent.s or chimneys, 
varying from about 70ft. to 1,500ft. in diameter, 
and doscendiiig vertically through the schists which 
fc vm the oriiinarv strata of ihe district. These vents 
are filled up wi'h fragments ofsilicated and magnesian 
ocks, in which the diamonds are scattered, and 
