Jan.  I,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
441 
Bniooth  aiiimlated  stem,  SO  to  40  feet  high.  It  has 
broad  leaves,  with  the  leaflets  obliquely  cuneate.  The 
fruit  is  small  and  reddish.  It  is  a toddy  and  sugar 
palm,  and  also  yields  sago. 
Mr.  J.  it  Jackson,  A.L.S.,  in  “ Commercial  Botany,” 
gives  the  following  excellent  account  of  the  fibre 
yielded  at  the  bases  of  the  leaves  of  this  plant : — 
“ Kittool  fibre,”  he  says,  “has  been  known  in  this 
country  for  some  30  or  40  years,  but  it  is  within  the 
last  16  years  that  it  has  become  a regular  com- 
mercial particle.  When  first  imported,  the  finer  fibres 
were  used  for  mixing  with  horse-hair  for  stuffing 
cushions.  As  the  fibre  is  imported,  it  is  of  a dusky- 
brown  colour  ; but  after  it  arrives  here  it  is  cleaned, 
combed,  and  arranged  in  long  straight  fibi’es,  niter 
wliich  it  is  steeped  in  linseed  oil  to  make  it  more 
pliable  ; this  al=o  has  the  effect  of  darkening  it,  and 
it  becomes,  indeed,  almost  black.  It  is  softer  and 
more  pliable  than  piassava,  and  can  consequently  be 
used  either  alone  or  mixed  with  bristles  in  making 
soft,  long -handled  brooms,  which  are  extremely  dur- 
able, and  can  be  sold  at  about  a third  the  price  of 
ordinary  hair  brooms.” 
The  use  of  Kittool  fibre  is  said  to  bo  spreading 
not  only  in  this  country,  but  also  on  the  Continent. 
During  1895,  Kittool  fibre  has  not  been  much  in 
demand.  The  values  on  the  16th  September  were 
quoted  as  follow's  : — “ Long,  lOd.  to  lO^d. ; No.  1,  7d. 
to  7gd. ; No.  2,  2d.  to  2gd.  ;No.  3,  Id.  to  ijd.  per  lb.” 
Coconut  Fibres. 
The  Coconut  palm  {Cocos  nucifera)  is  extensively 
cultivated  in  nearly  all  tropical  countries.  It  exists 
in  immense  groves  in  Southern  India,  Ceylon,  the 
Islands  of  the  Eastern  Archipelago,  and  Polynesia. 
Its  cultivation  is  extending  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
on  the  East  and  West  Coasts  of  tropical  Africa. 
The  coconut  palm  is  one  of  the  first  objects  to 
be  seen  along  the  beach,  and  soon  becomes  one  of 
the  most  familiar  objects  to  travellers  in  the  tro))ics. 
It  is  a valuable  food  plant  for  man  and  animals, 
and  provides  besides  materials  for  the  construction 
of  houses,  and  numerous  utensils  in  daily  use.  It 
has  a cylindrical  stem,  usually  gracefully  curved, 
and  attaining  a height  of  40  to  100  feet,  surmounted 
with  a crown  of  large  feathery  leaves.  The  plant  is 
propagated  by  means  of  seed-nuts  (the  fruit)  ; these 
germinate,  if  kept  moist,  in  3 to  5 months.  The 
young  plants  are  put  out  in  their  permanent  places, 
when  about  8 to  15  mouths  old,  at  distances  varying 
from  27  to  33  feet  apart.  The  coconut  begins  to 
bear  in  5 to  8 years.  Usually,  the  nuts  take  from 
8 to  10  months  to  mature  before  they  fall  from  the 
parent  plant.  Each  coconut  palm  bears  from  30  to  60, 
and,  very  exceptionally,  when  well  watered  and 
manured,  up  to  100  nuts  a year. 
As  shown  above,  the  coir  of  commerce  is  yielded 
by  the  thick  pericarp  or  outer  fibrous  covering  of  tha 
fruit  of  the  coconut  palm.  The  word  “coir”  is 
said  to  come  from  the  Malay  Kdi/ar,  a twisted  product. 
Kayar  is  also  the  Tamil  for  a rope.  Although  coir 
w'as  known  in  Europe  in  the  16th  century,  it  was 
not  until  about  1842  that  it  was  brought  prominently 
into  notice.  St.  George’s-hall,  Windsor,  in  that 
year  was  laid  with  coconut  matting  on  the  occasion 
of  the  baptism  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Later  a 
great  impetus  was  given  to  coir  manufacture  by  the 
Great  International  Exhibition  of  1851. 
Coconut  fibre  is  tough,  elastic,  easily  manipulated 
within  certain  limits,  and  eminently  suitaole  for 
manufactures  where  lightness,  cleanliness,  and  great 
indestructibility  are  required.  It  is  understood  that 
coconut  fibre  will  not  bear  bleaching.  Various  shades 
of  colour  are,  however,  obtainable  by  using  different 
descriptions  of  n.atural  unbleached  fibre.  In  an  orna- 
mental mat  in  the  Kew  Museum  the  various  shades 
are  obtained  by  using  dark  Fiji  coir,  medium  coloured 
Ceylon  coir,  and  very  light  Cochin  cbir. 
Besides  being  made  into  rou^h  cordage,  coir  is  used 
in  combination  with  wool  to  give  richness  and  effect 
to  hearth-rugs  and  carpeting.  It  is  also  used  for 
brushes  and  brooms  for  household  and  stable  purposes, 
matting  for  sheep-folds,  pheasantries  and  poultry 
yards,  church  cushions  and  hassocks,  hammocks, 
clothes-lines,  cordage  of  all  sorts,  string  for  nursery- 
men, nosebags  for  horses,  mats  and  bags  for  seed- 
Crushers,  oil  pressers,  and  candle  manufacturers. 
Coir  is  one  of  the  best  materials  for  cables,  on 
account  of  its  lightness,  elasticity,  and  strengh.  It 
is  durable,  and  little  affected  by  salt  water.  Of  coir 
and  coir-made  rope,  about  9,000,000  to  10,000,000  lb. 
are  annually  shipped  from  India ; much  is  pre- 
pared in  Ceylon  ; but  Cochin  is  noted  as  the  port 
of  shipment  for  the  best  quality  of  yarns. 
Certain  varieties  or  cultivated  forms  of  the  coconut 
are  better  suited  than  others  for  the  production  of 
coir.  Cochin  (a  small  native  state  on  the  Malabar 
coast)  produces  a bright,  light-coloured  coir,  which 
fetches  the  best  price.  On  the  other  hand,  a good 
deal  depends  on  the  age  at  which  the  nuts  are 
gathered,  and  the  time  which  elapses  before  they  are 
husked  and  cleaned. 
In  the  process  of  separating  the  fibre,  the  following 
commercial  qualities  are  produced  : — The  mat,  or  long 
fibres,  used  for  spinning  purposes:  the  shorter,  or 
more  stubborn  fibres  (bristles),  for  brooms  or  brushes; 
the  tow  or  curled  fibre  for  stuffing  cushions ; and 
the  dust  or  refuse  for  gardening  purposes.  When 
dyed  black,  the  tow  has  been  used  as  a substitute 
for  horse-hair.  A singular  use  was  proposed  a short 
time  ago  for  coconut  dust  or  refuse.  Taken  before 
it  is  quite  dry,  and  subjected  to  great  pi'essure,  it 
is  capable  of  forming  plates  of  varying  thicknessj 
like  millboard,  only  much  more  brittle.  These 
boards,  if  used  as  backing  for  steel  plates  or  ironclads, 
swell  up  on  being  punctured  below  the  water-line, 
and  soon  close  the  orifice.  If  really  effective, 
such  plates  could  be  produced  at  a trifling  cost,  for 
thousands  of  tons  of  coconut  refuse  float  away  an- 
nually down  the  rivers  in  India  and  elsewhere. 
The  first  step  in  the  preparation  of  coir  is  the 
removal  of  the  husk  from  the  hard  interior  shell. 
This  is  usually  done  by  striking  the  nut  on  a pointeci 
instrument  stuck  in  ihe  ground.  A man  can  husk 
about  1,000  a day.  The  husks  arc  then  soaked  in 
water.  Thi.s  is  variously  conducted.  The  water  may 
be  either  salt,  brackish,  or  fresh  ; in  this  the  husks 
are  kept  for  a lengthened  period.  The  more  re- 
cent method  is  to  place  them  in  tanks  of  water 
made  warm  with  steam.  The  latter  heatens  the 
softening  process,  and  improves  the  colour  and 
quality  of  the  fibre.  Where  machinery  is  used,  the 
husks,  when  sufficiently  soaked,  are  passed  through 
a crushing  mill,  which  flattens  and  crushes  them 
ready  for  the  extractor,  or  breaking-down  machine 
In  the  latter  the  fibres  are  completely  disintegrated, 
and  are  then  passed  through  a “ willowing  ” machine, 
to  free  them  from  dust  and  refuse.  It  is  calculated 
that,  when  treated  in  this  country,  10,000  husks  will 
produce  45  to  50  cwt.  of  “spinning  fibre,”  and  9 to 
13  cwt.  of  “ brush  fibre.” 
In  Ceylon,  40  coconuts  are  said  to  yield  6 lb.  of 
coir  ; in  Madras,  3 large  coast  nuts  yield  1 lb.  of 
coir  ; in  the  Laccadives  it  requires  10  small  nuts 
to  yield  a pound  of  coir,  measuring,  when  made 
into  yarn,  35  fathoms.  In  1889,  an  attempt  was 
made  to  export  coir  from  Lagos.  A bale  of  loose 
coir,  weighing  42  lb.,  was  prepared  from  400  nuts. 
No  attempt  had  been  made  to  separate  the  “ bristle  ” 
and  “ mat  ” fibres.  Good  Ceylon  bristle  fibre  was  then 
worth  £30  per  ton,  and  Ceylon  mat  fibre  £10.  The 
Logos  fibre,  when  separated,  was  valued  at  £15  and 
£9  to  £10  respectively  (“Kew  Bulletin,”  1889.  pp. 
122-132).  The  average  annual  value  of  coir  goo<Js 
exported  fi-om  Ceylon  is  put  dow'ii  at  £60,000.  The 
quantity  exported  in  1884  was  as  follows  Coir  rone. 
10,419 cwt. ; coir  yarn,  81,037  cwt. ; coir  fibre,  12,732 cwt  • 
total,  107,208  cwt.  ’’ 
The  principal  exports  of  coir  from  India  are  trom 
the  Madras  Presidency.  For  the  five  years  ending 
1.880-81  they  wore  271,9.31  cwt.,  valued  at  P2,179  767 
while  for  the  year  1881-82  the  value  was  R2  354  202. 
The  exports  from  the  Malabar  coast  alone  amounted 
to  R2,243  0(X).  “ From  these  figures  an  idea  may 
bo  obtained  of  the  immense  importance  of  Malabar 
and  the  Laccadives  as  the  chief  seats  of  the  Indian 
coir  industry.” 
The  approximate  market  value  per  ton  of  coir  goods 
in  London  on  the  16th  September,  1895,  were  as 
follows : — 
Coir  i/nni  : Cochin,  common  to  good,  roping,  £11 
10s.  to  £14,  weaving,  fair  to  good,  £2u  to  £25;  Ceylon 
fair  to  good,  ballots  and  bales,  £17  to  £21. 
