16 
IX. 
CITRATE OF LIME. 
The quantity of Citrate of Lime manufactured at Silhouette 
(not yet exported) amounted to 1300 lbs. 
Citrate of lime is made from Bigarades. The fruits are press¬ 
ed in a patented machine (Couteau de la Maison Alexandre, 
7 Bd Voltaire, Paris) in which they are squeezed by the action 
of a screw revolving slowly inside a conical piece of perforated 
tin. The clean juice and the pulp escape in separate directions. 
The juice is then placed by hand in a settling tank mixed with 
a little lime and allowed to stand for 12 hours. The next day 
it is sent to a copper cooking pan of 300 litres capacity after 
being sifted in a fine copper sieve. The cooking pan is placed 
on top of a small furnace and lime is added gradually until the 
juice has reached the boiling point. It is then allowed to settle 
and tested in order to know if sufficient lime has been added. 
Workers soon become experts in the work of testing by the 
appearance and taste of the juice. Only pure chalk (imported) 
is used in the process of neutralisation. The next day the 
mother liquor is removed by taps placed at convenient heights 
and the citrate of lime which has settled, is carefully washed 
in boiling water 3 or 4 times. The citrate is then drained in 
the pan itself by allowing it to remain all night in a piece of 
cloth. It is then dried very carefully in a special oven fitted 
with numerous shelves (13). Hot air from a furnace under¬ 
neath is circulated round the oven by means of 6 chimueys 
placed along the two longest sides which measure 4 feet. After 
24 hours the citrate is quite dry and is packed in barrels. It is 
dried a second time for a few minutes before exportation. The 
citrate from Silhouette Island is comparable to the best citrate 
of Sicily and fetches as much as £70 a ton in Marseilles. The 
percentage of Citric Acid reaches 66o/o as compared with 68 o/o 
in the Sicilian product. The owner of the factory thinks that 
Sicilian lemons which is skinned before being pressed gives a 
purer juice from which a better grade citrate is obtained. The 
Silhouette Citrate is however easily saleable, the minimum 
amount of Citric Acid required being only 58 o/o. 
The necessary power tor driving the presses is obtained 
from a petrol motor of Panard Levasseur, which consumes 400 
grammes of gazoline per horse power. 
These full notes are given herein in order to induce some 
other planters in Praslin district to make use of the large crop 
of bigarades which is wasted in that group of islands. 
Among the crops grown for local consumption, besides 
bananas, 1 may mention palm oil and cola trees which are gra¬ 
dually being set out for the benefit of the Political Prisoners 
from the Hold Coast and Uganda. These plants which will 
become subspontuneous in the long run are very well adapted 
to the soil and climate of this Colony and will eventually 
produce an article of export. 
X. 
COIR FIBRE. 
The preparation of coconuo fibre for export had formerly 
been attempted several times in the Colony without success. 
It is now established on a small scale at Cascade and Anse aux 
Pins thanks to the persevering energy of a planter, who, with¬ 
out special knowledge, has succeeded in producing bristle fibre 
and making good ropes out of the yarn spun from mattress 
fibre. Only bristle fibre has been exported up to date and the 
quantity exported in 1915 amounted to 5 tons. It is hoped 
that mattress fibre will soon become an article of export. 
XI. 
THE RUBBER INDUSTRY. 
At the beginning of 1915 the tapping of rubber trees had 
been discontinued and the arm unit of rubber exported during 
