PRODUCTS  OF  THE  NATURAL  ORDER  PALMACEiE,  131 
where  they  have  large  plantations  of  the  cocoa-nut  palm — the 
produce  of  each  palm  is  enormous.  An  acre  will  yield  about 
4000  nuts  per  annum  if  well  cultivated;  if  intended  for  oil,  the 
kernels  are  extracted  and  are  ground  into  a  pasty  mass,  called 
coperah,  this  is  submitted  to  the  necessary  pressure  in  the  oil 
mills,  and  yields  for  every  100  nuts  twenty  pounds  of  the  cocoa 
fat  or  oil,  or  800  pounds  per  acre.  The  marc  or  oil-cake  is 
valuable  as  food  for  cattle,  besides  which  one  of  the  most  useful 
of  our  fibrous  materials  is  derived  from  the  husks.  The  genus 
Attalea  is  of  great  importance  to  European  commerce — from 
one  species  is  obtained  the  common  Piassava  of  commerce,  and 
the  coquilla  nut,  so  highly  prized  by  turners  for  making  a  variety 
of  small  ornamental  turnings.  Another  species,  A.  cahune, 
produces  the  cahune  nut  of  British  Honduras,  which  has  become 
a  matter  of  some  interest,  in  consequence  of  several  importa- 
tions having  been  received  for  experiments  in  the  production  of 
an  oil  which  its  kernels  yield  in  great  abundance,  but  the  dif- 
ficulty of  extracting  the  kernel  neutralizes  its  value.  The  African 
genus  Elais  closes  the  list  of  the  division  cocoinse,  and  it  is 
unsurpassed  in  value  by  any  of  the  Palmacese.  E.  Guiniensis 
yields  the  valuable  palm  oil  of  commerce,  one  of  the  staple 
imports  of  Liverpool. 
The  fruit  is  borne  upon  an  immense  thyme-like  spadix,  each 
drupe  is  pear-shaped,  and  somewhat  less  than  a  walnut,  having 
a  soft  pulpy  merocarp  of  a  light  orange  color,  from  which  the 
oil  is  yielded  abundantly  when  the  fruit  is  exposed  in  heaps  to 
the  sun  in  the  manner  employed  by  the  olive-growers.  It  is  quite 
startling  if  we  begin  to  think  of  the  vast  extent  to  which  this 
tree  must  be  cultivated,  for  each  tree  does  not  yield  more  than 
ten  pounds  of  oil,  and  the  quantity  annually  imported  into  Eng- 
land alone  is  nearly  30,000  tons,  which  would  require  6,720,000 
trees ;  it  is  probable,  however,  that  several  crops  are  yielded  in 
one  year.  Palm  oil  yields  by  distillation  with  acid  a  valuable 
material  called  Palmitic  Acid,  and  this,  mixed  with  the  neutral 
fat  of  the  cocoa-nut,  is  found  to  form  the  best  known  composition 
for  candles,  and  is,  in  fact,  the  material  of  Price's  candles.  It 
is  also  extensively  used  in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  and  con- 
stitutes a  large  proportion  of  the  grease  compositions  used  for 
the  axles  of  railway  carriages.    The  so-called  vegetable  ivory, 
