The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-20
PALM KERNELS: A NEW INDUS
TRY

The crushing of seeds and nuts for
the oil which they contain and the
preparation of feeding stuffs from the
residue is, so far as England is con-
cerned, comparatively new industry.
And one of the most important phases
of this business is that which centers
around the produtcs of Ihes oil palm,
and plays such considerable part in
the trade between the west coast of
Africa and Liverpool. This palma
beautiful tree of the umbrella pattern
flowers about September or October,
and the fruit ripens about four or five
months afterwards, the main crop be-
ing gathered from February to May.
The fruit is gathered by natives, who
ascend the trees by means of ropes
sailor fashion-and detach the masses
of nut clusters, or hands" as they are
called, with a small axe or cutlass. The
nuts are then heaped on the ground,
covered with palm leaves, and left for
a week in the hot and more or less
moist atmosphere to ferment. Dur
ing this process the nuts become loose
in their sockets, and are removed by
hand and placed in baskets.
aration of the nut proper from
the seed vessel, Or pericarp. First,
huge earthenware pots are taken, with
a capacity Of about twelve or fourteen
gallons, and in these are placed about
half a hundred-weight of nuts. Water
is added and the pot placed over a
slow wood fire After two hours boil
ing the seed vessel is sufficiently soft
to be squeezable by the fingers. The
nuts are then placed in the bottom of
a canoe drawn up on the river bank,
and the natives tread out the nuts
from the encircling pericarp with their
bare feet. Three men will thus tread
out ESQ pounds in an hour. Water is
then poured into the canoe to the
depth of three or four inches, and the
nuts treated to the final separating
process by being rocked, stirred and
shaken. BY this means the kernels
with the hard shells containing them
and after drying in the sun are crack
ed between stones SO as to separate
the palm kernels of commerce from
the hard shell inclosing them But
the water in the canoe has become COW
cred with a yellowish oily scum. This
is carefully collected in calabashes
and the percarp fibre is squeezed and
washed and finally pressed in mortar
to extract the remaining particles OF
oil. and being of no further commercial
value, is thrown aside to be used as
fuel.
Thus the West African negroes sup
ply US from the oil palm with two val
liable articles Of commerce-palm oil
and palm kernels. The processes en-
ployed arc wasteful, no doubt and the
absence of means Of communication
save by the rivers and creeks, implies
| that many thousands of tons of preci.
GUS produce are annually allowed tt
rot. This waste, however, is gradually
| being reduced, and with the advent OF
much required railways our supplies oil
| West African tropical produce must be
increased indefinitely. The bulk of the
| palm kernals-or rather that section OF
them shipped to England-find theil
way to Liverpool, and it certainly die
| not reflect creditably upon the enter.
prise of the merchants of the Mersey
| port that the major portion of such i'm
ports also figured in the exports OF
transshipments from Liverpool tt
| Continental ports.-The Syren.