The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-19
UNLOADING COCo4NUTS.
Landed Looue aud Sacked on the Whnrf-Rx.
pert sorters and Counters.

pert sorters and Counters.
Cocoanuts are loaded in the hold of q YES
sci In bulk. Upon their discharge here they are
sacked, for greater convenience in handling and
shipment. This work, which involves sorting
the nuts as to size and separating the sound
from the unsound, 10 done on the wharf along
side the vessel.
When the matches have been taken off men
get into the vessels hold with bushel baskets.
which they fill with c%ocoanuts. These baskets
of nuts are handed up over the hatch coaming
and passed along across the deck and over the
rail and onto the wharf. where they are set up
ON q box of convenient height, beside which
stand the counters-sometimes two, but oftener
three, all experts at sorting and counting cocoa
nuts. The three men stand side by side on the
side of the box toward the vessel. and on the
other side stands a man holding a sack with
mouth open, into which the nuts are thrown as
they are counted.
Back of the counters. against the stringpiece
of the wharf, are baskets into which the culls
are thrown; these include the smaller nuts,
cracked nuts. and sprouts, which are nuts that
have begun to sprout. Cocoanuts are. put up in
sacks containing 100 large nuts and 100 smaller
sorting and counting arc from time to time
taken away by other men and sacked. These
on account OF their size. The cracked nuts and
the sprouts would rot soon II they were not used
anu tneSe are kept apart anu Solu cheap Tor
quick assumption.
The counters 10 nothing but sort and count;
they never touch a basket. When n basket has
been emptied another man pulls 1t off the box
and sets a full basket In Its place. There is al
ways at least one basket OF nuts on tho box;
there are usually more than one. 30 that the
sorting and counting go on constantly. Each
counter picks up two nuts at once, one In each
hand, and all three counters toss nuts into the
same bag, but there ID mover any confusion In
the count. Two nuts are counted one, for con-
vcnience in keeping tally. and when the three
men have counted up to fifty tho man holding
the bag. now containing 100 nuts. drags 1t away
and another man takes his place with an empty
bag, and the counters begin again, one, two,
three. and up to fifty again.
Picking up every time two nuts, the counter
taps them gently together to see il they are
sound. This constant gentle clicking is one Of
the features OF lLo unloading OF COCoRnuts. A
nut OF small size would OF course be apparent to
the eye. but it might not he apparent whether
the small nut WAS cracked or sound. Tapping
expert instantly, II he throws out n nut he
picks up another, stll retaining the other nutin
the other hand. lie now taps together the nut
that he has picked M in place OF the one thrown
out and the nut that he had continued TO hold,
and If these are both sound and or suitable size
he tosses them into tho bag and counts One
or "Thirty.one," or whatever number they come
to in the counting.
Other men sew up the sacks. which are then
ranged along the wharf TO be carted Off later.
A cargo OF cDcoanuts contains from $50. 900
nuts up, according 10 tho size of the vessel. A
big vessel might bring 800, 600 to 100000. The
work OF iiBChhrEing u cargo OF 6OO,OOU cocoa
nuts would ordinarily occupy about II week.