The times., 1899-10-29
NO WASTE IN THE coCoANUT.
How the Various Parts of the Prod
net Are. Utilized.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.)

Q'rom the San Francisco Chronicle.)
Chinese proverb says that the cocoa
nut tree has as many properties as there
are days in the year. The fruit OF the
tree is the only part imported into Cali
fornia, and it is now put TO many and
widely different uses, not one atom being
thrown away. One local importer receives
ABOUT 800 600 cocoanuts month. only
small portion of them is kept for the
green trade. as it is called when the
nut IS sold in its original state the greater
bulk passing to the factory, where the husk
Is removed and the inner nut is steamed
TO facilitate the removal OF the
meat. About thirty-five boys and
girls are employed there in peel
ing off the thin brown skin. This is care
fully preserved and sent to the oil ana
lead works, where a substance resembling
lard and known as cocoanut butter is eX-
tracted. This is worked into all sorts of
toilet articles. The white, meaty pert of
the nut, after being washed, is thrown into
different machines TO be ground according
to the quality required some grinding it
almost as fine as flour others cutting it
into strips half an inch wide. The next
process is the cooking which is done In
immense brass kettles continuously re-
YoIVing to insure an even result. Only
the milk contained in the heart OF the nut
is used in the cooking. After the nut is
sufficiently cooked-that is, when the
moisture has wholly eyaporated the pulp
is placed in shallow iron pans and dried
in drying closets, and the "desiccated CO.
coanut' of commerce is the result, which
enters into many different confections.
That part of the cocoanut whose prop
critics are not so we'll known in Cali
fornia is the outer covering or husk The
inner woody shell of this makes excellent
fuel. If you are initiated into the mys-
terles-oT, rather, tricks-of the trade, you
viii also know that it does duty as spice
How spicy it really is depends upon what
IS mixed with it. At any rate it is too
good fuel to be thrown away. But the
tibrous outer shell Of the cocoanut was
until very recently thrown into the bay
to float off and finally disfigure the sur
rounding beaches. There is now a factory
on the Berkeley shore of the bay which
uses this despised husk in the manufac-
ture of another useful commercial COM
modify. 1t is the only factory of its kind
In California and it assumes a position
OF peculiar Importance when it is remem-
bered that it is converting what was pre-
Yiously considered waste matter, which was
hard to get rid of and which bid fair to
become nuisance, into an article of great
utility. Out Of this husk a very aromatic
perfectly sanitary, and springy material is
being made TO serve as a substitute in mat
ress making for the unsanitary curled
hair. The husk Of the cocoanut shell con-
tains fibrous material which really makes
excellent furniture and mattress filling. 1t
is infinitely superior to shoddy This in
dustry is only in its infancy on this coast
Twenty-Five per cent of the husk IS hair
or fibre, the rest is dust: but not even this
dust is wasted, for nurserymen have found
that it makes an excellent covering for
winter flower beds. The first process
through which the husk is put is that of
crushing. This is accomplished by a ma
chine resembling rock crusher. and
sounding very much like. one when work
driven by a forty horse power engine
This is called the picker. The husk comes
out of 1t as dust and coarse hairIike fibre
with here and there a. remnant of she'll
This is picked over by boys and thrown
again into the picker.
When 1t comes out a second time a por-
tion of it is twisted into a rope by ma
chine called the twister. When about a
hundred feet OF this rope is made it is tied
up into a bundle and hung IN a steam box
After being thoroughly steamed these
bundles are dried in room heated to 12O
degrees While so treated the fibre is still
kept in the shape of rope. 1t is by this
process that the fibre is curled and gets
its springy quality. The twisted fibre is
then put through the picker a third time,
and wlen it is thrown out 1t looks as light
as down, and settles into the sweetest.
most aromatic heap imaginable, for it re-
tains its pleasant woody and spicy odor.
which alone ought to make it an ideal ma
terial for mattress filling independent Of
its more important sanitary properties.
The price of this cocoanut fibre ranges
from IL cents to 10 cents pound. 1t
has lately been listed as an article OF COM
merce, SO that it is now one of the es-
tablished industries OF this coast