h the best hydraulic
presses. It is true that very heavy pressure carries through much
coloring matter not withdrawn by the primitive native mill, and that
the oil is consequently darker, and sooner undergoes decomposition;
but modern mills are now supplied with filtration plants through
which this objection is practically overcome.

The principles of the above process are daily reproduced in thousands
of Filipino homes, where the hand rasping of the nut, the expression
of the milky juice through coarse cloth, its subsequent boiling down
in an open pan, and the final skimming off of the oil are in common
practice. Notwithstanding the cheapness of labor, it is only by
employing a mill well equipped with decorticating, rasping, hydraulic
crushing, and steam-boiling machinery, and with facilities to convert
the residue to feeding or other uses, that one may hopefully enter
the field of oil manufacture in these Islands in competition with
copra buyers.

COIR.

The fiber of the cocoanut husk, or coir, as it is commercially known,
has never yet been utilized in this Archipelago, excepting occasionally
for local consumption.

Second in value only to the copra, this product has been allowed to
go to waste. The rejected husks are thrown together in immense heaps,
which are finally burned and the ashes, exceedingly rich in potash
and phosphoric acid, are left to blow away.

As the commercial value of the fiber is greater than the manurial
value of the salts therein, it is economy to utilize the fiber and
purchase potash and phosphoric acid when needed to enrich the soil.

Highly improved and inexpensive power machinery for the complete and
easy extraction of the fibers of the husk, either wet or dry, is now
rapidly superseding the tedious hand process once in such general
use. Good patterns of machinery are shown in the "husk-crushing mill"
(fig. 1) and in the "fiber extractor" (fig. 2). The first breaks,
crushes, and flattens out the husks by means of powerful, fluted metal
rollers and, in the second the broken husks are fed over a revolving
drum set with teeth especially devised for tearing out the fiber from
the entire mass. Finally, it is fed into one of the many forms of
"willowing" machines, which reduces the mass to clean fiber, which
is now ready for grading, baling, and shipment. The residual dust
and waste from this operation may be used as an absorbent for liquid
manures, and ultimately returned to the plan