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.
Fig. 1.—Cocoanut husk-crushing mill.
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 plantation. The yield of fiber varies from 12 to 25 quintals of coir and 4 to 7 quintals of brush fiber per 10,000 average husks. In the Philippines the nuts yield a large amount of fiber and a relatively small percentage of chaff and dust. With improved machinery and careful handling, 18 quintals of spinning coir and 5 quintals of bristle fiber from every 10,000 husks is a fair estimate of the product.
Fig. 2.—Cocoanut fiber-extracting machine.
As the cost of manufacture is generally rated at one-half the selling price, and as we must add a further charge of 20 per cent to cover freight and commission, we have resulting from the sale of the 23 quintals, or 2,300 kilos, at £16 per English ton, a balance of £11 11s. per hectare.
But there are other considerations which should not be overlooked. The husks of 10,000 cocoanuts will withdraw from the land 61.5 kilos of potash and 3 kilos of phosphoric acid, and the restoration of the full amount is called for to compensate for the growing wants of the tree, in addition to that withdrawn by the crop. The necessary fertilizers are worth, approximately, 5½d. per kilo, making a further reduction of £1 8s. and leaving as a net profit £10 3s., or, reduced to American money, nearly $50, gold, per hectare.
The machines above referred to will cost $800, gold, and $1,200 additional will purchase and house the power necessary to operate them. Such a plant will work up 1,000 nuts a day, and handle in a year the output of a grove of 30 hectares. With the addition of two or more fiber extractors the capacity of the plant may be doubled without material expense, and it should rather more than pay its entire cost in one year.