Copra

( Com.) The prepared kernel of the cocoanut. The C. trade in the South Pacific is a source of considerable present, and of greater prospective, profit. C. is now the chief export of the Figi and some other South Sea Islands. The best is that which is dried whole before breaking the nut. A floored shed in which to stack the nuts is nece ary; if they are allowed to touch the ground, they will germinate instead of drying. The tough husk which envelopes the shell must not be removed, else the kalulu, a sort of cockroach, makes its way through the one vulnerable point or eye in the shell, and regales itself upon the water contained in it. sun-drying the meat for three days, or more if the weather is cloudy. The article thus prepared is never, however, equal to that which is dried in the husk, the proce being too rapid. Besides this, rain injures it, and if artificial heat is used in the drying, the C. always breeds animalcules which destroy it. Cocoanut oil, in much demand as a lubricator, is extracted from C., and the refuse is worked up into cocoanut biscuits or used to enrich cattle food. The fiber has of recent years been used in the manufacture of cellulose ( q.v. ). The trees in the South Pacific bear all the year round. Each tree will average 100 nuts per annum; about 6,000 nuts go to make a ton of C.