COCOA, MANUFACTURES FROM. The cocoa manufactures are remarkable for simplicity of the process resorted to, and for the usefulness of the articles pro duced, in many instances, from materials formerly thrown away as useless. The cocoa nut as it comes from the tree con sists, first, of the outer husk, composed of fibres matted and adhering together ; secondly, the shell ; and thirdly, the ker nel. The manufacturers up to the present time employed only the outer husk and kernel. The natives of India have long used the fibres obtained by rotting the outer husk till the fibres can be separated by beating the husks. The fibres are spun into yarn by the native girls and women, by rubbing such fibres between the palm of the hand and the surface of the leg ; and in this manner is made the large quantity of Coir yarn brought into that country, and used for weaving-cloths for covering passages and rooms, and also matting for various uses. Notwith standing this rude mode of spinning the fibres, up to the present time no better means have yet been introduced • and the whole of the yarn employed in England is imported. This, however, may be ac counted for, by reason of there having been no practical mode of obtaining the fibre in Britain from the husks till very lately. The husks are beaten to obtain the fibre, which consists of three descrip tions: first, a light elastic fibre suitable for stuffing furniture; secondly, a coarser fibre used for making mats; and thirdly, a strong fibre used for brushes and brooms. The husks are soaked for some time, then subjected to the pressure of grooved rollers, and then by successive processes of carding, by revolving cylin ders armed with bent teeth, the fibres are combed out, the separate descriptions of fibres being deposited in different re ceivers. The uses of these fibres are for
making brushes, brooms, mats, and mat tresses. The kernels are dried in the sun, then pounded in mills to extract the oil ; but in more modern times the dried kernel has been pressed between mats in powerful presses. The oil for the most part is sent to England, and was formerly largely employed in the manufacturing of candles. The oil being, when it comes to London, of about the consistency of lard, requires pressing to separate the stearine from the elaine, and this is done between mats of cocoa nut fibre pressed in powerful presses. The stearine was used for candles at first alone, then in combination with stearic acid of tallow, producing what are called composite candles ; and it was the introduction of stearine of cocoa nut, combined with stearic acid, which constituted the first step to the great improvement which has taken place in the manufacture of candles. The larger quantities of cocoa nut oil, however, are now exported to France to make soap, the use of such oil in candle making being now for the most part sub stituted by palm oil. It has lately been proposed m Ceylon, to employ the juice of the cocoa nut tree for the snaking of sugar, it being considered that each tree is capable of producing upwards of one hundred weight per annum, and that an acre of cocoa nut trees, requiring little cultivation, will produce at least twice as much sugar as an acre of sugar-cane re quiring much more cultivation.