Word: coconuts
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...perfect pearl, formed not in an oyster but in a coconut, was exhibited last week in Florida by Botanist David Fairchild. One of a dozen found in 9,000,000 East Indian coconuts, the pearl began (scientists believe) when a sprout was unable to force its way through one of the three pores in a germinating nut. Like a sand grain in an oyster, the sprout was then encrusted with layers of calcium carbonate-even though chemists have never found this compound in either the nut's milk or kernel...
...begged them to increase 1942 plantings of soybeans and peanuts by 3,000,000-4,000,000 acres (7,000,000 acres of soybeans, 3,500,000 acres of peanuts had already been scheduled for this year). But U.S. oils do not have the rare quick-lathering properties of coconut...
...some success. Brazil's oiticica oil is a tung-oil substitute; the U.S. imported 16,000,000 lb. last year. The muru-muru and tucum trees, also Brazil's, are palm substitutes. Venezuela's jungle-grown corozo and macanilla nuts have the quick-lathering qualities of coconut oil. So has the babassu, of which the U.S. imported 63,000,000 Ib. last year, mostly for soap. In fact, of all imported oils still available to the U.S., Brazil's babassu is now the most important for soap-even in Kansas...
Mexico. John Gunther tore down the west coast of South America, then looped back north through Brazil and the West Indies. He began with Mexico, where he "flew over pyramids bigger than those in Egypt ... ate limes stuffed with coconut . . . found that Mexico is the country where the letter 'x' is pronounced three different ways... and where during one civic riot the taxicabs charged mounted cavalry like tanks-and won." He also talked to President Manuel Avila Camacho, who is "about as colorful as a slab of halibut," but "steady, cautious and efficient." In Mexico Gunther shed some...
...Soapmakers are using more & more crude soybean oil because, like palm-nut, olive and coconut oils it can be made into an excellent lather-maker which produces suds even in salty sea water...