The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 65

The residuum is preserved under the leaves of the pine-apple shrub, till it becomes hot by fermentation. It is again subjected to the same operation, and this treatment is continued till no more color remains.

"The substance thus extracted is pa.s.sed through sieves, in order to separate the remainder of the seeds, and the color is allowed to subside. The precipitate is boiled in coppers till it be reduced to a consistent paste; it is then suffered to cool, and dried in the shade.

Instead of this long and painful labor, which occasions diseases by the putrefaction induced and which affords a spoiled product, Leblond proposes simply to wash the seeds of arnotto till they be entirely deprived of their color, which lies wholly on their surface; to precipitate the color by means of vinegar or lemon juice, and to boil it up in the ordinary manner, or to drain it in bags as is practised with indigo.

"The experiments which Vauquelin made on the seeds of arnotto imported by Leblond, confirmed the efficacy of the process which he proposed; and the dyers ascertained that the arnotto obtained in this manner was worth at least four times more than that of commerce; that, moreover, it was more easily employed; that it required less solvents; that it gave less trouble in the copper, and furnished a purer color."--("Dict. of Arts.")

Our imports of arnotto for home consumption are from 200,000 to 300,000 lbs. per annum. The plant is grown in Dacca and other parts of India, and the eastern Archipelago. At the Hawaiian Islands, Tongataboo, Rio Janeiro, Peru and Zanzibar, the arnotto is an indigenous shrub which rises to the height of seven or eight feet, producing oblong heavy pods, somewhat resembling those of a chesnut.

Within these there are generally thirty or forty irregularly-formed seeds, which are enveloped in a pulp of a bright red color, and a fragrant smell.

The imports of arnotto have been as follows:--

Retained for lbs. home consumption.

1834 252,981 -- 1835 163,421 -- 1839 303,489 224,794 1840 408,469 330,490 1847 270,000 296,821 1849 162,400 145,824 1850 301,504 231,280

The price of flag arnotto in the London market, in June 1853, was 1s.

per lb.

We imported from France, in 1850, 1,924 cwt. of roll or flag arnotto, of the official value of 21,499; and in 1851, 1,253 cwt., worth 13,968.

Wood dye exported from Ceylon--

Value Quant.i.ty cwts.

1848 1,359 -- 1849 2,035 -- 1850 1,766 5,206 1851 259 776 1852 770 2,396

CHAY-ROOT.--There is a plant called chay, the _Oldenlandia umbellata_, which is extensively cultivated as a dye plant in the East, especially on the coasts of Coromandel, Nellore, Masulipatam, Malabar, and other parts of India. The outer bark of the roots furnishes the coloring matter for the durable red for which the chintzes of India are famous.

Chay-root forms a considerable article of export from Ceylon. The wild plant there is considered preferable; the roots, which are shorter, yielding one-fourth part more coloring matter, and the right to dig it is farmed out. It grows spontaneously on light, dry, sandy ground on the sea coast; the cultivated roots are slender, with a few lateral fibres, and from one to two feet long. The dye is said to have been tried in Europe, but not with very advantageous effect. Dr. Bancroft suspects it may be injured by the long voyage, but he adds that it cannot produce any effect which may not be more cheaply obtained from madder.

This red dye, similar to Munjeet, is used to a great extent in the southern parts of Hindostan by the native dyers.

It is not held in very good estimation in Europe but seems to deserve a better reputation than it at present possesses. Attention was drawn to it as a dye-stuff in 1798, by a special minute of the Board of Trade recommending its importation; but Dr. Bancroft, who made some experiments with a sample of damaged chay-root, considered it inferior to madder and hence discouraged its further importation.

The bark and root of various species of Morinda (_M. citrifolia_ and _tinctoria_) are used in different parts of the East Indies, and considered a very valuable red dye. The colors dyed with it are for the most part exceedingly brilliant, and the coloring matter is far more permanent than many other red colors are, with improved management it would probably rival that of madder, and is, therefore, worthy more attention from dyers.

MANGROVE BARK (_Rhizophora mangle_), is used to dye a chocolate color in the East and West Indies. This was one of the colors introduced by Dr. Bancroft, and for the exclusive use of which he obtained an Act of Parliament. It is procured in plenty at Arracan, Malabar, and Singapore in the East.

SHUMAC or SUMACH, sometimes called young fustic, is the powder of the leaves, peduncles, and young branches of a small deciduous plant (_Rhus coriaria_), native of the South of Europe, but which is also grown in Syria and Palestine, for its powerful astringent properties, which renders it valuable for tanning light-colored leather, and it imparts a beautiful bright yellow dye to cottons, which is rendered permanent by proper mordants. It is princ.i.p.ally imported from the Ionian Islands and the Morea. The species grown for the purpose in Spain, Portugal, and Italy is _R. Cotinus_, a shrub with pale purple flowers, whereas _R. coriaria_ has greenish yellow blossoms. They may be propagated by cuttings of the roots and layers. _R. typhina_, and _R. gl.a.b.i.a_, with their varieties, are North American species, which are also used for tanning purposes. In Montpellier and the South of France the twigs and leaves are known under the name of _redoul_ or _roudo_. They are gathered every year, and the shoots are chipped or reduced to powder by a mill.

The imports into the United Kingdom were in 1846,10,256 tons; in 1847, 11,975 tons; in 1848, 9,617 tons; in 1849, 12,590 tons; in 1850, 12,929 tons, and in 1852, 9,758; which were all retained for consumption. In 1841, we received about 9,000 tons from the port of Leghorn. There were exported from Sicily in 1842, 123,305 tons, valued at 68,894. It is imported in packages of about a cwt., wrapped in cloth. America takes a large quant.i.ty of sumach. The imports into the port of Boston alone, were 19,070 bags in 1847; 34,524 in 1848; and 30,050 in 1849.

The prices in Liverpool, duty paid, in the close of this year, are per cwt.:--

s. d. s. d.

Sicily, Messina 10 0 to 10 6 " Palermo 12 0 " 13 0 " Trieste 7 0 " 7 6 " Verona 5 6 " 6 6 " Tyrolese 8 0 " 9 0

SAFFLOWER.--The dried flowers of _Carthamus tinctorius_ yield a pink dye, which is used for silks and cottons, and the manufacture of rouge; the color, however, is very fugitive. It is an annual plant, cultivated in China, India, Egypt, America, Spain, and some of the warmer parts of Europe; and is indigenous to the whole of the Indian Archipelago. A large quant.i.ty is grown in and exported from Bali. The Chinese safflower is considered the best, and that from Bombay is least esteemed. The annual quant.i.ty exported from the district of Dacca averages about 150 tons. The s.h.i.+pments from Calcutta exceed 300 tons to various quarters. Our imports are on the decline, and are now only about 1,200 cwt. per annum. Safflower was shown in the Great Exhibition from Celebes, a.s.sam, the vicinity of Calcutta, Dacca, the states of Rajpootana, and other places.

There are two species: _C. tinctorius_, which has small leaves and an orange flower; and _C. oxyacantha_, with larger leaves and a yellow flower, a native of Caucasus. The former is cultivated in Egypt, the Levant, &c., where it forms a considerable article of commerce. 6,633 cwts. of safflower were imported into the United Kingdom in 1835, of which about one-half was retained for home consumption. Of 5,352 cwts.

imported in 1840, nearly the whole came from our possessions in the East. In 1847, about 405 tons were imported; in 1848, 506 tons; in 1849, 407 tons; in 1850, 522 tons. The price of safflower varies from 1 to 8 per cwt., according to quality. That from Bombay is least esteemed, fetching only 20s. to 30s.

The annual quant.i.ty of safflower, according to Dr. Taylor, exported from the district of Dacca for eight years ending with 1839, amounted to 4,000 maunds, or about 149 tons. The exports through the Calcutta Custom House are occasionally large: in 1824-25 there were about 316 tons; 8,500 Indian maunds were s.h.i.+pped from Calcutta in each of the years 1841 and 1842.

The prices in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, were for Bengal, good and fine, 6 to 7 10s. per cwt.; middling, 4 to 4 10s.; inferior and ordinary, 2 10s. to 3.

GAMBOGE is extensively used as a pigment, from its bright yellow color. There are two kinds known in commerce, the Ceylon and the Siam.

The former is procured from the _Hebradendron Cambogoides_, Graham; a tree which grows wild on the Malabar and Ceylon coasts, and affords the coa.r.s.est kind. The pipe gamboge of Siam is said to be obtained from the bruised leaves and young branches of _Stalagmites cambogoides_. The resinous sap is received into calabashes, and allowed to thicken, after which it is formed into rolls. Several other plants, as the _Mangostana Gambogia_, Gaertner, and the _Hyperic.u.m bacciferum_ and _Cayanense_, yield similar yellow viscid exudation, hardly distinguishable from gamboge and used for the same purpose by painters. The _Garcinia elliptica_, Wallich, of Tavoy and Moulmein, affords gamboge, and approaches very closely in its characters to Graham's _Hebradendron_. In like manner the Mysore tree bears an exceedingly close resemblance to that species. It is common in the forests of Wynaad in the western part of Mysore, and has been named by Dr. Christison _Hebradendron pictorium_. Another gamboge tree has recently been found inhabiting the western Burmese territories. Both these seem to furnish an equally fine pigment. As it can be obtained in unlimited quant.i.ty, it might be introduced into European trade, if the natives learn how to collect it in a state of purity, and make it up in h.o.m.ogenous ma.s.ses in imitation of pipe gamboge, the finest Siam variety. It seems to possess more coloring matter, more resin and less gum than the ordinary gamboge of commerce. Gamboge owes its color to the fatty acid. The resin must be regarded as the chief const.i.tuent, and is most abundant in that imported from Ceylon, which contains about 76 per cent., and is therefore best adapted for painting.

Gamboge also has its medicinal uses.

Various species of _Lecanora_, particularly _L. tartarea_, known as cudbear, are used in dyeing woollen yarn. The _Rocella tinctoria_ and _fusiformis_ furnish the orchil, or orchilla weed of commerce, which is sometimes sold as a moist pulp, but usually in the form of dry cakes, known under the name of _litmus_; it produces a fine purple color. Our imports, which have amounted to 6,000 or 7,000 cwts.

annually, are derived chiefly from the Canary, Azores, and Cape Verd Islands. Rock orchilla was shown at the Exhibition, from the Berlingen Isles, from Angola, Madeira and the Cape de Verds. Orchilla weed is very plentiful about the sh.o.r.es of the islands of New Zealand, some being sent from thence to the Exhibition; but from a want of knowledge as to the time at which it should be gathered, and the mode of preparing it for the market, it has not yet become a saleable commodity there. The rich varieties of lichens on the rocks and plains of Australia have not been tested, as they ought to be, with Helot's lichen test. Various lichens, and _Rocella tinctoria_, from Tena.s.serim and other parts of India, have been introduced by the East India Company. In the Admiralty instructions given to Capt. Sir James C.

Ross, on his Antarctic voyage, a few years ago, his attention was specially called to the search and enquiry for subst.i.tutes for the _Rocella_, which is now becoming scarce. A prize medal was awarded, in 1851, to an exhibitor from the Elbe for specimens of the weed, and an extract of red and violet orchil. Specimens of varieties of the lichens used in the manufacture of cudbear, orchil and litmus, and of the substance obtained, were also shown in the British department, which were awarded prize medals.

The beauty of the dyes given by common materials, in the Highlands of Scotland, to some of the cloths which were exhibited, should lead our botanists and chemists to examine, more closely than they have hitherto done, the dye-stuffs that might be extracted from British plants. Woad (_Isatis tinctoria_) and the dyers' yellow woad (_Reseda lutea_), are both well known. A piece of tweed, spun and woven in Ross-s.h.i.+re, was dyed brown and black, by such cheap and common dyes as moss and alder bark, and the colors were unexceptionable.

Sutherlands.h.i.+re tweed and stockings, possessing a rich brown color, were produced with no more valuable dye than soot; in another piece, beautifully dyed, the yellow was obtained from stoney rag, brown from the crops of young heather, and purple from the same, but subjecting the yarn to a greater action of the dye than was necessary to produce brown. There is very little doubt but that beautiful and permanent dyes, from brown to a very rich purple, might be cheaply procured by scientific preparations of the common heather (_Genista tinctoria_).

The inhabitants of Skye exhibited cloth with a peculiarly rich dye, obtained from the "crobal" moss. In the Spanish department, specimens of vegetable dyes from many cultivated and wild plants were furnished by the Agricultural Board of Saragossa, and of several of these it would be important to obtain descriptions and particulars.

Gums are of essential importance to the dyer, and the imports of these, therefore, are large, averaging about 8,000 tons.

INDIGO.

The plants which afford this dye grow chiefly in the East and West Indies, in the middle regions of America, in Africa and Europe. They are all species of the genera _Indigofera_, _Isatis_ and _Nerium_.

_Indigofera tinctoria_ or _coerulea_, furnishes the chief indigo of commerce, and affords in Bengal, Malabar, Madagascar, the Isle of France, and St. Domingo, an article of middling quality, but not in large quant.i.ty. The _Indigofera disperma_, a plant cultivated in the East Indies and America, grows higher than the preceding, is woody, and furnishes a superior dye-stuff. The Guatamela indigo comes from this species.

_Indigofera Anil_ grows in the same countries, and also in the West Indies. The _Indigofera Argentea_, which flourishes in Africa, yields little indigo, but it is of an excellent quality. _I.

pseudotinctoria_, cultivated in the East Indies, furnishes the best of all. _I. glauca_ is the Egyptian and Arabian species. There are also the _cinerea_, _erecta_ (a native of Guinea), _hirsuta_, _glabra_, with red flowers, species common to the East, and several others.

The _Wrightia tinctoria_, of the East Indies, an evergreen, with white blossoms, affords some indigo, as does the _Isatis tinctoria_, or, Woad, in Europe, and the _Polygonum tinctorium_, with red flowers, a native of China. _Baptisia tinctoria_ furnishes a blue dye, and is the wild indigo of the United States.

SOURCES OF SUPPLY.--Indigo is at present grown for commercial purposes in Bengal, and the other provinces of that Presidency, from the 20th to the 30th deg. of north lat.i.tude; in the Province of Tinnevelly; in the Madras Presidency; in Java, in the largest of the Philippine islands, in Guatemala, Caraccas, Central America and Brazil. Bengal is, however, the chief mart for indigo, and the quant.i.ty produced in other places is comparatively inconsiderable. It is also still cultivated in some of the West India islands, especially St. Domingo, but not in large quant.i.ties. Indigo grows wild in several parts of Palestine, but attention seems not to have been given to its cultivation or collection. On most parts of the eastern and western coasts of Africa, it is indigenous; at Sierra Leone, Natal, and other places it is found abundant.

In our settlements of Honduras, Demerara, and various portions of the American continent, it would amply reward the labor of the cultivator; several inferior sorts of Indigofera being found there indigenous, and only requiring care and culture to improve them.

The quality of indigo depends upon the species of the plant, its ripeness, the soil and climate of its growth, and the mode of manufacture. The East India, and Brazilian indigo arrives here packed in chests, the Guatemala in ox-hides, called serons.

The indigo imported from the western hemisphere was for some time considered superior in quality to that of the East. Its cultivation, however, has been neglected, and the Bengal indigo is preferred at present to any imported from South America, where it is now only cultivated by the Brazilians and Colombians. If proper attention were paid to the cultivation of the plant, and to the preparation of the dye, it is very likely part of that important trade would be brought back. It thrives best in a moist climate, and the interior of Guiana, chiefly newly-cleared land, would be well adapted for it.

The late Mr. Dunlop ("Travels in Central America") gives an interesting description, which, at the risk of repet.i.tion in some points, I shall give entire.

"Several vessels generally arrive at the Union from South America at the time of the periodical fairs, where nearly all the indigo (the only produce of any importance), is disposed of; formerly it reached 10,000 bales, but at present it does not at most exceed 3,000 bales of 150 lbs. each.

The indigo well known in Europe by the name of Guatemala indigo, was never cultivated in that province (in the same manner as not a grain of the Honduras cochineal is grown there), being entirely grown in the state of San Salvador, in the vicinity of San Miguel, San Vicenti, and the City of Salvador, with the exception of a small quant.i.ty of very superior quality grown in the state of Nicaragua, and a few bales in Costa Rica, which is all consumed in the State. Under the government of Spain, the produce of the state of San Salvador alone had reached 10,000 bales, and that of Nicaragua 2,000; the produce of San Salvador in 1820, two years before its independence, being 8,323 bales. But since 1822 the annual produce had gradually declined, and in 1846 it did not exceed 1,000 to 1,200 bales, nearly all the indigo estates being abandoned, partly, no doubt, from the great fall in the price of the article, but more on account of the impossibility of getting laborers to work steadily.

The plant cultivated in Central America for the manufacture of indigo, is the triennial plant, supposed to be a native of America; but there is also an indigenous perennial plant, abounding in many parts of Central America, which produces indigo of a very superior quality, but gives less than half the weight which is produced by the cultivated species. The ground for sowing the indigo seed is prepared in April,--a piece of good forest land near one of the towns being selected, a part is cut to make a rude fence, and the remainder burnt, which is easily accomplished, as everything is very dry at that season; and the ground is afterwards scratched with two sticks, fastened crosswise, to resemble somewhat the shape of a plough, and the seed scattered over it by hand. The rainy season always commences early in May, and the indigo is ready for cutting about the middle of July, taking about two and a half months to come to perfection. The growing crop somewhat resembles lucerne, and is in the best state for making indigo, when it becomes covered with a sort of greenish farina.

The crop of the first year is small, and sometimes not worth manufacturing; that of the second year is the best, and the third is also very good, if it has been carefully weeded; but many indigo fields have lasted more than ten years without being re-sown, as the seed which falls naturally springs up again, and where the land is good yields nearly as large a crop as a new sown field. When the plant is ready for manufacturing, a number of men are collected, each of whom is either provided with, or brings his own mule or horse, if he has one. Two men always go together, cut the plant, then about the height of full-grown red clover, and take it to the vats, which are large tanks made of brick and lime, holding at least 1,000 gallons, and some as much as 10,000. Into these the plant is thrown till they are nearly full, when weights are put above it to prevent its floating; and the vats filled with water till it covers the ma.s.s of the indigo plant. After remaining from twelve to twenty-four hours, according to the state of the plant, weather, and other circ.u.mstances (the time required being determined by the color which the water a.s.sumes), the herb is taken out, and the water beaten with paddles in the very small vats, and by a wheel suspended above and turned by men or horses in the larger ones, till it changes from a green color, which it has acquired ere the removal of the herb, to a fine blue, when it is allowed to stand for some hours, till the coloring matter has settled to the bottom of the tank, a process which is generally hastened by throwing in an infusion of certain herbs to facilitate its settlement, or as the natives term it curdle (_cuajar_) the colored water. As soon as all the color has settled, the water is drawn off, and the blue, which is of the consistency of thick mud, is taken out of the vat and spread upon cotton, or coa.r.s.e woollen cloth, and dried in the sun. The color in a great measure depends upon removing the herb exactly at the proper time, and upon properly beating the water, neither too long, or too short. Unless these processes are properly performed, the indigo will not be of first-rate quality; but some estates will never produce the best indigo, whatever care may be bestowed on the manufacture.

A _mansana_, of 100 yards square, which is nearly two British statute acres, produces generally about 100 to 120 lbs. of indigo, the carriage and cutting of the herb costing about twenty dollars, and the cleaning of the field and all other expenses connected with it, including the manufacture of the indigo, about as much more.