The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 73

The imports of mimosa bark have only been to a limited extent within the last few years, reaching 350 tons in 1850, against 110 tons in 1849, 230 tons in 1848, and 600 tons in 1847. The prices realised were 10 to 11 for chopped, 12 to 12 10s. for ground, and 8 to 9 per ton for unchopped bark. Whilst the imports were 3,900 tons in 1814, they dwindled to less than 400 tons in 1850.

From an experiment, conducted by Professor Brandt, the strength of the mimosa bark, as compared with that of young English oak bark, is found to be in the proportion of 57 to 39, so that the mimosa bark is half as strong again as the best English bark.

Mr. Samuel Mossman, in a communication to the Botanic Society of Edinburgh, in 1851, stated that the bark of _A. dealbata_ pays to s.h.i.+p to England, notwithstanding the distance, from the fact of its containing a greater per centage of tannin than any other bark. It is a handsome tree, from fifteen to thirty feet high, forming luxuriant groves on the banks of streams, most abundant in Port Phillip and Twofold Bay, between the parallels of lat.i.tude 34 and 30 degrees.

New Zealand is rich in barks and dyes. The bark of the Tanahaka (_Phyllodadus trichomanoides_, of Don) is used by the natives as a red dye for the ornamental parts of their kaitahas, their best border garments. There is also another red dye, called Tawaivwai, the bark of which is very profuse. A black dye is procured from the hinau. They are of a rich hue, and exceedingly fast colors. The barks are to be found all over the colony. The hinau and tanahaka are employed in tanning, all the leather used in the colony being tanned either at the Bay of Islands or Port Nicholson.

The bark of the Rimu or red pine (_Dacrydium Cupressinum_, of Solander), a very common tree, possesses tanning qualities far superior to any of the Australian barks. One pound of the bark yields 85 grains of extract.

The native tanning barks of New Zealand are various and easily obtained. Specimens of the bark and dye, &c., of most of these trees were sent home to the Great Exhibition. One pound of the Tanahaka bark is said to yield 63 grains of tannin. The sails of boats are dyed with it to preserve them. The Towai (_Licospermum racemosum_, of Don, _Weinmaunia racemosa_, Decandole), is supposed to be valuable for the purposes of the tanner, and is said to yield 104 grains of tannin for every pound of bark. The bark of the Pohutu kawa of the natives, the _Metrosideros tomentosa_of Richard, and _Callistemon elliptic.u.m_ of Allan Cunningham, would also be useful for tanning, one pound of it furnis.h.i.+ng about 60 grains of tannin.

The bark of the Hino tree, the _Elaeocarpus hinau_ of Cunningham, the _Dicera dentata_ of Forster, is used by the natives for dyeing black.

The black mangrove (_Rhizophora mangle_) is a tree attaining an alt.i.tude of from 30 to 50 feet, and occupying marshy situations in the vicinity of the sea. Almost every part of the mangrove--the bark, roots, and the fruit more particularly--abounds in an astringent principle, which is successfully applied to the purposes of tanning.

As the tree is so abundant within the tropics, it might be worth the while of some practical speculator to make an extract on the spot, and introduce it into the English market, for the use of tanners and dyers. For tanning, the mangrove is said to be infinitely superior to oak bark, completing in six weeks an operation which with the latter occupies at least six months, and the sole-leather so tanned is said to be more durable than any other. The bark and leaves, which contain nearly as much tannin as the oak, are made use of in the West Indies, as well as in Scinde and other parts of Asia.

3,713 piculs of mangrove bark, valued at 819, were s.h.i.+pped from Shanghae, one of the Chinese ports, in 1849.

MYROBALANS.--This is a name applied to the almond-like kernels of a nut or dried fruit of the plum kind, of which there are several sorts known in the East. They are the produce of various species of _Terminalia_, as _T. Bellerica, chebula, citrina_, and _angustifolia_.

They vary from the size of olives to that of gall nuts, and have a rough, bitter, and unpleasant taste. Many of the trees of this tribe, which are all natives of the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and America, are used for tanning, and some for dyeing. They are highly valued by dyers, creating, when mixed with alum, a durable dark brown yellow. Myrobalans fetch in the Bombay market 8s. to 26s. the Surat candy of 821 lbs. The bark and leaves of _T. Catappa_ yield a black pigment, with which Indian ink is made; the seeds are eaten like almonds. A milky juice is said to flow from _T. angustifolia_, which, when dried, is fragrant, and, resembling Benzoin, is used as a kind of incense in the Catholic churches in the Mauritius. The fruit of _T.

Bellerica_, and of _T. Chebula_, both useful timber trees, indigenous to the East Indies, are used medicinally as a tonic and astringent.

117 cwts. of myrobalans were s.h.i.+pped from Ceylon in 1845.

The annual imports of myrobalans into Hull, amount to about 1,600 cwts. The quant.i.ty which arrived at Liverpool was 185 tons in 1849, 851 tons in 1850; 27,212 bags in 1851, and 19,946 bags in 1852; they come from Calcutta and Bombay, and are also used for dyeing yellow and black. The price in January, 1853, was 6s. to 12s. per cwt. The average annual imports into the United Kingdom may be taken at 1,200 tons.

KINO.--The Kino, of Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land, is the produce of the iron bark tree, _Eucalyptus resinifera_. White ("Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales"), says this tree sometimes yields, on incision, 60 gallons of juice. Kino is imported in boxes. The tincture of kino is used medicinally, but an inconvenience is frequently found to arise, from its changing to the gelatinous form.

Dr. Pereira seems to think this species of kino consists princ.i.p.ally of pectin and tannic acid. That chiefly used as East Indian kino, is an extract formed by insp.i.s.sating a decoction of the branches and twigs of the gambler plant. Vauquelin a.n.a.lysed it, and found it to consist of, tannin and peculiar extractive matter, 75; red gum, 24; insoluble matter, 1.

The East Indian kino, imported from Bombay and Tellicherry, is the produce of _Pterocarpus marsupium_, a lofty, broad-spreading forest tree, which blossoms in October and November. The bark is of a greyish color, and is upwards of half an inch in thickness on the trunk. When cut, a blood-red juice speedily exudes and trickles down; it soon thickens, and becomes hard in the course of fifteen or sixteen hours.

The gum is extracted in the season when the tree is in blossom, by making longitudinal incisions in the bark round the trunk, so as to let the gum ooze down a broad leaf, placed as a spout, into a receiver. When the receiver is filled it is removed. The gum is dried in the sun until it crumbles, and then filled in wooden boxes for exportation.

_P. erinaceus_, a tree 40 to 50 feet in height, a native of the woods of the Gambia and Senegal, furnishes kino, but none is collected in or exported from Africa. _Butea frondosa_, or the dhak tree of the East Indies, furnishes a similar product, in the shape of a milky, colored, brittle, and very astringent gum. Kino is used as a powerful astringent, and is administered in the form of powder and tincture.

Some specimens of Butea kino, a.n.a.lysed by Prof. Solly, after the impurities had been separated, yielded 73 per cent. of tannin.

VALONIA is the commercial name of the cupula or cup of the acorn, produced by the _Quercus aegilops_ and its varieties, the Balonia or Valonia oak, natives of the Levant, from whence, and the Morea, they form a very considerable article of export; containing abundance of tannin they are largely used by tanners. The tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The bark of _Q. tinctorea_, a native of North America, yields a yellow dye.

The quant.i.ty of valonia imported for home consumption, in 1836, was 80,511 cwts., of which Turkey furnished 58,724 cwts., and Italy and the Ionian islands 7,209 cwts. Of 163,983 cwts. imported in 1840, 143,095 cwts. were brought from Turkey, 15,195 cwts. from Italy, and the residue from Greece and the Ionian Islands. The entries for home consumption in the three years ending with 1842, amounted to about 8,200 tons a year. The increase since has been considerable, the imports having been, in 1848, 10,237 tons; in 1849, 16,671 tons; in 1850, 12,526 tons; in 1851, 10,639 tons; in 1852, 13,870 tons. We receive about 14,000 to 20,000 cwts. annually from Leghorn. The imports into the port of Hull are 3,900 cwts. per year.

The prices of Smyrna valonias are from 13 to 14 per ton; those of picked Morea, 10 per ton. The duty received on valonias imported in 1842 was about 4,000.

The annual produce is sufficient to meet the wants of all Europe. It can be had in Turkey to any extent and at all periods. Many cargoes are sent to Dublin, and the German markets. A little valonia is exported from Manila, the s.h.i.+pments having been about 150 tons per annum.

Camata and Camatina are two varieties of very young valonias, which are found more valuable for some processes of tanning than the common kinds.

Extensive as has been the enumeration of the vegetable substances used in the various branches of art and manufacture which have formed the princ.i.p.al subjects of this section, it is probable that with the progress of knowledge, of scientific experiment, and of investigation into the properties of given commodities, the list will be indefinitely increased. What I have stated will suffice to give the reader an idea of the surprising variety of sources from which we receive the raw materials which enable us to perfect some of the most elegant processes of manufacturing skill and ingenuity, and will further afford some criterion--though, of course, not a perfect one--for estimating the relative importance of the tanning and dyeing substances.

SECTION V.

OLEAGINOUS PLANTS, AND THOSE YIELDING FIXED OR ESSENTIAL OILS.

Few cultivators are probably aware of the great importance of oil to this country, and the number of purposes for which it is employed in the arts and manufactures. It is extensively used for candle and soap making, for burning in lamps, for diminis.h.i.+ng friction in machinery of all kinds, and especially for locomotives--in wool-dressing, in the manufacture of paints and varnishes, as an article of food, for medicinal purposes, &c.

So important are vegetable oils deemed, that the Society of Arts, in its prize list for 1851, offered gold medals for the importation or introduction into this country of any new plants or trees from China, India, or elsewhere, producing oils or fatty substances, such as can be used as food, or are applicable to manufacturing purposes; and also to the person who shall manufacture and import the finest specimen of oil, not less than ten gallons, the produce of olives grown in any British colony in Africa or Australasia.

The time of burning of equal quant.i.ties of the following oils has been found to be--

Hours.

Oil of poppy 14 " sunflower 13 " rape 11 " mustard 11 " flax seed 10 " gold of pleasure (_Camelina sativa_) 9 " olives 9 " hemp seed 8 " tallow 10

FOREIGN VEGETABLE OILS IMPORTED.

1821. 1845. 1850.

tuns. tuns. tuns.

Coco-nut oil -- 2,148 98,040 Olive oil 1,900 12,315 20,783 Palm oil 3,200 25,285 448,589 cwts.

Rape seed oil 800 3,973 -- Linseed oil 10,500 38,634 -- ------ ------ ------- 16,400 82,355 Fish oils 32,356 22,626 21,328

The total quant.i.ty of all kinds of wool annually consumed in England and Wales, in 1843, was estimated at 801,566 packs. Now, five gallons of olive, rapeseed or other oils, being used in the preparation of every pack of wool, for cloth (independent of the quant.i.ty used in soap, applicable to the woollen manufactures), it follows that five gallons on 801,566 packs are equal to 4,007,830 gallons, or 15,904 tuns; and adding for olive or sperm oil used in machinery 1-11th of the whole, 1,446 tuns, the total quant.i.ty consumed is 17,350 tuns.--("Enderby on the South Whale Fishery.")

_Fixed oils_ are found in the cells and intercellular s.p.a.ces of the fruit, leaves, and other parts of plants.

Some of these are drying oils, as linseed oil, from _Linum usitatissimum_; some are fat oils, as that from olives (fruit of _Olea sativa_ or _Europaea_); whilst others are solid, as palm oil.

The solid oils or fats procured from plants are, b.u.t.ter of cacao, from _Theobroma cacao_; of cinnamon from _Cinnamomum verum_; of nutmeg, from _Myristica moschata_; of coco-nut, from _Cocos nucifera_; of laurel, from _Laurus n.o.bilis_; of palm oil, from _Elais guianiensis_; Shea b.u.t.ter, from _Ba.s.sia Parkii_; Galam b.u.t.ter, or Ghee, from _Ba.s.sia butyracea_; and vegetable tallow, from _Stillingia sebifera_ in China, from _Vateria indica_ in Canara and China, and from _Pentadesma butyracea_ in Sierra Leone, and from the almond. These oils contain a large amount of stearine, and are used as subst.i.tutes for fat. Some of them are imported in large quant.i.ties, and enter into the composition of soap, candles, &c.

Castor oil, from the seeds of _Ricinus communis_, differs from other fixed oils in its composition.

Decandolle states the following as the quant.i.ty of oil obtained from various seeds:--

Per cent.

in weight.

Hazel-nut 60 Garden cress 57 Olive 50 Walnut 50 Poppy (_Papaver somniferum_) 48 Almond 46 Caper-spurge (_Euphorbia Lathyris_) 41 Colza (_Bra.s.sica oleracea_) 39 White mustard (_Sinapis alba_) 36 Tobacco 34 Plum 33 Woad 30 Hemp 25 Flax 22 Sunflower 15 Buckwheat 14 Grapes 12

The following table, quoted from Boussingault, shows the results of some experiments made by M. Grauzac, of Dagny:--

Seed produced Oil obtained per per acre. acre, in lbs. Oil per Cake cwts. qrs. lbs. lbs. ozs. cent. per cent.

Colewort 19 0 15 875 4 40 54 Rocket 15 1 3 320 8 18 73 Winter rape 16 2 18 641 6 33 62 Swedish turnips 15 1 25 595 8 33 62 Curled colewort 16 2 18 641 6 33 62 Turnip cabbage 13 3 19 565 4 33 61 Gold of pleasure 17 1 16 545 8 27 72 Sunflower 15 3 14 275 0 15 80 Flax 15 1 25 385 0 22 69 White poppy 10 1 18 560 8 46 52 Hemp 7 3 21 229 0 25 70 Summer rape 11 3 17 412 5 30 65

The subjoined list will serve to exhibit the richness of the produce of different Indian seeds, from which varieties of oil are extracted; it gives the proportion of oil per cent. in weight:--

Sesame oil (_Sesamum indic.u.m_) 46.7 Black til, coloured variety of ditto (_Verbesena sativa_) 46.4 Gingelie oil (_S. orientale_) 46.7 Ground nuts, produced by _Arachis hypogoea_ 45.5 Wounded seeds obtained from the Poonnay-tree (_Calophyttum Inophyllum_), a bitter lamp oil 63.7 Karunj seeds, from the _Pongamia glabra_ 26.7 Ram til, the seeds of the nuts Ellu, or _Guizotia oleifera_ 35 Poppy seeds (_Papaver somniferum_) 43 to 58 Silaam, an oil seed from Nepaul 41 Rape seed (_Bra.s.sica napus_) 33

The foregoing are not all the seeds from which oil is extracted by the natives of the East. In addition to this there are cottonseed oil, used for their lamps. Castor oil and Argemone seed, similarly used.