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The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

P >> P. L. Simmonds >> The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom




The quantity shipped in 1839, from Philadelphia alone, was 317,443
lbs. In 1841, 637,885 lbs. were exported from the United States.

The value of that exported in the years ending 30th June, was 1844,
95,008 in dollars, and in 1845, 117,146 dollars; 110,000 lbs. were
collected at Toledo, Ohio, in 1845. The value of the exports in the
following years, ending June 30th, were--1847, 64,466 dollars; 1849,
162,640; 1849, 182,966; 1850, 122,916 dollars.


CORIANDER, CARRAWAY, AND OTHER SEEDS.

The fruits of anise, carraway, coriander, &c., (erroneously called
seeds,) are in demand for various purposes.

CARRAWAY SEED is imported to the extent of 500 tons annually from
Germany and Holland, the price being about 33s. per cwt. It is also
now much grown in Essex and Kent. In the years 1848 and 1849, 7,000
cwt. of this seed was imported, of which nearly the whole quantity was
retained for home consumption.

CORIANDER SEED is chiefly used by distillers, to produce an aromatic
oil. The quantity imported annually does not exceed 50 tons, and it is
brought principally to the port of Hull. It is also cultivated in
Suffolk, Essex and Kent.

Of MUSTARD SEED the aggregate quantity imported annually is about
2,000 tons for home consumption, and the flour is used as a well-known
condiment to food, &c., and in medicine; the average price being about
9d. per pound.

ANISE.--The fruit of _Pimpinilla anisum_, under the name of aniseed,
is principally imported from Alicant and Germany (the first is
preferred), but some is also brought from the East Indies. It is an
annual plant, largely cultivated in Spain, Malta, and various parts of
Germany, and also in the island of Scio, Egypt, and parts of Asia. The
imports are not large; 192 cwts. paid duty in 1833, and 315 cwts. in
1840. About 60 cwts. are annually received at Hull from Germany. It is
used to flavor liqueurs, sweetmeats, and confectionery of various
kinds. Oil of aniseed is obtained by distillation from the fruit, and
1,544 lbs. were imported in 1839. About two pounds of oil are obtained
from one hundred-weight of seed.

STAR ANISE, _Illicum anisatum_, is a native of the countries extending
from 231/2 deg. to 35 deg. of north latitude, or from Canton to Japan.
The capsules constitute in India a rather important article of
commerce, and are sold in all the bazaars. Large quantities are also
used in Europe in the preparation of liqueurs. 695 piculs of star
aniseed were exported from Canton in 1850, valued at 8,200 Spanish
dollars. 81 piculs of oil of aniseed were exported from Canton in
1845, and 105 piculs in 1850, valued at 11,900 dollars. 3,000 piculs
of aniseed are exported annually from Cambodia.


PUTCHUK, OR COSTUS.

The substance called costus was highly prized by the ancients, and
specimens may be met with at a few of the London drug-houses. It has
been shown by Dr. Falconer to be the produce of a genus of the thistle
tribe, to which he has given the name of _Aucklandia_. The root of _A.
Costus_ is supposed to be the _Costus Arabicus_, on the following
grounds:--It corresponds with the descriptions given by the ancient
authors, and is used at the present day for the same purposes in
China, as costus was formerly applied to by the Greeks. The
coincidence of the names--in Cashmere the root is called koot, and the
Arabic synonym is said to be _koost_. It grows in immense abundance on
the mountains which surround Cashmere. It is a gregarious herb, about
six or seven feet high, with a perennial thick branched root, with an
annual round smooth stem, large leaves and dark purple flowers. The
roots are dug up in the months of September and October, when the
plant begins to be torpid; they are chopped up into pieces, from two
to six inches long, and are exported without further preparation. The
quantity collected, according to Dr. Falconer, is very large,
amounting to about two million pounds per annum. The cost of its
collection and transport to a mercantile depot in Cashmere, is about
2s. 4d. the cwt. The commodity is laden on bullocks and exported to
the Punjaub, whence the larger portion goes down to Bombay, where it
is shipped for the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and China; a portion of
it finds its way across the Sutlej and Jumna into Hindostan Proper,
whence it is taken to Calcutta, and bought up there with avidity under
the name of putchuk. The value is enhanced at Jugadree, on the Jumna,
to about 16s. 9d. or 23s. 4d. per cwt. In the Chinese ports it
fetches nearly double that price the cwt. The Chinese burn the roots
as an incense in the temples of their gods, and they also attach great
efficacy to it as an aphrodisiac. The imports into Canton in 1848 were
414 piculs; in 1850, 854 piculs; valued at 5,150 dollars. In Cashmere
it is chiefly used for the protection of bales of shawls from insects.
The exports from the port of Calcutta were, in 1840-41, 19,660 maunds;
in 1841-42, 12,847; in 1847-48, 2,0501/4; in 1848-49, 2,1103/4;--worth
about L1,500 annually.

Specimens of amboyna wood, the odoriferous sandal wood from Timor,
clove wood, and other choice woods from the Moluccas and Prince of
Wales Island, were sent home to the Great Exhibition in 1851.

LIGNUM ALOES, the eagle wood and Calambak of commerce, yielding an
aromatic perfume, is furnished by the _Aquilaria malaccensis_, and
_agallocha_, in Silhet, an ornamental evergreen shrub. A very high
artificial value is placed on the better qualities of this product by
the natives of the East; the best quality being worth about L14 the
picul of 133 lbs.

This fragrant wood is probably the lign aloes of the Bible.

Incense to the value of nearly one million and a quarter francs was
exported from Alexandria in 1837.

Calambak or eagle wood, the true lignum aloes so highly esteemed in
the East as a perfume or incense, is said to be produced by the
_Aloexylum agallochum_, Lour. This remarkable wood contains a large
quantity of an odoriferous oleo-resin; when heated it undergoes a sort
of imperfect fusion, and exhales a fragrant and very agreeable odor.
Its price in Sumatra is about L30 per cwt. Inferior specimens are
obtained at Malacca. Eagle wood is also obtained from several other
trees. The true eagle wood is however very scarce.




SECTION IV.

DYES AND COLORING STUFFS, AND TANNING SUBSTANCES.


Of the several classes of materials collected at the Industrial
Exhibition in Hyde Park, in 1851, few possessed so much importance in
the eyes of the textile and leather manufacturer and chemist as the
different products used in the arts and manufactures for coloring and
tanning purposes. These were in a great measure lost sight of by the
public at large, being scattered about in small quantities in a great
number of directions; and, from the minute samples shown, were in many
instances overlooked altogether. Besides furnishing some novel and
general statistical facts, which may prove interesting, I propose also
in this section to draw attention more prominently to some of these
products, which are at present little known or appreciated.

Coloring substances for staining and dyeing are obtained indifferently
from the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms, but it is of the
last alone that I shall have to speak. The importance of a more
careful consideration of this subject will be admitted, if we consider
how much the prosperity and extent of our cotton, silk, woollen, and
leather manufactures depends on a liberal and cheap supply of dyes and
tannin, to give beauty and color to the fabrics, and substance and
utility to the skins. Even oil colors, for painters' purposes, which
do not come within the scope of my remarks, form an item in our yearly
exports of the value of L250,000, and when we calculate the large
amount of cotton, silk and wool worked up, most of which requires
various coloring agents, gums, starches, and mordants;--that nearly
30,000 tons of hides are annually imported, exclusive of those
obtained from our now slaughter-houses, besides goat, seal, and other
skins--and that the exports of our various manufactures of cotton,
linen, silk, wool and leather in 1852, setting aside our home
consumption, amounted to nearly fifty millions sterling, we shall be
able to form a better estimate of the importance of the various
subjects we are about to notice.

Great Britain does not pay less than L600,000 annually for the dried
carcasses of the tiny cochineal insect, while the produce of another
small insect, that which produces the lac dye, is scarcely less
valuable. Then there are the gall nuts used for dyeing and making
black ink. Upwards of L3,000,000 is paid for barks of various kinds
for tanners' purposes, about one million for other tanning substances
and heavy dye woods, besides about L200,000 for various extracts of
tannin, such as Gambier, Cutch, Divi-divi, and Kino. The aggregate
value of the dye stuffs and gum it is difficult to estimate.

The beautiful specimens of materials imported from China, India, New
Zealand, the Continent, and other countries, and exhibited at the
Crystal Palace, proves to us that we have yet much to learn from other
nations in the art of fixing colors and obtaining brilliant dyes. The
French are much our superiors in dyeing and the production of fast and
beautiful colors. Their chemical researches and investigations are
carried out more systematically and effectively than our own. Russia
imports dyewoods and dye-stuffs to the value of five millions and a
half of silver roubles annually.

It was well observed by the Jury Reporters at the Great Exhibition,
that "a vast number of new coloring materials have been discovered or
made available, and improved modes have been devised of economically
applying those already in use; so that the dyer of the present time
employs many substances of the very existence of which his practical
predecessors were wholly ignorant. From the increased use of many of
the vegetable colors, and from the improved modes of applying the
coloring matters, a demand has naturally sprung up for various dye
stuffs; and at the present time, many of the dyeing materials of
distant countries are beginning to excite the attention of practical
men; for though they have been acquainted with many of these
substances, it is only recently that the progress of the art has
rendered their use desirable or even practicable."

It would be quite impossible, within the limits which I have assigned
myself, to make even a bare enumeration of the various plants and
trees from which coloring substances and dye stuffs can be obtained, I
must, therefore, be content to specify only a few.

The roots of some species of Lithospermum afford a lac for dyeing and
painting. Dried pomegranates are said to be used in Tunis for dyeing
yellow; the rind is also a tanning substance.

Sir John Franklin tells us that the Crees extract some beautiful
colors from several of their native vegetables. They dye a beautiful
scarlet with the roots of two species of bed-straw, _Galium
tinctorium_ and _boreale_. They dye black, with an ink made of elder
bark and a little bog-iron ore dried and powdered, and they have
various modes of producing yellow. They employ the dried roots of the
cowbane (_Cicuta virosa_), the bruised buds of the Dutch myrtle, and
have discovered methods of dyeing with various lichens.

In the "Comptes Rendus," xxxv., p. 558, there is an account by M.J.
Persoz, of a green coloring matter from China, of great stability,
from which it appears that the Chinese possess a coloring substance
having the appearance of indigo, which communicates a beautiful and
permanent sea green color to mordants of alumina and iron, and which
is not a preparation of indigo, or any derivative of this dyeing
principal. As furnished to M. Persoz by Mr. Forbes, the American
consul at Canton, it was in thin plates of a blue color, resembling
Japanese indigo, but of a finer grain, differing also from indigo in
its composition and chemical properties. On infusing a very small
quantity of it in water, this fluid soon acquired a deep blue color
with a greenish tinge; upon boiling and immersing a piece of calico on
which the mordants of iron and alumina had been printed, it was dyed a
sea green color of greater or less intensity according to the strength
of the mordant--the portions not coated remaining white.

A berry called _Makleua_ grows on a large forest tree at Bankok, which
is used most extensively by the Siamese as a vegetable black dye. It
is merely bruised in water, when a fermentation takes place, and the
article to be dyed is steeped in the liquid and then spread out in the
sun to dry. The berry, when fresh, is of a fine green color, but after
being gathered for two or three days it becomes quite black and
shrivelled like pepper. It must be used fresh, and whilst its mixture
with water produces fermentation. The bark of _Datisca cannabina_ also
dyes yellow. It contains a bitter principle, like quassia.

A coloring matter is prepared from the dried fruit of the _Rottlera
tinctoria_, by the natives of the East, to dye orange, which is a
brilliant and tolerably permanent dye. It is apparently of a resinous
nature.

A small quantity of Alkanet root (_Anchusa tinctoria_), is imported
from the Levant and the south of France, and is used to color gun
stocks, furniture, &c., of a deep red mahogany and rosewood color. It
is brought over in packages weighing about two cwt., the price being
40s. or 50s. per cwt.

Turmeric is now imported to the extent of upwards of 800 tons, a
portion of this is used in dyeing. The culture and commerce has been
already noticed in Section III.

The bark and roots of the berberry are used in the East to dye yellow;
the color is best when boiled in ley. Some of the species of
Symplocos, as _S. racemosa_, known as lodh about the Himalaya
mountains, and _S. tinctoria_, a native of Carolina, are used for
dyeing. The scarlet flowers of _Butea frondosa_ (the Dhaktree), and
_B. superba_, natives of the Indian jungles, yield a beautiful dye,
and furnishing a species of kino (_Pulas kino_), are also used for
tanning. _Althea rosea_, the parent of the many beautiful varieties of
hollyhock, a native of China, yields a blue coloring matter equal to
indigo. Indigo of an excellent quality has been obtained in the East
from a twining plant, _Gymnema tingens_ or _Asclepias tingens_.

The juice of the unripe fruit of _Rhamnus infectorius_, _catharticus_
and _virigatius_, known as Turkey or French berries, is used for
dyeing leather yellow. When mixed with lime and evaporated to
dryness, it forms the color called sap-green. A great quantity of
yellow berries are annually shipped from Constantinople; 115 tons were
imported into Liverpool last year. The average annual imports into the
United Kingdom are about 450 tons. They come from the Levant in hair
bales weighing three and a quarter cwt., or in tierces of four to five
cwt., and are used by calico printers for dyeing a yellow color. They
are sometimes called Persian berries.

It is a subject of surprise that the common betel-nut of the East has
never been introduced for dyeing purposes. The roots of the awl tree
of Malabar and other parts of India, _Morinda citrifolia_, and of _M.
tinctoria_, found abundant in all the Asiatic islands, are extensively
used as a dye stuff for giving a red color. It is usually grown as a
prop and shade for the pepper vine and coffee tree. The coloring
matter resides principally in the bark of the roots, which are long
and slender, and the small pieces are the best, fetching 8s. to 10s. a
maund. It is exported in large quantities from Malabar to Guzerat, and
the northern parts of Hindostan, but seldom finds its way to Europe.

The wood and roots of another species, _M. umbellata_, known in the
eastern islands as "Mangkudu," are used extensively for their red dye,
in Celebes and Java. Specimens of all these, and of the Lopisip bark,
bunchong bulu wood, and the gaju gum (from undescribed plants), have
been introduced into England. They are said to furnish excellent dyes
in the Asiatic islands. Native dyes from Arracan have also been
imported, viz., thit-tel and the-dan yielding red dyes, ting-nget and
reros, affording dark purple dyes; and thit-nan-weng, a chocolate dye.
These would be worth enquiry, and particulars of the plants yielding
them, the quantities available, and the prices might be procured. Dyes
and colors from the following plants are obtained in India: several
species of _Terminalia_, _Sinecarpus Anacardium_, _Myrica Sapide_,
_Nelumbium speciosus_, _Butea frondosa_, and _Nyctanthes
arboretristis_. The bunkita barring, obtained from an undescribed
plant in Borneo, produces a dark purple or black dye. A species of
ruellia, under the name of "Room," is employed in its raw state by the
Khamptis and Lingphos to dye their clothes of a deep blue. It is
described by the late Dr. Griffiths as "a valuable dye, and highly
worthy of attention." It might, perhaps, be usefully employed as the
ground for a black dye. In Nepaul they use the bark of _Photinia
dubia_ or _Mespilus Bengalensis_ for dyeing scarlet. The bark of the
black oak, _Quercus tinctoria_ and its varieties, natives of North
America, are used by dyers under the name of quercitron.

In the south of Europe, _Daphne Gnidium_ is used to dye yellow. The
root of reilbon, a sort of madder in Chili, dyes red. A purple tint or
dye is obtained from the bark of an undescribed tree, known under the
name of "_Grana ponciana_," growing about Quito; and Stevenson
(Travels in South America) says, "if known in Europe, it would
undoubtedly become an article of commerce." Another much more
expensive species of coloring matter (red) is obtained in various
parts of South America from the leaves of the _Bignonia Chica_, a
climbing evergreen shrub, native of the Orinoco country, with large
handsome panicles of flowers. The coloring substance is obtained by
decoction, which deposits, when cool, a red matter; this is formed
into cakes and dried. Dr. Ure thinks it might probably be turned to
account in the arts of civilization. The order of plants to which it
belongs, contains a vast number of species, all natives of tropical
regions, and their value for the production of coloring substances may
be worth investigation.

It is met with in British Guiana, and the Indian tribes of that
district prepare the pigment with which they stain their skin from it;
it is called by them "Caraveru." The coloring matter is used as a dye
in the United States, and for artistical purposes would rival madder.
Sir Robert Schomburgk thinks it might form an article of export if it
were sufficiently known, as its preparation is extremely simple. The
leaves are dried in the sun, and at the first exposure, after having
been plucked from the vine which produces them, they show the abundant
feculent substance which they contain.

LANA DYE.--A beautiful bluish-black color, known as "Caruto," is
procured in Demerara and Berbice from the juice of the fruit of the
_Genipa Americana_, Linn.--a tree very common in the colony. The
Indians use it for staining their faces and persons. The Lana dye was
honorably mentioned by the jurors at the Great Exhibition in 1851. The
bluish-black color obtained from it is remarkably permanent, a fact
which has very long been known, though hardly any attempt appears to
have been made to introduce it to the notice of European dyers.
Another pigment is prepared by them from arnotto, mixed with turtle
oil, or carap oil, obtained from the seeds of the _Carapa guianensis_
(Aubl.). The wild plantain (_Urania guianensis_) and the cultivated
plantain (_Musa paridisiaca_), the Mahoe (_Thespesia populnea_), and
the pear seed of the Avocado (_Persea gratissima_), furnish dyes in
various parts of the West Indies; specimens of many of these have been
imported from British Guiana and Trinidad.

Russia produces good specimens of the wood of _Statice coriaria_, the
leaves and bark of sumach, the bark of the wild pomegranate, yellow
berries, _Madia sativa_, saffron, safflower and madder roots for
dyeing purposes.

_Avicenna tomentosa_, a species of mangrove, is very common about the
creeks of Antigua, Jamaica, and other West India islands, where it is
used for dyeing and tanning.

In New Zealand, the natives produce a most brilliant blue-black dye
from the bark of the Eno, which is in great abundance. Some of the
borders of the native mats, of a most magnificent black, are dyed with
this substance. It has been tried in New South Wales; but, as with
other local dyes, although found well suited for flax, hemp, linen,
or other vegetable productions, it could not be fixed on wools or
animal matter. Dr. Holroyd, of Sydney, some time since, imported a ton
of it for a friend near Bathurst. It is of great importance that
chemical science should be applied to devise some means of fixing this
valuable dye on wool. As the tree is so common, the bark could be had
in any quantity at about L3 10s. a ton; and our tweed manufacturers
are in great want of a black dye for their check and other cloths.

The principal heavy woods used for dyeing are fustic, logwood,
Nicaragua wood, barwood, camwood, red Sanders wood, Brazil wood, and
sappan wood. All the dyewoods are nearly L2 per ton higher than last
year.

Common Spanish fustic which in September, 1852, was only L3 10s. per
ton, now fetches L6 10s. in the Liverpool market; and there is a great
demand for all kinds of dyewoods. Tampico and Puerto Cabello fustic
are now worth L6 10s. to L7 the ton, Cuba ditto, L9 10s. to L10.

Sappan wood is L4 higher than last year; barwood has risen cent per
cent; logwoods are L2 per ton higher.

The following were the prices of the different dyewoods in the
Liverpool market, on the 1st September, 1853, per ton:--

L s. d. L s. d.
FUSTIC, common Spanish 5 10 0 to 6 10 0
Tampico 6 10 0 7 0 0
Puerto Cabello 6 10 0 7 10 0
Cuba 8 0 0 9 10 0
LOGWOOD, Jamaica 5 0 0 5 5 0
St. Domingo 5 5 0 5 10 0
Campeachy, direct 7 12 6 8 0 0
Indirect and Tobasco 6 10 0 7 0 0
NICARAGUA. WOOD.
Rio de la Hache, solid 9 0 0 11 10 0
" " small 6 0 0 6 10 0
Lima 12 0 0 14 10 0
BARWOOD, Angola }
Gaboon } 7 0 0 -----
CAMWOOD 25 0 0 30 10 0
RED SANDERS WOOD 5 15 0 6 10 0
SAPPAN WOOD 10 0 0 15 0 0

RED SANDERS WOOD (_Pterocarpus santalinus_), which is hard and of a
bright garnet red color, is employed to dye a lasting reddish brown on
wool. It only yields its color to ether or alcohol. The tree, which is
a lofty one, is common about Madras and other parts of India; it is
also indigenous to Ceylon, Timor, and other Eastern islands. The
exports of this wood from Madras in one year have been nearly 2,000
tons.

The imports of red Sanders wood from Calcutta and Bombay chiefly into
London are to the extent of 700 or 800 tons a year, worth L6 to L9 per
ton.

Of FUSTIC we import from 1,500 to 2,000 tons annually. We derive our
supplies from Brazil, Tampico, Puerto Cabello, Cuba, and Jamaica. The
best is obtained from Cuba; for while the common white fustic from
Jamaica and the Spanish Main fetches only L5 10s. to L6 10s. the ton,
that of Cuba realizes from L8 to L9 10s. the ton.

SAPPAN WOOD (_Caesalpinia Sappan_) is an article of considerable
commerce in the East. It is the bukkum wood of Scinde, and is procured
in Mergui, Bengal, the Tenasserim Provinces, Malabar and Ceylon. In
1842 as much 78,000 cwts. were shipped from Ceylon, but the export
from thence has decreased. This island, however, ships dyewoods
annually to the amount of L2,000. A large quantity is exported from
Siam and the Philippine Islands; as much as 200,000 piculs annually
from the former, and 23,000 piculs from Manila. 3,524 piculs were
shipped from Singapore in 1851, and 4,074 piculs in 1852. The picul is
about one cwt. and a quarter. Sappan wood yields a yellowish color,
like that of Brazil wood (_C. brasiliensis_) but it does not afford of
dye matter so much in quantity or so good in quality.

It forms a large export from Ceylon: the shipments from thence were,
in 1842, 77,694 cwt.; in 1843, 1,692; in 1844, 2,592; in 1845, 2,854.
I have no detailed returns at hand, but in 1837, 23,695 piculs of
sappan wood, and 2,266 piculs of roots of ditto were shipped, and in
the first six months of 1843, 22,326 piculs were exported from Manila;
a large portion of this comes to Europe, but some goes to China, the
United States, Singapore, &c. 15,500 piculs were shipped from Manila
in 1844, 5,250 ditto in 1845; and 1,210 tons in 1850. About 3,000
piculs of sappan wood and the same quantity of other dye-stuffs are
annually imported into Shanghae. The price of straight sappan wood at
Shanghae in July, last year, was thirty dollars per picul.

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