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

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

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In Calcutta, in June last year, 4,000 piculs of the root of Manila
sappan wood sold freely at about 7s. 6d. per factory maund, Siam ditto
6s.

75 tons were imported into Liverpool in 1849; and 120 tons in 1850,
from Calcutta. The imports of sappan wood into the United Kingdom, in
1850, amounted to 3,670 tons, worth L8 to L12 the ton, and this
continued the price in January 1853.

Camwood, red sanders wood, barwood, and other dye woods, are found in
great quantities in many parts of Africa. The dyes of Africa are found
to resist both acids and light, properties which no other dyes seem to
possess in the same degree. About thirty miles east of Bassia Cove, in
the republic of Liberia, is the commencement of a region of unknown
extent, where scarcely any tree is seen except the camwood. This
boundless forest of wealth, as yet untouched, is easily accessible
from that settlement; roads can be opened to it with little expense,
and the neighbouring kings would probably give their co-operation to a
measure so vastly beneficial to themselves. It is impossible to
ascertain the exact amount of export of these commodities to Europe
and the United States, but it is very great, and employs a large
amount of vessels. One Liverpool house imported 600 tons in a single
year, worth L9,000.

In 1841 upwards of 3,000 tons of dye woods were imported into
Liverpool from the western coast of Africa.

CAMWOOD (_Baphia nitida_) is used as a mordant and for producing the
bright red color seen in English bandana handkerchiefs. The imports
from Sierra Leone to Liverpool in 1849 were 216 tons, worth L20 to L25
per ton.

Gaboon barwood is another variety of this dyewood which is imported
from the west coast of Africa, in straight flat pieces, from three to,
five feet in length; the average annual import being about 2,000 tons,
of the value of L4 a ton.

The imports of barwood into Liverpool were in--

Tons.
1835 2,000
1836 1,000
1837 1,150
1838 650
1839 350
1841 2,012
1850 1,710

Dyewoods imported in 1850. Re-exported.
Logwood 32,930 4,332
Fustic 9,808 1,771
Nicaragua 7,909 112
Barwood 1,896 1,229
Sappan 3,670 --
Green Ebony, and }
Cocuswood } 1,457 --
Red Sanders 656 --
Camwood 416 --
Brazil and Brazillito 309 --
------ -----
59,051 7,444

Thus we perceive the annual consumption of heavy dyewoods in this
country, in dyeing cotton, linen, woollen and silk goods, &c., exceeds
in weight 51,000 tons.

ARNOTTO.--The plants of this family are chiefly natives of the warmest
parts of South America, the East and West Indies, and Africa. In
America the seeds are called achote or roucou. From the port of
Barcelona, in Venezuela, about 2,000 quintals are annually exported.
The species grown for its dye is the _Bixa orellana_. It is used to
impart a bright orange color to silk goods, and to afford a deeper
shade to simple yellows. The dry hard paste is also found to be the
best of all ingredients for giving a golden tint to cheese or butter.
A convenient liquid preparation is now sold to dairymen. The Spanish
Americans mix it with their chocolate, to which it gives a beautiful
rich hue.

It is of two sorts, viz.:--

1. Flag or cake arnotto, which is by far the most important article in
a commercial point of view, is furnished almost wholly by Cayenne. It
is imported in square cakes, weighing two or three pounds each,
wrapped in banana leaves, packed in casks.

2. Roll arnotto is principally brought from Brazil. The rolls are
small, not exceeding two or three ounces in weight. It is hard, dry,
and compact, brownish on the outside, and of a beautiful red color
within.

The dye is usually prepared by macerating the pods in boiling water
for a week or longer. When they begin to ferment, the seeds ought to
be strongly stirred and bruised with wooden pestles to promote the
separation of the red skins. This process is repeated several times,
till the seeds are left white. The liquor passed through close cane
sieves, pretty thick, of a deep red color, and a very bad smell, is
received into coppers. In boiling, it throws up its coloring matter to
the surface in the form of scum, which is taken off, saved in large
pans, and afterwards boiled down to a due consistence, and then made
up, when soft, into balls or cakes of two or three pounds weight.

The following description of the manufacture is from Dr. Ure:--

"The pods of the tree being gathered, their seeds are taken out and
bruised; they are then transferred to a vat, which is called the
steeper, where they are mixed with as much water as covers them. Here
the substance is left for several weeks or even months; it is now
squeezed through sieves placed above the steeper, that the water
containing the coloring matter in suspension may return into the vat.
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 passed 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 L21,499; and in 1851, 1,253 cwt., worth
L13,968.

Wood dye exported from Ceylon--

Value Quantity
L 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 principally 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. glabia_, 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 L68,894. It is imported in packages of about a cwt., wrapped in
cloth. America takes a large quantity 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 quantity is grown in and exported from Bali. The
Chinese safflower is considered the best, and that from Bombay is
least esteemed. The annual quantity exported from the district of
Dacca averages about 150 tons. The shipments 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, Assam, 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
L1 to L8 per cwt., according to quality. That from Bombay is least
esteemed, fetching only 20s. to 30s.

The annual quantity 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 shipped 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, L6 to L7 10s. per cwt.; middling, L4 to L4 10s.;
inferior and ordinary, L2 10s. to L3.

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 coarsest 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 _Hypericum
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 quantity, 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 homogenous masses 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 constituent,
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 shores 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 Tenasserim
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 substitutes 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-shire, was dyed brown and black, by such cheap and common dyes as
moss and alder bark, and the colors were unexceptionable.

Sutherlandshire 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 quantity. 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 latitude; 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 quantity 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 quantities. 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 repetition 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 quantity 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.