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

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The barks of the _Mora excelsa_, Benth; Courida (_Avicenna nutida_),
cashew (_Anicardium occidentale_), guava and hog-plum (_Spondius
lutea_, Linn.), have all been successfully used for tanning in
Demerara and the West India Islands, where they are very abundant.
Specimens were sent from British Guiana.

The root of the Palmetto palm (_Chaemaerops Palmetto_) is stated to be
valuable for the purposes of tanning. The leaves of _Nerium Oleander_
contain tannic acid. The bark of a species of Malphigia is much used
by the Brazilians.

The panke (_Gunnera scabra_) is a fine plant, growing in Chili, on the
sandstone cliffs, which somewhat resembles the rhubarb on a gigantic
scale. The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are subacid, tan leather
with the roots, and also prepare a black dye from them. The leaf is
nearly circular, but deeply indented on its margin. Mr. Darwin
measured one which was nearly eight feet in diameter, and therefore no
less than twenty-four in circumference. The stalk is rather more than
a yard high, and each plant sends out four or five of these enormous
leaves, presenting together a very noble appearance.

The barks replete with the tanning principle should be stripped with
hatchets and bills from the trunk and branches of trees in spring,
when their sap flows most freely. The average quantity of oak bark
obtained from our forests is estimated at 150,000 tons annually, of
which Ireland and Scotland furnish but a very small quantity.

The following table, given by Dr. Ure, shows the quantity of
extractive matter and tannin yielded by different substances:--

In 480 parts In 100 parts
by Davy. by Cadet.
Sicilian sumach 78 --
Malaga ditto 79 --
Souchong tea 48 --
Green tea 41 --
Bombay catechu 261 --
Bengal ditto 231 --
Nutgalls 127 46
Bark of pomegranate -- 32
" Virginian sumach -- 10
" Carolina ditto -- 5

Catechu and Gambier are very valuable for tanning, and are alluded to
under the heads GAMBIER and ARECA PALM.

CATECHU is obtained from the _Acacia Catechu_, an arboreous tree
growing from fifteen to twenty feet high, with a brown and scabrous
bark. The interior wood is brown, dark red or blackish, and the
exterior white, one or two inches thick. It inhabits various parts of
the East Indies, of which it is a native, and is also now common in
Jamaica. It bears whitish or pale yellow flowers.

The catechu obtained from this tree in Pegu, is celebrated throughout
India, and fetches L4 to L5 more per ton than gambier and other
astringent extracts. When of good quality, catechu is more powerful as
an astringent than kino. Of all the astringent substances we know,
catechu appears to contain the largest proportion of tannin, and Mr.
Purkis found that one pound was equivalent to seven or eight of oak
bark for tanning leather.

The term catechu, observes Dr. Pereira, is applied to various
astringent extracts imported from India and the neighbouring
countries. A few years ago the terms catechu, terra japonica, and
cutch were employed synonymously; they are now, however, for the most
part used in trade somewhat distinctively, though not uniformly in the
same sense. The manufacture of catechu from the _Acacia catechu_ as
practised in Canara and Behar, has been described by Mr. Kerr ("Med.
Obs. and Inquiries," vol. v.), and Dr. Hamilton ("Journey through
Mysore," &c., vol. iii.), while Professor Royle has explained the
process followed in Northern India. According to the last-mentioned
gentleman, "the kutt manufacturers move to different parts of the
country in different seasons, erect temporary huts in the jungles, and
selecting trees fit for their purpose, cut the inner wood into small
chips. These they put into small earthen pots, which are arranged in a
double row, along a fireplace built of mud; water is then poured in
until the whole are covered; after a considerable portion has boiled
away, the clear liquor is strained into one of the neighbouring pots,
and a fresh supply of the material is put into the first, and the
operation repeated until the extract in the general receiver is of
sufficient consistence to be poured into clay moulds, which, in the
Kheree Pass and Doon, where I have seen the process, are generally of
a quadrangular form. This catechu is usually of a pale red color, and
is considered there to be of the best quality. By the manufacturers it
is conveyed to Saharunpore and Moradabad, whence it follows the course
of commerce down the Ganges, and meets that from Nepaul, so that both
may be exported from Calcutta."

GAMBIER.

The Gambier plant (_Uncaria Gambler_, Roxburgh, _Nauclea Gambir_,
Hunter), has been described by Rumphius under the name of _Funis
uncatus_. It is a stout, scandent, evergreen shrub, which strongly
resembles the myrtle. It is generally cultivated in the same
plantation with pepper, as the leaves and shoots, after undergoing the
process by which their juice is extracted, to furnish a kind of
catechu, are found to be an excellent manure for the pepper vines. The
leaves and young shoots of the gambier plant are collected as soon as
they have attained a sufficient size, and boiled in iron pans until
the juice acquires the consistence of treacle. The decoction is poured
out into narrow troughs, dried, and afterwards cut up into small
cakes, and packed in baskets for exportation. The gambier extract,
which is of a yellowish brown color, and has the consistence of hard
cheese, is much esteemed by the Malays for mixing with the preparation
of betel, which they are in the habit of chewing; and considerable
quantities have lately been imported to this country, where it is used
for dyeing colors, and for tanning leather. The demand for gambier
here is on the increase; and when better known to our chemists, it
will probably be found applicable to many other purposes than those to
which it is at present applied.

There were, in 1850, 400 gambier and pepper plantations on the island
of Singapore; each measures or occupies on an average an area of 500
fathoms square, and employs eight to ten hands to cultivate and
manufacture the gambier and pepper. There are some pepper plantations
in addition, and they have been found to answer very well without any
gambier being cultivated with them. Gambier cultivation is generally a
losing undertaking, but it is adopted to obtain the refuse of the
leaves for manuring the pepper vines, and also to employ the people in
the plantations; it besides affords the proprietors the means of
getting monthly sums to carry on the cultivation of pepper, which
affords two crops yearly. There were formerly 600 plantations in
Singapore, but the reason already assigned, and the formation of spice
plantations contiguous have caused the abandonment of all those near
the town. Each plantation must have an equal extent of forest land to
that cultivated with gambier and pepper, to enable the manufacture of
the gambier being carried on, and each gambier plantation, of 500
fathoms square, contains about 3,500 pepper vines, which yield on an
average two catties per vine, or 70 piculs of pepper, and about 170
piculs of gambier annually;--a good plantation will, however, yield
sometimes as much as 120 piculs of pepper, and 200 piculs of gambier,
and a bad one as little as 40 to 50 piculs of pepper, and 60 to 80
piculs of gambier. Were it not for the enormous commission charged by
the agents of these plantations, from whom the cultivators get all the
advances, it would prove a profitable cultivation. The rates of
commission charged generally are as follows:--Per picul of gambier,
fifteen to twenty-five cents; per picul of pepper, thirty to forty
cents; and if the price of the former is below one-and-a-half dollars,
and the latter below three-and-a-half dollars per picul, a small
reduction is made in the rates of commission. On every picul of rice
supplied to the planters twenty to twenty-five cents commission is
charged; this includes the interest of money advanced, which is never
charged. A gambier and pepper plantation is valued or estimated at
about 400 dollars on an average. The following is supposed to be a
correct estimate, on an average, of the yearly expenditure and returns
of a gambier and pepper plantation of 500 fathoms square, viz:--

EXPENDITURE.
drs. c. men. drs. c.
Eight men at 31/2 dollars and 7 Java rupees per
month, wages for headman and labourers
respectively 22.70 12 272.40
Five piculs of rice, including commission, say 6.50 12 81.60
Fish, &c. 5 12 60.0
Boat or cart hire to carry rice and produce 13/4 12 21.0
------
435.0

PRODUCE.

170 piculs of gambier, valued at l dollar 45 cents
per picul, less 15 cents commission chargeable,
nett 221.30 -- ---
70 piculs of pepper, at 41/2 dollars, less 40 cents
per picul commission, nett 287.0 -- 508.0

Yearly profit, 73 dollars, or about L15.

Several gambier and pepper plantations have been abandoned in
Singapore, partly from the ground being impoverished, but more
particularly from the exhaustion of the forest adjacent to their
estates. The exhaustion of the trees by yearly consumption deprives
the planters of the necessary fire wood which is used for the boiling
down of the gambier. A gambier plantation gets exhausted in fifteen
years, either from the want of firewood or the land getting
impoverished.

There are about 200 plantations at Johore, and the produce of gambier
for the season of 1851 was calculated at 30,000 piculs.

This shrub was, at one period, cultivated with success at Pinang and
other places to the eastward, but as Java was the principal market for
the produce, and the Dutch had levied a duty of twelve Java rupees per
picul on it, the cultivation at the former island did not repay its
cost, and it was accordingly abandoned. Prices have been lately
advancing, and the Chinese are talking of trying it again. The plant
is partial to hilly land or slopes at the skirts of hills. Two hundred
plants are usually placed on one orlong of land, being six feet
asunder. They are raised from seed, and are topped to eight or ten
feet, when the gambier is to be prepared. The Chinese dry the seed
slightly, and sow in rainy weather.

The seeds vegetate in forty days, and are planted out in the second or
third month afterwards.

At the expiration of fourteen months, the first cutting of the
branches, with the leaves on, is made. These are put into a boiler,
and when the juice has been extracted, the branches and refuse are
thrown away, and the boiling is continued until the liquor has
obtained the proper consistence, when it is put into shallow troughs,
dried, and cut into slices for sale. The second cutting takes place
eight months subsequently to the first. The plant now grows strong and
admits of frequent cropping, and it will endure for twenty years. No
manure is used, but the plantation is kept clean.

Estimated cost of cultivating ten orlongs, about 13 acres, according
to Colonel Low:--

Spanish dollars.
Value of cleared land, ten orlongs 200
Six laborers per annum 360
Quit rent 7
Boilers, firewood, and implements 20
Houses 50
Incidental 30
----
Total first year 667
Second year 397
----
1,064

The six laborers on the plantation will, after the above period, be
constantly employed in cutting and preparing the gambier: the average
product will be 15 piculs monthly, which, at two dollars per picul,
will be 30 dollars monthly, or 360 dollars per annum. This is the
account obtained by collating different Chinese statements.

The _Nauclea Gambir_ is placed by Jussieu under the natural order
_Rubiaceae_; it is a shrub attaining the height of six to eight feet,
branchy; the leaves are ovate, pointed, smooth, waving, distinctly
veined transversely underneath, of dark green color, and, when chewed,
they have a bitter astringent taste, leaving however, afterwards, a
sweetish taste in the mouth, not unlike liquorice; the flowers are
aggregate, globular, composed of numerous florets, crowded on a
globular naked receptacle; tubes of the corolla of a pinkish color;
the upper part of the corolla fine, cleft, and of a greenish yellow
color; the staminae are five in number, and short; the pistil is longer
than the corolla; the flowers are destitute of fragrance; the capsules
(as correctly stated by Mr. Hunter) are stalked oblong, incrusted, and
crowned with a calyx; tapering to a point below; two celled, two
valved, the valves adhering at the apex, splitting at the sides; seeds
very numerous, oblong, very small, compressed, furnished at both ends
with a membraneous pappus.

The gambier plant is propagated either by seeds or cuttings, but the
latter are preferred. It is cultivated to some extent at Singapore,
but it is said that the gambier can be imported cheaper from the
islands in the vicinity, more especially at the Dutch settlement at
Rhio. The extract is used extensively by the natives of India, Eastern
Archipelago, Cochin-China, and Cambodia, as a masticatory, wrapped up
with the betel.

There are three different qualities of extract; the first and best is
white, brittle, and has an earthy appearance when rubbed between the
fingers (which earthy appearance gave it the name of Terra Japonica,
being supposed, at first also, to come from Japan), and is formed into
very small round cakes. This is the dearest sort, and most refined,
but it is not unfrequently adulterated with sago; this kind is brought
in the greatest quantity from the island of Sumatra. The second
quality is of a brownish yellow color, is formed into oblong cakes,
and, when broken, has a light brown earthy appearance; it is also made
into a solid cube form; it is sold in the bazars in small packets,
each containing five or six. The third quality contains more
impurities than the preceding, is formed into small circular cakes,
and is sold in packages of five or six in the bazar.

The method employed in preparing the extract is thus correctly related
by Finlayson:--"The leaves are collected three or four times a year;
they are thrown into a large cauldron, the bottom of which is formed
of iron, the upper part of bark, and boiled for five or six hours,
until a strong decoction is obtained; the leaves are then withdrawn,
and allowed to strain over the vessel, which is kept boiling for as
many hours more, until the decoction is inspissated; it is then
allowed to cool, when the catechu subsides, The water is drawn off; a
soft soapy substance remains, which is cut into large masses; these
are further divided by a knife into small cubes, about an inch square,
or into still smaller pieces, which are laid in frames to dry. This
catechu has more of a granular, uniform appearance than that of
Bengal; it is, perhaps, also less pure."

The younger leaves of the shrub are said to produce the whitest and
best gambier; the older, a brown and inferior sort. There are other
species of _Nauclea_ indigenous to Singapore, but they do not produce
any extract.

Dr. Bennett has particularised four qualities of gambier:--

1. Small round cakes, about the size of a small lozenge. Color pale,
purplish, yellowish, white.

2. Cubes, in which shape it is principally imported into England, and
square prisms, or oblong pieces.

3. Circular discs, or short cylindrical pieces.

4. Cubical amylaceous pieces, of a darker brown than the other kinds.

Gambier is one of the most powerful of the pure astringents.

The chief places of manufacture are Saik, Malacca, Singapore, and Rhio
or Bintang. Bennett, in his "Wanderings," says there are 60,000
plantations of gambier on this island. After that of Rhio, the next
best gambier is that of Lingin. That used by the Malays, with the
leaves of betel, in the same manner as cutch in other parts of India,
is the finest and whitest; the red being stronger tasted and rank, is
exported to Batavia, China, and England, for the purposes of tanning
and dyeing. It is frequently adulterated with sago powder, but it may
be detected by solution in water.

Large quantities of gambier are imported, under the corrupted name of
cutch, into Calcutta, from Pegu. The quantity of gambier produced in
Rhio, by the Chinese settlers, amounts to about 4,600 tons a year,
about 2,000 of which are exported for the consumption of Java, the
rest being sent to Cochin-China and other neighbouring countries.

Two methods of obtaining gambier are described. One consists in
boiling the leaves in water, and in inspissating the decoction; the
other, which yields the best gambier, consists in infusing the leaves
in warm water, by which a fecula is obtained, which is inspissated by
the heat of the sun, and formed into cakes.

The injudicious practice adopted by the Land Office in Singapore, of
granting indiscriminate licenses, or "cutting papers" as they are
formed, seems open to objection, and is driving many of the Chinese
cultivators to the neighbouring island of Johore, where they readily
obtain permission to cultivate, without obstruction, this important
article of commerce. Parties of 300 or 400 at a time left in 1846. It
appears that, under his permissive license, the squatter obtains
permission to clear as much land as he possibly can, but the order
does not define any extent beyond which no cutting should take place.
The squatter clears as much land as the means at his disposal will
allow, in the hope and expectation that the jungle contiguous to the
cleared ground will be at his command for fuel--a supply of fuel, easy
of access, and adequate to the number of plants grown, being
indispensable to the culture and manufacture of gambier. When the time
for gathering the leaves arrives, another squatter (perhaps from
motives of envy or malice) obtains a "cutting paper," and commences
clearing in close proximity to the already-formed gambier plantation;
obviously depriving the owner of the fuel he has reasonably calculated
upon. The established planter cannot of course eject the intruder from
the land, since the latter possesses an equal right to it, in virtue
of his "cutting paper," which, as it specifies no limits, leaves him
the disposer or destroyer of the crop of the industrious planter.
Instead of the present system, a better practice ought to be
introduced, defining the boundaries to be included in a "cutting
paper," and effectually preventing a trespass on the fuel-land of the
industrious planter. This might easily be effected by specifying the
number of acres, as well as the direction, in every clearing paper
granted.

The average produce of gambier in Singapore is between 7,000 and 8,000
piculs monthly. The ordinary price is about 11/4 dollars per picul. A
deficiency of rain, labor, or other causes, will occasionally reduce
the annual produce from 90,000 or 100,000 piculs, to 60,000 or 70,000,
and this diminished supply will raise the market price of the article
probably 35 cents per picul. But, in addition to the effect occasioned
by a deficient supply, there are other causes in operation exercising
a powerful influence in reducing prices. Gambier was first exported in
1830, from Singapore, to the extent of 2,587 piculs, at 41/2 dollars per
picul. As a rival to bark it failed at so costly a price to meet with
encouragement; the culture and manufacture consequently declined until
1834, when 1,858 piculs were shipped to England at a somewhat lower
rate. The demand then became active, the exportations were at first
multiplied, then doubled every succeeding year, until they reached, in
1846-47 no less than 173,117 piculs. The price has gradually declined
to 11/4 dollars per picul, at which rate it displaces its rival, bark.
This price, however, is unremunerative to the grower, so that, unless
more encouragement offers, the supply will decline.

The number of Chinese employed in the cultivation, &c., of gambier
and pepper in Singapore is about 11,000. Their rate of wages
fluctuates with the price of gambier. If a picul of gambier realizes
11/2 dollars, the monthly pay will be about three dollars; if gambier
fetches two dollars, their pay will amount to four dollars in the
month. The workmen who clean the plantation always receive a dollar
less than those who cut and boil the gambier.

A good deal of gambier seems now to be grown in Java, for 58,305
piculs were exported from that island in 1843. A small quantity is
taken by the Chinese ports, but whether as a masticatory or for
tanning and dyeing I am not aware.

VALUE OF THE TERRA JAPONICA IMPORTED INTO CEYLON.
L
1840 611
1841 1,053
1842 768
1843 471
1844 1,153
1845 537
1846 824
1847 1,549
1848 1,095
1849 896
1850 265
1851 386

In the Customs' returns of imports to this country, two articles are
enumerated, under the separate names of cutch and terra japonica; the
former is catechu and the latter the produce of the gambier plant. The
imports of gambier were, in 1836, 970 tons; 1837, 2,738 tons; 1838,
1,600 tons; 1839, 5,213 tons.

Cutch. Terra Japonica.
tons. tons.
1848 Imported to the United Kingdom 1,186 5,623
Retained for home consumption 765 5,102
1849 Imported 1,636 6,851
Retained for home consumption 869 5,400
1850 Imported 1,172 4,585
Home consumption 787 3,655
1851 Imported 2,401 4,783
Home consumption 2,020 4,431
1852 Imported 2,236 3,244
Home consumption 1,708 3,003

Catechu, imported under its Indian name of cutch, is brought over in
bales or baskets of from one to four cwt., the price being L18 to L25
per ton. About 450 cwt. of terra japonica or gambier is annually
imported into Hull from the East Indies. The imports of the two
substances into Liverpool is about 900 tons. Gambier is only worth L13
to L14 the ton; a few years ago it fetched 26s. the cwt. The imports
into the port of London average 1,500 tons annually.

4,679 bales, and 14,436 baskets of terra japonica were imported into
Liverpool in 1851, and 14,000 bales and baskets in 1852. The imports
of cutch were 10,290 bags, and 2,592 baskets, in 1851, and 11,873 bags
and baskets in 1852; the prices, which were from 16s. 6d. to 18s. per
cwt. for each article, in 1851, were rapidly run up in Liverpool, in
1853, owing to short supplies, to 25s. for gambier, and 22s. to 24s.
per cwt. for cutch, or catechu.

EXPORTS OF GAMBIER FROM SINGAPORE, WITH THE OFFICIAL VALUE IN RUPEES.

Piculs. Value in rupees.
1840-41 Exported 79,508 457,560
" Growth of Singapore 59,325
1841-42 Exported 93,340 470,790
" Growth of Singapore 47,696
1842-43 Exported 148,746 548,281
" Growth of Singapore 110,151
1843-44 Exported 139,050 584,449
" Growth of Singapore 121,791
1844-45 Exported 157,654 539,978
" Growth of Singapore 134,528
1845-46 Exported 110,766 425,643
" Growth of Singapore 75,797
1846-47 Exported 173,117 591,943
" Growth of Singapore 143,795

The exports of gambier from Singapore were as follows:--

To England. To the Continent. Total.
piculs. piculs. piculs.
1849 134,546 6,121 140,667
1850 87,611 16,166 103,777
1851 68,365 11,639 80,004
1852 68,045 9,006 77,051

The exports of cutch from Pinang, in the last four years, have
been:--1849, 3,693 piculs; 1850, 900; 1851, 4,143; 1852, 3,880; or, on
an average, 197 tons.