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

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DIVI-DIVI is the commercial name for the curved pod of a leguminous
shrub, _Caesalpinia coriaria_, which is sometimes imported from
Carthage. Its tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The
quantity of mucilage which it contains precludes it from the use of
dyers; but, as it furnishes nearly 50 per cent. of tannin, it is
largely used by curriers. It is imported into Liverpool from Rio de la
Hacha, Maracaibo, and Savanila. 400 tons of the seed pods and bark of
the Algaroba, or Locust-tree (_Prosopis pallida_) were imported in
1849 into Liverpool from Valparaiso, as a substitute for divi-divi in
tanning. 3,200 lbs. of divi-divi were exported from the port of
Augostara, in 1846.

Specimens of divi-divi which had been raised at Calcutta were shown in
the Indian department of the Great Exhibition.

Dr. Hamilton states that, according to some admirably conducted
experiments of Mr. Rootsey, of Bristol, undertaken at his request, the
pods of divi-divi contain above 50 per cent. of tannin. It appears
also, from trials made, that one part of divi-divi is sufficient for
tanning as much leather as four parts of bark, and the process
occupies but one-third of the time.

The average produce of pods from a full-grown tree has been estimated
at 100 lbs. weight, one-fourth of which consists of seeds or refuse,
leaving about 75 lbs. of marketable matter.

At an interval of six feet apart, an acre of ground will contain 1,210
trees, yielding an average of 810 cwts., and 30 pounds, or above 401/2
tons of marketable matter, worth, at only L5 per ton, L200. Should the
interval between the trees be extended two feet more, we shall still
have 680 to the acre, the produce of which would not improbably be
increased by the increased space given for the extension of the
branches.

The ground in which this tree admits of being cultivated is that which
is least adapted to the staple products of tropical agriculture;
guinea grass may be profitably raised beneath its shade and as with
the exception of the three years which precede the commencement of its
bearing, there is hardly any deduction to be made from its returns, it
promises to be among the most valuable objects of a planter's
attention.

Jacquin describes the _Caesalpinia coriaria_ as a handsome branching
tree, of about fifteen feet in stature, covered with a dark spotted
bark. Its leaves are doubly pinnate, and the leaflets of twelve pair
without a terminal one; they are oblong, obtuse, smooth, very entire.
The flowers are disposed in spikes issuing from the extremities of the
branches; they are small, yellowish, and slightly fragrant. To these
succeed oblong, compressed, somewhat obtuse pods, curved laterally,
the inner side being concave and the other convex. The seeds rarely
exceed three or four in each pod, and are of a brownish color.

Divi-divi resembles a dried pea-shuck curled up, filled with yellow
powder, and a few dark brown seeds. The price ranges from L8 to L13
per ton.

The imports into the United Kingdom in 1844, were 3,900 tons; in 1845
and 1846, about 1,400 tons each year; during the subsequent three
years the imports were merely nominal, but in 1850 a renewed demand
seems to have sprung up, for 2,770 tons were imported into Liverpool,
and a few tons into London.

CORK-TREE BARK (_Quercus suber_) has been imported into Ireland to a
considerable extent, frequently to the amount of 1,500 tons annually.
The quantity of cork imported annually into the United Kingdom is
about 3,000 tons. It is brought from Spain, Italy, and Barbary. Oak
bark and valonia being very cheap and plentiful, the price of cork
hark is only nominal, being, for Spanish cork-tree bark, L7 10s. to L8
per ton; Leghorn ditto, L6 to L7 per ton. It is less astringent than
oak bark, and is more generally useful for stoppers of bottles and
bungs for casks. 160 tons of cork-tree bark were imported into
Liverpool from Rabat in 1849, and 150 tons in 1850.

1,867 cwts. of bark for tanning were imported from Chili in 1844, of
which 292 were Quillai bark.

MIMOSA BARK.--The bark of the _Mimosa decurrens_, which abounds in
Australia and Van Diemen's Land, is found to be a very powerful
tanning agent.

The first shipment of tannin was made from Sydney to England as far
back as 1823, in the shape of an extract of the bark of two species of
mimosa, which was readily purchased by the tanners at the rate of L50
per ton. One ton of bark had produced four cwts. of extract of the
consistency of tar.

In 1843, 3,078 tons of mimosa bark was shipped from Port Phillip to
Great Britain. The price then realised in the London market was L12 to
L14 per ton, but it has since declined to L8 a ton. The quantity of
this bark to be procured in the colony is quite inexhaustible. The
price of chopped mimosa bark in Australia, for export, in the close of
1846, was L2 5s. per ton. Bark valued at L912 was exported from Van
Diemen's Land in 1848.

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
L10 to L11 for chopped, L12 to L12 10s. for ground, and L8 to L9 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 ship
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 latitude 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 ellipticum_ of
Allan Cunningham, would also be useful for tanning, one pound of it
furnishing 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
altitude 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 L819, were shipped 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 shipped from Ceylon in 1845.

The annual imports of myrobalans into Hull, amount to about 1,600
cwts. The quantity 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 principally
of pectin and tannic acid. That chiefly used as East Indian kino, is
an extract formed by inspissating a decoction of the branches and
twigs of the gambler plant. Vauquelin analysed 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, analysed by Prof. Solly, after the
impurities had been separated, yielded 731/4 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 quantity 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 L13 to L14 per ton; those of
picked Morea, L10 per ton. The duty received on valonias imported in
1842 was about L4,000.

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 shipments 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
principal 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 diminishing 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 quantities of the following oils has been
found to be--

Hours.
Oil of poppy 14
" sunflower 13
" rape 11
" mustard 111/2
" flax seed 10
" gold of pleasure
(_Camelina sativa_) 91/2
" olives 9
" hemp seed 8
" tallow 101/2

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 quantity 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 quantity 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 quantity consumed is 17,350
tuns.--("Enderby on the South Whale Fishery.")

_Fixed oils_ are found in the cells and intercellular spaces 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, butter 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 nobilis_; of palm oil, from _Elais guianiensis_;
Shea butter, from _Bassia Parkii_; Galam butter, or Ghee, from _Bassia
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 substitutes for fat. Some of
them are imported in large quantities, 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 quantity 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 (_Brassica 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 indicum_) 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 (_Brassica 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.
Oil obtained from the fruit of _Melia Azadriachta_, for medicine and
lamps. Apricot oil in the Himalayas, sunflower oil, oil of
cucumber-seed for cooking and lamps, oil of colocynth seed, a lamp
oil.

The seeds of bastard saffron (_Carthamus tinctorius_) yield oil.

Mustard oil, the produce of various species of _Sinapis_, &c. Shanghae
oil, from _Brassica Chinensis_. Illiepie oil, from _Bassia
longifolia_, which is used for frying cakes, &c., in Madras; and
Muohwa oil, from another species of the same genus in Bengal, _B.
latifolia_. Oil is expressed from the seeds of _Caesalpina oleosperma_,
a native of the East. The neem tree seeds afford a very clear or
bitter oil, used for burning.

Wood oil is a remarkable substance, obtained from several species of
_Dipterocarpus_, by simply tapping the tree.

The horse-eyes and cacoons of Jamaica (_Fevillea scandens_) yield a
considerable quantity of oil or fat, as white and hard as tallow. It
has been employed for similar purposes on the Mosquito shores.

The seeds of the _Argemone mexicana_, and of the _Sanguinaria
canadensis_, also contain a bland, nutritious, colorless, fixed oil.
The mass from which the seed is expressed is found to be extremely
nutritious to cattle.

The _Camelina sativa_ is cultivated in Europe, for the extraction of
an oil used only by the soap makers, and for lamps.

A solid oil, of a pale greenish color, a good deal resembling the oils
of the Bassia in character, though rather harder, and approaching more
in properties to myrtle wax, was shown at the Great Exhibition, from
Singapore. It is supposed to be the produce of the tallow tree of
Java, called locally "kawan," probably a species of Bassia. It is very
easily bleached; indeed, by exposure to air and light, it becomes
perfectly white; if not too costly, it promises to become a valuable
oil.

According to Mr. Low, there are several varieties of solid oil
commonly used in the Islands of the Archipelago, and obtained from the
seeds of different species of _Dipterocarpus_.

Piney tallow is obtained from the fruit of the _Vateria Indica_, a
large and quick-growing tree, abundant in Malabar and Canara. It is a
white solid oil, fusible at a temperature of 97 degrees, and makes
excellent candles, especially when saponified and distilled in the
manner now adopted with palm oil, &c. It has one great advantage over
coco-nut oil, that the candles made of it do not give out any
suffocating acrid vapors when extinguished, as those made with the
latter oil do.

An oil is produced from the inner shell of the cashew-nut (_Anacardium
occidentale_ var. _indicum_), in the East.

In Japan a kind of butter, called _mijo_, is obtained from a species
of the Dolichos bean (_Dolichos soya_).

The kernel of the seeds of the tallow tree of China, _Stillingia
sebifera_, an evergreen shrub, contains an oil, which, when expressed,
consolidates through the cold to the consistence of tallow, and by
boiling becomes as hard as bees' wax. The plant also yields a bland
oil. A similar fatty product is obtained from a shrub in British
Guiana, the _Myristica (Virola) sebifera_.