THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, iJ 



He was not able to ascertain if it is collected in India or 

 whether it is imported from Arabia. I have not had the 

 pleasure of seeing Dr. Dymock's book ; but it was the note, 

 as above, which appeared in " The Month " of a recent 

 number of the Pharmaceutical Journal, which first attracted 

 my attention to kamalaand its sources. Thinking it would 

 be interesting to know if commercial kamala was entirely 

 the produce of M. Phillipiuensis, I obtained samples of 

 the drug from various parts of the country. I find that 

 everyone of the specimens obtained from dealers is genuine 

 kamala. 



Mr. E. M. Holmes, of the Pharmaceutical Society, has 

 been kind enough to let me have samples of the specimens 

 in the Society's Museum. The results of my examination 

 are as follows : — 



Sample marked " 490 b," catalogued " Glands, covering 

 fruit of rottlera tinctorial is genuine kamala. 



Sample marked " 490 c," catalogued " Wurrus, first qual- 

 ity," is identical with the purple variety examined by 

 Professor Fliickiger and is presumably the one referred by 

 Dr. Dymock to Flemingia congesta. 



Sample marked " 490 d," catalogued " Wurrus, second 

 quality." — This is totally different from either of the other 

 two varieties spoken of. I have been unable to find any 

 record of a third kind of this drug. I therefore venture to 

 put before you a short description of this specimen. The 

 glands are from 50 to 170 mkm. long, and from 50 to 100 

 mfcm. broad. AA r hen seen with the microscope in a dry 

 state they are translucent and but faintly coloured yellow. 

 In form they vary very considerably; in fact, there ap- 

 pears to be no prevailing form. They impart but little 

 colour to ether, alcohol, or solution of caustic potash. 

 The cells are devoid of any such resin as is seen in the other 

 two kinds. In solution of caustic potash they swell con- 

 siderably, and their structure is rendered clearly visible. 

 They consist of a mass of cells, composed of cellulose, 

 enclosed by a non-cellulose membrane. The cells are not 

 arranged in any particular mauuer. The hairs are similar 

 to those found in the purple variety, being quite simple. 



On drawing Mr. Holmes's attention to this unknown^) 

 variety, he informed me that he believed it was the second 

 kind mentioned by Dr. Vaughan in his 'Notes,' and this 

 sample was probably given by him to Mr. Hanbury, who 

 presented it to the Museum. 



I trust that some further information regarding the 

 plants yielding the second and third varieties of " wurrus" 

 will soon be forthcoming. 



Looking at the last sort from an economic point of view, 

 it would appear to be worthless as a dye, whatever it 

 may be as a medicine. 



In conclusion, I beg to tender my thanks to Mr. Holmes, 

 and to Mr. Elborne who has assisted me in obtaining specim- 

 ens of the drug. — Pharmaceutical Journal. • 



ACACIA ARABICA, 



the "babool" of India, is very fully discussed in the pro- 

 ceedings of the Madias Agri-Horticultural Society,*tlms: — 



Read memorandum from the Director of Revenue Settle- 

 ment and Agriculture, dated 13th February 1884, No. 406, 

 communicating a circular from the Revenue and Agricultural 

 Department, dated Calcutta, 6th February 1884, and the 

 following note by Mr. Liotard on Acacia arabica, dated 

 Calcutta, 12th January 1884:— 



"The following are some of the native names of this 

 tree: Bahla in Bengali; Babul-, Keelcar, in the North-AVest 

 Provinces, Oudh, Punjab, and parts of Bombay ; Babbar in 

 Sindh; Karuveylam, Nellatuma in the Madras Presidency. 



"The pod itself does not seem to have any special name : 

 it carries the name of the tree with the designation singri 

 or plial, which means legume or fruit, thus Babla-phal in 

 Bengali, Babul-singri in Hindustani. 



" As the native names iudicate, the A cacia arabica is found 

 almost everywhere in India. It is common and abundant in 

 parts of Sindh, the Punjab, the North-West Provinces and 

 Bengal. 



"It is of rapid growth and requires no water, nourishing 

 in dry arid plains, and especially in tough clayey soils where 

 other trees arc rarely met with. It bears fruit in three or 

 four years from the date of its first appeaRanpe, and the 

 fruit ripens in February to April, in different parts of the 

 country. 



" The legumes are used to a small extent by natives in 

 some parts of India in dyeing cotton and woollen cloths, and 

 in tanning and dyehig leather. In dyeing they are used as 

 a substitute for the more expensive dye-stuffs. 



"The processes employed by the native dyers (who are the 

 only dyers in India) are of a primitive nature needing little 

 description. The legumes are used when dry as well as when 

 green. In either case they are simply crushed or pounded 

 and boiled in water, the decoction resulting being the dye 

 which, when used alone, produces shades of drab. Sometimes 

 the dye is deepened into brown by using alum as a mordant, 

 and sometimes it is rendered black with salts of iron: by 

 the use of other ingredients violet and other colours are 

 produced. 



"Figures are not available to show either the quantity of 

 the legumes used annually by the natives, or the supply pro- 

 curable in different parts of the country, or the prices at 

 which the legumes can be procured. But the quantities are 

 probably large, and the prices cheap. The most favourable 

 season for collecting the legumes seems to be the spring. 



"The dried legumes were last year experimented within 

 London, and the result was 60 per cent of tannin matter 

 (seeds not reckoned, being useless): the action of this 

 tannin produced a beautiful light-coloured leather. The 

 value of the dried legumes (minus the seed) was reckoned 

 at £40 per ton. 



"Probably the best method for exporters would be to 

 dry the pods at the places where they are gathered, then 

 to extract the seed, and finally to press the pods before 

 despatching them. 



"The bark also of the tree is used by natives both in 

 tanning and dyeing, and more commonly than the legumes. 

 The tree is ready for barking when eight or ten years old. 

 It is then cut down from the roots, and the hark is taken 

 off immediately while the, sap is green. It is then dried in 

 the sun. care being taken not to expose the inner side of 

 the bark. 



"The dye is extracted by simply steeping or boiling the 

 bark in water, after it has been chopped in small piece6. 

 When mixed with the barks of the khair (Areea catechu) 

 and palas (Butea frondosa) trees a brown dye is produced. 

 When mixed with sulphate of iron dyes of shades of grey 

 ranging to dark brown are obtained. 



"Both of these dyes are suitable for dyeing cotton cloths 

 and are used in most of the provinces in India. But the 

 bark is more used in tanning than in dyeing. In Bengal 

 it is extensively used as a tan everywhere, being the cheap- 

 ist and most effective tanning agent known. In the North- 

 AVest Provinces likewise it is the commonest tanning agent 

 in use, and the Government Saddle and Harness Factory uses 

 from 1,000 to 1,200 tons of the babul bark in a year. 



"Some experiments were made with the bark in 1881 in 

 England by Mr. W. N. Evans of the Tanner's Laboratory at 

 Taunton, and the result was a percentage of 18-95 of 

 tannin. 'One fact worthy of notice with this bark,' Mr. 

 Evans wrote, 'is the beautiful creamy white colour it gives 

 when precipitated with gelatine, this being at present the 

 only bark or tannin material that gives that colour.' The 

 bark was valued at from £12 to £14 per toh in England. 



"The extreme bulkiness of the bark in its natural state 

 is, however, an impediment to its export, a.nd it therefore 

 occurred to the writer some two years ago, that it would 

 be well to have the bark dried and then ground and bagged 

 or baled tightly before export. Since then a notice has 

 appeared in the Supplement to the Scientific American, of 

 29th April 1882, which shows that Mr. C. Kimplen, of 

 Chicago i America), has patented a hydrostatic press, of which 

 the object is to put ground tan-barks into the least pos- 

 sible -pace by forming them into blocks. The machine 

 appears to be an expensive one, but the suggestion to 

 have the dried babul bark ground and compressed in India 

 for export seems worthy of consideration." 



Bead also letter from the Director of Revenue Settle- 

 ment and Agriculture, dated Madras 12th March, 1884, 

 No. 610-A, forwarding a memorandum on Acacia a/rabica by 

 Mr. J. S. Gamble, Conservator of Forests; asking inform- 

 ation regarding the commercial prospects of a trade in pods 

 and bark with England and other countries; and stating 

 that he is making enquiries regarding the purchasers in 

 London and mode of sale, and as to the proximate annual 

 yield in this Presidency. 



