Mav I, 1886.] 



THE TROPI-CAL AGRICULTURIST. 



753 



EICE PEST— GILLA— ACACIA AND DOBIS. 



(.Voles from yroceedinys of the Aarkvltnra' and Hort 1. 

 cultural Siciety of India.) 



Bice Pest. — At the ordinary general meeting of the 

 Society last week, Mr. Wood-Mason, in view of the 

 wide intircst in the subject, read :i report he had 

 prepared for the Obief Comiuissioncr of Burma on 

 an insect pest which effects paddy. The " Palan Byoa" 

 or " Tciuduiing Bo " (I'arapoiii/a Ori/:alii) a lepi- 

 dopterous inject, which in the caterpillar stage breathes 

 air dissolvetl iu water by means of tracheal gills. 

 This paper is illustrated by drawings of the creature 

 in different stiiges as caterpillar, pupa and cocoon. 

 and as the subject of rice pests is so highly important, 

 it will, with the sanction of the Chief Oommissioncr, 

 be reproduced in the Society's Journal. 



The "Gilla." — A communication was then read 

 from Dr. Uoiiavia, Etawah, asking for information 

 regarding the •' gilla." He writes : — " Dhobis up here 

 and probably also down in Bengal use a curious kind 

 of nut for crimping liucu. without using any crimping 

 irons. This nut they call in Oudli ' gelha ' and here 

 'chain:' the latter means a seed. They say it is 

 brought from Bengal and sold in Oawnpore. The pods 

 are long and many seeded, and seed is of the size of 

 a small and fat pocket-watch, of a horse-chesnut 

 colour, and with highly polished sides. Dhobies cut 

 one side, and scoop out the kernel ; then they introduce 

 two finjfers into the cavity, and quickly stroke the 

 damp linen forwards with its polished surface. This 

 crimps it beautifully cro«svai/K. " 1 believe you have in 

 the hills east of Beugal some kind of acacia which pro- 

 duces a long broad pod with this seed in it. Can you 

 kindly give me the botanical and local name of it from 

 the above description ? A new interest attaches to this 

 * gL- ua.' A lady took one with her to England to crimp 

 her child's linen ' dhobi-fashion,' and showed it to Mr. 

 Kuskin. He. has undertaken, I am told, to set up a 

 village with workpeople, using nothing but primitive 

 implements. He was so interested in this primitive 

 Indian crimping machine, the 'gelha,' that I faucy 

 he has some idea of adopting it in his primitive village. 

 The upshot is that I have been given the task of 

 finding out the botanical name of the tree which bears 

 this interesting crimping implement. It is very efn- 

 cieut. I know the seed, ami have seen it u.sed, but 

 have not its botanical name. H you can kindly help 

 me in this matter, you will oblige me and will confer 

 a favour on Mr. Kuskiu." 



The Deputy Secretarj- stated that the seed to which 

 Dr. Bnnavia referred was that of the IC/ttada sca/idens 

 (Ben(ham), E. jmrsaUM (D'C), the Mimosa scandens 

 of I.inn. and Roxb., a large chmber common to many 

 parts of the tropics, and found in Sylhet, Nepal, Ceylon, 

 Java, the West Indies, &c. The Hindustani name 

 ^Ula appears to be commonly used, but it has many 

 oftier names: Uri_i/a Geredi, SipaU-ie Vangra., Jiomiay 

 Gardal, Oii/lon Mahapuswela, Tel. Guilatiga. Accord- 

 ing to Eoyle (lUus. of Botany of the Himalayas, 

 Vol. I, p. 183) the seeds are used by the natives for 

 washing the hair, and I'oiaht (p. 256) says it is used 

 by the ghaut people as an antifebrile. Drury men- 

 tions that it is emplojed as an emetic iu Java. The 

 seed is made into snutf-boxes iu the West Indies, and 

 according to Dr. Birdwood (Cat. of Vegetable Products 

 of Bombay Presiilency) "the pods are used by the 

 police here." Although the pods are of great size, 

 sometimes six feet and more long and 4 feet 5 inches 

 broad, it seems a strange article for the police to use. 

 Gamble says '* the seeds are eaten after roasting and 

 steeping in »vater, the kernels are used by theNipaiese 

 for waxliiug the r hair, and iu Bengal by washermem 

 for crimping linen.'' The seed is soM in the bazar 

 for medich'al purposes, and is used in a powdered 

 form; it in administered as a stimulant: but this use 

 is not mentioned by O Sbaugbuessy or others. Dr. 

 Watt, in his Kconomic Products of India, says that 

 " ail oil is made from the seed, the prr*p!Tties of 

 wliieb are unknown." But the use marlc "f it by 

 the dbobis seems the most general. — Pinrtieer. 

 94 



BABUL TREE PODS. 



Messrs. Arbuthnot and Co. forward a report from 

 their Home correspondents on the probable value of 

 seed-pods of the babul tree (Acacia Arahica). samples 

 of which they had sent to Kngland at the instance of 

 this department. It will be seen that the pods are 

 not valued at more than from £S to £10 per ton. At 

 this rate it is hardly likely that it would pay to export the 

 seed-pods. Mr. Wardle does not regard the babul seed- 

 pods as of many value for dyeing. For tanning they are 

 not as valuable as several cheaper substances. Mr. 

 Wardle, however, suggests " that the best way of 

 making this product useful would be to extract the 

 tannin from it where it grows, and as probably the 

 bark and even the branches of this acacia may eoDtain 

 more tannin than the seed-pods, all could b ■ boiled down 

 together and a better average yield of tannin obtained." 

 The attention of the Forest Department may perhaps 

 be drawn to this suggestion. I have to add that, at the 

 request of this department, Messrs. Wilson ii Co. of 

 Madras are about to send a consignment of the b:ibul 

 baik and pods to Australia to see if a market can be 

 found for them iu that colony. 



TO THE UNDBH-SECKETAEV OF STATE FOB INDIA. 



I have now the honor of reporting on the sample of 

 crushed seed-pods of the babul tree (Acacia Arahica) 

 which .accompanied your letter of December 27th, 1.S84, 

 requesting me to give my opinion respecting the 

 commercial and tinctorial value of this substance. 



•• I have carefully examined the seed-pods, both 

 chemically and tinctorially, and I beg to submit the 

 following report : — 



•' Tinctorially I do not regard this substance as of any 

 value. The coloring-matter contained in it is very 

 small, and is only sufficient to dye silk or cotton a fawn 

 color. It is not possible to obtain from it directly either 

 violet or black as stated in your letter, but it has other 

 properties which are those of a mordant. 



"Its value in my opinion cosists only iu the amount 

 of tannic acid contained in it, and it is only on account 

 of this that I believe it to be used in dyeing. Its tannic 

 acid both helps to form a black with iron salts and also 

 helps to brighten and fix some other dyes, both vegetable 

 and mineral colors. 



■' The following laboratory notes will explain them- 

 selves: — 



" I estimated the amount of tannic acid by Lowenthal'B 

 permanganate process and found the quantity to be 

 10-20 per cent of tannic acid or tannin, calculated in 

 the same way as in estimating the tannin in sumac, 

 galls or myrabolans, but which mode of es'.imation would 

 be equivalent to 1539 per cent of tannin, similar to 

 that contained in oak bark, valonia or extract of chestnut. 



" Comparing the seed-pods, then, with these sub- 

 stances, they contain only a very low percentage, because 

 good qualities of sumac contain 18 to 20 per cent of 

 tannin, of galls 65 to 77 per cent, of myrabolans 20 to 

 40 per cent, of oak Imrk 8 to 13 per cent, of valonia 25 

 to 35 per cent, and of chcsnut extract 20 to 25 per cent. 



" Like other tannin substances these seed-pods impart 

 weight to silk, the tannic acid uniting with the fibre, 

 probably much in the same way as it does with hide or 

 skin forming leather. The amount of weighting matter 

 in these seed-pods absorbed by silk is equal to 172 per 

 cent of the weight of the pure boiled-otf silk or l(j oz. 

 of silk in gum when boiled off and weighted with the 

 extract from the seed-pods becomes ■14-07 oz. as 

 against 1'' oz. in the case of sumac. 



" I send with this report the followingillu^trations :— 

 One skein of silk dyed blie-black. 



Do. do. black. 



Do. do. green. 



Two skeins of do. red. 

 Oue skein of do. mauve. 



Do. of do. violet. 



Two skeins of do. brown. 

 Do. of do. drab. 



"The b'.acks have been dyed with iron salt, the colors 

 each various tinctorial matters, chiefly aniline colors, 

 with having received a base of tannic acid by the silk 



