C/ESALPINIA 



TANNING (TARI) PODS DIOYNA 



Production 



in some foreign countries, the demand for the pods having been very 

 lorable. 



I'ropertles and Uses. Roxburgh named the bush f. ol<-o*jnTin(i ou. 

 in allusion to the OIL afforded by the seeds, which he tells us was in some 

 i >f the country employed as a lamp oil. He makes no mention of the 

 .still more valuable property of the pods as a source of tannic acid. None Tanning 

 of th- standard works published prior to 1890 make definite references Material. 

 t<> the use of the pods in medicine or as a tanning material, though 

 Buchanan-Hamilton (Slot. Ace. Dinaj., 1833, 170) states that they were 

 in his day much employed by the dyers. It may thus be said that while 

 tin-si- pods had been favourably reported on by Mr. John Teil of Calcutta 

 18, they were subsequently forgotten for fully half a century. In 

 Mr. E. M. Homes, Curator of the Museum of the Pharmaceutical 

 icty of Great Britain, sent to the Reporter on Economic Products 

 >mc " tari " pods that he had received from India as a medicine. He 

 iggested that an inquiry might be instituted into the source and available 

 ipply, and accordingly they were identified. Tari pods were in conse- 

 juence included in the programme of operations of the Reporter for 1893. History of 

 circular letter was issued to the Directors of Agriculture in Madras, 

 jngal, Assam and Burma. In 1894 samples came from many districts 

 Burma. About the same time the Director of Assam (in connection 

 rith a monograph on dyes of that province, which he had under prepara- 

 ion) sent a sample of " teri " pods to be determined. He was at once in- 

 armed that they were the pods of C. <li</i/nd regarding which a special 

 iquiry had been addressed to his office. Holmes had the pods analysed 

 1892 (by Messrs. Gonne, Croft & Co.), when they were found to contain 

 _ per cent, of tannin. Shortly after Evans published in " Leather" a 

 sport in which he mentions a yield of about 33 per cent. Wiesner (Die 

 ihst. des Pflanzenr., 1903, ii., 844-5), quoting from Hartwich (Die Neun 

 Irzneidrogen, Pfl., 1897, 27) under Acacia diyyna?' mentions that the 

 contain 33*25 per cent, of tan, and, like Holmes, Evans and others, 

 adds that if procurable in quantity they might come into extensive 

 se. In 1898 a large supply was in consequence procured from Sylhet, 

 >m many districts in Burma, and also from Chittagong. But it is 

 imarkable that so far none have been procured from the Circars, where 

 jxburgh first found the plant. 



The Forest Department have taken the greatest possible interest in supply 

 lis new product (consult the late Mr. H. C. Hill's letter of July 20, 1901, A 



all Conservators of Forests). The Annual Reports from Burma and 

 sngal record from year to year the progress made. The Report for 

 Cenasserim (1901-2, 27) says, " There is no demand and the stock of 60 

 igs was sold for Rs. 4 per bag, a price that just covered expenses." The NO Demand, 

 sport for the Southern Circle in 1902-3 states that the plant had proved 

 sy of cultivation, but adds, " As there appear to be no present demands 

 >r the pods, further plantations of this species are not wanted." It will 

 lus be seen to rest with the trade to say whether or not the expectations 

 of writers on this subject are to be realised. 



A fair quantity of two sets of pods, secured through the Forest 

 Department of Burma, and a corresponding parcel from the Assam 

 stock, were consigned to the Imperial Institute, London and in due course 

 reported on by the Director. The two parcels (of pod- cases without High Yield 

 the seeds) from Burma were found to contain 53-82 and 53.86 per cent. ' 



193 13 



