TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



is essentially a misnomer since the tree does not occur in Brazil. 

 Brazilwood and the related species, Pernambuco wood (C. 

 echinata), both furnish a yellowish heartwood which has long 

 been recognized as having a value for dye purposes. In the 

 East Indies another species, C. sappan, commonly called Sap- 

 panwood, has been far more extensively used as a source of 

 dye, the wood being shipped in large quantities from India to 

 Europe. In the Pernambuco wood the sapwood is extremely 

 thick, while the commercial heartwood constitutes only a small 

 cylinder of the tree. Brazilwood yields a red dye known as 

 brazilin, which is used in calico printing, especially in mixed 

 reds and browns and also in red ink. Sappanwood yields a 

 red dye, formerly much exported from India. DyestufT is ob- 

 tained from the wood, bark, or pods of this tree, but chiefly 

 from the wood. The Sappan dye is especially valuable in dye- 

 ing wool and calico. 



Camwood or barwood (Baphia nitida) comes from a large 

 leguminous tree native of Angola and other parts of Western 

 Africa. It yields a brilliant red dye. The United States im- 

 ports only a few hundred tons of this wood annually, but it is 

 employed much more extensively in England. Camwood dye 

 is used mostly in calico printing. 



INDIGO 



The vegetable dye indigo is obtained from a number of 

 shrubby perennial or annual legumes (Indigo f era tinctoria, 

 I. anil, I. arrecta, etc.). These plants attain a height of 2 to 6 

 feet and readily escape from cultivation, covering large areas 

 of ground as a weed. The indigo industry was once quite 

 widely spread, but is now confined largely to India, Siam, Java, 

 and Natal. Since the year 1880, synthetic indigo has made 

 the cultivation of indigo unprofitable except in favorable locali- 

 ties. The natural dye, however, is superior to the artificial 

 product and is still in demand. 



