5O> TANNING SUBSTANCES. 



extended two feet more, we shall still have G80 to the acre, the 

 produce of which would not improbably be increased by the in- 

 creased 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. 



Jaequin describes the Ccesalpihia 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 con- 

 cave and the other convex. The seeds rarely exceed three or four 

 in each pod, and a-e 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 8 to 13 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 th subse- 

 quent 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 suler) 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 bark is only nominal, being, for Spanish 

 cork-tree bark, 7 10s. to 8 per ton ; Leghorn." ditto, 6 to 7 

 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 llabat 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 decurrcns, 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 50 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 



