The following excerpt from an 1846 dyer manual clearly describes the 

 processing of Acacia catechu and would also apply generally to the other 

 types : 



As soon as the trees are felled, all the exterior white wood is carefully cut away, the 

 interior or colored wood is then cut into chips; narrow mouthed unglazed pots are nearly 

 filled with these, and water is added to cover them and reach to the top of the vessel. 

 When this is half evaporated by boiling, the decoction without straining is poured into 

 a shallow earthen vessel, and further reduced two-thirds by boiling. It is then set in a 

 cool place for one day, and afterwards evaporated by the heat of the sun, being stirred 

 several times during that process. When it is reduced to a considerable thickness it is 

 spread upon a mat or cloth, which has been previously covered with the ashes of cow- 

 dung. This mass is divided with a string into quadrangular pieces, which are completely 

 dried by being turned frequently in the sun, and are then fit for sale. It is a brittle 

 compact solid, of a dark brown or chocolate color . . . ([Parnell], 1846, pp. 59-60). 



Catechu and gambler were applied to cotton, silk, and, to a lesser extent, 

 wool. Its natural brown color could be modified with various compounds 

 to produce olive, drab, and gray tones. Since catechu and gambler extracts 

 were soluble in boiling water, the application of this dye was comparatively 

 simple. In coloring cotton and wool the dye was boiled with the cloth and 

 a copper salt added. This bath was allowed to stand for several hours, then 

 the cloth was removed, washed, and dried. In order to assure lightfastness 

 and deeper shades, copper salts were recommended by early 20th-century 

 dye chemists. 



Gambler was used in black-silk dyeing as late as the first quarter of the 

 20th century mainly because it could be applied along with metallic salts 

 in weighting silk. A U.S. Tariff" Commission report on natural dyestuffs 

 imported into the United States between 1910 and 1917 reveals that 

 gambler was by far the most important dye brought into this country, both 

 in terms of quantity and monetary value (1918, p. 56). Although such a 

 survey, recording pounds of extract along with pounds of raw materials 

 (such as woods), cannot be considered a completely valid basis of com- 

 parison, it does suggest strongly that gambler far outranked in importance 

 any of the other dyes surveyed. By 1917 the quantity of most natural dyes, 

 including gambler, had diminished considerably, yet they were still used 

 in amounts great enough to be recorded. Between the First and Second 

 World Wars the dye industry made such strides that this natural dye, along 

 with all others, has become obsolete. 



Other Brown Dyes 



BARKS OF VARIOUS TREES 



ALDER (Alnus sp.) 



Also known as oler or owler; aune (Fr.); die Erie (Ger.) 



It was natural for home dyers living in a heavily forested country like 

 America to search for coloring materials among the barks of trees which 



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