39 
TanNING MATERIALS. 
Amongst plants producing tanning materials, next in importance 
to our native acacias may be placed the tanning sumach (Rhus 
coriara), a native of those countries bordering on the Mediter- 
ranean; of easy cultivation, well suited for dry soils, I am con- 
vinced it would thrive in numerous parts of the colony, and be a 
profitable plant to grow. Some few years since I obtained from 
Europe, through a Melbourne seedsman, a quantity of seed of this, 
which grew well, but ultimately the plants languished and died, 
solely, I found out afterwards, through the soil being too rich and 
the situation too damp. The importation into England of this 
sumach, chiefly from Sicily, is enormous, 12,000 to 18,000 tons 
being the usual annual quantity. The price of Sicilian sumach is 
from 15s. to 16s. 6d. per cwt., that imported from Spain is not so 
valuable. The parts used are the leaves and young twigs. These 
are gathered two or three times in the summer, then dried and 
ground or crushed, when they are ready for packing. Plants 
raised from seed take longer to mature than those raised from 
cuttings or suckers, and it is generally four or five years ere they 
are fit for cropping, whereas plants from cuttings or suckers are 
ready for stripping in the second year. The plant lives for ten 
to fifteen years, and an acre of plants at their prime produces 
about a ton of leaves. 
Sumach is also used for dyeing, the leaves are principally used 
for yellow and black, and the roots give a red dye. 
Venetian sumach is the product of Rhus cotinus, and contains 
about 20 per cent. of tannin ; it imparts a light colour to leather 
and considerable firmness ; the leather is soft and friable. The 
leaves yield a yellow dye, called in commerce “ Young Fustic.” 
Rhus vernicifera is the celebrated “ Lacquer-tree”’ of Japan, a 
small tree which yields a vegetable wax. By making wounds in 
the tree the juice is collected, placed in tubs, then an infusion of 
galls and iron is added, and after some other manipulation the 
beautiful jet-black varnish is produced. The tree which produces 
what is commonly known as “Japan Vegetable Wax” is Rhus 
succedanea, and was, I think, first introduced into Victoria some 
30 years ago from Japan, by Mr. G. W. Rusden, a gentleman well 
known to many of us. It does well here, is a strikingly hand- 
some small tree, and should be planted largely for scenic effect. 
It is the berries of this plant which produces the wax which is 
chiefly used for manufacturing candles and vestas. I have men- 
tioned these two last plants not with any idea of recommending 
them to be cultivated for economic purposes, but having mentioned 
Rhus coriara and cotinus I could hardly refrain from just refer- 
ring to two plants considered of so much importance in their own 
country, Japan. 
