Cultivation of the Sumac. 209 



Europe — chiefly from Sicily — for these uses, at a cost of from half 

 to three-quarters of a million of dollars per annum. 



838. The Sicilian sumac (Rhus coriaria) thrives only in a ■warm 

 climate, where the orange, the carob, and the pistacia grow in the 

 open air, and the ash produces manna. It will bear an occasional 

 light frost in midwinter. It is particularly liable to injury from a 

 white frost in spring. It is propagated from sprouts that come up 

 around the mature shrubs. They are taken off in December and 

 January, and set in rows, which are ridged up, and well cultivated 

 ^at intervals through the first year, but it does not begin to produce 



till the third year. 



839. The leaves are harvested by trimming the shoots that spring 

 up around the main stem, a process that is done by men with a 

 pruning-hook, or by picking the leaves by hand, which is done by 

 women and children , during the summer. The leaves and trimmings 

 are then dried, and the leaves are beaten off from the latter by 

 threshing with flails, or treading of animals, preference being given, 

 to the hottest hours of the day, as the leaves then separate most 

 easily. The best qualities are baled with the leaves entire, and with-- 

 out their stems. The next grade has the leaves bruised, with the^ 

 stems adhering ; the next, is the leaf crop of one-year old plants, 

 while the lowest and poorest grade is from the tops of branches 

 gathered in the beginning of autumn. 



840. In any attempt to cultivate this species in the United States, 

 success could only be expected from fresh cuttings, planted in the 

 southern border of the Gulf States and in Southern California. Of 

 native species we have three that are used to some extent for tan- 

 ning purposes. They are, in order of preference, the Rhw glabra, 

 or smooth sumac, the B. copaUina, the wing-ribbed or mountain sumac, 

 and the R. typhina, or stag-horn sumac. 



841. The principal American sumac that is prepared for market 

 comes from Virginia. The leaves are picked by country people, 

 without much regard to the season, from the shrubs found growing 

 wild, and are dried and sold by weight to the owners of mills for 

 grinding. The leaves should be taken when full of sap, and before 

 they turn red or begin to wither, and especially before frost. After 

 being wilted in the sun, they should be spread upon shelves or racks 

 to dry in a shaded but airy place, and should be allowed to remain 

 at least a month, and in damp weather longer, before going to mar- 



