64 FOREST PRODUCTS 



The world's supply of tanning materials is apparently very abundant 

 and it is estimated by authorities that many sources little developed at 

 the present time may be depended upon for vast quantities in the future. 

 Especially is this true of many tropical plants of Africa, the Far East 

 and South America. The great hemlock forests of Washington and 

 Oregon have been scarcely touched in so far as their tannin resources 

 are concerned, and they constitute an important storehouse of tannin 

 for future use. Western hemlock bark has a higher tannin content 

 than that of the eastern hemlock. At the present rate of cutting que- 

 bracho in South America, which amounts to about 1,000,000 tons, and 

 which supplies an important part of the tanning supplies of England, 

 Germany, France and Italy, as well as the United States, it is estimated 

 that the supply of this source alone will last 168 years ^ and the annual 

 growth more than offsets the yearly cut. 



PRINCIPAL SOURCES AND TANNIN CONTENTS 



The following table shows the most commonly used domestic and 

 foreign tanning materials with the percentage of tannin which they 

 usually contain. These are the tannin contents as recognized by the 

 Leather and Paper Laboratories of the Bureau of Chemistry: ^ 



DOMESTIC Tannin. T^an^L 



Hemlock bark (Tsuga canadensis) 8-10% catechol 



Chestnut wood {Castanea denlata) 4-10% catechol 



California tanbark oak [Quercus densiflora) 10-29% catechol 



Chestnut oak bark {Quercus prinus) 8-14% catechol 



Black oak bark (Quercus velulina) 6-12% catechol 



Red oak bark {Quercus rubra) 4- 8% catechol 



White oak bark {Quercus alba) 4- 7% catechol 



Western hemlock bark {Tsuga helerophylla) 10-12% catechol 



American sumach {Rhus glabra) Southern States 25% pyrogallol 



" Staghorn " or " Virginian " {Rhtis iyphina) 10-18% pyrogallol 



FOREIGN 



Quebracho wood {Qtiebrachia lorentzii) South America 20-28% catechol 



Gambler {Uncaria gambler and U. acida) 35-40% pyrogallol 



Myrobalans {Terminalia chebula) nuts 30-40% pyrogallol 



Valonia {Quercus cegilops) acorn cups, Eastern Mediterranean. . Up to 45% pyrogallol 



Sicilian sumach {Rhus coriaria) Italy 20-35% pyrogallol 



Mangrove bark {Rhhophora mangle) tropics 15-40% catechol 



Divi-divi {Ccesalpinia coriaria) Central America, pods 40-45% pyrogallol 



Golden wattle {Acacia pycnantha) About 40% pyrogallol 



Kino {Pierocarpiis senegalensis) Africa Up to 75% catechol 



Algarobilla {Ccesalpinia brevifolla) Chili Average 45% pyrogallol 



Pistacia lentiscus, Sicily, Cyprus, Algeria 12-19% catechol 



1 From " Tanning Materials of Latin America," by T. H. Norton. 



' Supplied by Dr. F. P. Veitch. 



