ON THE ECONOMIC APPLICATION OF BARKS. 533 



vicinity of these bushes always proved abortive, which caused the 

 owners of the ground to destroy them in large quantities. The bark of 

 the root, and also the inner bark of the stem yields a yellow dye, which 

 is used for colouring linen, cotton, &c. In Poland, it is used for dyeing 

 leather of a bright yellow colour. 



Ventilago maderaspatana, Gaertn. — From the bark of the root of 

 this plant, a native of the forests and uncultivated places in the North 

 of Bengal, an orange-coloured dye is procured by the natives ; it is 

 usually employed with some other ingredients by which its colour is 

 changed, as with galls it produces a good black. It is a favourite colour- 

 ing agent, and is in common use amongst them. 



Pterocarpusjlaviis, Lour. — A tree about forty feet high, a native of 

 China, produces a thin but ligneous bark, of a bright yellow fracture. 

 It is much used by the dyers in Canton. The colour is extracted by 

 simply macerating in cold water, and is used without the aid of a mor- 

 daunt. The wood is called yellow sanders wood. 



Morinda citrifolia, L. — A small tree, native of various parts of the 

 East Indies, where the bark of the roots is more or less employed for the 

 purpose of extracting a red dye. The red turbans and handkerchiefs so 

 much in use in the Madras Presidency, owe their colour chiefly to this 

 bark. From the bark of the roots of M. tinctoria, Roxb., and other 

 allied species, red dyes are likewise procured. The number of plants 

 whose barks afford dyes are small compared with the other uses to which 

 this part of the plant is applied. Vegetable colouring agents are, 

 perhaps more prevalent in the wood than in any other part, and a long 

 list might be made of our dye woods, which form an extensive article of 

 commerce. But the colouring matter is not confined alone to bark or 

 wood ; from the flowers of some, from the leaves of others, and from 

 the fruits of others, again, different coloured dyes are obtained. In 

 various parts of India the bark of many plants is used by the natives 

 as local colouring agents, either alone or combined with other sub- 

 stances. Thus in Nepal, the bark of Photinia duhia, Lindl., is used for 

 dyeing scarlet ; that from Datisca canriabina, L., furnishes a yellow dye; 

 from Myrica sapida, Wall., the same colour is obtained at Rohilkund. 

 Bruguieria gymnorhiza, Lam., produces a black dye. — Quercitron ; the 

 bark of Quercus tinctoria, Willd., furnishes a yellow colour, in great 

 repute among dyers ; from that of the American Hickory (Carya alba, 

 Nutt.), a colour is obtained much resembling that from Quercitron, but 

 it is more difficult of extraction, on account of the hardness of its bark, 

 and it cannot be obtained in such large quantities. The barks of 

 Wendlandia tinctoria, Dec, Cathartocarpus fistula, Pers., several species 

 of Symplocos, and many others are used as dye stuffs in India, 



