Dyes and Tans. 



220 



[March, 1909. 



old rules also. In some localities cutch 

 boiling is an extinct industry, and in 

 others it will soon be so. Against this, 

 however, is to be weighed the fact that 

 there are large stocks of natural cutch 

 trees within reserved forests ; these 

 have in many reserves been left un- 

 touched for years, and will afford a 

 permanent future supply. In addition 

 to this many of the cutch plantations 

 are approaching maturity, and will still 

 further ensure a regular yield of cutch. 



Future supplies oj cutch,— It is im- 

 possible with data at present to hand to 

 form anything like an accurate estimate 

 of the annual yield of cutch which is 

 likely to be afforded when the present 

 stock of trees outside reserves has be- 

 come exhausted. Whatever the actual 

 future supplies may be, however, they 

 will at all events be far more regular 

 and less fluctuating when the reserves 

 come to be worked under fixed work- 

 ing-plans than they have been in the 

 past or are likely to be during the next 

 few years, 



The depletion of cutch trees as affect- 

 ing the local population, — The deple- 

 tion of cutch trees in unclassed forests 

 is likely to produce distress in the 

 poorer districts where cutch boilers 

 cannot find employment in reserved 

 forests. The manufacture of cutch is 

 carried out chiefly in the drier parts of 

 Burma, where cultivation is not always 

 in a flourishing state, and where a cer- 

 tain porportion of the people resort 

 to cutch-boiling as a means of live- 

 lihood. Where cutch reserves exist in 

 sufficient extent, however, there should 

 be no distress if these forests are in a 

 condition to be worked under regular 

 working-plans. Another adverse effect 

 of the depletion of cutch trees will be the 

 loss to the cultivator of the wood which 

 supplies him with his harrow teeth- 



Catechin-free cutch.— A few years ago 

 experiments with cutch were made at 

 the Imperial Institute, London, and 

 the results are embodied in the Imperial 

 Institute Technical Reports and Scien- 

 tific Papers of 1903, on page 229 of which 

 the following passage appears : — " Since 

 uatechu-tannic acid possesses greater 

 colouring power than catechu, it is 

 evident that the cutches which are more 

 lustrous, more soluble, and richer in 

 catechu-tannic acid are the most valu- 

 able for the purpose of dyeing cotton." 



In the hope that a manufactured form 

 of cutch containing no catechu might 

 prove of value, samples of catechin-free 

 cutch were recently prepared at the 

 laboratory of the Imperial Chemist, 

 Dehra Dun, and were sent for trial 

 to Great Britain. They were, however, 



found to possess no special advantage, 

 either for dyeing or for curing fishing 

 nets, and in this connection it is of inter- 

 est to quote the views of a well-known 

 British firm on the subject :—" For our 

 part we consider catechu a valuable 

 property in Burma cutch, when cutch 

 is used for curing or preserving herring 

 nets. We understand when cutch 

 liquor is cold, it is the catechin which 

 forms a sort of limey deposit. Some 

 fishermen object to this limey substance 

 on their nets, but those of greater ex- 

 perience recognise that when the nets 

 are covered with this limey appearance, 

 these are the nets which after being 

 in the sea prove to be the best cured. 

 The nets may be drawn out of the cold 

 liquor covered with this limey sub- 

 stance and, so far as colour is con- 

 cerned, with little appearance of having 

 been in cutch, but after a few trips to 

 sea, the colour develops to almost jet 

 black, a sure sign that the nets have 

 been well cured. Consequently, our con- 

 vinced opinion is that catechin in Burma 

 cutch is a valuable property when the 

 cutch is to be used for preserving 

 herring nets, and makes Burma cutch 

 of greater value than cutch made from 

 Mangrove, Hemlock, etc." 



Future prospects and measures recom- 

 mended.— Ibis impossible to foretell with 

 any accuracy what the future of the 

 cutch trade will be, but as far as present 

 indications go it is probable that the 

 price of cutch will find a still lower per- 

 manent level. In case extensive adulter- 

 ation or faulty manufacture will mean 

 the doom of the cutch trade, for whereas 

 high grade cutch finds a ready mar- 

 ket, inferior cutch cannot compete with 

 cheaper substitutes. It will further 

 be of advantage to keep the supplies of 

 cutch as regular as possible ; this can- 

 not be done with any certainty for some 

 few years yet, but when reserved for- 

 ests come to be systematically worked 

 the supplies of cutch should be fairly 

 regular. 



The chief measures necessary for the 

 future maintenance of the cutch trade 

 in Burma are (1) to prevent adulter- 

 ation and faulty manufacture, and 

 to keep the standard of cutch as high 

 as possible, and (2) to avoid any hiatus 

 in the production of cutch between the 

 time when the cutch trees are depleted 

 outside reserves and the time when 

 they come to be regularly worked within 

 reserves ; for this reason it is highly 

 desirable that all workable cutch areas 

 within reserves should in good time be 

 brought under the provisions of work- 

 ing-plans in those localities where the 

 trees outside reserves are approaching 

 extermination. 



