Dye$ and Tans. 



518 



[June, 1909. 



seed, which goes principally to Liver- 

 pool, is at present worth 4 pence to 5 

 pence per pound. The most recent 

 quotations available are 4 pence per 

 pound for Madras seed and 3i pence per 

 pound for Ceylon seed, 



There is a fair demand for anuatto 

 seed in the United Kingdom, and the 

 annual imports are said to fluctuate be- 

 tween 75 and 100 tons, and manufacturers 

 of annatto preparations are of opinion 

 that the demand is likely to grow. 



There is said also to be an increasing 

 market in the United States for annatto, 

 but this is likely to be met by a larger 

 output from Jamaica. Ifc should be 

 borne in mind, however, that the annatto 

 plant can be grown practically any- 

 where in the Tropics, and that plan- 

 tations have been formed in many 

 tropical countries, and that if prices 

 rose there would probably be an im- 

 mediate increase in output from plan- 

 tations already in existence. 



Preparation op Annatto Paste. 



At one time considerble quantities of 

 annatto paste were imported into the 

 United Kingdom and other European 

 countries from French Guiana and Brazil, 

 but although text-books dealing with an- 

 natto dye still refer to the paste as the 

 principal form in which annatto is im- 

 ported, there is reason to believe that 

 this trade has almost ceased. Thus no 

 export figures for annatto paste from 

 French Guiana have been given in the 

 statistical returns for the French 

 colonies since 1900. Annatto paste was 

 imported into the United Kingdom from 

 Ceylon in considerable quantities some 

 years aero, but owing, it is said, to a 

 falling off in the quality of the material, 

 the demand for it diminished. 



Manufacturers in the United Kingdom, 

 and merchants handling auuatto paste, 

 say that the reason for the decline in 

 the market for this article is entirely 

 due to the practice of adulterating it in 

 the countries where it is produced, and 

 that if a clean paste of good quality 

 were produced it would command a 

 ready sale. Unless, however, a paste of 

 excellent quality can be made it is better 

 to export the seeds. 



In Brazil annatto paste was formerly 

 made by crushing the seeds in hot water, 

 decanting the liquid containing the 

 colouring matter in suspension, and eva- 

 porating it to a pasty consistency in 

 shallow pans over a fire. More recently, 

 however, in Brazil and French Guiana 

 the uncrushed seeds have been mixed 

 with hot Avater and the mass agitated 

 until the whole of the pulp carrying the 

 colouring matter has been washed off, 



The muddy liquor so produced is decant- 

 ed through a sieve to remove the seeds. 

 The liquor is then allowed to stand until 

 the insoluble colouring matter held in 

 suspension settles to the bottom when 

 the useless supernatant liquid is poured 

 off and the wet paste or colouring matter 

 is dried by exposure to sun heat. The 

 paste so produced can be prepared for 

 the market in several ways. It may be 

 formed into rolls weighing from 4 to 5 

 pounds each, and, after drying, wrapped 

 in banana leaves and then packed in 

 boxes or sacks, as is the custom in 

 Brazil ; or it may be made into small 

 cheese-like masses weighing from 1 to 2 

 ounces, and these, when quite dry, pack- 

 ed in boxes folding from 4 to 5 hundred- 

 weight. The French Guiana variety of 

 annatto is superior in quality to the 

 Brazilian (Spanish). 



It will be seen that no special machi- 

 nery is required for the production of 

 annatto paste by these processes, but 

 doubtless the extraction of the colour- 

 ing matter could be done more efficiently 

 and rapidly if mechanical agitation 

 were employed to keep the seeds in 

 motion while they are in the water, and 

 similarly the separation of the colouring 

 matter from the mother liquor and its 

 subsequent drying could be more clean- 

 ly and rapidly effected by the use of 

 filter press, 



Owing to the very small demand ex- 

 isting for annatto paste in the United 

 Kingdom at the present time it is im- 

 possible to obtain a satisfactory idea of 

 its commercial value, but it appears 

 that Cayenne paste from French Guiana 

 fetches about 10 ipeiice per pound in 

 France at present, and that good 

 qualities of Ceylou paste when imported 

 into the United Kingdom were worth, 

 as a rule, from 1 shilling G pence to 2 

 shillings per pound. 



Uses op Annatto. 

 At present annatto is principally em- 

 ployed as a colouring agent for food 

 materials such as butter, margariu, and 

 cheese. It was formerly used in consider- 

 able quantity for dyeing silk, but is now 

 little employed for this purpose as bettet 

 dyes less fugitive to light are available. 



THE CULTIVATION OF TUBMERIC 

 ON THE FOOT-HILLS OF TOUNGOO, 

 BURMA. 



By A. M. Sawyer. 



(From the Agricultural Journal of 

 India, Vol. IV., Pt. 1, January, 1909.) 

 The watershed sepn rating the Sittang 

 from the Sal ween in Burma is succeeded 

 beyond its western declivities by a series 



