448 



BYES ASD COLORI?T& STUFFS. 



hard, dry, and compact, brownisli on tlie outside, and of a beautifal 

 red color within. 



The dye is usually prepared by macerating the pods in boiling 

 water for a week or longer, ^^hen they begin to ferment, the 

 seeds ought to be strongly stirred and bruised with wooden pestles 

 to promote the separation of the red skins. This process is repeated 

 several times, till the seeds are left white. The liquor passed 

 through close cane sieves, pretty thick, of a deep red color, and a 

 very bad smell, is received into coppers. In boiling, it throws up 

 its coloring matter to the surface in the form of scum, which is 

 taken off, saved in large pans, and afterwards boiled down to a due 

 consistence, and then made up, when soft, into balls or cakes of 

 two or three pounds weight. 



The following description of the manufacture is from Dr.Ure : — 



" The pods of the tree being gathered, their seeds are taken out 

 and bridsed ; they are then transferred to a vat, vrhich is called the 

 steeper, where they are mixed with as much water as covers them. 

 Here the substance is left for several weeks or even months ; it is 

 now squeezed through sieves placed above the steeper, that the 

 water containing the coloring matter in suspension may return into 

 the vat. The residuum is preserved under the leaves of the pine- 

 apple shrub, till it becomes hot by fermentation. It is again sub- 

 jected to the same operation, and this treatment is continued till 

 no more color remains. 



" The substance thus extracted is passed through sieves, in order 

 to separate the remainder of the seeds, and the color is allowed to 

 subside. The precipitate is boiled in coppers till it be reduced to 

 a consistent paste ; it is then suffered to cool, and dried in the 

 shade. Instead of this long and painful labor, which occasions 

 diseases by the putrefaction induced and which affords a spoiled 

 product, Leblond proposes simply to wash the seeds of 

 arnotto till they be e?itirely deprived of their color, which lies 

 wholly on their surface ; to precipitate the color by means of 

 vinegar or lemon juice, and to boil it up in the ordinary manner, 

 or to drain it in bags as is practised with indigo. 



" The experiments which Yauquelin made on the seeds of arnotto 

 imported by Leblond, confirmed the ef&cacy of the process which 

 he proposed ; and the dyers ascertained that the arnotto obtained 

 in this manner was worth at least four times more than that of 

 commerce ; that, moreover, it was more easily employed ; that it 

 required less solvents ; that it gave less trouble in the copper, and 

 furnished a purer color." — (" Diet, of Arts.") 



Our imports of arnotto for home consumption are from 200,000 

 to 300,000 lbs. per annum. The plant is grown in Dacca and 

 other parts of India, and the eastern Archipelago. At the 

 Hawaiian Islands, Tongataboo, Bio Janeiro, Peru and Zanzibar, 

 the arnotto is an indigenous shrub which rises to the height of seven 

 or eight feet, produciDg oblong heavy pods, somewhat resembling 

 those of a chesnut. Within these there are general^ thirty or 

 forty irregularly -formed seeds, which are enveloped in a pulp of a 

 bright red color, and a fragrant smell. 



