MIMOSA BAEK. 



505 



Phillip to G-reat Eritain. The price then realised in the London 

 market Avas £12 to £14 per ton, but it has since declined to £8 a 

 ton. The quantity of this bark to be procured in the colony is quite 

 inexhaustible. The price of chopped mimosa bark in Australia, for 

 export, in the close of 1846, was £2 5s. per ton. Bark yalued at 

 £912 -«-as exported from Tan Diemen's Land in 1818. 



The imports of mimosa bark have only been to a limited extent 

 within the last few years, reaching 350 tons in 1850, against 110 

 tons in 1819, 230 tons in 1818, and 600 tons in 1817. The prices 

 realised were £10 to £11 for chopped, £12 to £12 10s. for ground, 

 and £8 to £9 per ton for unchopped bark, AYhilst the imports 

 were 3,900 tons in 1814, they dwindled to less than 400 tons 

 in 1850. 



Prom an experiment, conducted by Professor Brandt, the strength 

 of the mimosa bark, as compared with that of young English 

 oak bark, is found to be in the proportion of 57 to 39, so that 

 the mimosa bark is half as strong again as the best English bark. 



Mr. Samuel Mossman, in a communication to the Botanic 

 Society of Edinburgh, in 1851, stated that the bark of A. dealhata 

 pays to ship to England, notwithstanding the distance, from the 

 fact of its containing a greater per centage of tannin than any 

 other bark. It is a handsome tree, from fifteen to thirty feet high, 

 forming luxuriant groves on the banks of streams, most abundant 

 in Port PhiUip and Twofold Bay, between the parallels of latitude 

 34 and 30 degrees. 



JSTew Zealand is rich in barks and dyes. The bark of the Tana- 

 haka {Phyllodadus tricJiomanoides, of Don) is used by the natives 

 as a red dye for the ornamental parts of their kaitahas, their best 

 border garments. There is also another red dye, called Tawaivwai, 

 the bark of which is very profuse. A black dye is procured from 

 the hinau. They are of a rich hue, and exceedingly fast colors. 

 The barks are to be found all over the colony. The hinau and 

 tanahaka are employed in tanning, all the leather used in the colony 

 being tanned either at the Bay of Islands or Port Xicholson. 



The bark of the Eimu or red pine (^Dacrydium Cupressinum, of 

 Solander), a very common tree, possesses tanning qualities far 

 superior to any of the Australian barks. One pound of the bark 

 yields 85 grains of extract. 



The native tanning barks of New Zealand are various and easily 

 obtained. Specimens of the bark and dye, &c., of most of these 

 trees were sent home to the Grreat Exhibition. One pound of the 

 Tanahaka bark is said to yield 63 grains of tannin. The sails of 

 boats are dyed \dth. it to preserve them. The Towai {Licospermum 

 o-acemosum, of Don, Weinmcnmia racemosa, Decandole), is supposed 

 to be valuable for the purposes of the tanner, and is said to yield 

 104 grains of tannin for every pound of bark. The bark of the 

 Pohutu kawa of the natives, the Metrosidei^os tomentosa of Pichard, 

 and CalJistemon elJipticiim of Allan Cimningham, would also be 

 useful for tanning, one pound of it furnishing about 60 grains of 

 tannin. 



