THP TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1889 
the following information in sending this sample. Of 
all New South Wales localities, he prefers Nerriga 
for A. decurrens bark. He says it would be quite equal 
to Taamanian if it could be obtained as fiaely ground. 
From the Oambewarra bark already described (xxi, 
33), Mr. Shepherd obtains only two liquors, of which 
the second is very weak, while from the Nerriga bark 
he invariably obtains three strong liquors. In his 
opinion, the best time for stripping is when the trees 
are in bud, and have just come into flower. Next to 
the Nerriga bark he speaks highest of that coming 
from the Bega district. Nerriga is on the high table 
land, on the road from Nowra to Braidwood. 
What is stated of quality of Tasmanian bark of 
A. decurrens reminds us that we found this wattle 
as the undergrowth, of peppermint gum forests on 
hills rising above the banks of the Derwent, in the 
Southern colony, most of the trees being stripped 
of their bark for export, which was going on briskly. 
The trees were invariably stripped standing, and 
we could not help thinking that in the case of 
some of the most valuable kinds it might pay to 
shave or bark partially, a Zaicinchona bark. The 
bark of C. succirubra, by the way, was found by 
Mr: H. Humphreys, the Dimbula planter, who 
had had experience in tanning processes, to be rich 
in tannic aoid, and we were interested to find in 
Mr. Maiden's volume that the bark of Ccdrela loona 
(one of the finest of timber trees) yields an ap- 
preciable amount of tannic acid. Another sample 
of bark of A, decurrens, although considered by a 
tanning authority to be very superior, gave less 
favourable results, extract 53-96 p. c. and tannic 
acid 24-99. Then come remarks which are worth 
quoting : — 
In regard to this second sample of A. decurrens bark 
Mr. Shepherd informed me tnat not a drop of rain 
had fallen on it since the day it was stripped. It is 
sent as "an exceptionally good sample." This bark is 
"exceptionally good" as regards lightness of colour of 
extract, and consequently would produce very lightly 
coloured leather, as also tested by me with hide powder 
but it is not of the highest class in richness of tannin, 
as Mr. Shepherd would realize when he came to use 
it. The present is a good illustration of the danger of 
trusting to appearances with wattle bark. In Europe 
and America analyses of tan materials are usually made 
in the laboratory of the tannery itself. Mr. Shepherd 
states that A. decurrens gives a denser liquor than A. 
binervata, sometimes so dease that he has some diffi- 
culty in making his hides sink in it. He also points 
out that the tannin of A. binervata is more quickiy 
extracted by water than that of A. decurrens, and that 
the liquor obtained is quicker and sharper in its action 
than that from A. decurrens ; he finds A. decurrens 
better adapted for heavy leather such as sole and mill- 
belt, but not so well for lighter work, — uppers, &c. 
for which he prefers A. binervata. 
A. binervata, thus alluded to, gave extract 37 - 8 p. c. 
and tannic acid 19*301. Remarks follow to this 
effect : — 
Mr. Shepherd states that many years ago he was 
employed in a tan-yard in which "Ironbark " (Eucalyp- 
tus sideropldoia or E. leucoxylon) was used for tan-bark. 
The process of tanning went on satisfactorily, but in 
the end the leather assumed a " bloom," which did 
not take the market, although he believes the leather 
itself was not inferior in quality. He also remarks 
that working with Eucalyptus bark had the advantage 
over Acacia bark in that when hides were tanned too 
hard, part of the tannin could be removed and the 
hides rendered softer; A. binervata bark permits this 
to a slight degree, but not A. decurrens. 
Although in these papers I have not touched upon 
the "liming process," nor upon any of the tanning 
processes, the following note is interesting : — Mr. 
Shepherd's experience with lime is that lie can always 
depend upon shell-lime to obtain uniform results, 
whereas he cannot depend upon stone-lime, as by the 
use of the latter article the hides sometimes come out 
b dirty brown or rusty colour, 
Going off from both acacias and eucalypti we find 
that 
Oeratop ; talum Apetalum, D. Bon. N. O. Saxifrages 
B. El. ii., 442, 
gave extract 34-14 p. c. and tannic acid 20"52. The 
Eugenias (which include the jambu) being common in 
the forests of Ceylon, it is interesting to learn that 
the bark of an old Eugenia tree yielded extract 52-88 
p. o. and tannic acid 28-648. Mr. Maiden remarks 
on this : — 
An extraordinary result (the mean of three distinct 
analyses), and inasmuch as the colour of the extract 
both alone and with hide-powder is not objectionable, 
this appears to be a valuable addition to the raw 
vegetable products of New South Wales. A tanner 
has undertaken to tan a sample of hide with this 
bark (which is by no means rare), and I will submit 
the leather to the Society in due course. This sample 
is from the bank of the river ; I will endeavour to 
ascertain whether bark from a tree of the same size 
in the adjacent mountains contains a different per- 
centage of tannic acid. 
Then 
Hakea Saligna, R. Br., N. 0. Proteaceaj, B. Fl., 
v. 512, 
gave extract 36-96 p. c. and tannic acid 20-42. 
Then come the Casuarina barks, that of G. suberosa, 
gave extract 24'6 p. c. and tannic acid 13-511. 
G. torulosa, a beautifully tall, slender and straight 
tree with " weeping " branches and oorky looking 
bark, gavel extract 10-78 p. c. and tannic acid 5-384.. 
It is evident that this graceful variety of casuarina 
is valuable not so much for tanning bark, as for 
its ornamental appearance and its timber specially 
valuable aB fuel, but valuable also for shingles and 
cabinet work. As the "drooping she-oak," Mr 
Maiden thus describes the tree : — 
The appearance of this bark is characteristic. The 
furrowing is deep, and is divided transversely. In 
flaky barks the flakes are of course attached by their 
flat sides to the tree, but in this instance, each flake 
(roughly about an inch by one and a half inch and a 
quarter of an inch thick) is set on end with great re- 
gularity, and each may be detached without removing 
its neighbour. Each flake is corky. Inner bark very 
coarsely lenticular. Average thickness of inner bark 
J inch, of outer bark (flakes) 1 inch. Colour of dry 
powder ochrey-brown. 
The flakes of the outer bark are so readily separated 
that the author considered it useful to make separate 
determinations of the inner and outer barks. Outer- 
bark — Yields extract to water 3-08 per cent. Colour 
of dry powder, ground coffee, which it much resembles; 
colour of extract, sherry ; of moist residue, Vandyke 
brown. Tannic acid 1-524 per cent. Non-tannin and 
impurities, -609 per cent. Inner bark — Extract to water 
3138 per cent. Colour of dry powder reddish-buff ; 
of extract, orange-brown inclining to light ruby ; of 
moist residue, raw sienna inclining to brown Tannic 
acid, 12'495 per cent. Non-tannin and impurities, 1117 
per cent. From this it will be seen that the inner bark 
is rich in tannic acid. These trees are only used for 
fuel, for which thsy are excellent, and it does seem a 
waste to allow so much tan-material to go uoused. 
Although in the above extract from his pamphlet 
Mr. Maiden mentions C. torulosa as used chiefly for 
firewood in its native habitat, yet his own account of 
it in bi&magnuS opus proves that it has many and 
valuable properties beside being the best oven fuel. 
As a fuel tree it can, from our observation of it on 
Abbotsford, be grown a greater number to an acre 
than most other trees, from its tendency to shoot 
up out of all proportion to its increase in circum- 
ference while its branches hang down instead of 
standing out horizontally. Mr. Maiden's acsount 
of it as a timber tree is as follows : — 
Casuarina Torulosa, Ait., (Syn. C. tenuissima, Sieb.); 
N. O., C»suarineas, B.F1., vi., 200 
" Forest-oak." "River-oak." Called " Mountin-o 
loak in Queensland. " Beef-wood." The " Noa- 
