November ij 1889O THE TROPICAL AQWOXJLTURIST. 
loi " of the aboriginals of Northern New South Wales' 
and the "Koondeeba" of those of Southern Queensland 
"Bureutha" of some Queensland aboriginals. 
Much used for fuel. The wood is close, and pret- 
tily marked, yielding handsome veneers. This hand- 
some wood has a marking peculiarly its own. The line 
of demarcation of the heart-wood is well-defined. It is 
used for cabinet-work, and produces very superior 
shingles. It is one of the best woods for oven fuel. 
A slab in the Technological Museum, whioh has been 
seasoned over twenty-five years (having been exhibited 
at the London International Exhibition of 1862, as C. 
Unuissima), has a weight which corresponds to 64 lb. 
per cubic foot. Diameter, 18 to 24 in.; height 60 
to 80 ft. 
New South Wales and Queensland. 
Let us now see what Mr. Maiden says in the tan 
bark section of bis valuable book on the native 
plants of Australia, of the three leading acacias which 
in addition to A. decurrens have been naturalized in 
the hill-country of Ceylon viz.: A. pyenantha, A. 
dealbata and A. melanoxylon. Of A. pyenantha (what 
we know in Ceylon as " the golden wattle," from its 
beautiful and fragrant yellow blossom,) Mr. Maiden 
writes that it is second, perhaps, only to 
A. decurrens in importance for its yield of 
tanners' bark, the bark although less in quan- 
tity being sometimes better in quality. It has 
yielded as high as 553 per cent of extractive 
matter and 34 of tannin, and even the dried loaves 
have yielded 15-16 per cent of tannic acid. While 
pyenantha is described as yielding one of the 
richest tanning barks in the world, A. dealbata is 
referred to as " an excellent tanning material, 
although the bark is thinner and inferior to that 
of A. decurrens, var. mollisima." A specimen in the 
technological museum at Sydney contains 29-25 per 
cent of tannin, and Mr. Maiden's analysis resulted 
in 29-86 per cent of extract and 21-22 per cent of 
catechu-tannic acid. The bark is chiefly employed 
to tan lighter leather. A. melanoxylon is valuable 
mainly for its excellent timber, beside which it is 
a highly ornamental tree, but the bark might pay 
to collect and send to market when the trees are cut 
for timber or pruned for fuel, for it yiolded to 
Mr. Maiden's analysis 20 63 per cent of extract 
and 11*12 per cent of catechu-tannic acid. 
Many of the eucalypts and other trees are rich in 
tannin, but if cultivation with reference to market- 
ing the bark is contemplated, it seems pretty clear 
that special attention should be devoted to the 
two wattles which flourish so freely in and around 
Nuwara Eliya : A. pyenantha as yielding a bark 
useful for light leather, and A. decurrem, var. 
nrnllissima, for heavy leather. The cultivation 
of A. binervata, if we have it not already, 
ought be added. The export may be in the 
shape of bales of dried bark ; boxes or barrels 
of ground bark, or the extract (including that of 
leaves and twigs) in casks or jars. The trees are 
represented as mature in Australia in the tenth 
year, but in our forcing climate maturity would 
probably be attained in a shorter period, and 
thinnings can be utilized, for bark or extract and as 
firewood, from the third year. Baron von Mueller 
in bis work on Select Extra-tropical Plants gives 
the following details regarding A. decurrens, var. 
moltttsivm, the richest yielder of tanning bark, bv 
far, of all the " Wattles : — 
•" The bark, rich in tannin, renders this tree highly 
important The English price of the bark range 
generally from £8 to £11. In Melbourne ic averages 
about C5 per ton. It varies, so far as ray experi- 
ments have showu, in its tannin, from 30 to 54 per 
cent i.s'(c) in bark artificially dried. Iu commercial 
bark the percentage is somewhat less, according to 
the Mate of its dryness— it retains about 10 per cent 
t moisture. 1Mb. of Black Wattle Bark gives lib 
f leather, whereas 5 lb. of English oak bark are 
requisite for the same results ; but the tanning 
principle of both is not absolutely identical. Mel- 
bourne tanners consider a ton of Black Wattle Bark 
sufficient to tan 25 to 30 hides ; it is best adapted 
for sole leather, and other so-called heavy goods. The 
leather is fully as durable as that tanned with oak 
bark, and nearly as good in colour, Bark carefully 
stored for a season improves in tanning power 10 to 
lo per cent. From experiments made it appears that 
no appreciable difference exists in the percentage 
of tannin in Wattle Barks, whether obtained in the 
dry or in the wet season. As far back as 1823 a 
fluid extract of Wattle Bark was shipped to London, 
fetching then the extraordinary price of £50 per ton, 
one ton of bark yielding 4 cwt. of extract of tar con- 
sistence (Simmonds), thus saving much freight and 
cartage. The cultivation of the Black Wattle is 
extremely easy, being effected by sowing, either 
broadcoast or iu rows. Steel can be obtained in 
Sydney or Melbourne, at 5s per lb., which quantity 
contains from 30,000 to 50,001 seeds; they are known 
to retain their vitality for several years. Seeds 
should be soaked in warm water before sowing. 
Any bare, barren, unutilised place might be most 
remuneratively Bown with this Wattle ; the return 
would be in from f> to 10 years. Full-grown trees, 
which supply also the best quality, yield as much as 
1 cwt. of bark. Mr. Dickinson states that he has seen 
10 cwt. of bark obtained from a single tree of gigantio 
dimensions at Southport, Queensland. A quarter of a 
ton of bark was obtained from one tree at Tambo, 
Queensland, without strippiug all the limbs. The 
height of this tree was six feet, and the stem two feet 
in diameter. The rate of growth is about one inch in 
diameter of stem annually. It is content with the 
poorest and driest, or sandy soils, olthough in more 
fertile ground its growth is more rapid." 
We do not know that at tho prices quoted it would 
pay to grow the acacias mentioned merely, for the 
sake of the bark, but, as yielding firewood and 
small timber in addition, acacia groves ought to be 
profitable. 
+. 
COTTON CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 
Dr. Wight in his exhaustive work on the Botany of 
India, published in Madras in 1840, devotes a few pages 
to the subject of cotton and cotton-growing in India. 
His classification of the different varieties, as well as 
his conclusions, drawn from experiments, as to the 
adaptabilityof certa in varieties for the climate and soils 
of India, will not be without some interest and use- 
fulness to cotton growers in Ceylon. Dr. Wight ac- 
knowledges three species : — (1) The Gossypium herba- 
ceum, with palmately lobed leaves, whether annual or 
perennial ; (2) G. barbadense, the American variety, 
with simply lobed or angled loaves, leaving duration 
out of the question; (3) G. acuminatum, comprehending 
Pernambuco, Peruvian, Bahia, Ava. The last name is 
advisedly chosen as expressing the prevailing form of 
the lobes of the leaves rather than the native country 
of a plant so widely distributed. Among the many 
varieties under the first are G. arboreum and 67. reli- 
yiosuiii. The G. heibaccum, says Dr. Wight, need not 
be dilated on, since, as the indigenous species, it is so 
well-known in India and over all the warmer portions 
of the old world: it being the first and best known, 
species to mankind generally. 
G. barbadeuse is one of the oldest species of the 
genus, having been established by Linmeus on the 
authority of a figure of Plucknet, published 1691. It 
was, says Swartz, most extensively cultivated in the 
West Indies, and thence accordingly to Koxburgh, 
brought to the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, 
whence again it was introduced to India under the 
name of Bourbon. Its deterioration in the West 
Indies, Bourbon and Mauritius, and consequent di - 
continuance, are attributed to a neglect to renew tltu 
stock by the use of fresh seed, and to exhaustion of the 
Roil owing to continual growth of the crop for a long time. 
In Spain, Malta and Sicily, where attention was paid 
to these points, the growth was most successful 
