THE 
AGRICULTURAL ftlAGAZIOG, 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplement Monthly to the " TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST:' 
for May 
The following pages include the Contents of the Agricultural Magazine 
Vol. 
MAY, 189."). 
[No. 11. 
MANGROVE BARK. 
N view of the concession made by 
the Ceylon Government to a Scot- 
tish Company, viz., the right of 
utilizing the Mangrove bark 
available in the Island for the 
extraction of tanning material, an account of the 
trees yielding the bark and other particulars in 
connection with the subject will, we think, be not 
unwelcome to our readers. 
The bark of the following trees are commercially 
known as Mangrove bark : — Avicennia officinalis 
(also known as white Mangrove); Bruyuiera 
yymnorhiza ; Bruyuiera parvifolia ; Ceriops candol- 
leana, (also known as black Mangrove) ; Ceriops 
Ro.rburyhiana ; Kaiulellia Bheedii ; and Rhizophora 
mucronata, (the true Mangrove). 
The first-mentioned tree belongs to the order 
Verbeuaceae ; and the rest to the order 
Rhizophoracese, Per.liaps the best known Ceylon 
trees belonging to. these two orders are Teak 
{'f'ectqna graHd-is) to the former order, and Dawata 
( Co rail ia iateycrrima) to the latter. All the trees 
mentioned except Bruyuiera parvi/lora and Ceriops 
Ro.rburyhiana are indigenous to the island. 
Referring to the genera " Rhizophora,'' " Bur- 
guiera," "Kunilla" and "Ceriops," the late Mr. 
William Ferguson, in his "Ceylon Timber Trees," 
remarks that they " form the chief plants com- 
posing the "Mangroves" which affect the sides 
of the 9alt marshes all round the island. The 
timber of some is used in common house-building, 
and the barks of others ore (lie chief ingredients 
in tanning and dyeing country leather." 
Rhizophora mucronata being the true Mangrove 
and the tree which supplies most of the Mangrove 
bark of Ceylon merits attention first. In the 
Ceylon Handbook (prepared for the Indian 
and Colonial Exhibition of 1886) the following 
reference is made to this tree : — The bark of the 
Kadol or Mangrove ( Rhizophora mucronata ) is 
much in use amongst native tanners, but when 
tried in Europe it is found somewhat ineffective, 
and is now only employed as a preliminary 
tan, requiring the aid of myrobolans. 
Dr. Watt, in his exhaustive work on the Econo- 
mic plants of India, gives the following account 
of the Mangrove : — 
Habitat. — A small evergreen tree found on tidal 
muddy shores throughout India, Burma and the 
Andaman Islands. 
Bye and Tan.— The bark is said to be used to 
give a chocolate dye ; it is also used in tanning. 
This tan, Christy recommends to be used as a 
preliminary preparation for cheap leathers. It is 
recommended that the leather should be about 
half prepared in India and exported to Europe hi 
that condition, to be redone and have the colour 
improved by myrobolans or other tanning mate- 
rials. Mangrove bark has been exported to 
Europe, but leather prepared with it solely is 
always inferior in colour and quality. Except 
therefore as a preliminary tan, or in the prepara- 
tion of cheap leathers, it is not likely to become 
an article of European trade. Instead of the bark, 
which is bulky, Shettell suggests that an extract 
should be prepared for the purpose of exportation. 
He further states that this extract would perform 
its office in half the time of oak bark. It would 
however, haveto be made in an earthen vessel, si. 
