August  i,  1892.] 
THF  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
129 
TAR  AND  TAR  PRODUCTS  INDUSTRY. 
Although  the  substances  known  in  trade  under 
the  name  of  tar  are,  as  far  as  their  external  appear- 
ance goes,  much  alike,  their  composition  as  well  as 
their  application,  is  very  diverse.  Lignite  tar  and 
turf  tar  are  obtained  by  the  dry  distillation  of  light 
bituminous  lignite,  particularly  near  Weissenfels 
and  Zeitz,  in  the  province  of  Saxony.  One  hundred 
and  forty  kilos  of  lignite  yield  20  kilos  of  tar.  Prom 
the  dry  and  fractional  distillation  of  this  tar,  light 
oils  are  extracted,  which  are  employed  as  illuminants 
under  the  names  of  photogen  and  solar  oil.  A sub- 
stance separating  itself  when  cold  from  the  after- 
wards over  distilled  heavy  oils,  which  is  of  a white, 
wax-like  appearance,  is  known  as  paraffine.  The 
brown  oil  left  behind  is  used  as  paraffine  oil  and 
Vulcan  oil  for  greasing  wagons.  Carbolic  acid  is 
extracted  as  an  accessory  product,  whilst  the  resi- 
duum remaining  in  the  retorts  is  made  into  asphalt. 
Wood  tar  is  divided  into  three  sorts,  known  in 
trade  as  pine  wood  tar,  beech  wood  tar  and  birch 
wood  tar ; they  are  mainly  . obtained  as  accessory 
products  in  the  extraction  of  charcoal.  From  the 
dry  distillation  of  knotted  pine  tree  roots,  pine  tree 
tar  is  obtained : this  tar  is  used  as  a rot  preventer, 
for  daubing  on  wood  work,  for  cables  and  ropes  and 
for  caulking.  When  this  tar  is  again  distilled  a 
liquid  combustible  oil — wood  oil — is  obtained,  and  the 
residuum  is  cobbler’s  pitch  or  ship  pitch.  The  tar 
extracted  from  birch  wood  is  largely  produced  in 
Russia,  and  is  used  in  the  preparation  of  Russia 
leather.  From  beech  wood  tar,  a peculiar,  volatile 
substance,  used  in  medicine  and  otherwise,  and  known 
as  creosote,  is  produced.  It  is  also  present  in  the 
smoke  of  imperfectly  burning  wood,  and  it  forms  the 
most  important  agent  for  smoking  meat  and  other 
edibles. 
The  most  important  tar  is  that  obtained  inciden- 
tally in  the  manufacture  of  gas,  and  which  is  known 
as  coal  tar.  Owing  to  the  many  uses  to  which  this 
tar  can  be  applied,  it  has  almost  grown  to  be  the 
main  product,  and  gas  the  accessory  product.  The 
first  important  application  of  coal  tar  in  Germany 
was  for  roofing  felt,  for  which  purpose  the  tar  has 
to  be  liberated  from  its  volatile  ingredients.  Instead 
of  extracting  the  latter,  the  tar  was  heated  in  open 
vessels,  and  it  was  only  in  1846  that  Bronner,  of 
Frankfort  on-Main,  extracted  by  distillation  a light 
oil,  which  still  continues  to  be  used  under  the  name 
of  Bronner’s  scouring  drops ; it  principally  consists 
of  benzine. 
More  or  less  specifically  heavy  oils  are  won  in 
distilling  the  tar  and  catching  the  volatile  products. 
The  first  distillates  are  known  by  the  name  of  light 
oils,  and  the  heavier  and  less  volatile  as  heavy  oils. 
The  residiuum  is  employed  as  artificial  asphalt  for 
roofing  felt,  asphalt  pavement  and  in  the  varnish 
trade.  The  most  volatile  part  of  the  distillate,  benzol, 
benzine  or  naphtha,  serves  as  scouring  water,  for 
lighting,  and  especially  for  the  production  of  nitro- 
benzol,  artificial  bitter  ulmond  oil  and  aniline.  From 
the  heavier  distilling  oils  anthracene  and  artificial 
alizarine  (which  is  found  in  a perfect  condition  in 
madder  roots)  are  prepared.  The  now  well  known 
saccharine  is  also  produced  from  the  heavy  tar  oils. 
After  a complicated  chemical  treatment  aniline  dyes 
were  first  won  from  tar  oils  in  1856.  A further  tar 
product  is  naphthaline  used  against  moths. — Kuhlow’s 
Review. 
^ 
THE  USES  OF  BAMBOO  IN  JAPAN. 
The  second  meeting  of  the  first  Session  of  the 
Japan  Society  was  held  on  the  12th  inst.,  at  the 
Society  of  Arts,  John-street,  Adelphi,  when  a 
paper  was  read  by  Mr.  Charles  Holme,  v.n.s., 
a member  of  the  Council  of  the  Society,  entitled 
'‘The  Uses  of  Bamboo  in  Japan.”  Mr.  F.  T. 
Piggott,  vice-chairman  of  the  Society,  presided, 
and  there  was  a crowded  attendance.  A special 
feature  of  the  evening  was  the  exhibition  of  Mr. 
Holme’s  varied  and  comprehensive  collection  of 
Japanese  articles  made  of  bamboo,  to  which  addi- 
17 
tions  were  made  for  the  evening  by  Dr.  Anderson 
and  Mr.  Larkin.  This  interesting  collection  which 
has  been  exhibited  at  Warrington,  is  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  museum  at  Kew.  The  Chairman, 
in  introducing  the  lecturer,  said  that  the  only 
surprising  thing  was  that  Mr.  Holme  was  the  only 
person  who  had  really  touched  the  subject  in  the 
way  of  collecting  utensils  made  of  bamboo,  because 
one’s  first  and  last  notions  of  Japan  were  connected 
with  it.  He  supposed  that  in  the  whole  vegetable 
kingdom  no  plant  was  put  to  so  many  and  varied 
uses.  He  should  have  thought  it  was  easier  to  say 
in  Japan  what  was  not  made  of  bamboo  than  to 
attempt  to  catalogue  the  articles  which  were  made 
of  this  remarkable  plant. 
The  Lecturer,  who  was  received  with  applause, 
said  that  among  the  products  of  nature  utilised 
by  man  there  was  perhaps  no  one  that  had  been 
so  extensively  and  variously  employed  as  the 
bamboo.  Travellers  who  had  visited  those  parts 
of  the  world  where  the  grass  grew  had  made 
frequent  reference  to  the  multitudinous  services 
it  performed  as  food,  medicine,  in  construction  of 
houses  and  bridges,  weapons  of  offence  and  defence. 
In  household  and  personal  requirements,  it  played 
a more  or  less  notable  part.  To  enumerate  in 
detail  all  its  many  uses  in  various  parts  of  the 
world,  from  Burmah  to  Madagascar,  from  China 
to  Brazil,  would  be  well  nigh  an  endless  task. 
Some  idea  of  its  great  economic  value  might  be 
gathered  from  an  examination  of  the  purposes  to 
which  it  has  been  applied  by  the  Japanese  to 
supply  their  everyday  wants.  In  prosecuting  their 
inquiries  they  soon  found  that  in  comparison  with 
the  Chinese  and  some  of  the  races  of  India, 
the  Japanese  had  almost  neglected  its  use  in  such 
important  objects  as  houses,  bridges  and  boats. 
There  was  nothing  in  Japan  like  the  native  houses 
in  India  and  Burmah  made  from  ground  to  roof 
entirely  of  bamboo,  or  like  the  elaborate  bridges 
made  of  stout  bamboo  which  exist  in  certain  portions 
of  China  or  like  the  fishing  boats  at  Formosa, 
where  hull,  mats,  and  cordage  are  all  of  bamboo. 
It  was  not  far  to  seek  this  comparative  neglect 
on  the  part  of  the  Japanese.  Constructions  made 
of  bamboo  in  India  were  very  cheap.  Good  roomy 
houses,  for  instance,  could  be  built  for  twelve 
shillings,  but  unfortunately  they  were  not  very 
serviceable.  Two  or  three  years  was  the  measure 
of  their  endurance,  and  to  last  even  this  time 
they  required  a good  deal  of  mending  and  patching 
up.  Bamboo,  with  all  its  excellencies,  was  not 
suited  to  structural  work  in  outside  exposed  situa- 
tions. Fortunately  for  Japan,  it  was  not  only 
favoured  with  bamboo  but  an  abundance  of  ex- 
cellent timber,  the  latter  being  so  much  better 
adapted  to  all  important  structural  work.  There- 
fore it  was  naturally  preferred  for  such  purposes. 
Nevertheless,  the  Japanese  house  builder  used 
bamboo  as  an  adjunct.  In  China  paper  was  made 
of  bamboo.  In  Japan  bamboo  was  not  used  for 
paper  making,  a superior  kind  of  paper  being 
produced  from  another  grass.  The  Japanese  used 
sheets  of  bamboo  in  place  of  writing  paper.  In 
India  a white  mineral  matter  drawn  from  the 
bamboo  was  used  for  medicinal  purposes.  In 
Japan,  however,  it  was  not  so  used.  It  was 
necessary,  he  thought,  to  point  out  a few  of  the 
differences  of  the  use  of  bamboo  in  Japan  as  com- 
pared with  other  neighbouring  countries.  They 
were  thus  able  to  see  that  the  Japanese  by  no 
means  slavishly  copied  their  neighbours  in  the 
uses  to  which  they  put  this  material,  but  that 
they  followed  their  own  ideas,  and  only  made  it 
applicable  to  such  uses  as  were  suited  to  their 
own  purposes  and  conditions  of  life.  There  were 
many  varieties  of  bamboo  indigenous  to  Japan. 
