308 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1900. 
but in many instances tanners have incurred heavy 
losses, output has been reduced, and the whole trade 
has lost ground. Not only thi,^. Some 10 years 
ago factories were opened in Calcutta for the purpose 
of drying skins and hides, and the dried articles 
began to be larfjely exported to the United States 
of America, where they underwent the tanning pro- 
cesses. The reason for this was not merely that 
American tanning produced better leather, but also 
rhat it was both more expeditious and cheaper. More 
recently a "pickling" process has been resorted to 
in Madras in place of tanning; and pickled skins 
are now being exported in lieu of tanned skins. Not 
that shipments of the latter have been stopped entirely. 
The pickled article has only partially taken the place 
of the tanned*, but unless some considerable improve- 
ments are made in the process of tanning resorted 
to in Southern India, it appears probable that every 
year will see an increased proportion of the skins 
and hides of the country exported in an unfcanned 
state, so that they may undergo in Am erica or England 
the cheaper and more expeditious processes of tann- 
ing than are in vogue there. 
Circumstances such as those briefly alluded to, 
lend additional interest to any practical suggestions 
for the improvement of local tanning or for the 
introduction of new tanning agents. We are led, 
therefore, to call attention to the latest number of 
the Agricultural Ledger (No. 9 of 1899) wherein the 
merits of Tari or Tari pods as a tanning agent are 
diacnssed. Hitherto Tari appears to have been re- 
garded chiefly as a dye-producer, but in the publica- 
tion under notice a report on an analysis of the pods 
by Professor Wyndham R. Duustan, M.A., F.R.S., 
Director of the Scientific Department, Imperial 
Institute, .London, calls attention to the valuable 
properties of the plant as a tanning agent. In some 
localities in India, the Tari pods are already used 
for tanning purposes, but the properties of the plant 
do not appear to be generally-known, and its 
cultivation is perhaps not as extended as it should 
be. Professor Dunstan, after distinguishing between 
'Ccesalpinia digi/na (Tari or Teri) and Cccsalpinia coriaria ' 
(Divi-divi) remarks upon the analysis of the pod 
cases of the former. The pods, it may be remarked, 
hold two thick-shelled peas which contain oil, but 
very little tanning matter. The seeds are removed, 
the pod-case is then ground alone. It is easily pow- 
dered, and from the powder water readily dissolves 
the tanning constituents, furnishing a liquid which 
ia of a light or dark brown colour, according to its 
strength, Professor Dunstau recently analysea three 
samples of Divi-divi pods, with the result that the 
poorest showed 19'73 per cent, of tanning matter, 
•the best 32-79 per cent., the average about 30 per 
cent. When he came to analyse the pov/dered pod" 
cases of the Teri, he arrived at a percentage of over 
50 per cent, of tanning matter, and in one instance 
(a sample from Assam) the percentage was nearly 
60. Commenting on this. Professor Dunstan remarks 
that is clear that the tanning value of Teri is 
greater than that of the South American Divi-divi. 
Moreover, in the ease of Divi-divi the usual plan 
is to prepare for the use of the tanner and " ex- 
tract " of the material, but the pod-oases of the 
Teri are so rich in tanning that the material could 
be used direct by the tanner without the previous 
preparation of an extract, "which, as is weh-known- 
is a disadvantageous process, since it always leads 
to a considerable enhancement in colour," With 
the view of obtaining a practical opinion as to the 
tanning value of this Teri powder, a sample was 
furnished to a well-known tanning expert, who re- 
, porta that ho is much impressed with the results 
obtained. They compare very favourably'with those 
contained by the beat Divi-divi, whilst the aqueous 
liquor from C. digyna did not appear to undergo 
the injurious fermentation that is the difhculty in 
.J the use of G. coriaria. Professor Dunstan gives in 
, tabular form the results of the analysis of three 
'spocimona of the powdered pod-cases of C. digyna,, 
cferived from Burma and Assam (though he errone- 
ously refers to one of the Burma samples as from 
Bombay;. The table is as follows :— 
C«SALPINIA DiGVNA. 
ut: ■ ■ 
a (a a» •*± •*± > 
Ci -M--^a (DC KrS 
Whence 
received. 
6,021 
6,372 
6,258 
4,887 
Pegu Circle. 
Bombay )l-07 53 82 
Eastern Circle. 
Burma.. .. 10-93 53-86 
J3 
61 95 14-08 3-28 
62-83 14-86 3-76 
9,293 10,795 Assam 11-40 59-89 6.r80 12-73 1-84 
The sample from Assam is the richest in tannin. 
No sample wag sent from Madras, and we are not 
aware to what extent, if any, the plant is available 
in the Southern Presidency. 
Mr. David Hooper, in an introduction to Professor 
Dunstan's report in the Jgricultural Ledger, briefly 
sketches the history of I'eri-pods, but makes no 
allusion to it as growing in Madras. The earliest 
samples tes'ted were from Chittagoug, -where the plant 
was growing wild. Mr. John Tail, of Kidderpore, 
tanned a skin exclusively with the pods, and the 
process of tanning extended over four days. He re- 
marked : — " The leather I conceive to be of a very 
superior quality, possessing not only an equality in 
softness with that tanned with Divi-divi (C'«sai- 
pinia coriaria), but surpassing it in colour and 
appearance, and is consequeully capable of being 
used far more extensively for tanning purposes, es- 
pecially when a bright colour is required, than the 
Divi-divi." Some years ago, Messrs. Cammiade Bro- 
thers, of Madras, wrote to the Reporter on Eco- 
nomic Products, Calcutta : — '• The pods of Cutalpinia 
digyna are said to yield leather as white as snow. 
If that report is correct, this tannin ought to cat 
out all others in Madras, provided it can be grown 
cheaply." Mr. Evans, Chemist, of the Tanners' 
Laboratory, Bristol, has reported upon the pods : — 
" They yield about 33 per cent, of tannic acid, 
which is in some measure like that of the babul 
(^Lcacia arahica) pods, which yives a cream-coloured 
precipitate; but this unites with gelatine in the form 
of a precipitate as white as driven snow, and its 
reactions with other chemicals give divers colours, 
which will make it equally attractive to the dyer. 
In saying this much, we can say with satisfaction 
as a chemist that it is almost perfect; what may 
be its behaviour in the tannery remains to be proved." 
Enough has been said to show that the merits ot 
Teri as a tanning agent are considerable. As to the 
plant itself, a report from Prome describes it as a 
thorny scandent shrub growing on low ground and 
near streams in forest -without bamboo. From Toan- 
goo we learn that the tree is never found in country 
that is in the least hilly, nor in country that is 
swampy. Its habitat par excellence is a level ground, 
either near the banks of streams or on waste, land 
near villages, deserted village sites being favourite 
spots. Another report describes the leaves as, 
generally speaking, bearing a very close resemblance 
to those of the tamarind tree, while the pods are 
smaller, and the tree itself is seldom higher than 
10 feet. The pods when ripe are roasted, aijd the 
seeds then eaten, principally by the younger fortion 
of the population. If a large quantity be eaten in 
this way, it has an intoxicating effect. 
It would be interesting to know if this plant 
grows wild in any parts of Southern India, and we 
trust that our present remarks will direct sufficient 
attention to the subject to elicit some information 
on this point. There is little room for doubt 
that the local tanning industry must gradually dia 
out unless some special agent such as the abore 
can be produced locally. — The Leather Trades' Heview, 
