60 
SitppUment to the " Tropical AgricwUwkt.'^ [July 1, 1899. 
them ; they are then left to soak for several days, 
and afterwards passed through a clo.-e sieve to 
separate the seeds. The matter is then left to 
fermreut for about a week, when the water is 
gently poured off, and the solid part left to dry 
in the shade. When it has acquired the con- 
sistence of solid paste, it is formed into cakes 
of 3 or 4 lbs, weight, which are wrapped in the 
leaves of the banana, and known in commerce as 
flag avnotto. This variety is of a bright yellow 
colour, rather soft to tlie touch, and of considerable 
solidity. Labatstat informs us that the Indians 
instead of steexiing and fementing the seeds 
in water, rub them with the hands previously 
dipped in oil, till the pulp comes off and is reduced 
to a clear paste which is scraped off from the 
hands with a knife, and laid on a clean leaf in the 
shade to dry It owes its value to the colouring 
matter bixiu and orellin. which constitute about 
20 per cent of good dry annatto." 
The following occurs in A- Cr. F. Eliot James' 
Indian Industries, 1880, p. 97 :— " The Bixa Orel- 
lana belongs to the natural order Bixineae. The 
East Indian Bixa is found chiefly in Mysore, 
Travancore and Bengal. The capsules or pods 
are at first of a palish rose colour, but they 
change when ripe to a deep brown and burst 
open disclosing their bright-coloured contents. 
Directly the pods are quite ripe they are 
gathered, stripped of their husk and well bruised. 
The pulp surrounding the seeds is the portion of 
the pod containing tlie valuable arnatto dye of 
commerce ; it is extracted by bruising and 
macerating the pod {sic) in water, they are left in 
just enough water to cover them for some days, 
or until the liuid begins to ferment, it is then 
thrown off, and the pulp allov/ed to subside. 
Sometimes arnatto goes through a beating process, 
similar to that employed in extracting indigo dye, 
before it is finally allowed to settle. The pulp 
■which remains is then jilaced in shallow pans and 
left to dry in the shade. If it has been thoroughly 
well prepared it will be of a bright yellow colour, 
that is the American and West Indian arnatto, the 
East Indian has a rose-coloured dye prepared from 
it, so says Colonel Dury in his account of the sub- 
stance in The Useful Plants of India 
Formerly arnatto was obtained by a much more 
tedious process than now prevails, whicii was first 
introduced by Lebloud, and consisted in merely 
washing the seeds until all their colour was 
ex.tracted, precipitating the colour with vinegar or 
lemon-juice, boiling it up to facilitate the removal 
of impurities with the scum, and then draining it in 
bags. M. Vanquelin made several experiments on 
the arnatto pods, and quite confirmed the efficacy 
of these simple measures, which really enhanced 
the value of the dye ,and made it even of more 
decided use to dyers. As arnatto is not easily 
soluble in water, alkalies are generally employed 
to hasten its solution, potasli being most generally 
used ; they also improve the colour of the dye ; it 
is perfectly soluble in alcohol, (p. 9G.) Arnatto 
before being used by dyers, varnishers and lacquer 
makers is always boiled with half its weight of 
American ash, in tlie least possible quantity of 
iift water; it is used in dyeing silks, sU-aw, biiff, 
and cream-colour; chamois, salmon-colour, oriiiigo, 
amber, and scarlet with cochineal, &c. ; in dyeing 
cottons, orange and orange yellow; in varnish, 
for gilt articles and for light wood work ; in lacquer, 
for brass, pigments, such as orange lake, &c. In 
fact it is one of the most useful yellow dyes and 
one much in demand. It is to be hoped that the 
East Indian variety may become better known, 
and that it may also be made more valuable by 
being u.ore carefully prepared." 
This was written in 1880. In 1885 " The Pure 
Ceylon Annatto Dye W orks " were started by the 
late Mr. A. G. K. liorron on his extensive property. 
Crystal Hill estate, whose assistant superintendent 
the writer — its present proprietor — was. Our 
main effort was to "more carefully" prepare 
the dye by adopting either one or the other 
processes described by these authorities. But our 
disappointment may be ea-ily imagined when 
the contradictory accounts of thejdifferent writers 
is considered. These were confusing and 
put us into great expense by the necessity 
of experimenting on the different processes, 
before hitting uj)on one with success, and 
that one is this. To make puee dye the seed 
should not be bruised, but carefully washed, after 
it had been subjected to acetous fermentation 
which has to be regulated according to the weather. 
The acid used is sulphuric diluted with a certain 
percentage of water for the dry seed; but when 
fresh seed is used, a natural acid — acetic — is 
generated by the seed itseif. If the fermentation 
is thorough the seed need be washed only in two 
waters, and the liquid strained and separated. To 
remove the acid is the next secret ; this is done by 
boiling the liquid after it has been concentrated by 
applying alum and the superfluous water drained 
off by pumping it out from the top of the tub or 
cistern in use. The boiled mass contains the two 
principal colouring matter, one red and the other 
yellow. Here is the other secret ; if it is dried 
hard the yellow goes off ; but in the consistence of 
putty both colours are retained. The latter is 
now known as "Ceylon Paste" and considered to 
be superior to that produced in any other part of 
the globe. " Cake annatto " as well as " flag 
annatto " too were produced in my factory, but the 
trade does not take them. Here then is the solu- 
tion for the various contradictory and conflicting 
statements found in Dr. Nicholl's work as well as 
in others that 1 have seen with regard to the 
shape in which annatto is brought to the market. 
For, as in everything else, there are different 
varieties of Bi.va orellana growing in different 
countries all known by the nime annatto, 
arnatto, anota, &c. In Ceylon we have two 
varieties — one with the pink or rose-coloured 
flower which give the red-coloured pid and scarlet 
seed ; and the other with white flower, green- 
coloured pod and a deep orange-coloured seed. 
The red variety I find is the stronger dj^e, and is 
more valuable, but requires to be minufactured 
into paste only ; dried hard it becomes worthless. 
The green variety gives yellow-colouring matter in 
place of the scarlet substance obtained from the 
red variety. It is of no consequence whether the 
yellow is made into paste or cake as it has nothing 
to lose by deterioration in one form or the other. 
Now the manufacturers of the dye in the West 
Indies where the green variety may be growing, 
adopt a certain process by which the cake is pro- 
duced, and a writer whilst describing that process, 
falls into the error of applying the same process 
