UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 706 
Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry 
CARL L. ALSBERG, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
July 26, 1918 
AMERICAN SUMAC: A VALUABLE TANNING 
MATERIAL AND DYESTUFF. 
By F. P. Veitch, Chemist in Charge, and J. S. Rogers, Assistant Chemist, Leather and 
Paper Laboratory. 1 
CONTENTS. 
Introduction 
Species of American sumac 
Present methods of gathering and curinj 
Tannin content of American sumac 
Sumac extract ~ 
Disposal of extracted material 
10 
Causes of poor quality in sumac 
Cooperation for better sumac 
Directions for proper gathering and curing of 
sumac '. 
Buyers of sumac 
Summary 
Page, 
10 
INTRODUCTION. 
Sumac grows wild on uncultivated lands in a large part of the 
United States, and is especially abundant and accessible east of the 
Mississippi River, from Maine to central Georgia and Mississippi. 
(See PL I.) Plentiful stands are found on cut-over land, in old 
fields, in pastures, on mountain sides, in waste places, and on the 
edges of swamps in the Appalachian region. Immense quantities of 
this valuable tanning and dyeing material, which costs nothing to 
raise, remain ungathered in this country every year, while vegetable 
tanning materials to. the value of more than $5,000,000 2 are im- 
ported annually. If the sumac industry were well organized, the 
large quantities of this native tanning and dyeing material now 
wasted could be utilized hi making leather and as a substitute for 
other dyes wherever practicable. This would serve to check the 
rising cost of similar tanning and dyeing materials, to lessen our 
dependence on foreign countries, and to give the country people in 
certain sections an additional source of employment. 
Sumac has long been used in the tanning of leather and in dyeing 
fabrics. Its value for tanning depends chiefly upon the fact that it 
yields durable, light-colored or white leathers, and, consequently, it 
is used largely in the tanning of bookbinding, glove, and hat band 
leathers, and for removing darker-colored tanning materials from 
the surface of bag, case, and fair harness leathers. Sumac-tanned 
leathers have been found to be most durable and suitable for book- 
1 The writers wish to acknowledge the assistance of R. W. Frey of the Bureau of Chemistry in the 
chemical work connected with this investigation. 
2 Foreign Commerce and. Navigation of the United States, 1916, U. S. Dept. of Commerce. 
59562°— 18— Bull. 706 
