Vol. VIII. No. 85. 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
[January. 1902.] 15 
a rough kind of flour is made from green fruits by drying in the sun and pounding into meal, 
which can then be kept in good condition for months. 
The flowers are also in considerable demand as a vegetable, and occasionally the bark of 
the young saplings is eaten in this way. 
The whole plant is used as fodder for elephants in times of scarcity. 
The refuse portions of the tree, such as the sheathes of the leaves and the skins of the 
fruits, arc burnt, and the ashes used for the preparation of alkali, which is employed in 
various native dyeing processes and native medicine. 
THE CULTIVATION OF EMMER. 
Emmcr, or, as it is occasionally but erroneously called, “ spellz,” is a food-grain 
extensively grown on the arid lands of Central Russia, and also, to a smaller extent, in 
Servia, Germany, Spain, and Abyssinia. It has recently been introduced into the United 
States by Russian and German immigrants, and has, in a few years, become so popular that 
the attention of the Agricultural Department has been directed to it, and, in consequence, a 
Bulletin (No. 139) has been issued for the instruction of fanners who may wish to grow it. 
The grain is the fruit of a species of wheat, Triticum dicoccum , probably derived from 
the simpler species, Triticum, monococcum , from which it differs in having two grains — in place 
of one — -on each spikelet. It first appeared in Switzerland, and from there spread to the 
countries already mentioned, but it is at present principally produced in Russia, the output 
there being usually about 16,000,000 bushels per annum. It appears to be grown also in 
Northern India, Thibet and China. The special advantage of emmer is that it grows well 
in almost any condition of soil or climate, all the varieties being drought-resistant, whilst 
rain at harvest time scarcely damages it. The plant thrives best, however, in prairie regions, 
where there is little rain and the summers are short and dry. . Thus, in the Volga region 
of Russia, where emmer is most extensively grown, the annual rainfall is small, and occurs 
almost entirely during five months of the year, whilst the extremes of temperature experienced 
arc considerable. Climatic conditions similar to these exist in N. and S. Dakota, where the 
grain has been tried at the experimental stations, and also by several farmers who have 
unanimously pronounced it a very satisfactory material to grow. In Manitoba (Canada) the 
grain has also been grown with excellent results, on account of its drought- resistant qualities 
and its freedom from the attack of rust, smut, and similar diseases. 
Experiments are now being made for the determination of its value as a feeding-stuff for 
cattle, for which purpose it compares favourably with barley and oats, as the following 
analyses show : — - 
— — 
Water. 
Ash. 
Fat. 
Albu- 
minoids. 
Amides. 
Dry 
gluten. 
Starch, 
Specimen I. — 
Kernels and chaff 
9*05 
'I * 1A 
J 
2*10 
13*69 
43 ‘°3 
48*23 
Kernels alone . 
io‘88 
1 ’S3 
2*13 
16*98 
2*10 
*477 
Chaff alone 
8*89 
777 
*60 
4*88 
•38 
7-50 
Specimen II. — 
Kernels and chaff 
8*57 
2*83 
1*50 
*3*43 
‘43 
_ 
47*15 
Kernels alone . 
10*06 
1*25 
2*11 
16*24 
1*36 
13*26 
52‘*4 
Chaff alone 
6*77 
7*16 
*71 
37* 
*21 
— 
8*81 
The grain has not been used to any extent in the United States as human food, but is so 
employed in Russia, where it is ground into a meal called “krupa,” and used for making a 
kind of porridge (kasha). 
In spite of its somewhat limited cultivation, a considerable number of varieties of emmer 
are already in existence, distinguishable by the colour of the chaff into red, white and blue- 
black groups. The varieties experimented with in America belong to the white chaff group, 
and ripen late in the spring. 
Among other valuable features of emmer are the readiness with which it crosses with 
wheat, conferring on the latter its own drought-resistant qualities and non-liability Lo fungoid 
growth. 
THE EFFECT OF SODIUM BISULPHITE ON LEATHER. 
One result of the disappearance of forests in civilised countries has been to render the 
tanners of these countries dependent on external sources for tanning materials, and, so, large 
quantities of tannin-bearing barks, leaves, and fruits are annually imported into Europe from 
India, South America, and elsewhere. Recently it has become customary, in order to avoid 
the expense of carriage, to prepare extracts of these materials, and this industry has now 
assumed large proportions in India, the United States, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and other 
countries, including Great Britain. In the preparation of such extracts it is almost impossible 
to avoid the production of certain dark brown colouring matters by the long-continued 
heating of the aqueous liquors obtained during the extraction process, and as this colouring 
matter is absorbed by hide along with the tannic acid (producing a dark coloured leather), it is 
desirable that it should be removed. This object can be accomplished in various ways, such 
as the addition to the concentrated liquor of a certain quantity of raw blood, the mixture 
being subsequently heated until the albumen coagulates and floats to the top carrying with 
it the objectionable colour, or solutions of metallic salts may be added which, by forming 
insoluble “lakes” with the colouring matter, precipitate it in a form in which it is easily 
removed. These methods are, however, objectionable, since they involve the loss of a certain 
proportion of tannic acid, and in 1897 an improvement was introduced and patented by a 
German firm which depended for its efficacy on the bleaching of the colour by sulphur 
dioxide added in the form of sodium bisulphite. 
Extracts decolourized in this way always possess a strong odour of sulphur dioxide, and 
this peculiarity has prejudiced English tanners against them, since it was assumed that this 
impurity would lead to the occurrence of sulphuric acid in the finished leather, which would, 
therefore, be brittle and of poor quality. 
This subject has been investigated by Dr. J. Gordon Parker and Mr. A. Gausscr, of the 
London Leather Industries Laboratory, and the results obtained were communicated to the 
Society of Chemical Industry and are printed in the current number of the Society’s Journal , 
The extracts made from mimosa and quebracho barks were first examined and found 
to contain sodium bisulphite and some free sulphurous acid ; leather tanned with these 
extracts was then examined for its content of free acid, and in this respect was found to be 
normal and to contain no trace of either free sulphurous or sulphuric acids. 
Specimens of brittle leathers supposed to have been produced by the use of extracts 
containing bisulphite of soda, which had been submitted by various tanners, were then 
examined, and the inferiority was found to be due not to sulphuric acid but to overtanning of 
the leather by the use of too concentrated liquors in the tanning vats. 
It was also observed that the hide always absorbed a certain small proportion of sodium 
bisulphite, which was almost the same in amount whether the tanning liquors contained 
much or little of this salt, but the amount so absorbed, usually about ‘5 per cent., has no 
effect whatever on the quality of the leather eventually obtained. These results are of 
considerable importance, since by the use of such decolourizing agents it may be possible to 
utilize for the manufacture of tanning extracts, tanning materials containing what are at 
present objectionable colouring matters which preclude their employment in tanning. 
LECTURES AND PAPERS. 
“ FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT CANADA.” 
(By J. W. Bengougii, Esq.J 
Sir Charles Rivers Wilson presided, on the nth November, at a lecture delivered 
at the Institute by Mr. J. W. Bengougii, entitled “Facts and Fancies about Canada.” 
Mr. Bengougii, who was formerly editor and cartoonist of Grip, the Canadian Punch , , 
illustrated his lecture with impromptu crayon sketches ; and Sir Rivers Wilson, in his 
introductory remarks, said that in the whole of His Majesty’s dominions a colony having a 
larger claim upon the public interest of this country would be hard to seek. Englishmen 
generally, however, had much yet to learn about Canada, and Mr. Bengougii was well 
equipped lor the task of filling up such gaps as existed in their knowledge of this great 
country, which he — Sir Rivers Wilson — from the personal acquaintance he had with it, was 
certain had a prosperous future in store for it. 
Mr, Bengough, after referring to the gratification it afforded him to address an audience 
at the Imperial Institute, said that the subject of Canada was, of course, too large a one for 
him to attempt anything like an exhaustive treatment of in the short space of one evening. 
He should only, therefore, endeavour, with the aid of his cartoons, to expose some few of the 
fancies which he found existed in the minds of the British public, whose ideas on many 
Canadian subjects were, even if correct, often very vague. What John Bull saw when looking 
across the Atlantic was often shrouded in fog. 
The people of this country were, of course, well aware that Canada formed part of North 
America, but they had a tendency to confuse America with Canada, and to think of American 
as meaning Uncle Sam only. A boundary line, however, existed between the United States 
and Canada, “ Uncle Sam was by no means the only pebble on the beach,” which, roughly 
speaking, divided the Continent into two parts, the northern — Canada — being rather the 
larger of the two. The two nations had, of course, a common origin and language, but they 
differed in some important respects apart from their forms of Government. 
The early history of the country, beginning with its discovery by Columbus, was fairly 
well known in England, although perhaps many people were unfamiliar with the war of 1812, 
which lasted three years, when the United States attempted to absorb Canada. Since that 
time the wars waged in the Dominion had been against the forces of nature. During the 
last hundred years Canada had grown from a wilderness to a beautiful and prosperous 
Commonwealth — a land of homes, schools, churches, factories, and shops, as well as of farms, 
mines, and ranches. 
A glimpse of the true Canada of to-day had recently been given by a correspondent of 
one of the London newspapers, who had accompanied the Prince of Wales on his recent 
journey through the Dominion, and who, after eulogising its travelling facilities, had said 
that it was difficult to understand why more English tourists visited the United States than 
this beautiful and romantic country, where they would be under their own flag, and much 
more at home, and more in sympathy with the people, than they could be in a foreign land. 
At the autumn season of the year the climate of the Dominion was delicious, neither hot nor 
cold, and to breathe the keen pure air of the woodlands, prairies, and mountains was indeed 
exhilarating. 
The climate misconception seemed very deep rooted in this country, where everybody 
was familiar with Kipling’s Our Lady of the Snows and the Miss Canada of Punch, 
In many parts of Canada there was certainly plenty of snow, and there were many cold 
spells, in winter, but over large regions of the Dominion the winter did not last lor the 
greater part of the year, and the wintry weather was not gloomy nor unpleasant, but on the 
contrary brisk, bright, and bracing. Mr. Bengough here recited a spirited poem, a reply to 
Kipling’s Our Lady of the Suozus, and, with reference to the Jl/iss Canada of Punch , 
drew what he considered a much more applicable typical representation of Canada— 
a male figure, Jack Canark, suggestive of strength, youth, and enterprise, as exhibited in 
the Canadian lumberman, river-driver, and rancher. 
Besides the misleading abundance of furs in the English representative pictures of 
Canada, Mr. Bengough referred to the Indian adornments so often also depicted. It would 
be easier, he said, to find Indians about the India House in London than round Toronto. 
Hundreds of Canadian children had never seen an Indian. The Indians “still in the 
business ” were only to be found in the Far West, where they had no use for tomahawks or 
war paths. 
Farming and stock-raising were the chief industries of Canada, although it was also a 
lumbering, mining, and manufacturing country. What it wanted was men and money. 
Why, said Mr. Bengough, (again quoting from a London newspaper), was it that Canada, 
a country of splendid natural resources capable of sustaining an enormous population, did 
not develop in the same ratio as the United States? Why was it that British Capital did 
not seek investment in civilised law-abiding Canada instead of going to some savage South 
American Republics, while the splendid farm lands of Canada, which could grow every 
pound of bread that Great Britain required, were, comparatively speaking, a vast solitude ? 
Why, he continued, should not a few millions of British money be devoted to the develop- 
ment of cattle and wheat in Canada ? Emigration from this country to the Dominion 
could not be the success it ought to be until capital went as well as labour. 
The same practical conclusion, as to the importance to Great Britain of the Dominion 
as a food-producing region, had quite recently been arrived at by Mr. Rider Haggard in 
lus articles on the results of his investigations on the condition of English agriculture, which 
pointed to the prospect of Britain being, before long, at the mercy of foreign nations for her 
food supply. Why not, in view of such a possible day, develop the food-producing Colonies 
and especially the nearest of them, Canada? 
Great Britain found in the Prince of Wales a hearty co-operator in the carrying out of 
this policy of the building-up of Canada, and Mr. Bengough here quoted the following 
remarks His Royal Highness had recently made at London, Ontario: “We have seen 
enough to carry away with us lasting impressions of the vast resources of the Dominion . . . 
which will ever call for the steady reinforcement of suitable emigrants from the mother-land.” 
The Dominion was a great country for politics — a fact which would surprise many of 
those Englishmen who still thought of Canada as it was pictured in those venerable steel 
engravings by which British travellers, about the year 1806, illustrated the books they wrote 
of their travels in Upper Canada— that is of a forest country, with little clearings full of 
stumps, surrounding log houses, with wolves in the foreground, and a few wild Indians near 
at hand. 
The Canadians took a great deal of interest in municipal and provincial politics, but it 
was of the wider politics that Mr. Bengougii said he was more especially referring to, and 
the creed now held, universally, concerning them in the Dominion could be summed up into 
one brief phrase — the Unity of Canada and the unification of the Empire. To this policy 
there was no opposition, and it was advocated with equal fervour by both political parties. 
It was the general belief and desire of the Canadian people to maintain their position as 
part of the British Empire, and any sentiment for annexation that had existed was now 
dead, the prevailing feeling on this point being now all in the direction of Imperial Unity, 
Mr. Bengough had a good deal to say about the views of those who still advocated 
annexation, and who had long since made up their minds that it was the manifest destiny of 
the Dominion to become a part of the United States. In this connection he referred to the 
fancy that he had found not a few persons on this side of the water to entertain, viz., that 
the Canadians looked forward with complacency, if not with pleasure, to this ultimate destiny 
of their becoming part of the United States. He did not know of any Canadian who so 
3>G 
