34 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. III. 
APPENDIX A, 
The Development of Trade in Tannin Extracts. 
The old method of tanning by tan barks is being very rapidly re¬ 
placed by tanning with tannin extracts. The total French production 
of extracts including that of Corsica reached in 1904 to about 105,000 
tons worth about £1,040,000. In the same year France imported 1,841 
tons and exported 49,707 tons of tannin extracts. The German Em¬ 
pire imported 11,005 tons of Quebracho and 27,921 tons of other 
extracts in the year 1904 and 13,655 tons of the former and 32,603 tons 
of the latter in the year 1905. 
The 617 tanneries of the United States consumed in the year 1906 
147,049 tons of tannin extract (in addition to 1,224,412 tons of the tan 
barks), while in the year 1900, the consumption of the extracts was only 
14,293 tons. Capital of the 23rd April 1908 writes: “In the 
United Kingdom for 1906, extracts represent T V of the total imports, 
and private advices declare that for 1907, extracts have already exceeded 
all other agents by over 20 per cent. In America, extracts represent | 
of the total production of tanning agents. In Germany for 1906, the 
proportion of extracts to the whole is a fraction less than 25 per cent., 
but there are prohibitive conditions attaching to the use of extiacts in 
Germany other than the home made article, which effectively prevent 
the cultivation of improved methods of manufacture or further expansion 
of the industry/' 
Statistics of the imports of tannin extracts in the United Kingdom 
have been kindly supplied by the Secretary, Chamber of Commerce, 
London, and are shown on Plate I\ . 
The demand made on bark and tan woods for extraction and foi tanning 
purposes by factories in Europe and America is indeed so enormous that 
fears are entertained of the shortage, at no distant date, of the raw 
material in the forests that are being indiscriminately destroyed m those 
countries to meet the world's demand for tannin extracts. To take an 
example, in France including Corsica, Italy and Spain, there are 26 
tannin extract factories (this figure is for the year 1903) with their 
251 
