June 3, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
971 
or smell of any kind; the product is free from any acidity 
‘hut what belongs to the salt itself. 
It is true the persulphate of iron thus obtained con¬ 
tains a small quantity of chloride of potassium, but this 
does not interfere with any of the uses for which it is 
wanted by the pharmaceutist. I think that the nitric 
acid always present in the preparation of U. S. P. is 
•much more objectionable. Besides, any one who has 
followed the U. S. P. process knows that it is always 
when one tries to get rid of the last traces of nitric acid 
that the porcelain or enamelled dishes are broken. 
A slight modification of the formula will give the 
liquor ferri subsulphatis U. S. P.:—• 
R. Sulphate of iron, coarse powder, 12 troy ounces. 
Sulphuric acid, 1 troy ounce and 30 grains. 
Chlorate of potash, 340 grains. 
Boiling water, 10 fluid ounces. 
Operate as above, and evaporate to 12 fluid ounces. 
Filter .—The Physician and Pharmacist, Feb. 1871. 
AMERICAN SUMAC. 
Since the war, and in the reversal of fortune conse¬ 
quent thereto, many of the people of the South have 
turned their attention to other sources of revenue than 
the former staples of tobacco, corn and cotton, and this 
necessity has developed new and heretofore neglected 
eources of revenue. For instance, it is said that one 
county alone of the State of North Carolina shipped 
North last winter about $100,000 worth of quails (called 
partridges there), not to speak of the new industry of 
“ truck farming," in which men are now making fortunes, 
who a few years ago would have thought it almost a 
disgrace to sell so apparently insignificant a thing as a 
strawberry. 
Among these new industries, and rising rapidly into 
importance, are the gathering and manufacturing for 
market of sumac. This article is used as a dyestuff and 
for tanning morocco. Formerly all used was brought 
■from Europe; now the Southern States supply a large I 
quantity, already supplanting the low grades of the 
foreign article, and it is hoped ere long also to take the 
place of the finer grade. 
The difference between American and foreign, or, 
rather, American and Sicilian first grades, is probably 
due to the fact that the latter is cultivated; the former 
is as yet a wild product growing on those vast fields of 
so-called worn-out land abundant through the South 
from their former wasteful system of farming. How¬ 
ever, one of the largest dye-manufacturers says that 
the tannin in the Southern sumac seems to be in .a 
different form from the Sicilian, and hence the latter is 
still preferred by dyers, especially for fine work. Still 
this may be due merely to cultivation, as all know the 
changes that have been made from time immemorial in 
various grains, grasses and fruits by culture and care. 
Tanners of morocco say that the Southern sumac, 
when carefully gathered, free from sticks and dirt, the 
leaves and leaf-stem only, is equal in tannin strength to 
the best Sicilian; that with Sicilian at $175 per ton such 
sumac finely ground should bring $125 per ton. Ihe 
usual price is $50 to $90, and it has sold at $110. It 
is like everything else; it pays to put it on the market 
in the best order possible. 
In treating of the operation of gathering and preparing 
for market, we shall first state something of the different 
varieties of sumac. There are six botanically different 
varieties of sumac in the United States; of these, three 
are of value, one is of little or no use, and two are 
poisonous. The first three resemble each other very 
much in leaf and size, growing from four to ten and 
.fifteen feet high, chiefly on dry uplands, in old fields. 
Of these three, two have hairy berries and one has a hairy 
down on the branch, like that on a deer s horn in summer; 
,£he third has a perfectly smooth berry and branch. The 
leaves of all these are valuable, though probably, if care 
were taken to keep them separate, the hairy or stag-horn 
sumac would bo found most valuable for dyeing. 
Of the other three the dwarf sumac, one or two feet 
high, is valueless ; another grows only in swampy places, 
and while its juice is said to make a fine varnish, used 
largely in Japan, yet it is so poisonous to many persons 
that it is best let alone; the third is the well-known 
poison oak. 
In gathering the sumac, leaves and leaf-stems should 
be carefully picked without any of the woody stem, then 
dried under cover on lattice-work shelves to give free 
access to air, frequently stirring or turning to prevent 
I heating. When thoroughly dried, at the end of two or 
three weeks, it is sent to New York or to the nearest 
mill for sale. In this state it is worth from $1.25 to 
$1.75 per hundred lbs., but woody stems and dirt detract 
from its value very much. The buyer in the interior of 
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia 
can seldom afford to pay more than $ 1 per hundred. 
At the mill it is ground very fine and screened. The 
mill is of the usual drug-mill form: an upright wheel 
revolving on its edge in a circular trough, as the old- 
fashioned mill for grinding clay. It should bo tightly 
enclosed; if not, a large quantity of the light, fine 
1 powdered sumac will escape and be lost. On care and 
economy in this operation depends the miller s profit. 
After grinding, it is screened and packed in bags, 162 lbs. 
to the bag, and thus sent to market. The bags to hold 
this quantity should be cut out 40 x 60 inches. 1 ourteen 
such bags will hold a ton. This is exactly the style 
and weight that Sicilian sumac is packed as sent to the 
United States. To sell well, it should be of a light 
green colour. 
The time of gathering is from July 1st to just before 
first frost, not later; in some parts it may commence 
earlier. It should be done when the flower is in full 
bloom, not before. 
It is stated that the consumption of sumac in Great 
Britain is over 20,000 tons per annum, and that it is yearly 
increasing. In the United States 3500 tons of native, and 
perhaps 3000, or over, of foreign are used; probably 500 
tons of native growth arc exported. As the demand and 
uses for leather never grow less, it is not at all probable 
that all which the South can produce, if properly prepared, 
will ever fill the needed supply; and if it should create a 
plethora on the market, it would only cause new uses to 
be found for it, or engender the production of a finer 
article. 
There is no reason why at least 5000 tons should not 
be exported to Europe, besides supplying home demands. 
The mill machinery is said to cost $2500 without power. 
With the crude article at $1.50 per hundred even, $12 
to $15 per ton for grinding and bags, $10 for loss, and 
$10 for freight to New York, there is certainly a fair 
margin of profit at $90 per ton, at least, which price a good 
article will certainly always bring in New York. Ihese 
figures of cost, also, arc rather high. There is plenty of 
room for at least ten more mills in the nov unoccupied 
field of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Any 
good business place in the upper or middle sections of 
these States will do as a site. 
Wo have stated that sumac is used for tanning and 
dyeing. For these purposes the user generally makes 
his own decoctions, and uses them when fresh and warm. 
It is stated that the liquor injuries by standing. For 
tanning it is valued, as it does not discolour the leather. 
It is used in the same manner as a decoction of bark. 
Best Sicilian contains, according to Muspratt, sixteen per 
cent, of tannin and Virginia ten per cent. We have no 
doubt the vastly improved mode of gathering and pre¬ 
paring the American sumac will now increase its quan¬ 
tity of tannin. . . , 
In dyeing it is used to produce a fawn ami a rien 
vellow, a black, a peculiar shade of green, and a red. 
The mordants are usually tin or aluminous substances. 
