WATTLES AND WATTLE-BARKS. 
15 
£14 per ton, but it lias since (1854) declined to £S a ton. The price of 
chopped mimosa bark in Australia, for export, at the close of 1840, was 
£2 5s. a ton. Bark valued at £912 was exported from Van Diemen’s Land 
in 1848. 
“ The imports of mimosa bark have only been to a limited extent within the 
last few years, reaching 350 tons in 1850, against 110 tons in 1849, 230 tons 
in 1848, and (500 tons in LS17. The prices realized were £10 to £11 for 
chopped, £12 to £12 10s. for ground, and £8 to £9 per ton for unchopped 
bark. Whilst the imports were 3,900 tons in 1844, they dwindled to less 
than 400 tons in 1850. (Simmonds’ “Commercial Products of the Vegetable 
Kingdom,” 1854.) 
In the instructions given (1821) by the Admiralty to Sir James Boss? 
when proceeding on his Antarctic expedition, his attention was particularly 
drawn to the astringent substances adapted for tanning, and to the various 
extracts of barks, &C., imported into England from the Australian Colonics, 
and which are employed by the tanner. 
The quotations I have made have not historical interest merely; they 
show how in time past as well as now, distant countries have been only 
too glad to get our wattle-bark, but local requirements must first be met, and 
since we have abundance of hides, tho value of an abundant supply of wattle- 
bark to the Australian Colonies can scarcely be overrated. 
The Various Kinds of Wattle-Barks. 
(Good, Bad, and Indifferent.) 
I have already referred to the fact that in Australia the term “ wattle” 
is applied to species of Acacia. Acacias are very largely developed in this 
continent, there being about 312 of them, of which New South Wales boasts 
102, and a fresh one is occasionally discovered. The barks of all are more 
or less astringent, owing to the tanuic acid they contain, but most of them 
are useless to tho tanner, for throe reasons—-they are either of too small a 
size to strip profitably, their bark is too weak in tannic acid, or they are not 
sufficiently abundant. Nevertheless a number are more or less useful, and 
the object in furnishing the specific information in regard to each wattle 
which follows is threefold, viz.,—to give information in regard to the per¬ 
centage of tannic acid in those barks already used by the tanner, to draw his 
attention to oilier barks worthy of notice, and to put him on his guard* in 
regard to what, for his purpose, may be termed worthless species. Most of 
the analyses given are my own,and refer chiefly to New South Wales barks; 
I hope, however, to be able to add analyses of the wattle-barks of the other 
colonies from time to time. 
The species are true to name, herbarium specimens having been collected 
in most instances where analyses are given. The local names are also made 
as complete as possible. Altogether it is the most comprehensive catalogue 
of wattle-barks which has been published up to the present time. 
°I am quite aware that some of the harks are so worthless that it would be ridiculous 
to suppose that any tanner would ever dream of using tliem. 
