1 Aprin, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 305 
scientific pursuits you should ‘‘ make caution your elder brother’; and we are 
told, on high authority, that “ the wise man sayeth, ‘ Peradventure it may be 
so, but I prythee inquire’!”” The outlying regions of the great Empire of the 
Infinitely Little have been only casually explored. There is more to be learnt 
about it than will be learnt in many generations, and every little helps to a 
fuller and deeper knowledge. 
THE DIVI-DIVI TREE (C4ISALPINIA CORIARTA). 
In November of last year the Department of Agriculture forwarded to the 
Acting Agent-General, Mr. C. 8. Dicken, in London, four and a-half bags of 
Divi-divi for report as to its value for tanning purposes. In volume 1, part 2, 
of this Journal, we published a very interesting article on the Divi-divi tree 
and its products by Mr. E. Cowley, manager of the Kamerunga State Nursery 
at Cairns. We refer our readers to this article for full information on the 
subject. ‘The tree yields curled pods, containing generally one seed, and it is 
somewhat difficult to dislodge the seed from its covering, which is hard and 
somewhat fibrous. The Divi-divi affords an excellent tanning material, which 
‘is worth as much as £10 10s. per tonin the London market. The tree begins 
to bear in its fifth or sixth year, and in Ceylon a net profit of 18s. per ton has 
been derived from twenty-five year old trees. Baron von Mueller stated that 
each tree, when mature, will yield 100 lb. of pods, and as 108 trees may be 
planted to the acre the produce would thus amount to about 4% tons per acre. 
At £9 per ton, this would give the planter nearly £43 per acre; and as the 
plant is hardy and soon asserts itself, the expense of cultivation is small. It 
thrives in neglected, worn-out lands, and on those where nut-grass renders 
cultivation out of the question. The difficulty of removing the seed from the 
pod will probably account for the remark in Messrs. Fisher, King, and Co.’s 
report on the sample forwarded. 
When forwarding the following reports, Mr. Dicken stated that from 
them he gathered that the sample sent was of excellent quality, and compared 
favourably with that received from India and elsewhere. Sir I’. A. Abel, 
Honorary Secretary and Director of the Imperial Institute, London, says in 
his letter accompanying the report of the Director of the Scientific Depart- 
ment of the Institute: “From the contents of this report you will gather that 
the sample in question ranks very high in quality with other tanning materials 
and with samples of Divi-divi supplied from India. ‘There can be little doubt 
that supplies, equal in quality to the sample received, would realise in the 
London market at any rate the maximum price hitherto paid for this 
description of tanning material.” The following is the report from the 
Director of the Scientific Department of the Imperial Institute :— 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE. 
Report By THE Director OF THE Scientific DepartMENT ON 
Divi-divi Pods (Cesalpinia coriaria), received from Queensland through tle Acting 
Agent-General, 10th January, 1898. 4 
The analysis of this sample of Divi-divi has furnished the following results :— 
Ter cent. 
Total soluble constituents eee om ss) nog SLO) 
Non-tanning matters... x, ti nc me vee 14°28 
Tanning matter (absorbed by hide powder) ... oF! xn CRY 
Ditto (calculated on material dried at 105° C.) ris an kal 
Moisture (at 105°C.) .., ies ns an Peri vee =15°94, 
Ash... rer A ot Re a on i am ee 
