Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-05-01

product, These properties increase
and decrease in the plant as it ap-
breaches or recedes from the tropics,
but to what extent am unable to say.
The different kinds of oak bark of
Virginia yield from four to eight per
cent. of tannin principle, while the
sumac plant of that and the Gulf
States Yields from thirty to thirty-fve
per cent. of tannin. The hemlOck OF
the Northern States yields from ten to
thirteen per cent. of tannin properties,
while the uncultivated sumac plant
grows in the same latitudes produces
from twenty to twenty-five per cent.
of tannin properties. The hemiock
south of the thirty-eighth parallel is
almost worthless for tanning purposes,
as is the ouk grown north of the forty
third parallel.
have travelled through most of the
States and some of the Territories, and
know from personal observation that
the tannin sumac-that bearing the
red blossom, or red bob-is produced
in all these States and Territories. [
have seen it used by tanners in Min
nesota and in some of the British pro-
vinces, and have myself used it in
equal parts with hemlock, in the man.
ufacture of calf skins, to considerable
extent north of the forty-third parallel.
I found it impaired greater weight to
my skins, more firmuess and fiexibiiity
giving to them tint or color mora ac-
ceptable to the trade than though tan
ned with hemlock only.
The value of this shrub or plant to
the manufacturing and commercial in
terests of the country-which grows
and 1,,v mt -, oil no
| States-will be better appreciated by
ossal proportions to which the manu-
| facture of leather has attained in this
country, and the wonderful augmeEta
ton of the industry each succeeding
year. This industry, with all its COL
lateral and dependant branches, is
| prosecuted to it's largest extent in the
Middle and Eastern States, to which
States the supremacy in the manufac-
ture isguaranteed for an indefinite fu-
ture, 10y considerations notlikely to be
overcome, Notwithstanding the time is
not distant when these older States
will become wholly depleted of the
staple tannin agent-the hemlock-
which is used almost wholly in the
manufacture of the heavier grades of
leather, which enters largely into the
manufacture of most varieties of their
light and fancy stocks. With the year.
ly augmentation of the leather trade
in these States, and the growing made
quacy of the material upon which 1t
now mainly relies for present use, and
to meet the increasing wants, the de-
mand for sumac will proportionably
increase with other material which
| mist SuDply the deficiency
AS coloring agent, sumac is the
most valuable material used by dyers
in producing their choicest colors. 1t
forms the ground colors of the choicest
fabrics made in prints. The demand,
already large, Tor these uses in our
Eastern manufacturing town is rapidly
charging. Unlike our forests of hem
lock and oak, which when once de-
stroyed-if ever reproduced-it re-
quires ages to bring them to maturity,
the sumac plant, though cut to the
ground each year, like the vegetation
in our fields and pastures, puts forth
again with the opening seasons, and i:
autumn is again ready for the harvest,
and the manufacturer, thus irsurine
undiminished and perpetual supplies
THOs. w. JOHNSON.