Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-11-10
THE CUL TIVA TION OF.THE
SUMAC

There are thousands of people who
wander through the woods in autumn
picking the beautiful scarlet and yell
low leaves of the sumac bush to deco
rate their rooms, without knowing that
there is any other use for the plant.
Yet the importation of the sumac into
this country this year will amount to
about 1000 tons, costing about ST.
100 900. The leaves of the sumac,
dried and ground, are largely used in
tanning and dyeing, and in Sicily and
other parts of Italy the plant is care
fully cultivated and treated. In view
of the fact that the American sumac
contains from 6 to s per cent more
fannie acid than the Italian, and re-
membering that the plant grows wild
in profusion throughout this country,
it seems reasonable to believe that it
might be made very profitable crop.
At the present time the amount of ma
tive sumac brought into market does
not exceed about 5000 tons yearly,
and its market price is only $50 per
ton, Just half the price of the Italian
product. This large difference in the
market value of the foreign and the
domestic article is due to the fact
that the American sumac, as at pres
ent prepared, is not suitable for max
ing the finer white feathers so much
used for gloves and fancy shoes, owing
to its giving disagreeable yellow or
dirty color The many attempts that
have been made to avoid this difficult
ty by care in collecting and grinding
the leaves have not resulted in sue
cess, and it has long been supposed
that this Objectionable quality was in
herent in the American plant; but
Mr. VIM. McMurtrie, in report to
the United States Commissioner of
Agriculture, shows that this difficulty
can be surmounted and the American
product made even superior to the for
eign.
Mr.. McMurtrie made a number of
tests to learn the relative amounts OF
tannic acid found in the leaves at DIFF
ferent periods of their development,
and while the amount was found to
be greatest in the leaves gathered in
July, he found that those gathered in
full development in June were even
then more than equal to the best for
eign leaves in this respect But furth-
er, he found that the deleterious color
ing matter (due to the presence of
ouercetin) was not yet developed, and
that therefore the American leaves
gathered in June were superior to the
Italian for all purposes The impor-
tance of this discovery may be seen by
the fact that the cultivation of the
plant may be carried on most protita-
bly, in this country as soon as manu-
facturers and dealers recognize the i'm
provement thus obtained in the do
nestle article, and by classifying it ac-
cording to its percentage of tannic acid
and its relative freedom from coloring
matter, advance the price of that which
is early picked and carefully treated
In Italy the sumac is planted in
shoots in the spring in rows, and is
cultivated in the same way and to
about the same extent as corn. ltgives
a crop the second year after settiag
out. and regularly thereafter. The
sumac gathered in this country IS TAX
en- mostly from wild plants growing
on waste lands, bat there is no reason
why it should not be utilized and cul-
tivated on land not valuable for other
crops.
Hurrah ! hurrah hurrah for Garfield