The juice of the unripe fruit of Rhamnus infectorius, catharticus and virigatius, known as Turkey or French berries, is used for dyeing leather yellow. When mixed with lime and evaporated to dryness, it forms the color called sap-green. A great quantity of yellow berries are annually shipped from Constantinople; 115 tons were imported into Liverpool last year. The average annual imports into the United Kingdom are about 450 tons. They come from the Levant in hair bales weighing three and a quarter cwt., or in tierces of four to five cwt., and are used by calico printers for dyeing a yellow color. They are sometimes called Persian berries.
It is a subject of surprise that the common betel-nut of the East has never been introduced for dyeing purposes. The roots of the awl tree of Malabar and other parts of India, Morinda citrifolia, and of M. tinctoria, found abundant in all the Asiatic islands, are extensively used as a dye stuff for giving a red color. It is usually grown as a prop and shade for the pepper vine and coffee tree. The coloring matter resides principally in the bark of the roots, which are long and slender, and the small pieces are the best, fetching 8s. to 10s. a maund. It is exported in large quantities from Malabar to Guzerat, and the northern parts of Hindostan, but seldom finds its way to Europe.
The wood and roots of another species, M. umbellata, known in the eastern islands as "Mangkudu," are used extensively for their red dye, in Celebes and Java. Specimens of all these, and of the Lopisip bark, bunchong bulu wood, and the gaju gum (from undescribed plants), have been introduced into England. They are said to furnish excellent dyes in the Asiatic islands. Native dyes from Arracan have also been imported, viz., thit-tel and the-dan yielding red dyes, ting-nget and reros, affording dark purple dyes; and thit-nan-weng, a chocolate dye. These would be worth enquiry, and particulars of the plants yielding them, the quantities available, and the prices might be procured. Dyes and colors from the following plants are obtained in India: several species of Terminalia, Sinecarpus Anacardium, Myrica Sapide, Nelumbium speciosus, Butea frondosa, and Nyctanthes arboretristis. The bunkita barring, obtained from an undescribed plant in Borneo, produces a dark purple or black dye. A species of ruellia, under the name of "Room," is employed in its raw state by the Khamptis and Lingphos to dye their clothes of a deep blue. It is described by the late Dr. Griffiths as "a valuable dye, and highly worthy of attention." It might, perhaps, be usefully employed as the ground for a black dye. In Nepaul they use the bark of Photinia dubia or Mespilus Bengalensis for dyeing scarlet. The bark of the black oak, Quercus tinctoria and its varieties, natives of North America, are used by dyers under the name of quercitron.
In the south of Europe, Daphne Gnidium is used to dye yellow. The root of reilbon, a sort of madder in Chili, dyes red. A purple tint or dye is obtained from the bark of an undescribed tree, known under the name of "Grana ponciana," growing about Quito; and Stevenson (Travels in South America) says, "if known in Europe, it would undoubtedly become an article of commerce." Another much more expensive species of coloring matter (red) is obtained in various parts of South America from the leaves of the Bignonia Chica, a climbing evergreen shrub, native of the Orinoco country, with large handsome panicles of flowers. The coloring substance is obtained by decoction, which deposits, when cool, a red matter; this is formed into cakes and dried. Dr. Ure thinks it might probably be turned to account in the arts of civilization. The order of plants to which it belongs, contains a vast number of species, all natives of tropical regions, and their value for the production of coloring substances may be worth investigation.
It is met with in British Guiana, and the Indian tribes of that district prepare the pigment with which they stain their skin from it; it is called by them "Caraveru." The coloring matter is used as a dye in the United States, and for artistical purposes would rival madder. Sir Robert Schomburgk thinks it might form an article of export if it were sufficiently known, as its preparation is extremely simple. The leaves are dried in the sun, and at the first exposure, after having been plucked from the vine which produces them, they show the abundant feculent substance which they contain.
LANA DYE.—A beautiful bluish-black color, known as "Caruto," is procured in Demerara and Berbice from the juice of the fruit of the Genipa Americana, Linn.—a tree very common in the colony. The Indians use it for staining their faces and persons. The Lana dye was honorably mentioned by the jurors at the Great Exhibition in 1851. The bluish-black color obtained from it is remarkably permanent, a fact which has very long been known, though hardly any attempt appears to have been made to introduce it to the notice of European dyers. Another pigment is prepared by them from arnotto, mixed with turtle oil, or carap oil, obtained from the seeds of the Carapa guianensis (Aubl.). The wild plantain (Urania guianensis) and the cultivated plantain (Musa paridisiaca), the Mahoe (Thespesia populnea), and the pear seed of the Avocado (Persea gratissima), furnish dyes in various parts of the West Indies; specimens of many of these have been imported from British Guiana and Trinidad.
Russia produces good specimens of the wood of Statice coriaria, the leaves and bark of sumach, the bark of the wild pomegranate, yellow berries, Madia sativa, saffron, safflower and madder roots for dyeing purposes.
Avicenna tomentosa, a species of mangrove, is very common about the creeks of Antigua, Jamaica, and other West India islands, where it is used for dyeing and tanning.
In New Zealand, the natives produce a most brilliant blue-black dye from the bark of the Eno, which is in great abundance. Some of the borders of the native mats, of a most magnificent black, are dyed with this substance. It has been tried in New South Wales; but, as with other local dyes, although found well suited for flax, hemp, linen, or other vegetable productions, it could not be fixed on wools or animal matter. Dr. Holroyd, of Sydney, some time since, imported a ton of it for a friend near Bathurst. It is of great importance that chemical science should be applied to devise some means of fixing this valuable dye on wool. As the tree is so common, the bark could be had in any quantity at about £3 10s. a ton; and our tweed manufacturers are in great want of a black dye for their check and other cloths.
The principal heavy woods used for dyeing are fustic, logwood, Nicaragua wood, barwood, camwood, red Sanders wood, Brazil wood, and sappan wood. All the dyewoods are nearly £2 per ton higher than last year.