SUMACH. Rhus. This family of plants has of late years attracted attention from the amount of superior tannin contained in the dried leaves and young stalks of the current year's growth. In Sicily, which has long furnished the greatest amount of sumach, used for tanning morocco and other fine leather, the leaves are said to be discarded, and only the twigs and hark are used, after grinding fine in a mill adapted to the purpose. Why the leaves should be refused it is difficult to understand, since analysis shows them to he valuable in tanning material. The family Rhus contains some poisonous species. These, however, are but two, the Poison Elder, or Dogwood Sumach (R. vene naf a) and the Poison Oak or Ivy (R. toxico The other northern species, and those valuable for their tannin, are Staghorn Sumach (Rims typhina), Smooth Sumach (R. glabra) and Dwarf Sumach (R. copallina). There is another variety, a low, straggling hush, known by its aromatic leaves, the Fragrant Sumach (R. aromatica). The two first named of the sumachs furnishing tannin are those most com mon and most easily gathered for market. Sumach not only .contains tannin, but coloring matter, the latter used in calico printing as a substitute for nut galls. The average amount of tannin in European sumach from six analyses, as stated by Gauhe, is thirteen per cent. Thotigh fine samples of Palerma will yield twenty-two to twenty-four per cent. of tannin, several samples of sumach. gathered in from different localities in 'Virginia, gave according to the analysis of the chemist of the Department of Agriculture respec tively, in 100 parts, 20.80, 18.25, 23.50, and 28.20, or an average of 22.68 per cent. A sample of Missouri Sumach gave tannin 28.20, so that it will be seen that the idea prevalent that European Sumach is richer than ours is not only erroneous but that our varieties are even richer in tannin. Wagner has given the average for European Sumach respectively at 16.50 per cent. for first quality, and 13.00 per cent. for second quality. Where sumach is plenty, it is prepared for market by cutting the twigs of the current year's grOwth, together with the leaves, dry ing them, without being wetted by rain, ping them through a cutting machine and press ing them in sacks for market. The price paid varies from twenty to fifty dollars per ton. The valuable southern species, not heretofore men tioned, are Rims pinni a, a dwarf species of the pine barrens from North Carolina to Georgia, R. metopum, found in Florida, growing fifteen to twenty feet high, R. cotinoides, found in Ala bama, and supposed to be allied to the Venetian or exotic species, R. Minus. R. glabra is the variety used as a mordant for red colors, the bark of which contains the essential elements.
This and R. typhina are the varieties most used for tanning. The cut, page 921, shows an orna mental variety of Rh glab•a, or cut leaved sumach, sometimes grown for ornament. Until within the last fifteen years, almost the entire amount of sumach used for tanning in the United States was imported. Since that time the value of American sumach has been better understood. The difficulty has been that it has been gathered wild in the woods, no attempts at cultivation having been made. Until within five years, almost the entire amount of sumach used in this country was imported from Europe, and still the larger proportion in use is of foreign growth and manufacture. It has been supposed that the American species were deficient in tan nic acid, this opinion being the result of the want' of care and skill iu gathering the leaves, and their preparation at the manufactories. More care having been used in gathering and pre paring sumach, it was long since demonstrated, and acknowledged by consumers in our own country, and de..lers in Europe, that American sumach, from the best mills, excels in quality and equals in preparation any in the world. An im porting house, having branches in New York, Philadelphia, and Savannah, impressed with the importance of further developing the native Sumach interest in this country, and being con vinced' of the value of our native species, by actual investigation, determined to moot the question of home production and in a circular to the trade, as long ago as 1869, said: We would call the attention of the trad•to a very fine Virginia sumach now being received, .equal in every respect to the finest Sicily. We recommend its use from the following comparison in the analysis: This would seem to set at rest the idea that the American article is inferior. In fact, all the analyses we have found show it to be superior to the best imported. The gathering and shipment east of western sumach, and thence out of the country, in connection with that gathered east, is not inconsiderable; Iowa and Missouri being the principal States from which shipments have been made. The first shipment was made from Missouri,, in 1872, consisting of 12,000 pounds, going to New York, and thence to St. Johns, New Brunswick. It would seem to be an interest that ought to bear the test of experiment in cul tivation. One curious feature in connection with sumach is that manufacturers, usually so alert, have not taken hold of the matter with the view of cheapening the principal agent in tanning morocco, now one of the important industries of the North, and especially of theWest.