The Oasis, 1893-08-17

articles have been written, both in t hiscountry and abroad, in all of which it is agreed that canaigre is a valuable tanning material. So far as we can learn the first effort made to establish the valueof canaigre as a tanning product was in the year 12, when Col. .1. (-.Tiffany, then gov gov-nient - nient gov-nient agent for the Apache Indians at San Carlos, Arizona, shipped con considerable - siderable considerable quantities of the root to Deming, New Mexico, and Kl Paso, Texas; to New York City, and also to Germany, Austria and Great Itritain. The root was first shipped green, which caused it to ferment, and its use abroad in a fermented condition destroyed the leather to which it was applied, which temiHirarily brought it into dis disfavor; - favor; disfavor; but subsequently, in the year lsS4, the root was shipped by one of Col. Tiffany's sons, in a sliced and dried state, when it arrived abroad in gotwl condition, was successfully used in all experiments made, and immedi immediately - ately immediately met w ith great favor. Nothing resulted from the efforts of Col. Tiffa Tiffany - ny Tiffany and his associates, for the reason that it was feared the root in its wild state could not be secured in quanti quantities - ties quantities at a price which would enable it to Ik- brought it into general use, and Its cultivation at that time was not thought of. Nothing after this Thomas Fitch, Esq., organized a wealthy company in San Francisco. California, for the same purpose, but the enterprise was aban abandoned - doned abandoned by its projectors because suffi sufficient - cient sufficient canaigre could not be found to meet the the demand which the com company - pany company was organized to supply, the idea of cultivating the plant not having: occuivd. The Canaigre Supply Company of Tucson, Arizona, first asa partnership and subsequently as an incorporation, has devoted several years and expended considerable capital in introducing canaigre to t lie trade. A number of small shipments were made to chem chemists - ists chemists and tanners in this country and Kurope for experimental purimses. Large shipments followed to meet the demand which resulted from such ex experiments, - periments, experiments, the product, meeting with favor wherever used. This company claims to have procured leiters patent for a certain process of manufactur manufacturing - ing manufacturing an extract, from canaigre. Exper Experiments - iments Experiments made with this process are said to have determined the' fact tli'U an extract can be made from cul cultivated - tivated cultivated canaigre at a cost with which extracts of oak and hemlock cannot compete. j Mr. E. C. Dcnig of Deming. N. M 1 has taken an active part in calling ill- j tcntion to the merits of this plant, expending both time and money in getting tunnels to tevt tts merits in i

adopted at once by the trade if it wero not for the fact that the present sup supply - ply supply is limited and uncertain, MARKET DEMAND. During 1S!U and 1892 the shipments of canaigre roots from Arizona, New Mexico and Southwestern Texas began to assume some inqiortanee, the Can Canaigre - aigre Canaigre Supply Company of Tucson, and Messrs. Kerr ot Deming, and Topjier & Thornton of El Paso, being tho largest shippeis. "We have not been able to get data in regard to the ship ship-ments - ments ship-ments over the Texas it Pacific and Santa Fe railways, but from January 1st, lHitl, to October 1st, 1W2, the. Southern Pacific Company handled 370 car loads of sliced and dried roots consigned to Europe. As much moro may have been forwarded by the other roads. These roots were gathered from patches lying within a radius of ten or fifteen miles from the stations, and in addition a large quantity is stored at the Extract Works at Demiilg. to be worked up when the factory is ready to operate. The ordinary method of preparing canaigre for shipment is for some one to locate a good patch, then with a force of men make a camp at tbis place. The men dig the root by con contract, - tract, contract, a certain juice being paid for the roots delivered at the cutting nia nia-chine. - chine. nia-chine. This machine slices the root, into pieces one-twentieth to one-fourth inch thick. These pieces are then ex exposed - posed exposed to the sun and air until dried. In this stale they contain about S per cent moisture and from 20 to 3." per cent, tannic acid, and can be safely shipped if they are kept dry. This is a cheap and efficient method, requir requiring - ing requiring little capital or machinery and being adapted in handle canaigre grow ing iu a wild si ate. The supply of wild. canaigre is be. coming limited. Good authorities state that at the present price the supply will hardly last more than two years. -At present price" means the supply within profitable hauling distance of the railroads. If canaigre is only to be obtained from the nat natural - ural natural supply it will be but an incident in the tanning trade. Hut If, as the experiments at this station show, can canaigre - aigre canaigre can be profitably cultivated it will , soon become a permanent factor, with thousands of acres of land producing yearly hundreds of thousands of tons of canaigre, and the problem will be. to get the tannic acid into the market at the least expense.

rrmil I iiivrrlty of Arl.iiiui. J Hy rrnfiMir- '. ( 'oMIiihhI, .1. V. Tourni-y ' u rut I'. A. (Jullcy, of tin- Million Hall.) I'iiii kk I. T'lMtit from wliieli n fnw of tlm It'll Vt" Rt tilt' llllM! llHVt' lfl'll "I lilM'll iiHiiy. The Hkum hIhiwo I li riHiit ujllllii' l;i nil hh rtiniimrril wit U I he rrsl of t lm liuil, liui ot li li-TKHf - TKHf li-TKHf norfiiitl. 'l int thick. hIiui I root more I Iimii it yi'itr ulil. tliu other three of one yt-ar'n KlUKtll. INTiaWC'TOKV. Noon after the organization of the Arizona Experiment Station the at attention - tention attention of the Station SlatI was railed to tlii.' canaigre as a plant worthy of investigation. Feeling assured that If tin; plant was of commercial value t lie available w ild growth would soon Ik; exhausted, and at most would hardly warrant its adoption by the trade unless a I a ore and constant suj suj-ly - ly suj-ly could he deluded on, it was con concluded - cluded concluded that the investigation should include cult ivat ion as well as determ determination - ination determination of I he properties of the plant in ot her ways. For th." purM)M of calling attention to the plant, and securing all ossibe data in regard to its geographical dis distribution - tribution distribution and habits, a bulletin was issued in April. 1!)2, stating the ob object, - ject, object, of the investigation. Chemical examination was begun in March, lxt'l, since which time the work has Imcii in progress. Members of the Station SUIT have studied the growth and gathered roots from a large area of country, embracing the Salt, Gila, Santa Cruz, liillito Uiver valleys, and many speci specimens - mens specimens have been secured from other places and from New Mexico and Texas for examination, and the wild growth and plantations set last fall near Denting, and In the 1'ecos valley, New Mexico, examined by a member of the stall quite recently. Soon after commencing the Investi Investigation - gation Investigation we were led to believe that if the plant would respond to cultivation its production would rapidly develop into a large industry, and the investi-j gat ions todate fully realize our expect expectations. - ations. expectations. ! 11ISTOKV. ( 'an.".igrc ha been used many years by t lie Mexicans, ltli as a medicine and a a tanning material, but only in recent years ha., it attracted any at

the manufacture of leather. He sent samples of roots in considerable quan quantity - tity quantity to Chicago and other places, and with the aid of ihemists whom he employed succeeded' in making an ex extract - tract extract of a high grade. The establishment of the tanning extract, works at Deming is largely the result of Mr. Henig's lalxirs. Mr. II. J. Kerr of Deming, N. M., who is engaged in gathering and shi shi-ping - ping shi-ping canaigre, has kindly furnished tin; following information. lie says: 'I shipped the first car-load ever 'shipped from Tucson in February, "1SM7, to Martin & Miller, Glasgow, 'Scotland. It was shipped in the 'green state and arrived there in "good order. After the trial they ''told me, while in Glasgow, that they 'alone could use ten thousand tons 'annually if it were possible to get 'it for .8 (40.0i) per ton in a sliced and dried state. In January, 1!), 'I shipped the first car-load, sliced "and dried, from here to Liverpool. "In some unaccountable manner it got "wet, and. with 'the except ion of four "or live sacks, was all ruined. 1 then "made continuous shipments the bal bal-"ance - "ance bal-"ance of the year w ith but slight hiss. "Last July I shipped twenty tons "to Virginia, the whole being fer fer-"mented - "mented fer-"mented on arrival. This car, for "some reason, did not reach the cou cou-"signee - "signee cou-"signee until several weeks after "shiomeiit. I made one shipment to "J. it T. Grant, tanners, AVoodstock, "Ontario. Canada, and they were "more than pleased with the results. "Owing, however, to high freight rales "it was impossible to supply them "at any price they could afford to "pay. I found it hard to introduce "it into tin; United States." Among the articles which have ap appeared - peared appeared is tuie deserving more than passing not ice: "Canaigre, a New Tan Tanning - ning Tanning Process," by Prof. V Eitner. IVof. Kitner is ::t the head of the Vienna Research Station for Leather Industry, and a recognized authority in Europe in such matters. He has

tested canaigre from the standout of a practical tanner. In that arti article - cle article he especially recommends it for its quickness in tanning, its tilling quali qualities - ties qualities and its lieautifiil color. He says: "I consider this article especially "adapted for tanning uppers, fine "saddlery and fancy leathers. It can "be used alone or in connection with "oilier materials." lie also states that at the price laid down in Vienna is florins per 100 kilos (about per ton) it is quite reasonable. In fact he has everything to say in its favor and nothing against it. The European tanners are awake to the value of this material. The German Tanning School at Freiburg, f'axony, mentions canaigre as one of t lie materials with which they are working and experimenting. In a tannery was erected at Tucson for tanning hides with canai canaigre, - gre, canaigre, but owing to lack of proper man agement and disagreement among stockholders the business was never fairly started. A considerable num ber of cattle hides and other skins were tanned and sent to leather deal ers in this country, all of whom rated the material produced as of the first quality. That canaigre : an efficient and aluable tannin;: a:,ent is no longer a quest ion. It lias passed the experi experimental - mental experimental stage, and would no doubt be

HOTAMtAL UIAKAtTKKISTUS. IHCMKX HYMKNOSKI'AU S, TOHH.) One to three feet high, form a clus clus-ter - ter clus-ter of deco-seatcd. Dahlia-like, tuber ous roots, sub-simple, papillate to glabrous, often red: rather succulent, more or less wavy, marginal, often 5x20 c. m.. or larger, elliptical to ob- lanceolate. obtuse to very sharply ac- cuniinate, the acute base decurrcnt on the short, thick petioles: in (lores-, ence ample, compound, with elonga elongated, - ted, elongated, suberect branches: pedicels slen slender, - der, slender, almut as long-a, the fruit, less tu tumidly - midly tumidly jointed below the middle; valves flexible, ovate, about lOxl.V mm., ob obtuse - tuse obtuse to subacute, with air.open sinus; acUea' 3x5.3 mm. tiKOOU.Wlin. A l. DISTlilUl TION. The habits of this plant well suit it to hot and arid regions. Completing its annual growth bi a few months, ;.; oiiilnu,."1 on 1'ourtU .,;)

tention as an art icle of commerce. In istw a sample of root was sent from Texas to the agricultural depart department - ment department at Washington, but it was mis mislaid - laid mislaid and the analysis was not made until 1S7H. In W.i Prof. Henry Trim Trimble - ble Trimble published an article on Canaigre in which he gives its history to that time and records some analyses made by himself and others. Hestates that Mr. Uudolph Va-lcker of Galveston, Texas, published an analysis of roots gathered in 174, giving 2.110 percent, of tannic acid. Hoots were exhibited at the New Orleans Kxxsitlci labeled "A New Tanning Material.' Since then considerable attention has been given to this plant, and a numlHT of