an excellent implement with which to prepare the seed bed when seeding clover with spring grain. The application of barnyard manure practically insures a stand of clover. The manure should be applied in the fall or winter and plowed under or worked into the soil with a disk harrow. Inoculation. The nodule-forming bacteria, that is, the organisms which enable the clover to utilize atmospheric nitrogen, are so essential to the success of clover that land which has never produced this crop should be inoculated. The land to be seeded may be inoculated in two ways; by using a pure culture, or by using soil from a field that successfully produced clover the previous year. The pure culture may be obtained in limited quantities from the United States Department of Agriculture or bought in large quantities from commercial concerns. Directions for use are sent with the cultures. Inoculation by the soil method should be performed as follows: Locate a patch of clover that grew thriftily the previous year. It may be necessary to go to some farm on the silt loam soil to find it. Collect soil from about plants which bear nodules on their roots. About 1 quart of this soil is placed in a bucket of water and thoroughly stirred. The clover seed is placed upon a tight floor, dampened with the muddy water, using about 2 quarts to each bushel of seed, and shoveled over several times to be sure that each seed is dampened. After the seed has been allowed to dry in the shade (sunlight kills the bacteria) it is ready for seeding. The addition of one-fourth of a pound of glue to each gallon of water will cause the soil to stick to the clover seed.1 PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AVAILABLE FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION BY THE DEPARTMENT. Use of Paint on the Farm. (Farmers' Bulletin 474.) System of Farm Cost Accounting. (Farmers' Bulletin 572.) Farm Kitchen as a Workshop. (Farmers' Bulletin 607.) What a Farm Contributes Directly to the Farmer's Living. (Farmers' Bulletin 635.) Method of Analyzing Farm Business. (Farmers' Bulletin 661.) Economic Study of Farm Tractor in Corn Belt. (Farmers' Bulletin 719.) Waste Land and Wasted Land on Farms. (Farmers' Bulletin 745.) The Farmer's Income. (Farmers' Bulletin 746.) The Use of a Diary for Farm Accounts. (Farmers' Bulletin 782.) The Windbreak as a Farm Asset. (Farmers' Bulletin 788.) How the Federal Farm Loan Act Benefits the Farmer. (Farmers' Bulletin 792.) Minor Articles of Farm Equipment. (Farmers' Bulletin 816.) Farm Reservoirs. (Farmers' Bulletin 828.) Surface Irrigation for Eastern Farm. (Farmers' Bulletin 899.) Farm Home Conveniences. (Farmers' Bulletin 927.) 1 Very similar methods of seeding clover in the Willamette Valley, Oreg., have been published in Farmers' Bulletin 271, "Forage Crop Practices in Western Oregon and Western Washington," and in Bureau of Plant Industry Circular 28, "Clover Seed Production in the Willamette Valley, Oregon." Care and Repair of Farm Implements: III. Plows and Harrows. (Farmers' Bulletin 946.) Care and Repair of Farm Implements: IV. Mowers, Reapers, and Binders. (Farmers' Bulletin 947.) Example of Successful Farm Management in Southern New York. (Department Bulletin 32.) Farm-Management Survey of 3 Representative Areas in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. (Department Bulletin 41.) Profitable Farming on Irrigated Areas in Utah Lake Valley. (Department Bulletin 117.) Farm-Management Practice of Chester County, Pennsylvania. (Department Bulletin 341.) Farming in Blue Grass Region, Study of Organization and Management of 178 Farms in Central Kentucky. (Department Bulletin 482.) Validity of Survey Method of Research in Farm Management. (Department Bulletin 529.) Farm Practice in the Production of Hay in Steuben County, New York. (Department Bulletin 641.) Profitable Management of General Farms in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Department Bulletin 705.) FOR SALE BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C. Forage-Crop Practices in Western Oregon and Western Washington. (Farmers, Bulletin 271.) Price 5 cents. Farm Practices in Columbia Basin Uplands. (Farmers' Bulletin 294.) Price 5 cents. A Successful Alabama Diversification Farm. (Farmers' Bulletin 310.) Price 5 cents. Replanning a Farm for Profit. (Farmers' Bulletin 370.) Price 5 cents. A System of Tenant Farming and Its Results. (Farmers' Bulletin 437.) Price 5 cents. Farm Bookkeeping. (Farmers' Bulletin 511.) Price 5 cents. A System of Farm Cost Accounting. (Farmers' Bulletin 572.) Price 5 cents. Pasture and Grain Crops for Hogs in Pacific Northwest. (Farmers' Bulletin 599.) How Farmers May Improve Their Personal Credit. (Farmers' Bulletin 654.) Price 5 cents. Management of Sheep on the Farm. (Department Bulletin 20.) Price 10 cents. Machinery Cost of Farm Operations in Western New York. (Department Bulletin 338.) Price 5 cents. Costs and Sources of Farm Mortgage Loans in United States. (Department Bulletin 384.) Price 10 cents. Farm Practice with Forage Crops in Western Oregon and Western Washington. (Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin 94.) Price 10 cents. Farm Management, Organization of Research and Teaching. (Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin 236.) Price 20 cents. What is Farm Management? (Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin 259.) Price 10 cents. Farm Methods of Applying Land Plaster in Western Oregon and Western Washington. (Bureau of Plant Industry Circular 22.) Price 5 cents. Factors of Efficiency in Farming. (Separate 617, Yearbook 1913.) Price 5 cents. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BULLETIN No. 706 Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry Washington, D. C. CARL L. ALSBERG, Chief July 26, 1918 AMERICAN SUMAC: A VALUABLE TANNING By F. P. VEITCH, Chemist in Charge, and J. S. ROGERS, Assistant Chemist, Leather and Sumac grows wild on uncultivated lands in a large part of the United States, and is especially abundant and accessible east of the Mississippi River, from Maine to central Georgia and Mississippi. (See Pl. I.) Plentiful stands are found on cut-over land, in old fields, in pastures, on mountain sides, in waste places, and on the edges of swamps in the Appalachian region. Immense quantities of this valuable tanning and dyeing material, which costs nothing to raise, remain ungathered in this country every year, while vegetable tanning materials to the value of more than $5,000,000 2 are imported annually. If the sumac industry were well organized, the large quantities of this native tanning and dyeing material now wasted could be utilized in making leather and as a substitute for other dyes wherever practicable. This would serve to check the rising cost of similar tanning and dyeing materials, to lessen our dependence on foreign countries, and to give the country people in certain sections an additional source of employment. Sumac has long been used in the tanning of leather and in dyeing fabrics. Its value for tanning depends chiefly upon the fact that it yields durable, light-colored or white leathers, and, consequently, it is used largely in the tanning of bookbinding, glove, and hat band leathers, and for removing darker-colored tanning materials from the surface of bag, case, and fair harness leathers. Sumac-tanned leathers have been found to be most durable and suitable for book The writers wish to acknowledge the assistance of R. W. Frey of the Bureau of Chemistry in the chemical work connected with this investigation. * Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States, 1916, U. S. Dept. of Commerce. 59562-18-Bull. 706 bindings and other purposes, where the leather must last indefinitely. The greater part of the gathered American sumac, however, is used for dyeing cotton goods. The sumac industry in the United States is of direct interest to the country people of certain sections. It is largely a farm industry, since the sumac is harvested and cured by the country people, and is sold through country dealers for grinding or for the manufacture of sumac extract. In recent years the quantity of sumac harvested has been relatively much smaller than formerly. Cheaper materials for making light-colored leathers are in use, while the demands of dyers have not been large. American sumac, owing to careless gathering and curing, yields a darker-colored leather than the suma imported from Sicily, and, since sumac is used for tanning light-colored leathers, this quality renders the American product less desirable for this purpose and decreases the demand for it. Another reason for the small amount collected is that the gatherers often earned less than could be made at other kinds of work. Investigations with a view to the betterment of the conditions of collection and the improvement of the quality of American sumac indicate that the reestablishment of the sumac industry in this country on a firmer basis is entirely possible, and is especially desirable at this time, when the importation of Sicilian sumac is restricted by difficulties of transportation. American sumac, if properly handled, will make an excellent substitute for Sicilian sumac. Consumers of sumac must realize, however, that the first step necessary for the production of a high-grade sumac similar to the foreign article is proper gathering and proper curing, which can be accomplished only by offering as an incentive to the country people a price commensurate with the quality. The better the sumac the better should be the price. In this way mutual benefit will be gained, and much will be done toward materially developing the domestic sumac industry. Statistics probably do not indicate accurately the quantity of sumac gathered in the United States, because careful records are not kept by gatherers and dealers of the amounts collected and used. The figures for domestic production given in Table 1 were compiled from the Census reports, and the figures for the imports on the reports on commerce and navigation of the United States, issued by the U. S. Department of Commerce. TABLE 1.-Production of sumac in the United States. Information in the possession of the Bureau of Chemistry shows clearly that the consumption of domestic sumac during the two or three years prior to 1917 has been more than 10,000,000 pounds annually. Early in 1910 domestic sumac was quoted at $55 per ton. Sicilian sumac is now (May, 1918) worth from $102 to $105 per ton at the chief Atlantic ports. Domestic sumac recently (May, 1918) was quoted at $60 per ton. SPECIES OF AMERICAN SUMAC. Important species of sumac growing in North America are: Dwarf sumac (Rhus copallina L.), white sumac (Rhus glabra L.), staghorn sumac (Rhus hirta (L.) Sudw.). Other species which contain tannin are: Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica Ait.), American smoke tree (Rhus cotinoides Nutt.), coral or Jamaica sumac (Rhus metopium L.). Two species of sumac are poisonous, namely: Poison sumac, or poison elder (Rhus vernix L.), and poison or three-leaf ivy (Rhus radicans L.). Descriptions of the characteristics, together with the geographic distribution, of the more important species follow. DWARF SUMAC, sometimes called BLACK or MOUNTAIN SUMAC (Rhus copallina). A shrub or sometimes a small tree with maximum height. of 30 feet and trunk diameter of 10 inches. The leaflets are dark green, smooth on top, paler and often hairy underneath, with edges smooth or few-toothed toward the apex. The fruit grows in dense terminal clusters, is crimson in color, and is covered with fine hairs. The unmistakable characteristic of this species is the peculiar winged growth along the leaf stem between the leaflets (Pl. II, A). Dwarf sumac grows in dry soil, and may be found from Maine and southern Ontario to Florida and Texas, and west to Minnesota and Nebraska. WHITE SUMAC, sometimes called SMOOTH, UPLAND, or SCARLET SUMAC (Rhus glabra).-A shrub, or rarely a small tree, 2 to 20 feet high. The leaflets are dark green on top and whitish underneath, with edges sharply saw-toothed. The fruit grows in dense terminal |
