MADDER. 



the eye than a field of Lucern in bloom, which resembles a 

 green carpet variegated with violet. Where sown it yields 

 abundant crops, without demanding care. Mown down, it 

 springs again freely. The young heifer rejoices to see it. 

 Sheep are fond of it. It is a delicacy for deer, and horses 

 delight in it. Indigenous to our land, it is a gift direct 

 from heaven. We own it without an effort, we enjoy it with- 

 out observation or acknowledgment. We often prefer a 

 flower of fleeting charms to this useful plant, just as we 

 abandon, too frequently, a certain good to run after empty 

 pleasures which take wing and flee away. 



MADDER {Rubia tinctorinn). — Calumny. 



This plant is well known as yielding a red and scarlet 

 dye for clothiers and calico-printers. It is for the most part 

 imported from Holland, though at one time it was cultivated 

 here under difficulties. Sheep and animals feeding upon it 

 have their milk and bones dyed by it ; and when they feed 

 alternately upon this and grass, the bones are dyed in con- 

 centric circles. Sheep's teeth, when eating it, are tinged 

 as with the blood of a victim, which imputes a sanguinary 

 disposition to an animal the most simple ; thus malice will 

 sometimes profit by a false appearance to calumniate inno- 

 cence itself. 



131 K 2 



