100 • 



hours : " Place four stroDg posts into the ground, twelve feet apart one way and 

 eighteen the other ; the front two fourteen feet high and the other eighteen; 

 put girths across the bottom, middle, and top, and nail boards perpendicularly 

 on the outside, as for a common barn. The boards must be well seasoned, and 

 all cracks or holes should be plastered or otherwise stopped up. Make a shed 

 roof of common boards ; in the inside put upright standards about five feat 

 apart, with cross-pieces to support the scaffolding ; the first cross-pieces to be 

 four feet from the floor, the next two feet higher, and so on to the top. On these 

 cross-pieces lay small poles about six feet long and two inches thick, four or five 

 inches apart. On these scaffolds the madder is to be spread eight or nine inches 

 thick. A floor is laid at the bottom to keep all dry and clean. When the kiln 

 iri filled, t'^ke six or eight small kettles or hand-furnaces, and place them four or 

 five inches apart on the floor, (first securing it from fire with bricks or stones,) 

 and make fires in them with charcoal, being careful not to make any of the fires 

 so large as to scorch the madder over them. A person must be in constant 

 attendance to watch and replenish the fires; (but he should be cautioned not to 

 remain long inside, as the gas from charcoal fires is liable to cause suffocation.") 

 Breaking and grinding. — The roots, which are brittle when dry, were bro- 

 ken by threshing with flails, or passing through a bark mill or other crusher. 

 They were ground immediately after kill-drying, otherwise they would gather 

 dampness. After crushing, the grinding was done in a common grist-mill. It 

 was then packed in vessels like flour, and was ready for market. 



ITS CULTURE AT THE mESENT TIME. 



I have no knowledge of any persons engaged in the cultivation of madder in 

 this country at the present time. We have a suitable climate and productive 

 soils. The greatest obstacle to success with it seems to be the high price of 

 agricultural labor and the scarcity of casual or irregular labor, which renders it 

 difficult to obtain help at the precise season when required. Another reason is 

 found in the proverbial disinclination of our people to agricultural or any other 

 species of productive industry which requires three years to secure returns. It 

 seems to be a remunerative crop, if it can be produced under favorable circum- 

 stances. 'By the selection of a proper soil and a very favorable climate, (per- 

 haps in the southern States or in California, where its constant growth might pro- 

 duce an excessive yield with labor of German women or children, or Chinamen,) 

 with system and labor-saving appliances in cultivating and preparing it, a profit- 

 able result might be secured. It is very proper and highly desirable that a fair 

 and persistent trial should be made to overcome the difficulties which have 

 interfered with the enterprise thus far. 



If there are those who would make another effort at the present time, let 

 them choose a southern or southwestern aspect, and select a deep, rich, sandy, 

 and calcareous loam free from all weeds. Let it be ploughed early in the autumn, 

 and again turned up into ridges before the winter frosts set in, so that the soil 

 may be finely pulverized in spring, when the beds are prepared and the sets 

 planted. The ground should be dry before planting. 



As a preparation for planting, the soil should be thoroughly and deeply pulver- 

 ized, and Avell-rotted manure well incorporated Avitli it. The sets, taken from 

 plantations two or three years old, should have roots four or five inches long. 

 The roots should be dipped in a thin paste of fine rich earth and water, and set 

 with a dibble, leaving the crovfu above the surface and the earth properly com- 

 pacted about the roots. During the summer months clean culture is required, 

 with hoe or cultivator, or, Avhilc the plants are young, with a light plough; and 

 in the autumn, after the tops decay, to be earthed up for the winter, as a pro- 

 tection against frost. 



