108 on the culture of madder. May 23» 
turesin quality, as well as to diminifh their price, were we 
to rear it here, as I fhall soon have occasion to fhow. 
Madder is at present imported chiefly from Zealand, 
in the state of dried powder. Now the drying of the root, 
and reducing it to a powder, is not only expensive, but it 
also gives rise to frauds that tend to prove hurtful to the 
manufacture. It is, however, well known by the experi- 
ments made about twenty years ago by Mr d’Ambour- 
ney, and others in France, that, if the root be employed 
while yet frefh, it naturally affords a finer colour than 
oan ever be cbtained from it after it has been dried, and 
also yields that colouring matter in greater quantity, near- 
ly in the proportion of two to one. So that the saving 
would be immense, were the plants reared by our farmers, 
and furnifhed to the manufacturer frefh as they were want- 
ed, without being under the necefsity of drying them, as 
they must be if brought from a great distance. 
These considerations induce me strongly to recommend 
this plant to the notice of the Britifh farmer, as an article 
that would be certain of finding a ready market, at such 2 
ptice as would insure him an abundant profit, while it 
would, at the same time, tend to improve our manufactures, 
and prove upon the whole a great national benefit. 
The culture of madder, though it requires fkill and at- 
tention, is nat at all precarious. In our climate, a good 
crop of it may be reared with as great certainty as that. 
of almost any other article the farmer can rear, and will 
as abundantly repay his pains.—It requires indeed a deep 
rich soil, and those only who pofsefs such a soil ought to 
attempt to rear it. But where the soil is favourable, per- 
haps few articles will afford a better return. 
There are several varieties of the madder plant, iia 
differ considerably from each other in their qualities, and 
in their mode of culture, with which the farmer ought 
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