Piocesses for preparing Lake from Madder. 1 23 



Eight ounces of the root, having been first well washed 

 and cleaned from dirt of all kinds, were broken into small 

 pieces, and pounded in a bell-metal mortar, with a wooden 

 pestle, till reduced into an uniform paste. This paste being 

 mclosed in a calico bag, was washed and triturated, as de- 

 scribed in the first process, with cold water. About five 

 pints seemed to have extracted nearly the whole of the co- 

 lour. To the water thus loaded with colour, and boiled as 

 before, one ounce of alum, di'^solved in a pint of boiling' 

 water, was added, and the alkali poured on the whole till 

 the taste of the mixture was just perceptibly alkaline. The 

 colour thus obtained, when dry, was of a very beautiful 

 quality. 



The success of this experiment, which was twice rc- 

 p'.-ated with the same result, has led me to hope that it is 

 not impossible that the mode of obtaining the colour from 

 the fresh root here described, mav be productive of advan- 

 tages for more extensive use ihivn I had in view when first t 

 attempted to obtain a pigment from madder. Manv tracts 

 of land in this country arc as well adapted to the growth of 

 this valuable article as the soil of Holland can be; and the 

 cultivation of it, which has more than once been attempted 

 to a considerable extent, has been laid aside, principally 

 from the expense attendant on the erection of drying-houses 

 and mills, and the great expense and nicety requisite for 

 conducting the process of drying. But should the colour 

 prepared in the mode just described be found to answer the 

 purposes of the dyers and calico-printers, the. process is so 

 easy, and the apparatus required for it so little expensive, 

 that it might be in the power of any grower of the root to 

 extract the colour : besides which, another great advantage 

 would be obtained ; the colour thus separated from the root 

 may be kept any length of time without danger of spoiling, 

 and its carriage would be only one-fourth of that of tlie 

 root, r am, moreover, thoroughly inclined to believe, that 

 in the present njode of using the root, a very considerable 

 part of the colour is left in it bv the dyers ; and, should this 

 prove to be the ease, an advantage much greater than any 

 hitherto advened to may arise from the process here recom- 

 mended. 



Should it be attempted to obtain the colour from the fresh 

 root, on an extensive scale, I should rcconmiend that the 

 root be first reduced to as uniform a pulp as possible, by 

 grinding or pounding. To this purpose it is probable that 

 the cider-mill would answer perfectly well ; and its extnnie 

 simplicity is a great recommendation. For the purpose of 

 ' trituration. 



