AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 257 



Culture of Madder. Mr. Russel Bronson, of Birmingham, Huron county, Ohio, a success- 

 ful cultivator of madder, has published a communication upon this subject, which contains 

 the following information : 



"A location facing the south or south-east, is to be preferred. A sandy loam, not over 

 stiff and heavy or light and sandy, or a good brown, deep, rich upland loam, free from foul 

 grass, weeds, stones, or stumps of trees. Where a crop of potatoes, peas, corn, or wheat 

 has been cultivated the past season, plow deep twice, once in September and once in Octo- 

 ber, and if rather stiff, let it lie after the plow until spring. When the spring opens, and 

 the ground has become dry and warm, plow again deep, the deeper the better ; then harrow 

 well, and strike it into ridges, with a one-horse plow, three feet wide and four feet vacant, or 

 making a ridge once in seven feet, raising it, if on rather moist ground, eight or ten inches, 

 and if on dry land, six or eight from the natural level ; then, with a light harrow, level and 

 shape the ridges like a well-formed bed of beets, &c. 



We will suppose you intend to plant one acre of ground, and that you have purchased 

 eight bushels of tap-roots in the fall, and buried them like potatoes on your premises ; count 

 the ridges on your acre, and take out of the ground one bushel of roots and plant it on one 

 eighth of your ridges ; you will then be able to ascertain how to proportion your roots for the 

 remainder. 



The following is the manner of planting, cultivating, &c., when the quantities of ground do 

 not exceed three or four acres. One person on each side of the ridge to make the holes, 

 (plant four inches below the surface of the bed, or thereabouts, when covered,) one on each 

 side to drop the roots, and one on each side to cover, pressing the hill in the manner of plant- 

 ing corn ; or three persons may be placed on one side, as the case may be, whether you have 

 one or more acres to plant. Let the owner be the dropper of roots, and his most thorough assist- 

 ant behind him. Make the holes from twelve to ten inches apart, and about six inches from 

 the edge of the ridge. As the plants are supposed to have been purchased in the fall, the roots 

 may have thrown out sprouts, and possibly have leaved. In this case, in dropping and 

 covering, you will leave the most prominent sprouts a little out of the ground, as where a 

 plant has leaved, it ought not to be smothered. 



When the plant gets up three or four inches, weed with the hoe, and plow with one horse 

 between the ridges or beds, but not on them ; this will take place two or three weeks after 

 planting. When up twelve or fifteen inches, many of the tops will fall ; assist them with 

 ten-feet poles crossing the beds, covering with a shovel or garden-rake, throwing the soil 

 from between the ridges. After loosening with the one-horse plow, you will, with a shovel, 

 scatter the earth between the stalks, rather than throw it into heaps ; of course we wish to 

 keep the stalks separate, as they are to form new and important roots in the centre of the 

 beds. About the 20th of June you may plow between the beds, and scatter more earth on 

 the fresh tops, (all but the ends,) and when you get through, you may plant potatoes between 

 the beds, if you please. I do not recommend it, if you have plenty of land, although I raised 

 1,070 bushels of pink-eyes on eight acres the first year, and sixty bushels of corn. If your 

 land is perfectly clear of weeds, you are through with your labor on the madder crop for 

 this year, except in latitudes where there is not much snow and considerable frost; in this 

 case, cover in October, two inches or thereabouts. Second year, some operations in weeding, 

 but no crop between ; cover once in June. Third year, weed only. Fourth year, weed in the 

 spring, if a weedy piece of ground. 



Begin to plow out the roots in Tennessee (three years old) first of September ; Ohio, (four 

 years,) same time ; New York, 15th or 20th, after cutting off the tops with a sharp hoe. In 

 plowing out the roots, use a heavy span of horses and a large plow. We ought to choose a 

 soil neither too wet nor to dry, too stiff or light. Shake the dirt from the roots, and rinse 

 or wash, as the soil may be stiff or light; dry in a common hop-kiln; grind them in a mill 

 similar to Wilson's patent coffee-mill; this mill weighs from one to two pounds. The madder 

 mill may be from sixty to eighty pounds weight. Grind coarse, and fan in a fanning-mill : 

 then grind again for market. The profit of this crop is immense ; the exhaustion of soil 

 trifling, and glutting the market out of the question. 



As the tops of the plants spread very much, some advise placing them in hills, somewhat 



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