208 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



high as the middle ; otherwise the water from heavy show- 

 ers will run of}', and the crop suffer from drought. 



THE THIRD YEAR. Very little labor or attention is re- 

 quired. The plants will now cover the whole ground. If 

 any weeds are seen, they must be pulled out ; otherwise their 

 roots will cause trouble when harvesting the madder. The 

 crop is sometimes dug the third year ; and if the soil and 

 cultivation have been good, and the seasons warm and favor- 

 able, the madder will be of good quality ; but generally, it 

 is much better in quality, and more in quantity, when left un- 

 til the fourth year. 



DIGGING AND HARVESTING. This should be done be- 

 tween the '20th of August and the 20th of September. Take 

 a sharp shovel or shovels, and cut off and remove the tops 

 with half an inch of the surface of the earth ; then take a 

 plow of the largest size, with a sharp coulter and a double 

 team, and plow a furrow outward, beam-deep, around the 

 edge of the bed ; stir the earth with forks, and carefully pick 

 out all the roots, removing the earth from the bottom of the 

 furrow ; then plow another furrow beam-deep, as before, and 

 pick over and remove the earth in the same manner ; thus 

 proceeding until the whole is completed. 



WASHING AND DRYING. As soon as possible after dig- 

 ging, take the roots to some running stream to be washea. 

 If there is no running stream convenient, it can be done at a 

 pump. Take large, round sieves, two and a half or three 

 feet in diameter, with the wire about as fine as wheat sieves ; 

 or if these cannot be had, get from a hardware store suffi- 

 cient screen-wire of the right fineness, and make frames or 

 boxes about two and a half feet long and the width of the 

 wire, on the bottom of which nail the wire. In these sieve* 

 or boxes, put half a bushel of roots at a time and stir them 

 about in the water, pulling the bunches apart so as to wash 

 them clean ; then, having a platform at hand, lay them on it 

 to dry. (To make the platform, take two or three common 

 boards, so as to be about four feet in width, and nail elects 

 across the under side.) On these spread the roots about two 

 inches thick for drying in the sun. Carry the platforms to a 

 convenient place, not far from the house, and place them side 

 by side, in rows east and west, and with their ends north and 

 south, leaving room to walk between the rows. Elevate the 

 south ends of the platforms about eighteen inches, and the 

 north ends about six inches from the ground, putting poles or 

 sticks to support them- this will greatly facilitate drying. 



