334 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch.XXIX. 



woman is required to dip tlie plants; two others to carry and strew them 

 in handsful along the furrow, and about seven to follow the plough. The 

 land should be ploughed with a strong turn-wrest plough, to tlie depth of 

 12 or 14 inches ; the women laying llie plants about 8 or 9 inches a])art in 

 every other furrow, leaning oft" from the plough ; by which, every time it 

 returns, tlie row of plants laid in by the women who follow the plough 

 are covered with the earth of the furrow. 



The crop must be kept perfectly clean by the hoe and hand-weeding 

 during the summer months, and earthed up with a plough each autumn, until 

 the third after planting; when the roots are dug up by trenching the land 

 two feet deep. Two children attend each digger to pick out the roots, 

 the workmen breaking every spit of earth to pieces with their spades. The 

 roots are then carried to be cleaned from the dirt, and afterwards dried on a 

 hop-kiln till they are brittle enough to snap freely asunder ; they are then 

 lit to pack in bags for sale to the dyers, who grind and manufacture them 

 into powder for use. The produce is from 8 to 20 cwt, per acre.* 



Mr. Boys, of Betshanger, the intelligent agriculturist from whom this 

 account is chiefly taken, and who formerly cultivated madder to a large 

 extent, and with considerable profit, until the price was reduced by the com- 

 petition of the Dutch growers, states — when rent and labour were both 

 higher than at present — that it would still be a profitable culture upon 

 soils properly adapted for the purpose, provided that £3 per cwt. could 

 be obtained ; it is now, however, below that price. 



Rules have been also laid down by Miller, " On the Culture and Manu- 

 facture of Madder," for managing the land, separating and planting the 

 shoots, gathering and drying the roots, and of pounding, casking, and pre 

 paring them for sale, according to the most approved English practice ; 

 which, as the cultivation is still partially continued, and under the pre- 

 sent circumstances of our agriculture, may perhaps be further extended, we 

 insert at footf. 



* Survey of Kent, 2n(l edit., p. 115. 



f " The most suitable soil is a soft sandy loam of two or three feet In depth, that the 

 roots may run down without obstruction. The \am\ to be well ploughed and laid up in 

 high ridges in autumn, preparatory to the planting out in spring. 



" In spring, plough with the deepest furrow, and let the bottom be still further deepened 

 by the spade. Plant from the middle to the latter end of April, rake the ground well, 

 and lay it up in ridges if disposed to be wet ; if not, plant it in rows at eighteen inches 

 interval upon the level. Mark out the rows with a line, and dibble in the plants at twelve 

 inches in the row, securing them well in the ground, and covering as little of the green 

 as possible. Take the slii s with as much root as possible, and take them when they 

 heghi to bud out ; packing them so as not to be heated, and if withered, set them 

 upright in water, previous to planting. 



" Plant nothing in the intervals ; but as the madder grows high, ttn-n it occasionally 

 from side to side, earthing up the roots at the side from which the haulm is turned. The 

 interval must be stirred atthe same time, and the straggling shoots cut off; thus the roots 

 will be strengthened to yield a double increase. 



" Madder should remain three years, but some gather it at two years, though with less 

 profit. The slips of the second and third years' growth are the best to plant, and should 

 be taken in the spring, when about an inch above ground. 



''In autumn, when the haulm is withered off, earth up the rows, against the frost, 

 and in spring hoe the intervals, and weed ; attend the turnnig of the haulm in summer, 

 and dij; between the rows till the season of gathering, namely, about Michaelmas. 



" In the third autumn, when the haulm is withered off, dig a trench full three feet 

 deep, along the first row of madder, as near to the roots as may be, to receive the earth 

 in digging up the roots. Each digger must have three pickers to gather the roots, and 

 clear them from the earth, and they must be all f.iiriy got out. Thej'shoidd then be laid 

 thin upon the ground, as lying in heaps, or taking rain, will discolour them, and therefore 

 the sooner they are carried to the drying-house the better. " The 



