258 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



woolen cloth, prepared with alum and tartar, a very durable, though 

 not a very b3autiful red dye. As it is the cheapest of all the red 

 drugs, that give a durable color, it is the principal one commonly 

 made use of for ordinary stuffs. Sometimes its dye is heightened by 

 the addition of Brazil wood, and sometimes it is employed in con- 

 junction- with the dearer reds, as cochineal, for demi-scarlets, and 

 demi-crimsons. 



Madder is principally cultivated in Holland, the province of Zea- 

 land being almost entirely covered with it, whence it is exported to 

 every part of Europe and America, yielding almost incalculable pro- 

 fits. The imports of this article, for the use of our manufactures, is 

 stated to amount in value to more than two millions of dollars annually. 

 Our soil and climate are found to be well adapted to its culture, and 

 some successful experiments have been m'ade in raising it in western 

 New York and Ohio, and perhaps elsewhere. The profits on these 

 experiments justify the conclusion, that when our farmers become 

 better skilled in its culture, it may be made one of the most advan- 

 tageous branches of agricultural industry. In one of the experiments 

 alluded to, the net profit was above two hundred dollars per acre. 

 Madder requires a deep rich sand loam, moist, but not wet. 



MADEIRA. A wine brought from the island of that name. It 

 is more stimulant than port ; it agrees well with the stomach, and is 

 excellently adapted for debilitated constitutions, and for rousing the 

 nervous energy in the weakness of typhoid diseases. But good Ma- 

 deira wine is difficult to be procured ; it is no longer made of the 

 same excellence as formerly ; and the trade, according to Mr. Brande, 

 overflows with a variety of inferior and mixed wines, of all prices and 

 denominations, to which the name of Madeira is most undeservingly 

 applied. In its purest form, Madeira generally is more acid than 

 either port or sherry, and is consequently not so well adapted to 

 stomachs inclined to acidity, where it is generally found peculiarly 

 heating and irritating. 



MADNESS. This is one of the most formidable and dangerous dis- 

 eases to which animals are liable. It usually originates in some domes- 

 tic animal, as a disease, commonly in the dog, and the infection is 

 communicated to others by biting, or by allowing the saliva or froth of 

 the mad animal to fall upon, or be injected into a wound on the bodies 

 of others. The saliva of an ox or a man, laboring under the hydro- 

 phobia, is as dangerous and fatal as that of the dog that originated 

 the disease. Instant and complete incision, or cutting out the wounded 

 parts, is probably the most certain preventive of the disease ; yet, un- 

 fortunately, there is no effectual remedy for it. When an animal has 

 been bitten, he must be carefully examined to ascertain all the wounded 

 parts, as the smallest stratch may be fatal, and cutting or burning 

 sometimes done one part, will be of little avail, if others are over- 

 looked. Animals rare'.y show that dread of water, when mad, that 



