492 



RUB 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



RUB 



wifl be better. When the roots have been properly dried in 

 this stove, they must be carried to the pounding-house, and 



reduced to powder in the manner before related. Mr. Ar- 



buthnot has shewn, by repeated experiments, that it may be 

 cultivated on land not of extraordinary natural fertility ; that 

 good husbandry, with rich manuring;, will be sufficient to 

 ensure a crop; consequently, that the Madder culture may 

 be extended over most parts of the kingdom, except on poor 

 stony or clayey soils : that the profit made by an application 

 of the land during three years, is superior to that of four; 

 that the crop requires the ground to be well cleaned, on 

 account of the great difficulty of extracting root-weeds from 

 among the fibres of the plants, which consequently would 

 get entire possession of the ground in three years; that the 

 average profit of an acre amounts to about seven guineas, 

 under the disadvantages of first attempts and want of expe- 

 rience ; if the soil upon which these experiments were made, 

 had been naturally rich, the profit would probably have been 

 double: that the culture of this plant ameliorates and cleans 

 the soil by the hand-hoeings, numerous horse-hoeings, and 

 extraordinary tillage the ground receives in taking up the 

 roots; that rich manuring is of the greatest importance; that 

 great mischief is done to the, crops by drawing plants from 

 them ; and that the roots bear an exact proportion to the 

 luxuriance of the branches and leaves. Instead of spoiling 

 the plantations of Madder by drawing, it is much better to 

 leave such a part of the crop as will be wanted for a supply, 

 taking up the plants in the spring instead of the autumn : 

 one acre of good Madder will yield plants enough for ten 

 acres. The best, manure is farm-yard dung, which should not 

 be used in large quantities. Top-dressings are ineffectual, as 

 the best will not last three years. The land, says Mr. Young, 

 should be ploughed fourteen inches deep. Old ley, or new 

 land, is not fit for this crop, on account of the wire or sod- 

 worm ; such land should be thrown into one round of crops, 

 before planted with Madder. The intervals between the rows 

 of plants should be repeatedly horse-hoed with a shim, and 

 then the plants earthed up by a double mould-board plough, 

 with expanding earth-boards ; the rows also must be hand- 

 hoed as often as necessary. The sets may be planted in 

 rows at eighteen inches or two feet distance, and a foot asun- 

 der in the rows. The best distance will vary according to 

 the goodness of the land. But in general, the nearer the 

 rows, the greater will the crop be, at least as near as two 

 feet equally distant. Single rows at four feet are not half so 

 advantageous. Two rows on four feet are almost twice as 

 beneficial as single ones; but though two rows on a four-foot 

 land amount in the whole, to the same, as equally distant at 

 two feet, yet they do not nearly equal them in product; which 

 seems to indicate that the plants should spread equally over 

 the land. From the above statement it is clear, that one 

 great advantage resulting: from the cultivation of Madder 

 generally, will be the affording employment to a great number 

 of hands, from the time harvest is over till the spring of the 

 year, besides rendering us independent of foreign countries 

 for this necessary article of the cotton manufacture. 



2. Rubia Chilensis ; Chili Madder. Leaves annual, in 

 fours; peduncles axillary, solitary, one-flowered; stem even; 

 berries roundish, red. The root is perennial, much divided, 

 and spreading, affording a dye like the first species. Native 

 of Chili, on mountains. 



3. Rubia Peregrina ; Wild Madder. Leaves in fours or 

 fives, elliptic, above shining, even ; flowers five-cleft. Root 

 perennial, branched, penetrating deeply into the fissures of 

 the rocks ; its outer bark red ; stems several, branched, dif- 

 fused, four-cornered, the corners set with prickles pointed 



backwards, not dying in the winter, but some of it remaining 

 alive, and putting forth fresh shoots in the spring. This 

 plant, in climbing up the rocks and through the shrubs, sup- 

 ports itself by means of the prickles on the angles of the 

 stem, and under the margins and midribs of the leaves. It is 

 a native of England, among bushes and upon rocks : it occurs 

 near Biddeford in Devonshire, and is common in the hedges 

 throughout the greater part of that county ; found also upon 

 St. Vincent's rocks near Bristol; in Dorsetshire in the hedges; 

 in the Isle of Purbeck ; and between Whitchurch and Mil- 

 bonrn St. Andrew's; also under Hood-hill in the parish of 

 Stour-pain near Blandford, where Parkinson mentions having 

 seen it; found likewise in the Isle of Portland, in Cornwall, 

 in the Isle of Wight, and on Tunbridge rock, at Chepstow 

 in Monmouthshire. 



4. Rubia Lucida ; Shining -leaved Madder. Leaves peren- 

 nial, in sixes, elliptic, shining; stem even. It flowers in July. 

 Native of Majorca, Zante, and Cyprus. 



5. Rubia Fruticosa ; Prickly-leaved Madder. Leaves per- 

 ennial, elliptic, prickly at the edge and keel; stem frutescent, 

 rough; flowers yellowish, axillary, on three-flowered pedun- 

 cles. It flowers in September. Native of the Canaries. 



6. Rubia Angustifolia ; Narrow-leaved Madder. Leaves 

 perennial, linear, rugged above. Stems diffused, very rug- 

 ged, four-cornered; flowers yellow, flat, five-cleft. It flowers 

 in July and August. Native of Minorca. 



7. Rubia Cordifolia; Heart-leaved Madder. Leaves per- 

 ennial, in fours, cordate. This is a diffuse scandent plant, 

 quite smooth. Native of the Cape of Good Hope, Siberia, 

 China, Japan, where it is used in dyeing; as also in many 

 parts of the East Indies, and of Africa. 



Rubus; a genus of the class Icosandria, order Polygynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, five- 

 cleft; segments oblong, spreading, permanent. Corolla: 

 petals five, roundish, the length of the calix, from upright 

 spreading. Stamina: filnmenta numerous, shorter than the 

 corolla, inserted into the calix; antherce roundish, com- 

 pressed. Pistil: germina numerous ; styles small, capillary, 

 springing from the side of the germen ; stigmas simple, per- 

 manent. Pericarp: berry compounded, consisting of round- 

 ish acini, collected into a convex head, concave below ; each 

 one-celled. Seeds: solitary, oblong; receptacle of the peri- 

 carpia conical. Observe. The acini are united into a com- 

 pound berry, and are not separable without tearing them 

 asunder, except in the thirtieth species, which has the acini 

 distinct. The thirty-fifth species is monoecous. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: five-cleft. Petals: five. Berry: com- 

 posed of one-seeded acini. The species are, 



* Frutescent. 



1. Rubus Rosffifolius ; Hose-leaved Bramble. Leaves 

 quinate-pinnate and ternate, green on both sides ; stem and 

 petioles prickly ; flowers solitary ; fruits globular, composed 

 of very numerous smooth acini, and appearing not to be very 

 succulent. Found in the Island of Mauritius. 



2. Rubus Pinnatus; Pinnate-leaved Bramble. Leaves 

 quinate-pinnate and ternate, wrinkled, smooth on both sides; 

 stem, petioles, and peduncles, prickly; raceme terminating. 

 Native place unknown. 



3. Rubus Australis ; South Sea Bramble. Shrubby, dice- 

 cons : leaves ternate, and quinate-pinnate; stem and petioles 

 prickly; racemes axillary, simple. Native of New Zealand. 



4. Rubus Idaeus ; Raspberry. Leaves quinate-pinnate, 

 and ternate, tomentose underneath ; petioles channelled ; 

 stem prickly; flowers in panicles; fruit red, grateful to the 

 smell and taste, deciduous, bristly, with the permanent styles 

 placed upon a conical receptack. The stems are erect, 



