202 PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



The madder plant was formerly grown to a large extent in 

 many countries, and in France * large tracts of land were given 

 up to its cultivation. "Madder 2 owes its importance to the 

 beauty and fastness of the tints it yields, and to the fact that by 

 a variation of the mordant used, it produces rose pink, black, 

 violet, lilac, and puce colors." The character of the soil where 

 the madder grows affects the color of the dye. The roots 

 grown in a rich clay soil exhibit a rose-pink color; under other 

 conditions, a deep red coloration. 



Alizarin, the chief coloring-matter of madder, is now pro- 

 duced artificially from coal tar in large quantities, though the 

 madder is especially in request for woolen dyeing. This 

 plant, which yielded such large revenues to the growers, is 

 replaced by a cheaper manufactured product. Very likely 

 we should not have discovered the synthesis of its valuable 

 dye, if our attention had not first been directed to it in the 

 plant. 



When it is remembered that coal tar is undoubtedly of vege- 

 table origin, the many brilliant dyes derived from this source 

 are only evidences of what plant chemistry could have found 

 in the carboniferous ages. 



The following statistics show : 



The amount 3 of imported madder : 



Pounds. Value. 



1884 253,385 $13,521.00 



Ground or prepared madder : 



Pounds. Value. 



1884 1,458,313 $111,456.00 



1885 1,211,370 80,628.00 



The natural or artificial alizarin : 



Pounds. Value. 



1884 778,660 $296,123.00 



1885 1,470,864 404,002.00 



1 Tropical Agriculture, by P. L. Simmonds. London, 1877, p. 369. 



2 Hand-Book of Dyeing and Calico Printing, by W. Crookes. London, 1874, 

 p. 228. 



3 Bureau of Statistics, 1885. 



