Naturalisation in Extra-Tropical Countries. 473 



for madder. Its culture opens any deep subsoil and suffocates weeds, 

 but requires much manure, leaving the land enriched however. Stag- 

 nant water in the soil must be avoided, if madder is to succeed. The 

 harvest is in the second or third year. It can be raised from seeds or 

 planted from off-shoots. The roots merely dried and pounded form 

 the dye. The chemical contents are numerous ; in the herb : rubi- 

 chloric and rubitannic acid ; in the root : alizarin, purpurin, rubiacin, 

 rubian, ruberythric acid and three distinct resins ; also chlorogenin, 

 xanthin and rubichloric acid. On the first five depend the pigments 

 produced from the root. Madder is one of the requisites for alizarin- 

 ink. Since the manufacture of artificial alizarin from anthracene, a 

 constituent of coal-tar, was commenced, the cultivation of madder 

 has declined. Still it remains a valuable root, handy for domestic 

 dye. The root is also important as an emmenagogue. 



Rubus acuminatus, Smith. 



Indian mountains, at elevations between 4,000 and 7,000 feet. A 

 scandent species with large fruits. 



Rubus biflorus, Hamilton. 



Indian mountains, at temperate altitudes between 7,000 and 10,000 

 feet. A rambling shrub, with sweet red or orange-coloured fruit. 

 Hardy in England. Another Himalayan species, R. macilentus 

 (Cambessedes), has bright-yellow fruits. 



Rubus caesius, Linn6.* 



The British Dewberry. Europe, Western and Northern Asia. 

 Resists extreme frosts, protracted dryness and also heat of excep- 

 tional seasons. In this respect the most accommodating of all black- 

 berry-bushes. In Russia the berries are boiled together with apples 

 into a preserve, which is of particularly pleasant taste. This Rubus 

 supplies fruit till late in the season. Easily naturalised on ground 

 subject to occasional inundations, and sheltered by bushy vegetation 

 [Burmeister] . Some regard R. caesius as one of the numerous forms 

 of R. fruticosus. 



Rubus Canadensis, Linn6.* 



The Dewberry of Eastern North- America. A shrub of trailing 

 habit. Fruit large, black, of excellent taste, ripening earlier than 

 that of R. villosus (Alton). This Blackberry to be fully relished 

 should be mature to the extent of ready dropping. It resists drought 

 better than many others. The astringent root is a popular remedy in 

 dysentery and diarrhoea. All the species can readily be raised from 

 seeds ; thus the naturalisation of these plants in adapted localities is 

 easy by mere dissemination. 



