PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, NO. 62, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Aokicultural Warkhousk.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 29, 1832. 



NO. 7. 



C o m 111 II II i c a t i o n s 



CULTURE OF M.\DDER. 



To llio Editor of the N. E. Farmer, - 



Sir — Agreeably to my jiro[)osal in a former 

 commmiioation, 1 send yoii an article on llic cul- 

 ture and cure of madder; and lielieving many 

 persons may be in possession of a IjooIj entitled, 

 the " American Gardener,"* whicli contains direc- 

 tions for tlie culture of Madder, in some respects 

 erroneous, especially with regard to the distance of 

 planting, managing the haulm or tops in the fall 

 aud spring. The following are the directions giv 

 en iu the above work. " The Rubia tinctorum or 

 dyers' madder is an article of much importance in 

 manufactures. The plant has a perennial root 

 and an annual stalk. The root is composed of 

 many thick succulent fibres, like the roots of as- 

 paragus, and strike very deej) in the ground, being 

 sometimes more than three feet in length. 



" Tlie land best adapted to the culture of madder 

 is a deep, loamy, sid)stantial soil, not too stift' and 

 heavy, nor over light and sandy ; this shoi.ld be 

 twice ploughed in autumn and left rough in the 

 winter, that the frost may mellow ami pulrerize 

 it; tlien ])loughed again in April, taking care ev- 

 ery time to plough it as deep as possible. The 

 time of idauting is about the latter end of Apiil or 

 immediately when the young buds begin to ap- 

 pear above ground. The young shoots are,then 

 taken from the sides of tlie inoilicr plants with as 

 much root as )iossible, and are planted in rows 

 three feet asunder and twelve inches distant iii 

 the rows, plant iVom plant,(i) observing to set each 

 slip down to its top or crown and keep the ground 

 clear from weeds. In November, the haulm being 

 decayed, cut it down and take it oft"(2) then draw 

 three or four inches of earth on the crown of the 

 plant; this may be performed wiili the plouirh or 

 iioe, and let them remain so all winter. The sec- 

 ond year, in the beginning of .^iiril, the earth on 

 the top of the rows should be carefully takon off 

 and raked to destroy the young weeds, and make 

 the surface smooth aud mellow, as also tc per- 

 mit the rising buds to shoot freely. The sec- 

 iiud summer the same care must be taken of tlie 

 madder as the first, aud in November the tromis 

 of the roots are to bo covered as in the preceding 

 year. The madder roots should never be taken 

 up until they have had three summers' growth, 

 and the culture of the third summer is tii; same 

 as the second during the spring, summer aiuJ au- 

 tumn. In Septend)er or October of th; third 

 year, when the haulm or tops are perfectly de- 

 cayed, the roots are to bo carefully taken up and 

 dried a few days in the air ami afterwards pnl in- 

 to a kiln and effectually dried with a sloiv heat." 



(1) Mr James F.aton, the neighbor spoken of in 

 my former communicario:!, saves the tojs of the 

 root from two to tlve or si.K inches long ,vLh the 

 buds attached to tlicm, when he digs his -nadder 

 in the fail, and lays them on a dry piece of ground 

 and covers them a foot or more with earth for 

 planting in the spring : they are then readv for 

 Bale from that time until May or for hisovn plant- 



* Not the New American Gardener, by tin Editor of 

 Hie A. E. Farmer. 



Jng. They will when dug in the fall bear trans- 

 portation to any distance, but wheti taken out of 

 the hills in the spring after the shoots spring out 

 of the ground, they will not keep long. 



Mr Eaton and myself have hitherto planted our 

 madder (shaping our hills like corn hills at second 

 hoeing,) four feet apart each way, with two plants 

 in a hill, six or eight inches distant i>)ant from 

 plant, but we find that the hills are too close for 

 cultivation the second, and especially the Uiird 

 year. We have this last spring planted in drills 

 six feet apart and twelve inches distant plant from 

 plant in the drills. If we plant roots taken up in 

 the tiill, after shaping our ridges, we make a hole 

 of the depth for dropping corn, or perhajis two 

 inches, and put three or four inches of earth, alter 

 laying the roots flat on them. As respects culti- 

 vating the first season, weed when three inciies 

 high, and throw a little earth round the stems; 

 at six or eight inches, plough and hoe. It will be 

 found the tops will fall or lop over on the ridges. 

 Let them be shaped each way across the ridges 

 and covered two inches or thereabouts, except the 

 ends of the stalks — in three or four weeks they 

 may be spread parallel with the ridges each way. 

 Weed and put more earth on them ; the last earth 

 for the season may be put on in the latter jiart of 

 September. The great object in raising madder 

 as well as in raising other crops, is to produce a 

 large quantity with as little labor as the case will 

 permit. Now if \Ve jilant on rich soils, ridges 

 three feet apart, the tops would cover the whole 

 Ckf the ground the second year, and it would be 

 difficult to procure earth without deranging the 

 tops. The ridges should the third year be from 

 three to four feet broad at the base, and complete- 

 ly filled with roots, and will be from one and a 

 halfto two feet high. The diggingof the madder 

 in .some soils costs .*25 per acre, if jilauted even 

 four feet apart in hills or drills, but at six feet 

 apart not over .f 18, as the ridges will be large and 

 the roots mostly or all easy to get out of the 

 ground. I am of opinion where a person has 

 madder on his ground three years old, that the 

 roots taken from the sides of the mother plants 

 in the spring, will succeed as well as those taken 

 up in the fall, but with this difference in planting 

 — that they should be set perpendicular, as directed 

 in the American Gardener. 



(■2) We consider it an improvement to let the 

 tops decay the first and second year. They are 

 no trouble to the cultivator the ensuing spring ; if 

 we put a shovel full of earth on the crowns of the 

 plants after the trips are decayed, or after one or 

 two hard frosts, (which we sometimes do, although 

 it is a very hardy plant and never founil to be in- 

 jured under the soil,) we do not rake the same off 

 in the spring, but suffer it to remain, and let the 

 young shoots come up through it. This being the 

 second season, when the tops come up about a foot 

 or thereabouts, they will begin to fall at this time ; 

 a person shoidd with a |)air of gloves or some- 

 thing to protect his bands, spread the tops cross- 

 ways of the ridges and cover with earth two or 

 three inches deep, but not cover the ends of the 

 stalks, and in three or four weeks more earth out- 

 wards, following the tops which lie on the ground 



a foot or more, bend them <lowii and cover. This 

 shoidd be done the latter part of a dry day. 

 When the tops are spread pre\ious to coverini' U 

 should be done evenly. Keep the ground free from 

 weeds the second season. Pursue the same course 

 the third season, excepting no earth need be put 

 on alter the first of August. As soon as the frost 

 has killed the tojis, wash and dry the roots as di- 

 rected in first part of this communication. 



Mr Eaton lias hitherto sold his seed for five 

 dollars per bushel — four bushels per acre; but in 

 the drill method, it will take about five and a half 

 bushels. We believe an average crop is about 

 1500 lbs. on rich soils. lie has sold his madder for 

 two years past to merchants in the countrv, $24 

 per 100 lbs. 1 believe the article is lower at this 

 time. The whole cost of cultivating, digging, wash- 

 ing, drying and grinding, (in a grist-mill) may be 

 about 7 cts. per Ih. I will observe, that the mad- 

 der raised in these parts will produce more color 

 than the imported. I believe, however, the differ- 

 ence may be accounted for in the different mode 

 of poundingor grinding, pursued in each country. 

 The imported madder has three separate pound- 

 ings after washing, viz : the first pounding sejiar- 

 ates and brings into the form of a powder, the 

 smallest fibres of the roots, v.ith the skin or husk 

 of the larger ones, and any earth' which may )ia\ e 

 been left adhereiiig thereto : a second pounding sep- 

 arates about one third of the rtmaining part of the 

 larger roots, and this being sifted and packed sep- 

 arately is called powder. The third and last 

 pounding comprehends the residue aud bright 

 parts of the roots ; this is called grape madder. 

 This kind is as yet rather scarce in this countrv. 

 The madder rents raised in this country are juil- 

 verized at one grinding. This may account for 

 the difterence in quality. I should like to see a 

 statement from one of your correspondents of the 

 quantity imported any one year. We need not 

 import a pound after five or six years, as we can 

 raise it as easy as any other crop I am acquaint- 

 ed wall. 1 think it would be a proper article for 

 a premium, to be awarded by some of your patri- 

 otic societies, to be inspected at the mills or in 

 tierces. There can be no doubt but the lime will 

 arrive when we shall export madder. 



Yours, RUSSELL BRONSON. 



Bridgewater, August 20, 1839. 



BEES, ■ 



Mr FessEiNIJe.v — If you think the following of 

 sufficient consequence, yon may give it a place in 

 the Farmer. 



Having read and heard much of the curious 

 nature of bees, I imrchased a hive last fall that I 

 might have opportunities of amusing myself in ex- 

 amining their habits. They almost all died in 

 the winter, so that experienced bee managers said 

 in the spring they would not sw.irm ; but the sea- 

 son I suppose being favorable, they early filled the 

 hive with comb, and about the middle of last 

 month, sent out a new colony. They alighted on 

 a tree near by, and as I had never seen a swarm 

 hived, I sent for a neighbor to come and perform 

 that business. This was about twelve o'clock M. 

 and the weather very fine. Aly neighbor came 



after this. As the sprouts rise out of the ground and sawed off the limb on which the bees were, 



