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X. PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR DYES. 



THE Madder, Rubia tinctorum. The Woad, Isatis tine- 

 toria and the Weld, Reseda Luteola are the plants usually 

 cultivated on the large scale for their dyes, in the north of Eu- 

 rope; but innumerable other plants yield those beautiful sub- 

 stances, and are partially cultivated. The plants above desig- 

 nated are useful in a rotation of crops, and are adapted to our 

 climate. 



I. MADDER. 



Madder is the Evythros of the Greeks, and the Rubia of 

 the Latins so called from its imparting a fine durable red 

 colour to wool, leather, &c. It is cultivated in the Levant, 

 France, Flanders and England; but no where more extensively 

 or profitably than in Holland; the province of Zealand is lite- 

 rally covered with it, from whence it is imported to every part 

 of Europe and America. The little island of Schowen alone 

 gives annually one hundred thousand tons of the root. The 

 profit of its culture is immense almost incalculable. 



It has a perennial root, and an annual stalk. The root is 

 composed of large succulent fibres which strike deep into the 

 ground, sometimes more than three feet. From the upper part, 

 or head of the root, many side roots are thrown out, which ex- 

 tend just under the surface of the groun4 to a great distance, 

 whereby it propagates very fast for these send up a great 

 number of shoots, which, if carefully taken off in the spring 

 soon after they appear above ground, become so many plants. 



The most suitable soils for the madder crop are deep, fertile, 

 sandy loams, not retentive of moisture; and the more of vege- 

 table matter it contains in its composition the better. It is 

 grown on the light soils, when fertile, and well replenished 

 with manure, provided they are of sufficient depth. The 

 ground should be ploughed or mellowed to the depth of two 

 and a half or three feet. The seed is generally sown from the 

 middle of April to the middle of May. Some plant in rows 

 from two to three feet asunder, and five or six inches apart in 

 the rows. Others plant in beds with intervals between, out of 

 which earth is thrown in the lazy-bed manner of growing po- 

 tatoes. The best method of planting is by the dibber. The 

 after culture consists in hoeing, weeding and keeping the soil 





