22 



also be applied without using any mordant. Specimens of 

 cloth dyed with the Zanthorrhiza were shewn to the society 

 last winter. This plant also possesses many medical vir- 

 tues.* 



Isatis Tinctoria, or Woad, is well known as a blue, and 

 still better as the basis of black. The colouring matter Is 

 obtained from the leaves. This plant can be raised here 

 with little trouble, and in great abundance. In the neigh- 

 borhood of this city there are some fields planted with it. 

 The Isatis, in conjunction with the Zanthorrhiza, gives us 

 the three principal dyes in colour making. 



The Galium Tinctorium is also one of our native plants. 

 It flourishes most in places sheltered from the sun, and 

 where the ground is rather moist. This plant so nearly re- 

 sembles the Madder (Rubia Tinctorium) in its botanical 

 character, as well as in its colouring properties, that some 

 writers have given it the name of Rubia Americana. The 

 Galium is employed by the inhabitants of Jura, one of the 

 Hebrides,! as a red dye, and it is perhaps equal to the rich 

 red of the Rubia itself. Upon turning over the pages of our 

 transactions, I find that the Galium has already received 

 your attention and patronage4 The true Rubia was raised 

 last summer at Pittstield by Mr. E. Watson, who will, I un- 

 derstand, read you in the course of the winter a paper on 

 this article. The Rubia has for a long time been raised in 

 Connecticut, but only in gardens. I understand the Sha- 

 kers have also planted it 



* See Barton's Collections, part 2, ps, 11, 12, and 13. 



f Encyclopaedia Britannica, article Jura. 



I Agricultural Trans, vol. 1st, p. 367. 



$ The following directions for raising Madder, may be useful, 

 they are copied from the Emporium of Arts, vol. 4th, No. 2, p. 

 325. 



" This plant may be propogated either by offsets or seeds ; if 

 the latter method is preferred, the seed should be of the true 

 Turkish kind, which is called lizari in the Levant. On a light 

 thin sort the culture cannot be carried on to any degree of profit, 

 that soil in which the plant delight* is a rich sandy loam, being 



