( 119 ) 
and gutters and mud of ponds.(1) It is remarked 
in England, that it succeeds better after a grain than 
after a grass crop. The preparatory labor should be 
performed in the fall, leaving a single ploughing only 
for the spring; which, like those that preceded it, 
should be as deep as possible. The plaming should 
follow without delay. In the Levant they form 
heds, alternately, of unequal elevation ; one high, 
the other low; on the latter the madder is plant- 
ed,(2) and in the autumn of the second year, the 
surface of the higher bed is scattered over that which 
is lower; and by a similar process the next year, the 
lower bed is raised six inches higher than the other. 
By this management, the earth retains sufficient hu- 
_ midity for the growing plants. 
In transplanting madder, care must be taken to 
preserve the buttons, which attach themselves to the 
roots, and that the roots themselves be ten inches 
apart in the rows, and their crowns not more than 
two inches below the surface. 
The greatest duration of the plant is six years, 
but three is the permitted term; asafter that age the 
roots lose in color and soundness what they gain in 
bulk. At three years, a single root has been found 
to weigh between thirty and forty pounds; and the 
larger the root the less does it lose, in proportion, 
by depreciation.(3) 
(1) Young’s works. 
(2) Madder requires mo e moisture, in its first stage, than might be furnished by 
rains and dews. Thence arose the method of raising the plants ia'a seed bed, where 
they might be watered at will, and afterwards transferred to the placewhere they were 
intended to grow. 
(3) In large roots this loss is 6-7ths, in small ones 7-8ths, 
