436 THE MADDER CROP. 



more genial climate than our own. In the madder dis- 

 tricts of France its growth and reproductive functions are 

 complete; in Holland again, where large quantities are 

 grown, it sometimes flowers, but never perfects its seed. 



The soils suited to the cultivation of madder are con- 

 fined to those of a deep, friable, loamy class, as the ob- 

 ject of the cultivation the roots of the plant being 

 below the surface, the produce would be considerably 

 diminished, and the cost of labour in harvesting the crop 

 be considerably augmented, were the soil selected to be 

 of a more compact and argillaceous character. Soils of 

 natural fertility are, of course, preferable always to soils 

 of an opposite class; the long branching roots of the mad- 

 der, however, ramifying through the lower strata of the 

 soil, give the plant a great range of feeding ground, and 

 render it capable of supporting a vigorous growth, even in 

 soils of moderate fertility. In France the principal seat 

 of the madder cultivation is in the department of Vau- 

 cluse, where it was introduced and first grown in a sys- 

 tematic manner about a century ago, by a Persian, John 

 Althen by name. Some of the soils of this department 

 are particularly suited to its growth, being composed of 

 an alluvium formed by the rivers Sorgue and Durance, 

 which have brought down a large quantity of calcareous 

 detritus, and formed a deep light soil, locally called " pa- 

 luds/' containing large proportions of lime, and retaining 

 sufficient moisture for the requirements of the crop. In 

 Holland the cultivation is chiefly in the province of Zee- 

 land, where the soils are low-lying, deep, and also of an 

 alluvial character, formed by the mixture of marine and 

 river deposits, and containing a proportion of sand suffi- 

 cient to insure the proper percolation of surplus water ; 

 for although the crop grows more freely where moisture 

 is present, nothing affects it more injuriously than water 

 in a stagnant condition. 



