DISEASES AND INSECT INJURIES. 439 



rately, and carefully removed from the soil. The mode, 

 of harvesting chicory or carrots, already described under 

 their respective heads, would serve equally well for this 

 crop. The work is usually commenced in August, as where 

 the cultivation is carried on to any extent, time and a 

 large amount of manual labour are required to get through 

 the crop, which, at that period of the season, undergoes 

 its first process of preparation by simple exposure on the 

 field to the drying action of the sun. The drying process 

 is subsequently completed in sheds or rooms artificially 

 heated ; the roots are carefully cleaned of every particle 

 of dirt, and then ground to a fine powder, and packed up 

 in barrels ready for the market. The amount of produce 

 per acre, and its selling price, are subject to great varia- 

 tions; while the expenses of cultivation, which are always 

 considerable, remain uninfluenced by the market returns. 

 In drying, the roots lose on the average about 75 per 

 cent, of their weight, so that 4 tons of fresh roots only 

 yield 1 ton of marketable produce. 



Our information in regard to the diseases and insect 

 injuries to which the madder crop is subject is very 

 scanty, notwithstanding the extensive manner in which it 

 is cultivated in different parts of the Continent, and the 

 great attention that has been bestowed on its chemistry, 

 especially in reference to its industrial bearings. In Hol- 

 land, Germany, and some parts of France Alsace, for 

 instance the plant frequently suffers from the effects 

 of the winter's frosts. In that case, the cultivation is 

 brought to a close the following season, and the produce 

 harvested as circumstances may dictate. In some districts 

 it is considered advantageous to let the crop stand for a 

 fourth or fifth year's growth, the increased produce amply 

 compensating for the additional expenses for tillage, 

 rent, &c. This practice, however, is frequently inter- 

 fered with by the appearance of a fungoid growth of a 



