478 DYES AND COLORING STUFFS. 



chests. 



In Great Britain for home consumption 9,820 



France total for ditto 10,400 



,, American ports from London and Liverpool 2,500 



Calcutta 700 



Holland, &c 400 



Other European countries export from London and Liverpool. 21,530 



Holland 4,270 



Calcutta 120 



France . 300 



50,040 



MADDER, 



THIS substance, which is so extensively used in dyeing red, is the 

 product of the long slender roots of the Rubia tinctorum, a plant 

 of which there are several varieties. Our principal supplies of 

 this important article of commerce are obtained from Holland, 

 Belgium, France, Turkey, Spain, and the Balearic Isles, the 

 Italian States, India, and Ceylon. 



The plant is generally raised from seed, and requires three years 

 to come to maturity. It is, however, often pulled in eighteen 

 months without injury to the quality ; the quantity only is 

 smaller. A rich soil is necessary for its successful cultivation, 

 and when the soil is impregnated with alkaline matter, the root 

 acquires a red color ; in other cases it is yellow. The latter is 

 preferred in England, from the long habit of using Dutch madder, 

 which is of this color, but in France the red sells at two francs 

 per cwt. higher, being used for the Turkey-red dye. Madder 

 does not deteriorate by keeping, provided it be kept dry. It con- 

 tains three volatile coloring matters, madder purple, orange, and 

 red. The latter is in the form of crystals, having a fine orange 

 red color, and called Alizaine. This is the substance which yields 

 the Turkey -red dye. The chay root is employed in the East Indies 

 as a substitute for madder, and so is the root of Morinda citrifolia, 

 under the name of Sooranjee. 



Turkey madder- roots realise about 80s. per cwt. About 1,100 

 tons are annually shipped from Naples, worth about 30 per ton. 



Madder has become an article of great request, on account of 

 the fine scarlet color produced from its roots, and is so essential 

 to dyers and calico printers that without it they cannot carry on 

 their manufactures. It is cultivated extensively in Holland, from 

 whence it is imported in large quantities into both England and 

 France, though it is cultivated to some extent in both countries. It 

 has also been raised as a soiling crop, but the coloring matter is 

 of so penetrating and subtile a character, that the flesh, milk, and 

 even the bones of animals fed upon it are said to be tinged to a 

 considerable degree with it. The soils best adapted, and which 

 should be selected for its cultivation, are dry, fertile, and deep 

 sandy loams ; the roots are long and fibrous, and descend to a 

 depth of from two to three feet. It may be propagated by seed, 



