No. 133.] 377 



angles — flowers small and yellow. The root when dried Is about 

 as tliick as a goose quill with a reddish skin — odor feeble — taste 

 bitter and astringent. It is exported from the Levant entire — 

 but from Holland and France in coarse powder. England has 

 not succeeded well in cultivating it — climate too wet ; and the 

 price of it in Turkey is very low, and cheap in Holland. 



The root is perennial, the stalks die every winter. Deep, fer- 

 tile, sandy loam suits it best, for it does not like a wet soil. 

 Firsl-rate tillage, whether plough or spade, is necessary. New 

 plants are obtained from the runners or surface roots of the old 

 plants, these are cut into pieces of about Irom six inches to twelve 

 . inches. The seed must be sown in fine light soil a year before 

 they are wanted to set out. We generally plant out the sets in 

 May or June, in rows of about ten inches apart and about six 

 inches apart in the rows. They must be kept free from weeds 

 and the ground must be well stirred. Some heap them up — but 

 it is best to keep the surface as it was at the setting. The crop 

 comes at the end of the third year, generally in October. The 

 stalks should be first taken off by the scythe and - carried to the 

 barn yard Ibr litter. In very fine weather the roots may be dried 

 in the field by proper spreading, &c., but it is usually necessary 

 to do it in a kiln such as is used for malt or hops. They should 

 be dried until they become brittle,, then pack it in bags for sale 

 to dyers. The produce varies according to soil, season &c., but 

 generally it is from one thousand to t . o thousand pounds an acre. 

 The best way to judge of the quality of it, is to break the root 

 in two and that which has a kind of purplis or bright red appear- 

 ance, without any yellow cast, is the better. It is chiefly employ- 

 ed to dye and print calico. The tops which are carried to the 

 barn yard to make manure, are sometimes eaten by cattle and it 

 turns their horns red. The seed can be collected in abundance 

 in September of the second and third year. In general madder is 

 not liable to disease. 



Mr. Russell Bronsou,of Birmingham, Huron county, Ohio, has 

 published his method. 



Take land facing the south or south-east, a sandy-loam, or good 



